My wife dug up this Byron poem when cleaning up her personal box (we are moving house soon). She kept it over the years, simply printed on coloured paper with a red ribboned border. To her, it evokes images of serenity, calm and, of course, beauty...I agree.

"She Walks in Beauty" - Lord Byron (1814)

She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
All that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes;
Thus mellow'd to that tender light
Which heaven gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impair'd the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o'er her face
Where thought serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.

And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent.

Magic and Moonlight

Here's a little ditty I composed for my wife on our Anniversary some years back. Like any couple, we've been through our ups and downs, and I wanted, through my words, to acknowledge the tough times. Romance and Love is dandy, but don't we all manage the stress and strains of union?
_____________________________________________
Never was our union foreseen,
Nor could one portend,
That we could stand
The test of time, unseen forces were at hand
Working against us
In ways we could never imagine.

Yet in my heart, it worked like Magic and Moonlight,
Weaving the message of love gently around my limbs
Whispering your sweet name ever so slightly in my ears,
Like a gentle breeze that caresses the leaves on a tree.
Like Magic because you were in my heart without
My knowing.
Like Moonlight, because your love shone gently in the Night,
And shunned the brashness of day.

Here we are now, having lived through the test of time,
And I do believe our Love grows more sublime
With each passing day and night.
The Magic and the Moonlight
Having worked again like an invisible Angel
To reward us with a gift most precious
And destroy the forces most vicious.


In our sons lie the true story
Of our lives together in all its glory
To make sense of the madness and the mundane
To right the wrongs and to remind
That our Love, like Magic and Moonlight
Is as fragile as the day they were born.