To those wanderers that go off
to far off places
To escape their mundane existence
To climb higher, to be greater
To think clearer and breathe deeper

To challenge the ordinary
To resist convention and be
the change-makers
To outlast the last call and be the renegade to take charge
To forage ahead and lead the pack
To be renewed and committed to the mission of the great unknown

Jasmine and Jeremy loved to read
A book every night at amazing speed;
They’d lie on their bed,
Or sit in a chair –
Reading book after book after book right there.

Books in their room would be on the floor –
All sorted by author, by topic and more;
Then next to their bed
Were books that were new –
With pile after pile after pile to view.

Stories of Sinbad and Dorian Gray –
Stories by Wells, Poe and Hemingway;
The fantasies shelved,
The histories on racks –
With page after page after page of facts.

These giants among mortals
I grew up listening to them play and sing

I'd sit up late at night
trying to imitate their thing

They were more than just men
they were rock stars so to speak

I was mesmerized by their playing
it had a profound affect on me

Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck, among others
played music I could keep

Songs that carried me through hard times
too hard to bare then it seemed!

These giants whom I worshipped
are becoming an endangered species

i love being kissed,
but not just kissed, i love being kissed with intention.
i love to be kissed on my hands.
honestly, i sometimes prefer it more than being kissed on the lips.
while it could be the attention to detail
that i paid to romantic idolizations i held in my youth;
i see it as acceptance,
rather than infatuation,
because acceptance is more permanent.

when i kissed your hands,
while i perhaps mimicked beloved fairytales in my mind,
i did it to show you i accepted you,
all of you.