for Hannah

My outrageous, talented, uber-creative, beautiful daughter Hannah turned 11 on the 17th of December 2008. The back story to the poem is that in my memory of the day Hannah was born the weather seemed unseasonably nice. A quick Google search confirmed that the 17^th was the only day in December of 1997 when the temperature hit 60 degrees.

thirty-one days in december,
i only celebrate two;
one, the day of jesus' birth,
the other when god gave me you.

twenty-fifth day of december,
we remember the birth of god's son;
but of all december's thirty-one days,
that's eight past my favorite one.

day number one in december
is actually day seventeen,
for that is the day on which I did see
the most beautiful thing ever seen.

thirty days were cold that december,
--nineteen ninety-seven--
but the seventeenth day hit sixty degrees,
as my hannah arrived from heaven.

sixty degrees in december
--a clear and bright blue sky--
the perfect way for god to say,
here's your angel from on-high.

eleven years since december,
--four-thousand eighteen days--
and Hannah rose you've made me proud
four-thousand eighteen ways.


-- James Sizemore (December 2008)

© 2012 James A. Sizemore. All rights reserved.

hope springs

in dark and silent solitude
i listen for the phone,
disheartened and dejected,
depressed and all alone.

all-the-while knowing i
will say the wrong damn thing,
i stare at that damn telephone
and pray that it will ring.

all-the-while knowing you
will not come back to me,
still yet i sit here patiently;
and pray and cry and plea.

all-the-while knowing i
am crying in the rain,
i beg that heaven listen
to my pathos and my pain.

all-the-while knowing you
and god ignore my plight,
i find solace in the hope somehow,
that phone will ring tonight.

in dark and silent solitude
i listen for the phone,
disheartened and dejected
depressed and all alone...

-- James A. Sizemore (2004)

© 2012 James A. Sizemore. All rights reserved.

good-bye in the shape of a woman

good-bye

i sit and stare at blank paper
pen at the ready in hand
paper returns my stare blankly
and callously mocks my "command"
command of the words i once treasured
command of my senses too
command of the mind
i can't seem to find
since the day that
i lost you
i lost you
now i am lost
i cannot find my way
forsaken and forgotten
heaven itself turns away
deafening silence surrounds me
and drowns my bootless cries
as the light on the desktop flickers
and the light of your love slowly dies

-- James Sizemore ( November 2004)

© 2012 James A. Sizemore. All rights reserved.

sweet melissa

would you mind if i told a tale,

a short story in a rhyme;

of how this girl melissa

throws my heartbeat

out of time?

tresses drape her beauty in

celestial tapestry;

with flowing grace

like golden waves

that ride the moonlit sea.

or perhaps it isn't moonlight,

but starlight that i see;

in ice blue eyes 

(like sapphires)

that have wholly captured me.

her sculptured form a masterpiece

-- a sultry silhouette --

in heaven's house

her name's "sublime,"

a perfect soubriquet.

face of perfect countenance,

manna to my soul;

a seraph straight from heaven,

who completes

and makes me whole.

-- James A. Sizemore (2007)

© 2012 James A. Sizemore. All rights reserved.

on the advent of our wedding . . .

on the advent of our wedding

as the nuptial moment nears

my heart is filled with love and joy,

my head with hopes and fears

fears about the future,

about money, kids, careers;

and the manifold unknown challenges

we shall face throughout the years

hopes of love eternal,

hopes of joy divine

hopes the heart that beats in you,

will stay forever mine

joy, divine, unparalleled,

blessed so many ways,

joy, the act of loving you

the rest of all my days

love; a love that's more than love,

love more true than true,

love so deep i'd sooner die

than live unloved by you

--James A. Sizemore (2008)

© 2012 James A. Sizemore. All rights reserved.