One Hundred and Fifty-Five Sonnets - 76. paperwhites

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Sonnet No. 151

The dogs sport at our feet with playful jaws,

While your Gina eyes them from cool detachment.

Grooming her Angora fur with licked claws,

You are proud that she is independent.

On the windowsill quickly sprouts your gift,

The paperwhite bulbs to brighten winter,

And prove with sweet fragrance our minds can lift

Like daffodils to be gray weather’s tinter.

Side-by-side on the sofa, we survey

The kingdom of our love’s prosperity,

While in my silent heart, I humbly pray

The home we build will be of equity.

Let my hand plant into yours, and then know,

We're soil enough for the other to grow.

Sonnet No. 152

After a trying day, Love’s a warm bath,

Whose firm support presses, but does not crush

The child in me He knows is an empath,

And able to feel his purest uprush.

The water of Love is like liquid jewels,

Ground and pulverized by work-a-day strain,

But in that diamond-crush are shattered the rules

That sorrow is an emotion to refrain.

So, with you, I slip beneath the waters,

Knowing my soaked head will rise to behold

Your head be-doused with sparkling gem starters

At the other end of the tub so bold.

To that matrix let me add a single tear,

The one I can brush from your cheek without fear.

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