Not to waste the spring… (a poem)

Not to waste the spring

I threw down everything,

And ran into the open world

To sing what I could sing…

To dance what I could dance!

And join with everyone!

I wandered with a reckless heart

beneath the newborn sun.

First stepping through the blushing dawn,
I crossed beneath a garden bower,
counting every hermit thrush,
counting every hour.

When morning’s light was ripe at last,
I stumbled on with reckless feet;
and found two nymphs engaged in play,
approaching them stirred no retreat.
With naked skin, their weaving hands,
in form akin to Calliope’s maids,
shook winter currents from their hair
to weave within them vernal braids.

I grabbed the first, who seemed the stronger
by her soft and dewy leg,
and swore blind eyes,
Lest I find I,
before Diana, a hunted stag.

But the nymphs they laughed,
and shook their heads.
and begged I drop beseeching hands.
For one was no goddess, the other no huntress,
merely two girls at play in the early day.

“Please come to us, with unblinded eyes,
and raise your ready lips.
We will wash your mouth with watery sighs,
weave you springtime with our fingertips.”

So the nymphs they spoke,
we kissed and laid,
by noontime’s hour,
our love was made,
Like braided chains of crocus stems,
We lay entwined, I laid with them,
Our breath, one glassy, tideless sea,
Our bodies draping wearily.
We slept, I slept so lucidly,
with hopes to stay this memory.

I woke in dusty afternoon,
Alone, the nymphs had left too soon,
I searched where perched upon my knees
Heard only larks’ songs in the trees.

“Be you, the larks, my far-flung maids?
With lilac feet and branchlike braids…
Who sing sweet odes to my elation,
in your larking exaltation!”

With these, my clumsy, carefree words,
The birds they stirred and flew away,
“Be I, poor Actaeon,” I cried, “Be dead…
Before they, like Hippodamia, be gone astray!”
Yet these words, too late, remained unheard,
By lark, that parting, morning bird.
I looked upon its parting flight,
and smelled the coming of the night;
desirous, I gazed upon its jaunt,
as Leander gazes Hellespont.

Now the hour was ripe and dark,
sensuous memories of sunlight past,
I stood alone in garden bowers
and asked the value of my hours.
Time was spent or time was tossed,
Life was loved and life was lost.
I kissed the flesh of tender girls,
I heard the songs of vernal birds.
I gazed upon the blushing light,
aware of day before the night.

So let me ask and hear a thought:
Did I live the spring I’d sought?
It’s true in joy, I walked along,
took part in dance,
and sang the song.
and never tried to bind an hour
to my borrowed garden bower;
nor did I once entreat
a day to slumber at my feet.
Yet days aren’t lulled by lyric song,
like morning birds they pass along,
o’er crests of trees, to none belong;
o’er crests of trees of drying dew,
their larking flight, my hands, eschew
Thus I’ll say it once and true…

From all that I saw,
and everywhere I wandered,
I learned that time cannot be spent,
It only can be squandered.”

― Roman Payne, Rooftop Soliloquy

Bubble Bath

Nothing like finding photos like these on Instagram to inspire a novelist to keep writing ;) 

…have your own photos to share? Email them to photos@romanpayne.com ! (I’ll share them on my Facebook page)

Recollection of Champagne, Feasts, and Summer Nights (Quote from Rooftop Soliloquy)

“Champagne arrived in flûtes on trays, and we emptied them
with gladness in our hearts… for when feasts are laid
and classical music is played, where champagne is drunk
once the sun has sunk, and the season of summer is alive
in spicy bloom, and beautiful women fill the room,
and are generous with laughter and smiles…
these things fill men’s hearts with joy and remind one
that life’s bounty is not always fleeting
but can be captured, and enjoyed.
It is in writing about this scene that I relive
this night in my soul.”

~ Roman Payne    (Rooftop Soliloquy)

Audio Reading: “Coming of Spring” – excerpt from “Rooftop Soliloquy,” read by the author

 

Back in 2009 I recorded this excerpt from my novel, new at the time, Rooftop Soliliquy…   On “The Coming of Spring”…

http://www.romanpayne.com/audio/MP3Z_literature-readings/Readings_Rooftop-Soliloquy/MP3_roman-payne_coming-of-spring.mp3

“All forms of madness… are justified…” (Literary Quote)

“All forms of madness, bizarre habits, awkwardness in society, general clumsiness, are justified in the person who creates good art”

— Roman Payne, from Rooftop Soliloquy

On the Beauty of Women and Champagne… (Literary Quote from Rooftop Soliloquy)

“One of my favorite lyric passages in Rooftop Soliloquy.” – Roman Payne

“Champagne arrived in flûtes on trays, and we emptied them with gladness in our hearts… for when feasts are laid and classical music is played, where champagne is drunk once the sun has sunk and the season of summer is alive in spicy bloom, and beautiful women fill the room, and are generous with laughter and smiles… these things fill men’s hearts with joy and remind one that life’s bounty is not always fleeting but can be captured, and enjoyed. It is in writing about this scene that I relive this night in my soul.”

― Roman Payne, Rooftop Soliloquy

The Gallery of Modern Fiction

Fine Art for Free on Amazon.com

Get Payne’s Novel about Paris, free on Amazon now:  http://www.amazon.com/Rooftop-Soliloquy-Roman-Payne-ebook/dp/B00361EODO

 

Free Download: A Novel About Paris

Click the Image Above to Download the Novel Free.

 

Rooftop Soliloquy, Payne’s 4th novel, is free to download for the next five days!  Go here and download today for Kindle, iPad, iPhone, Tablet, PC, or another electronic reader: http://www.amazon.com/Rooftop-Soliloquy-Roman-Payne-ebook/dp/B00361EODO

 

 

 

 

“ODE TO SPRING” (from “Rooftop Soliloquy”)

“Did I live the spring I’d sought?

It’s true in joy, I walked along,

took part in dance,

and sang the song.

and never tried to bind an hour

to my borrowed garden bower;

nor did I once entreat

a day to slumber at my feet.

Yet days aren’t lulled by lyric song,

like morning birds they pass along,

o’er crests of trees, to none belong;

o’er crests of trees of drying dew,

their larking flight, my hands, eschew

Thus I’ll say it once and true…

From all that I saw,

and everywhere I wandered,

I learned that time cannot be spent,

It only can be squandered.”

― Roman Payne, Rooftop Soliloquy

www.parisquest.com

Literary Quote: “Life was pure pleasure” (from “Rooftop Soliloquy” – a novel by Roman Payne)

@RomanPayne | http://www.romanpayne.com | http://www.wanderess.com | http://www.facebook.com/payneroman | http://www.culturalbook.com/profile/RomanPayne

“I was surrounded by friends, my work was immense, and pleasures were abundant. Life, now, was unfolding before me, constantly and visibly, like the flowers of summer that drop fanlike petals on eternal soil. Overall, I was happiest to be alone; for it was then I was most aware of what I possessed. Free to look out over the rooftops of the city. Happy to be alone in the company of friends, the company of lovers and strangers. Everything, I decided, in this life, was pure pleasure.” – Roman Payne, Rooftop Soliloquy

Happy New Year 2014, Your Rooftop is Free !

Last day to download my old “roman libertin” Rooftop Soliloquy for Free (Kindle version rated #2 Bestseller, category Urban Literature”)… also at the same time, pick up “The Wanderess” for Kindle for $3 (Tomorrow it goes back to 10!)…

Rooftop for Free: http://www.amazon.com/Rooftop-Soliloquy-Roman-Payne-ebook/dp/B00361EODO
eWanderess for $3: http://www.amazon.com/Wanderess-Roman-Payne-ebook/dp/B00H00JQZS/

#Bestseller in the Kindle Store, Category “Urban Fiction” Jan 1st 2014