Love’s Bouquet

The Nature of Love

“When all is said and done Beatrice is still and always the laughing Florentine girl. This understanding reveals that this Love is Incarnate Love in very human form. It is Romantic Love enfleshed. ~ Charles Williams

In Romantic Love, the love of husband and wife, this love is enfleshed in a unique and special way. In Romantic Love we see in human flesh, in human hearts and minds and wills a revelation of the redemptive love of Christ Jesus for his bride the Church; but the Church purified and made clean by his blood, without blemish, without spot or wrinkle.

The revelation, the visible and tangible manifestation of this love, a love of “terrible aspect” is known by us in humble simplicity.  In the meeting of our eyes, the touch of our hands, in moments quiet or jubilant, and in passionate embrace, the very God of love dares to make himself known.

On the Theology of Romantic Love

Brightly shines the morning light my own true love,

The world is freshening with the morning dew.

By the magnolia softly coos the dove,

When you’re with me my love, and I’m with you.

All God’s gracious gifts flow from heaven above,

Blessings in abundance, love gifts not too few,

Our hearts are open and our hearts are true.

God’s love in us is an ever flowing love,

Flowing from the tumultuous love of God,

From Father, Son and Holy Spirit, our God,

A torrent of God’s love in us enfleshed.

Side by side and hand in hand with Him we walk,

In the cool of the evening we three talk.

Desire and Fulfilment

There is sweet delight hidden in desire.

There is yearning strong each lover knows.

Too easy conquest disappointment sows.

There is yearning that sets the heart on fire,

There is wooing that flows from desire

Enflaming the heart as each lover knows.

It reveals the heart and all its nature shows

Fanning the bright flames of the heart on fire.

Such yearnings and such wooing bear fruition

When both lover and beloved know themselves

As whole, yet each the other gladly serves

Without dissembling or diminution.

Blessed the lovers who belong each to other

And covenant to love one another.                  

Bread and Butter Loves

Bread and butter loves above all other loves,

The stuff of every day give and take,

Outlast the show and flash of lesser loves,

Shallow loves that make hearts bend and break.

Fond affection, the first of all the loves,

The love of brother for brother which none can fake,

Sweet Eros the fuel of all romantic loves,

God’s pure love from Him who died for our sake,

All loves in an indissoluble bond

Mingle together in the human heart,

Loves given, loves to which our hearts respond,

All melded together with sublime art,

In every day bread and butter love.

All the loves flow down freely from above.

At the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam

Along the beach wavelets lap the pebbled shore,

White gulls rise clamouring in the morning air.

When we’re together all is bright and fair.

Who could ask, my dear, for anything more?

Vincent’s boats rest upon the sandy shore,

Mediterranean light in glowing air,

Clear radiance, brilliance de la Mer.

Gazing, we stand upon a marble floor

Our eyes glancing from picture to picture;

The yellow house sits on a corner at Arles,

Yellow bed, yellow chairs, simple furniture;

A pink peach tree, and a wheatfield all gnarls.

All truth and beauty flow from God above

Poured forth in our hearts from the God of love.

Wondelone: Desire and Fulfillment

There is a delight hidden in desire.

There is a yearning strong each lover knows.

Too easy conquest disappointment sows.

There is a yearning that sets the heart afire.

There is a wooing that flows from desire

That enflames the heart as each lover knows,

That reveals the heart and all its nature shows

Fanning the bright flames of the heart on fire.

Such yearnings and wooing bear fruition

When each lover and beloved know themselves

As whole, yet each the other gladly serves

Without dissembling or diminution.

Blessed the lovers who belong to each other

And covenant to love one another.

When Diana Smiles

Diana smiles, the sun shines through her eyes

Darkness flees, and joy wells within my soul.

All that’s faded fades away and I am whole

Again.  The larks are singing in the skies

Filling the air with joyous melodies,

Praising the Lord of love, whom they extol,

And love illuminates my merry soul;         

While all the world around resounds with cries,

Loving sighs, ringing cries, unrestrainéd

Jubilation, and spring springs fresh again.

Loves’ sweet celebration is unfeigned

When Diana smiles I am glad again.

When loves’ pure light shines through unconstrained

Winter has passed and spring has come again.

Indissoluble Heavenly Love

There is a gift given to humankind

In indissoluble heavenly love

Poured in our hearts from God above.

Some will receive it, but some are blind

And they are lost; while others with joy are entwined.

Love has come and the voice of the turtledove

Is heard in the land singing of love,

Of beauty, of truth, and of joy unconfined.

Arise my true love and come away

To the meadows and woods and the dells,

With the glad ringing of interior bells

In the hearts where the King of Love holds His sway.

For love is meant to be lived, not denied,

For by love alone is our God glorified.

Autumn Winds

When autumn winds come knocking at my door

They carry with them crispness in the air,           

And all the beauty of the leaves so fair     

Tell the inner beauty of she whom I adore.

In autumn love’s true springtime sings once more

But sings with a richness beyond compare

Taught by our tears and things we had to bear.

Autumn’s bounteous harvest of glad amour        

Is richer far than springtime’s budding love,

And glows with the warmth of a golden light

That flows from the heart of heaven above,

For autumn’s love is fraught with Love’s delight.

I would not trade this love for springtime love.

Early love can’t compare with autumn bright.

The Ages of Love

      In March, before us lay the ocean wide          

The wind danced along the sandy dunes,                         

Salt seaweed, gulls swooping in graceful glide,                

Hands clasped, our merry hearts laugh playful tunes.    

      In hot July, sun rolls sweat down our backs                           

As we drill earth with a post hole digger,                         

Guiding the handles of an iron auger,                               

Building together our place to relax                      

      The Autumn leaves fall in many colours                                 

But true beauty’s never fading glories                              

Are deeper than all our human dolours                           

While our laughter is told in many stories.                                   

With age comes the time for new activity,                              

Now is the time for generativity.

When Love is Known

When love is known and passion grows

Between a man and his sweet rose,

The heavens above and the earth beneath

To both lovers do great joy bequeath,

But the ways of a man and maid no-one knows.

Love is as mysterious as the wind that blows

And those who love not, should not suppose      

That they understand why love flows

When love is known.

For love is mysterious as the wind that blows

And love itself has highs and lows.

And must be nurtured, for time is a thief

That must be countered by firm belief

In the God of love who true love bestows

When love Is known.

PASSIONS SONGS

I

Love is a flame poem.

Its heat sparkles in our hearts.

Brightly leaps its words.

II

Fire embers fanned

By bold, word spat memories,

Quick fierce angry strokes.

III

Hallelujah love!

God fire in your brilliant eyes.

Passion burns our dross.

IV

Bite deep, jab, counter.

Mouth wounds with realistic pain.

Eyes in sorrow mist.

V

Flash fire love again,

Flame rage, love rage, make us one.

Souls meld in sharing.

My Bonnie Lass

Early in the morning will I sing to thee my bonnie lass,

A sweet gift from God art thou with a love that ne’er will pass.

To lie within each other’s arms as the sun leaps oe’r the hills,

Is to touch the One pure Source of love Who both our hearts now fills.

Where Love Leads Us

“In Dante’s Divine Comedy it is the beauty of Beatrice that leads to the Vision of Mary and through her to her son, the Son of Love.  So also our human loves are fraught with Divine Light and through the love of faithful wife and husband shines the Glory of the God who is Love Himself.  Love in the complexity of marriage relationships is an altar for sanctification, a school for prayer, and an holy sanctuary for deep joy and heart satisfaction.   Each of us is the cross on which our beloved is stretched.  Through mutual self-surrender new life springs forth and the radiance of the Face of Love shines through us, even us.  Love himself is incarnate in the love we have for one another.”  ~ Charles Williams