Thank you to Marzia Dessi of Otherwise Engaged Literature and Arts Magazine for publishing the following poems.

Spellbound

How they must have loved;
before the roses turned
into prisons and tragedies.
Each of their ghosts will later quarrel, accusing the others of loving only themselves. Weeping together as they fall

from the watchtower of jubilation,
where beautiful birds roosted and sung. They prayed for passion to be
brought back from that first time.
Prayers for a wonderful straying,
back to that long-belated return,
that sometime describe as peace on Earth.

They dug,
into secret mines of strange melancholy, in the hopes of rediscovering
the enchantment of love,
love being that other spell
that twins with foresight.
They bore,
the weight of mostly sorrow
while their future was unforeseen,
until they realized that having dreams, even ones not yet come true,
can guide them toward that happy future.

A Most Unusual House

An unusual house, the original one.
The only one of its kind begun.
Built with old wood grown long in the past,
Old lumber, second-hand, but strong enough to last.

All walls, floors, shelves built back then,
Just frozen messages left by dead men.
They put a few possessions to the fore,
Used the rest of the space as a memories’ store.

And even after these owners went away, 

The caretakers assigned to conserve it, they 

maintained it in a durable, well-kept state. 

It was meant to have a long-term fate.

A house set back on a tree-lined street,
with perfect angled corners where two walls meet. 

All man’s love, beauty and peace here to see. 

Historic wooden windows fitted beautifully.

No wicked machines within to be found,
Just a few beautiful things, 5 books leather bound, 

5 marble statues upon pedestals held,
5 oils on the walls, all parallel.

It hasn’t changed much over time.
To tear it down would be a crime.
An owner with few material needs would rejoice, 

Enamored with 15 visual selections of choice.