The Elixir of Love

What terrible toxin tinges my taste?
For the surer, safer sweetness of one,
Whom, for you, I would be willing to waste
A lifetime's comfort for one night of none.

This elixir of love drunk to my death,
Served by the kiss that now kills my kind heart,
Has choked off all reason, captured my breath,
With bewitching blasts of lips' liquid art.

Such poison of passion passed on to me,
And with smiles, intense infections I drink;
You are both my disease and remedy —
For I die, then am brought back from the brink.

My health and well-being are both remote,
I swallow your love, not its antidote.

- Michael D. Petti

The Hurt Of Heart

I only loved her, and beg her return,
Life's boundaries bind the best feelings felt;
Love has no limits, though limits we learn,
By dealing in lies, while truth should be dealt.

I hold her heart in my heart's deep well,
Not hidden, yet hurt, as my heart hurts, too —
Surfaces nightly, before morning's quell
Of sunshine and routine hides it from view.

As dreams take control, I find her again;
Though it cannot stop, my heart skips a beat,
My stomach gets tight, my palms sweat, and then
I wake up in dark to my hope's defeat.

With eyes blind for love, I struggle to see,
Released by her... she still captivates me.

- Michael D. Petti

Sweet Scent Of Sin

My heart is a stolen, sweet scent of sin,
Your perfume the bath that burns in my brain;
I, in this place, in this bed I am in,
Crave that from which conscience tries to refrain.

Your slow, slender stride is sauntering need,
That pools in my mind, as you cross the floor;
Approaching my side in your gentle greed,
I swim in your swoon, as I beg for more.

My poetry pushes passion on you,
Morality is no match for this make;
Our special suite has a fantasy view,
We fall in love with no room for mistake.

I recite verse—be it right, be it wrong,
You lay in my arms, and sing to my song.

-Michael D. Petti

 You Are The Dream...

You are the dream in my poor mind each night
When I retire my heart-heavy head;
I toss and turn as these new thoughts take flight
Beyond the realm of this hard, lonely bed.

The lamp of this love is lit with your lips,
It glows with the gloss of your unknown kiss;
I reach through the dark with fool fingertips,
Feeling the shine of my passion's blind bliss.

How do I bottle the essence of you?
To wear in the day of this night's retreat,
And summon the promise of morning's dew,
Like perfume decanted from body heat.

I bathe in your beauty in moonlit tide,
Then sleep with you, daily, eyes opened wide.

-Michael D. Petti

 Sonnets Are Safer

Sonnets are safer, when passions arise,
Igniting fires of truth in our heart,
Form takes control and, then, leaves us its prize,
Rendering our love its very own art.

Deep poets wander the woods of their mind
Along unknown paths of unhappy thought;
Our written words would not be so inclined,
Satisfied in what need never be sought.

If I hold your hand and lead you away
To my own world I will take you each time—
Should it, then, get dark on roads gone astray,
You could return by the light of this rhyme.

Confusion and pain are others' close friend,
Romantic verse wins your love in the end.

-Michael D. Petti

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