The Poetry and Prose of Johanna Kaye Fugitt
Lingering
Is your kiss.
Sweet is your touch
Upon my skin.
I look into your eyes,
So blue,
So bright,
With love’s glory.
Had I known you
Before my loneliness
I wouldn’t have despaired
As I did.
But you came,
Right when I needed you.
Not before,
Not even after.
I thank you,
For being my love
And being there
When I needed you the most.
Author’s note: This poem was dedicated to a close family friend who, at the time, was experiencing marital issues that eventually ended in divorce.
What was once true,
Is now shallow.
Never do you touch me
Anymore.
Never does your hand
Reach to clasp mine.
The warmth is all gone,
And I cry myself to sleep.
Where did the time go
When you kissed me passionately?
When do you love me
As you did before?
I remember when our love
Felt like a fresh breeze.
And when even the cold came
I felt warm with you beside me.
Whatever happened to us?
Why is our love gone?
Tell me please,
When did our love die?
A rustle of feathers,
Two ivory wings.
A flash of silver,
A spiraled horn.
A fine, delicate head,
Like a porcelain sculpture.
Hair long and silky,
Opalescent.
Who is this creature?
Surely a myth,
With silver hooves,
And sparkling sapphire eyes.
She is innocence
And she is truth.
She is the child within,
She is the imagination.
I am at a loss,
No words come to my lips.
And here I stand,
Lost in your eyes.
Pools of molten color
Steal into my soul.
Heating my body,
As they thrust ever deeper.
My knees grow weak,
As your lips touch mine.
As your breath
Mingles with mine.
How are you able to do this?
How is it I melt at your touch?
For it must surely be magic,
No other thing can cause this.
Author’s note: This was written for a fellow high school choir member’s mother who passed away.
A woman of virtue,
Of love and hope,
She filled us all
With a desire.
Unknown was this,
And yet in believing
In her and her faith,
She brought us thus.
We all crept forward,
Waiting,
For a chance
At touching this earthly angel’s light.
She brought hope,
To everyone.
If you were lost,
She helped you find the way.
Much loved,
Was this angel on Earth,
By her friends
And her family.
She hath all she ever wanted,
A handsome son,
A beautiful daughter,
And a loving partner.
Who could want for more?
She only wanted her faith
And even that
She hath.
What took her from our side,
Was merely Fate
And God giving life
To another angel in heaven.
Someday,
I hope to have
All she hath
And prosper as doth she.
I do not envy her,
No.
I only cherished her
And her ways.
I knew her only a couple of weeks
Before God requested her presence.
I only knew her smiling face
And the laughter from her lips.
I never shed a tear for her,
Yet I felt I should have.
Even then,
I grieved the loss.
The loss of one
Who’s light shone brightly
As a star does
On a dark night.
Whose voice sang her joy,
In knowing God.
Whose laughter bespoke
A happiness in life.
I believe one day
In the far future,
We will gaze into a sapphire sky,
And a single cloud shall linger.
Wings will appear from this cloud,
And in a clear, beautiful voice
From heaven above
Laughter shall ring forth.
We shall know it as her voice,
And this heavenly laughter,
Will be Rhonda’s joy
At being close to the One she loves.
Author’s note: I just now realized that the first stanza in this poem is the same as Richard Marx’s “One Man” chorus. lol Good thing I am not earning anything from these poems. Oh teenage me.
One man,
Stood tall.
And faced the devil,
With his back to the wall.
He watched
As millions suffered.
Tears flowed from
Golden eyes.
With his word,
And the faith in his god,
He stood up to help
To give his faith to others.
With calloused hands
He reached out
To support
The crying and the dying.
No weapon was needed,
Only his faith
And the truth
Was all he ever used.
One man stood tall,
Beside the millions,
And fought back
Against the devil in a country.
Tears,
That fall.
Making tiny silver rivers
Along alabaster skin.
She cries for a world
Lost in fear,
Lost in arrogance,
Lost in greed.
With her tiny hands,
She makes a wreath
Out of all the colors
That flowers came in.
Upon her golden head
She places the crown.
She leaps up,
And she dances.
She dances for everything,
Every bird and tree,
Every animal and river,
Every storm and man.
And around her,
Trees dance,
Birds sing,
And animals move along with her.
This one tiny child,
Understands all.
So when she has nothing to do,
She dances for the world.
She gives hope,
She gives joy, and happiness.
She gives love,
And her life.
If every person in our world,
Got up and danced,
Maybe joy and love
Could be experienced again.
Slowly I move,
With you I move.
A slow-beat pounds
Through my feet.
Too slow to match
The beating of my heart.
With you I move,
In your strong arms
I move.
Here I am,
Lost in your embrace.
I move,
Without a clue.
Lost am I, yet
I move.
Your hair tickles my skin,
I am moved by it.
By the beauty in your body,
Your stature, your strength.
I move,
Knowing that as I do,
I fall deeper into your embrace.
Deeper into the darkened sea of your eyes,
Those pools of liquid brown.
I cannot help it,
So I move.
Every step bringing me closer to you.
I don’t understand why
I feel like I do.
This man of mystery
came into my universe
from one of parallel,
seeking peace and new way.
Why was he given to me?
What have I possibly done
to deserve him?
His powers are enormous,
so much so that he may die,
yet he wishes
to spend the rest of his life
with me.
Author’s note: Just an FYI, this is another poem written from the point of view of a Native American. No offense intended.
Long ago,
The white men came,
Tearing asunder
All we had known.
They seemed sent
By our gods,
But why our gods
Hated us so to send this curse?
This curse
Of pale-skinned men,
Who seemed without feeling,
Without flesh and blood.
They sought to destroy
Our traditions and
Destroy our beliefs
In our gods.
If we were to turn our backs
On our gods,
They promised to us,
We would be saved.
From what?
To die an old man
Wise in the ways of the gods,
Was better than that of the new god.
Dying a warrior,
In battle,
Protecting our gods
Seemed better, too.
Had those white men,
Believed to win us
With a false salvation?
With a weak god?
Although he was supposed
To control all by himself.
It was stronger,
To allow those he trusted to help.
A greedy god,
Leading greedy men,
Was all we saw
In those pale, bloodless faces.
in the end i am yours 