Sonnet On a Journey Be still O rolling waves and hearThe happy telling of my love,And you frail craft that homeward steer,Let go the driving winds above!Now all you brethren of the sea,Stay a while and follow meFor what I tell is true and wise,It cleaves even stone asunder!Love is the light that tints the skies,Truth is love’s glorious thunder.And though the deluge rises high,It cannot drown a lover’s heart.Now to my love...

 Hast thou heard the butterfliesWhat they say betwixt their wings?Or in stillest eveningsWith what voice the violet woosTo his heart the silver dews? - Tennyson, Adeline. Claudia awoke and saw that the sun was already well above the horizon. The view from her bedroom window was of a cloudless azure sky and a sea more tranquil than any she had yet seen. It was a calm day and the cool of the night still lingered in the airy...

Day dispossesses day;Moons hurry to be bornAnd race to their decay.- Horace, Odes.  L’Accademia di Santa Cecilia di Agrigento… 11am.“Ah yes, here it is.” Claudia smiled as she read the polished brass plaque to the right of the heavy iron door. The door was nestled in an old arched stone doorway in a quiet side street off Agrigento’s Via Atena. The sheer scale of the doorway suggested to her that it had been the entrance t...

 How oft we saw the sun retire,And burn the threshold of the night,Fall from his ocean lane of fire,And sleep beneath his pillar’d light!- Tennyson, The Voyage.Carlo stayed with Claudia at Tintamare for a week. Far from being an idle houseguest, he insisted upon cleaning, cooking and performing whatever household chores she would allow him to do. At first, this seemed to her to be a slight affront to her independence but...

 The ethereal power pursues souls to the sea, the sea spits them up onto the threshold of the earth, the earth into the light of the bright sun and the sun hurls them into the whirling ether.- Empedocles of Akragas (5 th Century BCE)The first thing that you noticed about Claudia was that she was beautiful. Hers was a refined, sophisticated beauty and at its heart lay, an innate earthiness and a rugged independence that su...

Fair Rose of all seasons; Long enamored of you, The sun searches the daytime Then searches anew, Vainly hoping to snare you In his gossamer light. The stars in their towers All relish the sight Of your dark eyes gleaming And the glint of your smile. Forsaking the heavens, They sail for a while Close to a heart - all knowing, Close to a soul of flame, As the breezes caress you And the seas speak your name. But who knows yo...

In a chamber suffused with emotion By the light of innumerable dawns, In a house betwixt forests and ocean, Where the briar rose bristles with thorns; There hangs her portrait in splendour, In mystic silence, forsaken, unknown, In lines both violent and tender And colours of thunderous tone. Her eyes bespeak wisdom and knowing, Her face; enigmatic and ever serene With tresses luxuriant, flowing To realms of delight yet un...

 The moon watches usFrom between white autumn clouds.So silent and serene is she,That I hold you close my lover,Lest you fall beneath her spell.- The Canticle of MenkeretJaano’s smile is deliciously charming and the merest hint of it gives me great joy. He is like a boy who has suddenly found himself tall enough to pluck a choice summer pomegranate. But perhaps that smile of his has become just a little too self assured a...

Josef awoke, and soon realized that it was early and that today he was on duty. Already bright sunlight was streaming in through his window. He loved this time of day; so fresh, so full of opportunity and promise. As he lay there he caught the faint smell of lavender coming from somewhere. “Was it aftershave?” he wondered. Perhaps one of the officers from a nearby room had received a gift from a sweetheart of from his fam...

 Each day, by the dawn’s light I greet you,I smile as you approach from afar; The rabble thinks you only a woman But I know you for the nymph that you are.Your words are as pearls from the ocean, Your breath, soft as a breeze on the sea, The world is aglow with your beauty, You are the life and the soul within me.What is gold, what are gems before you? But commonplace and lusterless things! As are bellicose deeds and empi...

Weaving in her cloister, While the angry winds conspire; The spider takes no heed Of all their noise and mischief And their empty, sullen words. - The Canticle of Menkeret. A bead of sweat rolls down between my breasts. I catch it and taste its saltiness. It is the salt of me, the salt of my blood, the blood of the Mentrassa. To me; a woman in the bonds of captivity and the sole representative of my people in this accurse...

 Dear heart that beats next to my own,Whose pulse I feel when all alone;Where in the silence of the nightDo your eyes glow with hidden light?Where among the moon’s gentle tearsDoes your own weeping fill the earsOf the uncaring winds aboveWho cry but know not pain or love?O where are you that I might knowWhere my poor entreaties go?I ask you as though I ask the sea:Why do you hide yourself from me?I tell you as though I te...

Of love the world never grows weary, Though long ages wax only to wane; The eagle will fly from her eyrie But always alight there again. Cold winters yield to the springtime, Blooms flourish where once there was snow, The setting sun and the clock chime Will see the exalted laid low! The moon caresses Earth’s waters, The dawn makes away with the dew, The bee queen’s myriad daughters Each day gather nectar anew. And of the...

This is a chapter from a novel I've been writing, on and off for the last few years. Whilst writing it I happened to discover my penchant for writing porn............. Please leave a comment to tell me what you think and I'll think about finishing the novel.As glistening spume is blown ashore, as bubbles glow in all five colours of the rainbow, as mussel shells are bright with mother of pearl, so was Crete lucent to my ey...

    Cling to my heart my lover Through all the hours of night And together let us battle Against the dawning light. Armed with fragrant garlands, Arrayed in naked steel, O how we’ll thrust and parry And with a kiss we’ll seal Our articles of empire In a glittering embrace When the union of our kingdoms Will bring us face to face, And from that time all shall see The glorious light of you and me.