Her smile was glorious and bright
Like the first light of dawn on a mountain top.
Light sparkling in her eyes always reminded me
Of starlight reflecting in a clear mountain lake.
The bloom in her cheeks was matched only
By the soft blush of a rose covered with dew.
When she touched my hand, even lightly,
My heart would quiver in sheer ecstasy.
Walking in fields of clover and violets
Was always my favorite way to spend a day
As long as she was with me all the way,
My heart will always be hers until I leave.
HER SMILE
Her smile was glorious and bright
Like the first light of dawn on a mountain top.
Light sparkling in her eyes always reminded me
Of starlight reflecting in a clear mountain lake.
The bloom in her cheeks was matched only
By the soft blush of a rose covered with dew.
When she touched my hand, even lightly,
My heart would quiver in sheer ecstasy.
Walking in fields of clover and violets
Was always my favorite way to spend a day
As long as she was with me all the way,
My heart will always be hers until I leave.
FEBRUARY WEDDING
Wind-gusted
We wandered
In frozen gardens
Winter trees
Ice-crystalled
And silvered
Dazzled beneath
The chill moon’s
Eerie heaven
Smiling faces
Candlelit and firelit
Eyes beaming
With happiness
But it came time
To say farewell
We went off
Into the wind-gusted
Twilight newly-wed
And fragile
As blown glass
A KITE IN THE WIND
Give up this pain?
I would be lost—
A mere kite upon the wind
This pain defines
who I am
Proves me still alive
Give up this pain? Oh, no.
I am nothing
without pain to etch
My silhouette against the dawn.
AUTHOR NOTES
GLASS RAIN—the poetry of Margaret Roxby
“FEBRUARY WEDDING” was found among the poet’s papers and was not perfected by its author who had yet to title it. The poet likely chose to write about her own wedding which took place early in February in a week that began in sunshine and ended on her wedding day with snow sending her on her honeymoon into its storm.
REFRACTIONS—the poetry of Robert Roxby
“HER SMILE” is included this week to accompany his wife’s poem about their wedding day (see above). The poem has been slightly edited for this release. The poem was found in the poet’s writing journal.
THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS—the poetry of Kathleen Roxby
“KITE IN THE WIND” is included this week for National Kite Flying Day, February 3. The poem first appeared in the collection Electric Rain edited by Patricia Fry and published by Archer Books in 2000. The poem is another in the author’s series arising from a period of time when she battled depression.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
Readers who write in response to one of the prompts listed each month in Splintered Glass, may see their work presented here on the last week of that month. Though poems are preferred, short prose work will also be considered for publication.
Guidelines for submission:
SPLINTERS FOR FEBRUARY 2025
WIFE, MOTHER, LOVER, NURSE
Looking down at her tired face one more time
Memories came flooding through his tired, aching mind.
How completely naïve and innocent she looked
That first time he ever saw her, on that long porch.
The complete trust in her “so innocent eyes,” so wide apart.
How often she clung to him for strength and comfort.
The luckiest days of his life, she had been by his side
All these years…wife, mother, lover, nurse.
A DREAM REMEMBERED
I remember a dream
of sunlight melting
into twilight shadows
at the hacienda door
Then, the sudden strum
of guitars,
the whirl and swirl
of fanciful dance,
a rhythmic drumming
clip of heels on stone,
high light laughter
and flash of white teeth
a-gleam as stars floated down
And I remember awakening
to a slow, hazy shimmer
of rainbow dawn
and the misting, fading pulse
of a strange and wonder-filled dream
TAKE US
With rhythm and a certain patterning
Of sound, take us
where we have never been
where we may not want to go.
Mold it in similes
if you have the courage,
or disguise it with a metaphor.
Teased by the similes,
as in a maze of mirrors,
we will wander where you lead.
Deluded by the metaphor
we will follow.
Entranced by the rhythm,
mesmerized by sound,
we will at last reach
the mountaintop,
or pit of hell–
and know for that instant
what we would not have understood
had we not journeyed with you here.
AUTHOR NOTES
GLASS RAIN—the poetry by Margaret Roxby
“A DREAM REMEMBERED.” The piece appears for Inspire Your Heart with Art Day, January 31. The author often expressed such opinions. She was fascinated by Spanish rhythms, likely primarily from the films of the 1930s and from radio. It is possible that the flood of European immigrants before and after WWI lifetime may have brought Spanish and Portuguese to her area of West Virginia. Also, her daughter remembers Margaret speaking of her grandfather and father playing the mandolin at home. The music they played may or may not have been Spanish.
KALEIDOSCOPE—from a series by Kathleen Roxby on the English language
“WIFE, MOTHER, LOVER, NURSE.” The author, now in old age, once-again tells of his love for his wife.
THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS—the poetry of Kathleen Roxby
“TAKE US” is included this week as a nod to January 31, Inspire Your Heart With Art, the art in this case being poetry.