I used to be good at poetry, but now I only write when I want to get back into shape or when I have a specific purpose. Here are two sonnets I wrote for my boyfriend for Valentine's Day.

Residing in the labyrinth of mind
and bathing in emotion’s shallow streams,
my soul impatient with eternal dreams
for years had with the unreal been entwined
as mirror images can make one blind
by their reflected light’s refracted beams,
until your presence my poor eye redeems
and helps me leave the falser world behind.
With you, the world of touch and talk is true,
and overwhelms my senses with the real.
You help me put the pieces into place,
the jigsawed mess of what I feel and do,
to link reality to the ideal
of former times, and magnify its grace.
heart

As winter ice is thawed by youthful spring,
so does your love melt any chill in me;
resistance fades, and I, too openly,
am left defenseless as buds blossoming.
But you, with all the warmth you always bring,
and smiles eloquent as poetry
grant strength enough that independently
I stand here with a heart inclined to sing,
For not alone is tenderness my fate;
but, having welcomed your fair sun’s rays,
our souls revealed were shared with our first kiss.
Your warmth, my love, was truly worth the wait,
these springlike months that seem like merely days
are the beginning of eternal bliss.
heart