Carl Martin Johnson
Poet, Author, Slayer of Dragons
LOVE SONG Poetry -- "Men and Women in Lust and Love - Poems of Love, Lust, Romance, and Heartbreak"
© Carl Martin Johnson, All rights reserved
ROLL PAST ME, RIVER
By Carl Martin Johnson
Roll past, you great wide river.
Carry my troubles to the sea.
My woman is no forgiver.
She’s gone. She set me free.
I let temptation best me
With a loose but lovely girl.
She was sent by the devil to test me,
Put my mind all in a whirl.
I’m young, but I’ll get older.
Don’t I deserve another chance?
But her heart could not be colder.
She says I’ve had my dance.
I’ll throw my heart into your current,
Let you take it far away,
With things that might have been, but weren’t,
That have gone for good today.
If I thought it would ease my sorrow,
I would jump in too.
Although, could be tomorrow
Fate will bring me someone new.
Then to her I will be true.
At the very least I’ll try.
Sometimes I can’t help what I do.
My weakness makes me cry.
Why I am so I cannot find,
No matter how deeply I delve.
Perhaps I will better control my mind
Next year when I am twelve.
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HAUNTED BY A FACE
By Carl Martin Johnson
I am haunted by a face.
Soft lips pressed on mine.
A passionate embrace,
Fueled by love and wine.
I can’t remember where.
I’m unsure of her name.
Yet something, I know, was there.
Sometimes I still feel the flame.
On stormy nights in my bed
She enters my mind unbidden.
A memory I thought dead
Remaining in my heart hidden.
But I lost her in the dawn.
I let her slip away.
I was sad when she had gone.
I should have begged her stay.
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MORNING WITH MY LOVE
By Carl Martin Johnson
In the morning I smell flowers
In my darling’s shining hair.
I could lie with her for hours,
Her beauty is so fair.
The dawn light tints her face
With a delicate rosy hue,
And my heart begins to race,
As when our love was new.
Long lashes twitch from dreaming.
A smile comes to her lips,
Those two ripe berries gleaming,
From whence sweet nectar drips.
I would join her if I could,
In the land where Morpheus reigns.
We would leave behind for good
This world and all its chains.
Yet here she is my bride,
So I bless the Heavenly Powers
That let me lie here by her side
And look at her for hours.
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THE FARMER
By Carl Martin Johnson
The farmer watched the setting sun.
His boy sat at his side.
Another hard day’s work was done.
Another night without his bride.
He kept her picture by his bed.
He would touch it before he slept.
But there were no more tears to shed.
It was months since he had wept.
She had been his first and only.
There could never be another.
He and his son would now be lonely.
They had lost a wife and mother.
She was living behind the sunset,
That’s what their boy was told.
He was too young to know the truth yet.
Still too young when he grew old.
She loved another more than them.
So she left one winter night.
But the farmer would not condemn,
Only hope she was all right.
They were a family, he and his son.
They would know love and joy.
They still had living to be done,
The farmer and his boy.
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THE FALL
By Carl Martin Johnson
She made sure I’d see her fall.
I was the audience she wanted.
I was the reason for it all.
She made certain I’d be haunted.
Had I loved her not so well,
I would have turned before she leapt.
I should have followed her to Hell,
Where together we’d have slept.
But, I watched the tragic scene.
After all, I wrote the script.
It would have played different on the screen.
I would have caught her as she slipped.
I had found them naked on the floor.
She had wanted her revenge.
She got that, and much more.
The sight still makes me cringe.
When I left, it was for good.
We had both cut wounds too deep.
She had said she understood.
We had sowed, now we must reap.
Now I look out on L.A. lights
From high in the Hollywood Hills,
Recalling our Hollywood nights.
Reliving our Hollywood thrills.
She is swallowed in the dark below me.
She is dead, and my soul’s dying.
Did I know her, or she me?
Or was our love just lying?
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DREAMS THAT DISAPPOINT
By Carl Martin Johnson
Sometimes a dream we gain
Seems less than once was thought.
Hardly worth the pain
With which the dream was bought.
Though it was a fine temptation,
Thought worthy of pursuit.
Turned out not worth celebration.
Only unripened fruit.
Still, it’s good to have a lure,
Motivation to move ahead.
It helps us to endure.
Be alive until we’re dead.
So, a dreamer always be.
Let your dreams be part of you.
Keep searching and you’ll see
Some dreams at last come true.
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SHELTER
By Carl Martin Johnson
I’ll shield you from the lightning,
Give you shelter from the storm,
Protect you from all that’s frightening.
In the cold I’ll keep you warm.
I will take away your pain,
Give you rest when you are weary.
Evil dragons I’ll see slain
I’ll lift you up when life is dreary.
I’ll hold the sun high in your sky.
Clouds will never block its beams
I’ll let nothing make you cry,
Awake or in your dreams.
Take refuge in my strong love.
Sleep cherished and secure.
You have nothing to be fearful of.
Together we’ll endure.
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INSIDE YOU
By Carl Martin Johnson
Close your eyes and look for me.
You will find me waiting.
I am where we both should be,
In the world we are creating.
We’ll keep the outside world at bay,
Only its good things may enter.
Sadness and cruelty stay away.
Love is our world’s center.
I’ll shut my eyes and meet you.
We’ll embrace and become one.
You’ll be me and I’ll complete you.
Our secret life will have begun.
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DAMN THE LIES!
By Carl Martin Johnson
Damn your deceit! Damn your lies!
I know where you have been
The truth lurks in your shamed eyes.
You cannot hide your sin.
I know too well your game.
Desires you can’t control.
If you are not to blame,
Then there’s a demon in your soul.
You’ve been touched by other hands.
Someone else aroused your ardor.
The marks on you are another man’s.
If you must lie, try harder.
While with him you naked lay,
Were you making plans to deceive?
While you let him have his way,
Were you composing lies I would believe?
Take your untruths and leave!
Damn them, and damn you!
Not for an instant will I grieve.
My next love will be true!
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THE OLD MAN’S SCARS
By Carl Martin Johnson
His scars told the old man’s story,
Every battle, every fight.
Hard defeats… joyous glory.
Brown bear claws…grey wolf’s bite.
Fang marks from a daring quest
For ancient Mayan treasure.
The scratches on his chest
Tell of wanton youthful pleasure.
The jagged line across his face
Says he has been brave.
Perhaps he stood in a comrade’s place
And fought his life to save.
But there is a scar no one can see
Marking sweet pain on his heart.
From a love that could not be
That flamed too hot at the start.
The scars are his journey’s art,
Drawn from life’s hard toll.
But the one embracing his heart.
Is from a wound that made him whole.
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LOOK FOR ME IN THE SUNSET
By Carl Martin Johnson
Look for me in the sunset.
You will find me if you try.
The sun is where our hearts met.
It’s where we’ll say goodbye.
I do not want to leave you,
But my time on earth is through.
For a while it may grieve you
Until we meet anew.
If I could run to you, I would.
But my honor will not let me.
I will not be gone for good,
So long as you do not forget me.
My death will not end us.
You will feel me at your side.
All the angels will befriend us.
Our love will give them pride.
I must do my duty,
Must face what must be done.
I will think of your sweet beauty.
While this battle will be won.
Though I will miss your tender touch,
And it has been said before:
“I could not love thee, dear, so much,
Loved I not honor more.”
So see me in the setting sun.
Our love burned in its fire.
And know that you are the only one
That ever could my heart desire.
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THE DREAM PLACE
By Carl Martin Johnson
I know there is a place somewhere,
A place where dreams are born,
Where hopes first breathe air,
And wishes wait for the morn.
I will watch them as they flower,
See each one burst into bloom,
Feel their spirit and power,
Inhale their angel-breath perfume.
And I will make one of my own,
Pray for it to come true,
Nurture it from the instant it’s sown,
Because it will be my dream of you.
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TEMPTRESS NIGHT
By Carl Martin Johnson
Night folds her dark blanket ‘round me,
Strokes my forehead with her soft hand,
Calling her creatures to surround me,
Witness to her plea they stand.
She tells me of her desire,
Her fervor to make us one,
To pull me into her cold black fire,
Hide me forever from the sun.
We are alike, she tells me.
Down deep I am like her.
It is her darkness that compels me.
With her demons I confer.
“Be my lover”, she implores me.
“Stay with me forever.”
She swears that she adores me
Until the twelfth of never.
I resist, but it is sweet temptation.
There will come a time when I give in,
Even though I know it means damnation,
And retribution for my sin.
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DANGEROUS
By Carl Martin Johnson
I didn’t know she was dangerous.
A woman like her a man can’t trust.
In the dawn she seems an angel…
Look at the sweetness in her face.
She won’t bare her fangs
‘Til you’re held fast in her embrace.
When her arms first went ‘round me,
I soared high in the rapture.
I let her luscious charms confound me.
She wanted not to hold, but to capture.
The woman is a predator…has a steel trap for a heart.
She’ll bait you with her beauty.. then tear you all apart.
She’ll suck a man’s love dry and leave him in despair.
If she ever had a soul, it is no longer there.
I best run while I can,
Before she leaves me just a shell.
I wish I’d seen when this began,
Her kind of angel’s born in Hell.
The woman is a carnivore.
I’m leaving. I can take no more.
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SOUL LOVERS
By Carl Martin Johnson
Your beauty filled my mind.
You were naked and complete.
I lay with you, intertwined,
Our loving slow and sweet.
My lips searched and caressed you.
I aroused you beyond measure.
With all my lust I blessed you.
We shared our erotic treasure.
When we, at last, were spent,
Bodies stilled from passion’s throes,
I felt thrust into a new event,
Where the body never goes.
Our minds seemed to have matured,
Anticipating more,
Something yet unknown which lured.
Something deep down in our core.
We lit ecstasy’s fire,
From our spirits not our loins.
The flames burned with desire
Where soul and mortality joins.
Our beings were full united.
Our souls’ needs were sated.
Something fine we had ignited.
A higher love we had created.
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RAINING
By Carl Martin Johnson
I looked out my window,
Hoping to see you
Coming out of the rain.
Outlined in the red glow
Of the dying sun,
Reflected in the drops like
Embers of pain.
I waited, knowing you were gone.
Still I sat, silent and still.
Praying to hear a tap on the door
Or footsteps, soft on
The walkway. But I knew,
In my grief, you would be
Mine no more.
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WOMAN
By Carl Martin Johnson
Woman, tell me who you are!
Tell me now, and don’t you lie!
You are more than me by far,
But you want me…Tell me why.
Your loving words are frightening.
If I believe them, I am lost.
You come at me like lightning.
In that storm, my heart is tossed.
Will you drown me in your eyes,
Seductive pools of pure affection?
What, tell me, would you advise?
Please give me your direction.
You have trapped me with your spell.
I have no means to fight you.
Other combat I know well.
Here I have no sword to smite you.
Damn you woman to hellfire!
This love is not one I wanted.
But you have me helpless with desire.
By your loving I am daunted.
The current is too strong.
I cannot swim against it.
I let it carry me too long,
I know I should have sensed it.
I have no choice but to surrender,
Lay down my arms and give in,
Hoping that your terms are tender,
And you be generous in your win.
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WHEN SHE AND I WERE ONE
By Carl Martin Johnson
The world was fine back then.
Filled with music from her laughter.
That joy will not come again.
Only memories hereafter.
And my world was colored brightly.
Lit with brilliance from her smile.
We danced to love’s tunes nightly.
Swam in pleasure’s pool a while.
One day my love moved on.
Took her heart and left my own.
I woke and she was gone.
I would have stopped her had I known.
Now that we travel separate ways
My life has come undone.
Oh, how I long for those sweet days
When she and I were one.
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