Ravensong Poetry And Writing Blog by Donovan Baldwin

 Midnight,

Moonlight dancer,

Mystic,

In the silver light,

Upon the shore of love's ocean,

Both of us caught up

In the mystique of our music,

Sounds speaking to lovers

Who hear the same song.

Through her,

It becomes a love song in motion,

Telling me with the movement of her body,

Touched and guided by

The music in her heart,

What she sees,

More...

What she feels.

Gently wrapped in softness,

Billowing,

Flowing to her steps,

Hips sway,

Breathing deeply with the music,

The emotion,

The moment of the dance,

Turning to me,

Warm loving eyes,

Dancing too with the offer of her art,

She is poetry in motion,

Music made a love beyond words...

Arms inviting,

Drawing me in

So deeply

I never want to leave her side,

Never be where I cannot see her,

Watch her in her dance,

Done not only for me,

But for both of us.

Copyright November 28, 2023 by Donovan Baldwin

Labels: dance, dancer, donovan baldwin, love poem, poetry, poetry in motion

# posted by Donovan Baldwin @ 2:30 AM 0 comments

If I could use my words 

I would use them to:

Tease you, tantalize you, tempt you,

Cajole, caress, and comfort you.

Take you, wrapped in love's embrace

To the heights of ecstasy,

And further still...

Until...

Gasping with the pleasure of the ride,

You collapsed with me once more,

Upon the breast of Earth.

I would use my words to:

Bring you to your knees, 

Pledging undying love,

And a willingness to 

Do my bidding in all ways

So that I could have the joy

Of freeing you from that pledge.

If I could use my words so well,

I would use them

To make you speak the truth

About the deepest secrets and desires

Within your heart.

And, with my words, I would assure

That you never doubted

Your secrets would be kept.

But, never could I use my words

To hurt, harm, or disrespect 

The pure, sweet soul 

Within your breast.

 - Copyright November 27, 2023 by Donovan Baldwin

Labels: donovan baldwin, ecstasy, love poem, love poetry, pleasure

# posted by Donovan Baldwin @ 2:00 AM 0 comments

As a boy, 

Half a hundred years ago,

I lay sleepless, 

Shirtless,

Sweat trickling,

Sheets sticking to me,

The one window of my room open,

Old box fan

Droning in the corner.

I dreamed and imagined all sorts of things,

But never thought

To dream about a cooler place.

In Florida in the Summer, heat was...

And humidity went without saying.

So, each Summer night,

A few steps short of misery, 

I lay awake for hours,

Mind traveling along the corridors

Built by images made from

The books I read incessantly.

Later,

Girls and cars having been discovered,

And cars,

At least,

Conquered,

Hot nights became cooler,

Driving down Palafox Street

With windows down, 

Or,

Out to the Gulf Of Mexico.

Eventually,

Hot Florida nights included

Two A.M. feedings,

And the occasional rush

To an emergency room.

Now, no longer in Florida,

I have air conditioning, 

But...

Still often lie awake,

Sleepless, sticky with sweat, 

As the medicine works

To slow the progress of

The cancer within.

...Which the boy never imagined.

On nights like these,

My mind wanders up and down

Even more corridors, 

Including those built by more books,

And a half century of living.

No more chasing girls

Or driving up and down Palafox,

Or to the bay,

In the moonlight...

Except in my memory,

When I remember...

Hot Florida nights.

Labels: boy, cancer, donovan baldwin, Florida, Gulf Of Mexico, man

# posted by Donovan Baldwin @ 4:00 AM 0 comments

Have I once known you in Some other place or time?

Were we lovers then,

Winging forward to the now,

Where we find ourselves

United as before?

These eyes, these lips,

Seeming delightfully new,

Are yet, somehow,

So famliar, and,

Joyful to behold,

To touch once more...

Or so it seems, that

You and I once were one,

Lost to one another...

Seeking through eternity,

For that one who

Filled and made us whole.

I gaze upon you,

Reach for you,

In your newness to

This time and place,

And, with wonderment,

Confused by familiarity

And ease, must ask,

In this now and here...

Have I known you in

Some other place or time?
Copyright November 25, 2023 by Donovan Baldwin

Labels: donovan baldwin, lost love, love poem, poetry

# posted by Donovan Baldwin @ 11:28 AM 0 comments

Don't destroy their temple, boy,

Don't defile their creed.

Like you, they know what heartache is,

And, if they're cut they'll bleed.

They're just like you and me inside,

They've got a word for love,

They built that "heathen" temple

For someone like your god above.

They'll fight to save their daughters

From a devil such as you,

They don't live by rules you know,

But, they know what they must do.

If you want to win their hearts

And safely homeward go,

Act with honor and remember,

All the things that you don't know.

 - Copyright November 24, 2023, by Donovan Baldwin

Labels: god, heartache, heathen, poem, poetry

# posted by Donovan Baldwin @ 10:46 AM 0 comments

 If she could hear my dreams,

I wonder what she would feel...

What she would say

To me.

In darkness of the early morning

I lay awake in bed

Thinking of her,

Wishing I could say,

So many things.

I drifted back to sleep,

And, in a dream,

She came to me, 

Walking down a long hall,

In a flowing robe,

To where I sat on a sofa.

She sat beside me,

On the arm of the sofa

Leaning over me,

So close

I could have kissed her.

I wish I had.

In my dream we talked.

I used all the words 

I want to use, and,

I like to believe,

She might want to hear.

Words that cannot be spoken

When awake.

Then I awoke, 

The image of her face,

Still in my mind,

If not my eyes.

The pleasure of her visit lingered,

Her nearness still a part,

Of the air around me,

A bit of dream slowly melting away,

To be replaced by the emptiness

Of a reality where

My words could only

Be spoken,

In a dream,

Which she could not hear.

Copyright November 23, 2023 by Donovan Baldwin

Labels: donovan baldwin, dream poem, love poem, poem, poetry

# posted by Donovan Baldwin @ 10:03 AM 0 comments

 Unsure of lewd display she turns

To hide the fire which within burns,

Wishing her flames could be set free,

But frightened of her fate if he...

Should see her naked secrets bared,

Oh, what she'd do if she but dared,

The liquor feeds her inner fires,

Sets loose lascivious desires.

Lashed about by inner storms

For him she dances and performs,

Naked goddess of temptation,

Body story, dance narration.

Face flushing and her breasts on fire

As the madness drives her higher,

She falls, he catches, arms around,

At last she knows her freedom's found.

 - Copyright November 22, 2023 by Donovan Baldwin

Labels: breasts, dance, donovan baldwin, naked, poem, poetry

# posted by Donovan Baldwin @ 7:49 AM 0 comments

The freedom to be bound only by your own desires and the desires of the one you choose to share your freedom with.

The freedom to use your body fully, in any manner you choose or allow, in the expression of your love.

The freedom to be, do, have, give yourself in any manner that pleases and completes you.

The freedom to expect love, respect, no matter the path, passion, person or persons you choose to love.

The freedom to leave behind, perhaps with sadness, those who cannot understand your right to these freedoms.

- Copyright November 22, 2023 by Donovan Baldwin

Labels: donovan baldwin, freedom, poem

# posted by Donovan Baldwin @ 7:29 AM 0 comments

 An old man by the trail I'll lie,

Left behind, left here to die,

Left for obligation's sake,

It's duty's path that I must take.

Without me, has the tribe moved on

Not moved a bit, that I am gone,

Left behind with halt and blind,

Tribal rules can be unkind.

One of the tribe so many years,

No time is left for sorrow's tears,

I've learned how I am duty bound,

At last, to rest above the ground,

The ground they'll place me in at last,

When my final season's past,

If they come back at all this way,

Finding here my mortal clay.

So, dying by the trail I lie,

Left behind, left here to die,

Death easing, ending tribulation,

Discarding long held obligation.

I only ask the shaman chant,

A last death song that I can't.

I've sung for many at their last,

Someone sing when I have passed.

At last, in peace, I'll lie along,

The forest with its sweet bird song,

In death, rest will at last be found,

Beside the trail, on cold, hard ground.

The Earth is sacred, so they say,

My friend, I'll rest here for today,

Tomorrow's not within my view,

So today, I do what I must do.

If somewhere a spot I've earned,

Where love's accepted, never spurned,

Perhaps the gods will make a place,

For one who's run his final race.

A warrior for honor's sake,

Who never asked for more to take,

Than what the tribal rules allowed,

Who faced all others head unbowed.

This final task I'll do for all,

Answering one final call,

An old man by the trail I'll lie,

Left behind, left here to die,

- Copyright November 21, 2023 by Donovan Baldwin

Labels: death, donovan baldwin, poem, poetry, shaman, tribal

# posted by Donovan Baldwin @ 5:56 PM 0 comments

Her amorous intruder

Enters her garden

Through the portal

She left open.

She...

Goddess of the garden,

Shivers with delight

As he opens,

Brushes past her gates.

Once captive inside

She feels deeply each of

His questing movements.

His headlong rush

And retreat

Along her inner path.

Soft petals trembling

Driven back and forth

At each intemperate passage.

One tiny bloom rising to meet

Each new assault and retreat

With each deeper thrust

Into her secret depths.

Until at last he

Lies gasping upon

The bed they cultivated,

Savoring the seed they planted,

Lost within her dewy petals,

Both victorious in defeat.

Gracious to the last,

Her intruder gently withdraws,

Leaving marks and trails

Of their garden tryst,

Thirsty kisses left as

Reward upon her tiny soldier,

Who strove so bravely to the end,

And among trembling petals

Of her weeping blossom.

Copyright November 20, 2023 by Donovan Baldwin

Labels: donovan baldwin, erotic poem, garden of love, poetry, sensual interlude, tryst

# posted by Donovan Baldwin @ 11:30 AM 0 comments

The waves whispered secrets

That I could barely understand,

And yet, and yet, I craved to meet

This fabled creature never found

On this earth in this life, until,

One day I wrote a poem and

I felt your eyes upon it and

Following the gaze found at last

The hidden woman I had sought.

 - Copyright November 19, 2023 by Donovan Baldwin

Labels: donovan baldwin, fable, love, poem, poetry, secrets, waves, wind, woman

# posted by Donovan Baldwin @ 9:40 AM 0 comments

Woman, She

Ebony or ivory,

Or somewhere in between,

Perhaps beyond,

Woman still of mystery,

And tantalizing landscape,

Of her hard tipped hills,

Softly rolling velvet plains

Her warm welcoming grotto

Of earthy delights,

Which transport

These two loving mortals

To lands of uncommon

Fantasy and ecstasy.

- Copyright November 16, 2023 by Donovan Baldwin

Labels: donovan baldwin, love poem, praise of woman, sensual poetry, woman

# posted by Donovan Baldwin @ 11:31 AM 0 comments

 beat of rhythm thrust of thigh

dancer in firelight as i,

entranced, enthralled, on edge of sin,

watch her wicked dance begin

the tempo rises, feet a blur

till all that i can see is her

stripped naked by my burning gaze

burnished by the campfire's blaze

her breasts and hips in constant motion

waves upon desire's deep ocean

a riptide i cannot deny

a siren call i'll not defy,

for sake of love i'll take the chance,

join her in her fervid dance,

my back turned on society,

into the dance of her and me

Labels: dance naked, dancer, desire, donovan baldwin, love, poem, poetry

# posted by Donovan Baldwin @ 2:24 PM 0 comments

By Donovan Baldwin

soft folds of orchid petals

dewdrops on the bloom

a tiny bud opening

caress of morning breeze

rising heat of the sun

sensuous nature

-----

since she was a girl

thought she must be innocent

and then she met him

whirl of confusion

love which had been sought so long

was not pristine pure

seething love and lust

a helping of sacrifice

and hidden desires

-----

seldom black and white

we are complicated art

rainbows of colors

in classical oils

pastels of watercolor

sharp edged acrylics

naked in our essence

humans and angels alike

pass for each other

-----

love has many forms

not all nights are orgies of

physical delights

candlelit dinner

a glance across a table

shared appetizer

strolling public ways

holding hands like shy children

smiling at past sins

-----

feeds me a morsel

covered with a shining sauce

her fingers dripping

-----

lover learns to read

tones and textures of her skin

secret messages

-----

fearing who might hear

she stifles the urgent cries

as desires explode

a quiet nova

in her universe within

she soars among stars

ecstasy is born

deep within her inner space

secret love silent

-----

a look and a word

tearing her garments to rags

she brings him her heat

-----

somehow miracle

we two drops of love's ocean

form our single sea

-----

opens for his words

and his penetrating gaze

tacit submission

in quiet repose

awaits tactile sensations

feeling his poems

featherlight touches

aroused anticipation

urgent crescendo

-----

lips pressed to your cup

its warm fragile edge yielding

pouring forth desires

-----

her garments hang tattered

revealing then concealing

she sways with her need

-----

poem or prayer

lips worshipping each other

a timeless temple

-----

kneeling she told him

i know where I want to go

please lead me astray

-----

wish i wish for her

with me may she ever be

free to be herself

-----

my poems as snares

i smile each time you appear

caught for a moment

-----

i summon demons

who come to me as poets

to light my darkness

-----

abandoned angel

who became his every wish

in their new eden

-----

she met the poet

took his words and walked away

couldn't stand the man

-----

left without his muse

his pouch of words hangs empty

even echoes gone

-----

be who you must be

you owe a poet nothing

leave him to his words

-----

treasuring their touch

naked among autumn's leaves

her poet watching

-----

she chooses the game

then she picks out the toys...

the rule is pleasure

-----

singing in freedom

dark rose dances in the breeze

before her poet

-----

poet offers images

praises the sound of her song

how she dances for him

-----

lovers share the stars

the sunsets and sunrises...

universe of love

-----

poetry's lonely

just me and a few old words

that once meant something

-----

what's it like to love

and to feel that love retured

to have someone care

-----

Copyright Donovan Baldwin November 12, 2023

Labels: donovan baldwin, innocence, love, poem, poetry, rose

# posted by Donovan Baldwin @ 7:02 AM 0 comments

 By Donovan Baldwin

Even without words,

You speak to me.,,

Of quiet walks

On moonlit shores,

Love songs softly played,

On old guitars,

Of candles fluttering 

In an evening breeze,

As gossamer curtains

Dance to the same

Unheard music...

Of stories laughed at,

Lies disbelieved with

A smile and upraised eyebrow

And, quiet, special looks,

In private pauses...

Of fingers touching 

Across an old table,

Marked with years, 

And promises of more,

For those sharing there...

Of wishes, dreams, desires,

Granted and still in

The hands of Fate,

And, silent prayers,

For their fulfillment...

Of times gone by,

And yet to come,

History not yet made,

But, with luck,

The finest moments,

Of them all...

Of all this and more...

Even without words,

You speak to me.

#poem #poetry #wishes #dreams #desires

Labels: desires, donovan baldwin, dreams, love, poem, poetry, wishes, words

# posted by Donovan Baldwin @ 11:52 AM 0 comments