Poems, by Jack Castiglione
The Absence of Us
By Jack Castiglione
It’s strange to be away from you,
The one best friend I ever knew.
With hearts so close, our thoughts do mirror,
Each other’s soul we each revere.
The times we laughed in childish ways,
And studied hard those college days,
And cheered the others’ new career,
And dated gals we each thought dear.
Ahead we skipped, to this year.
We’re both still single and absent fear.
We talked of troubles each got through,
Though no one else had any clue.
A bond shared close, it gives me dreams,
Could it be real just as it seems?
About that love we mustn’t speak,
It is for some, all we seek.
Your presence, please, is overdue,
But rules are new for me and you.
To stay away and never touch,
That touch I’ve never craved so much.
Right now I lust for your embrace,
To place my kiss upon your face.
But covid distance still prevails
Our love must wait before it sails.
Dedicated to the victims of Covid-19. That means all of us.
Finding Home
by Jack Castiglione
I have felt the most welcomed sun
Dawning the coolest spring mountain,
Wake me from my down cocoon
To brave the morn, to light the breakfast fire.
I have seen the hues soaked clouds
Parade to dress the end of day
Beyond the cliffed-coast, herding out to sea
Bidding good night in regal robust forms.
I have touched the tender velvet face
Of the deepest Lincoln Rose in posing bloom,
Dazed by the intoxicating sweetness
That lures my soul to a distant meadow land.
I have stood on rim in awe to gaze
The grandest canyon of winding water sculpture
That engraved the crust in designing splendor
Under Autumn displays of electric bolting skies.
I have searched the starry moonless night,
My restless spirit soaring from bright to bright,
To discover my momentary significance,
In wonderment of the purpose of my being.
I have found no greater pleasing treasure
Than all the truth your love unveils.
Your gift to me that shines my world,
I ask no more, where will my heart find home?
HARMONY
by Jack Castiglione
I’ve thought to touch a special touch.
And knew not why it meant so much.
I can’t explain myself to me.
What designated this to be.
In younger years of childhood,
My course in life not understood.
Within myself a gnawing doubt
To challenge some parental clout.
As knowledge grew and jelled within,
Some called it Godly, others, sin!
With social pond’rance ill at ease,
It’s not their wants that I must please.
So now I touch that special touch,
Succumb to what I feel so much.
Life with all its satisfaction,
Is harmony with attraction.
A sharing look in caring eyes,
And skin to skin with no disguise,
In peace sublime I fin’lly can,
Embrace my love, another man.
Making Memories
Jack Castiglione, February 14, 2003
Companion love before my eyes,
I search your soul without disguise.
I find myself so cherished there,
At home with you, a life we share.
We celebrate our years, now ten,
Arriving here, but not at end,
Exploring all the world to see,
While hand-in-hand we’ll ever be.
Now we look at this past time,
Reflecting not just the sublime,
But also painful times of tears
That strengthened us in light of fears.
Hold me in your tight embrace,
With tenderness that is your grace.
Then whisper words I joy to hear,
Expressing how you hold me dear.
And as we share a kiss so sweet,
My life is full and so complete.
Our love is rich, our love is bold,
And treasured more than precious gold.
It matters not to us at all,
That there are some who do appall
Our bonding hearts in our own way –
The bonding hearts of two men gay.
Oh Where Is Camelot?
By Jack Castiglione, February 14, 2007
Like most, we say when woes abound,
The day’s routine is seldom found.
For interrupts arise and hound.
Where is that life we thought we found?
With late-night jobs at times attend
A dinner missed, a canceled friend.
To watch a film it may depend
If drowsy eyes can view the end.
The health we have is not the best.
We each do walk a healing quest,
But still can find we love to jest
To cuddle close in life is best.
Our pleasant home is proud in view,
But work’s a must for gardens new.
And weekly chores are never few
To mend those things that are past due.
Then come the foes who need to pan
Our style of life as if they can,
And demonize and try to ban
All us men who love a man.
Through it all, the hills and dales,
I’m not so stressed, my spirit sails
To venture through the unknown gales
As eagles do and humpback whales.
So where’s that life of joy we sought?
It is around in ev’ry thought
Inside the man whose heart I caught
Who tends our realm, our Camelot.
A Love Like a Rose
Jack Castiglione, February 14, 2005
Like tenderness I can’t forget,
Of petals smooth and soft,
In pastel shades that calm my soul,
That draw my mind aloft.
Like barbs upon the stem so bold,
Strengthen and protect.
And ward away the careless grab,
Demanding some respect.
Like fragrance from a posing bloom,
Awakes my passion sense,
To journey past what is secure
Beyond my limit fence.
Like roses in reflection can
Remind us, love is so divine,
And cause a joyous tear to fall,
To seal this Valentine.
BLACK TO GRAY
By Jack Castiglione
February 14, 2019
As years go by, I must defend
My life with you, not close to end.
My love for you I still more send,
With passion kisses, I don’t pretend.
When first we met, a score and eight,
At your place, a joy to be.
I gaze at you. Can this be fate?
I’m overwhelmed at what I see.
Your image fit my imaged mind,
And words you spoke were truly kind.
I knew from first you were the guy
And never ever questioned why.
But now in time we both would say,
We’ve faded some from black to gray,
With eyes to eyes we stare this day.
And know our hearts are still at play.
For sure, our love improved with age,
We learned to care as if we’re one,
We found our lives now full of sage,
And issues passed, are truly none.
A score and eight may not be long.
But in those years, we aged so well.
To live a harmony of song.
Two hearts at home where we now dwell.
Our flame of love we need not fan,
We live in love, no need to plan.
We cuddle close when ere’ we can,
And bond to each, as man-to-man.
BRIDEGROOMS REVISITING
by Jack Castiglione
I thought for sure I truly lost
The sight of certain smiles gone past;
The gleaming eyes that melt the frost,
That touch that made my heart beat fast.
I can’t forget the love from one,
A gentle man in frame and mind.
Whose eyes would tear in joyous fun,
Or with the pain of words unkind.
How odd when simple hugs, recalled,
Can bring import from past anew
Behavior that we found appalled
Forgotten now in our review.
What makes this man so dear to me?
Is it his brains, or brawns, or face?
What claim has he for all to see?
His job or wealth or social grace?
’tis none of these I treasure dear.
As what my spirit needs to find,
To hold our love again so near,
How could I then have been so blind?
Some time ago we tore in part,
But now, no matter how or when.
We search today each other’s heart,
And see the love, we didn’t then.
A LOVE PRETENDED
by Jack Castiglione
On board a plane with engine thunder, my mind allured away,
’tis the constant drone that calls me to another space this day.
But in time, neither forward nor back. On earth, neither here nor there,
My thoughts are at play with love in mind, so lively, so true, so fair.
A star is he, a star is me, aglow by a light unending,
With gifted heart his eyes do show a love unworldly blending.
“Come here to me. Closer to me. And greet me with your arms so strong!
Touch me now. Oh touch me true to end a search that can’t be wrong!”
I look. I see. I reach to feel, “Your presence please convey!”
Yet you are here, I know it’s so, though senses disobey.
The prize in life is that true love my hungry heart does yearn,
For what I need, a manly love, and now it is my turn!
Our playground here, a grassy glen, concealed from view by border trees.
We play, we laugh, we touch, we kiss, betroth our love on bended knees.
My heart’s at home, my soul’s at rest. At last, I need no more to see.
’cause all I want, and all I need is lying here embracing me!
What thunder sound intrudes on us? It’s breaking all around!
And fading you away from me. Oh damn! That engine droning sound!
Reality, you’re back to me; my flight, so sadly ended.
Now home I go, to my wife, a different love pretended.
A TIME FOR LOVE
by Jack Castiglione
Most treasured love, I long to be
With you this hour in close caress
And see the eyes that make my eyes
Seep tears of joy. I do confess.
There is no time, no place on earth,
I’d choose to be without you near.
Come journey, Love, explore with me
As stormy skies turn bright and clear.
If e’er I thought that you were lost,
I’d search you out in constant quest.
With all my strength and wit employed,
Until you’re home and safe, – no rest.
It’s not that I could not survive
Without our love to keep and share.
But as we chose to cherish this,
We mustn’t waste what is so rare.
It is in you, my beauty lies.
It is your strength, that’s mine.
It is your touch that lets me feel,
And your smile that makes me shine.
SURRENDER (A Sonnet)
by Jack Castiglione
Embracing bodies skin to skin,
Completes my dream to share with you,
The power that I never knew,
Within my life I now begin.
Entangled arms and legs caress,
With racing hearts and scent to lure,
To summon passion that is pure,
And heighten love that we possess.
Your wit, your strength, your care and grace,
I need no more to light my day,
No moon or stars or sun above.
And as I kiss upon your face,
I pledge my life in every way,
My world you are, through time, my love.
Heavenly Hugs
by Jack Castiglione
At times I think the world unkind,
I’m lost in thoughts that undermine –
The path I trek to best obtain –
That place where calm and peace sustain.
And then a call from someone dear –
From whom I’ve always sought to hear,
A cheerful voice I’ve loved to carry –
My precious sweet, my dear Aunt Mary.
The brightest dawn I ever saw –
I welcomed like an early thaw.
She warmed my heart and showed me love –
And does so still, but from above.
Our matriarch with kindly hands –
Who steered our clan to tranquil lands –
To foster sense that we take care –
To hug and love the ones we share.
How selfish I have always been –
To think I am her best of kin –
Apart from all she did embrace –
To guide us all to be of grace.
Her deprecating self would say,
“I’m not that smart to know the way.”
Of course, she was, she lived the part,
She found in all, a loving heart.
Her absence causes such an ill –
For which we have no way to fill.
But know her love for us won’t vary,
Feel yet the hugs from our Aunt Mary.
(In memory of Mary Surace,
The Aunt Mary of all of us.)
A Letter Home
by Jack Castiglione
Dear Mom and Dad, I hope you’re fine.
It’s been a month since my last line.
I’ve done my best in school up here.
Oh tell me you love me still.
So joyed to leave at this term’s end.
I hope you’re glad it’s ’round the bend.
I’ve grown a lot in this past year.
Oh tell me you love me still.
That gal back home I thought I’d wed?
I just decided “no,” instead.
That kind of life is not for me.
Oh tell me you love me still.
It’s hard for me sometimes to say,
How dear I hold you while away,
And trust in family’s open arms.
Oh tell me you love me still.
This year I’ve made a new best friend,
On whom I found I so depend.
I want for us to never part
Oh tell me you love me still.
My friend is not the childhood kind,
And one that you had not in mind
For me to care for all my life.
Oh tell me you love me still.
Please don’t be shocked to meet the guy.
I love so much. I stopped the lie.
Embrace my man, his name is Bill
And tell me you love me still.