Village Verses, December 2025

LONG-AGO LOVER

By Susan M. Silver

December-decorated evening,
Streets that revel in the gaudy.
Beyond, a sacred orchid-sunset
Slips into the horizon’s envelope,
And a tale of winternight begins.
Why ever should thoughts of you inspire me,
Long-ago lover, episode laid
To rest by divergent natures and
Directions? My memories tilt,
As though I’m in flight, perspective askew:
Bedeviling darkheart blond,
You, playmate who loved me tropically,
Grasped my greenish heart and left
A wounded clearing, where now remains
An empty lot. Despite the ruined joy,
Lad lost to me, and now a stranger
Having morphed into full manhood,
Why ever should you now inspire?

Susan M. Silver, 2013, 2014, 2025.
Previously published in Breath & Shadow, Winter, 2014.

2025

By Jan Crawford

Between the physical pain
and the ongoing national tragedy
I am stunned to see
what is most overwhelming
to this frail old mind and body: the amplification of beauty
the total acceptance of life
and myself as we actually are
and gratefully, unlimited inspiration
My New Year’s Wish For You is
May you nourish the silence within you
Letting the Earth carry you around the Sun
Without any effort to hold on
Your toes and hands free
To play in the sand