My Love Poem

By Martha Nielsen

Love

Opens us up to the

Virtues in

Each other

Martha is a singer, a reader, a speaker, an avid theater goer/usher/supporter, and a proud mother and grandmother.

Love

By Ilse Kramer

Your name is tattooed
On my heart

A sea full of starfish
A sky brimming with rising moons
I can hear them
Singing

And I sing a song of my own
This slender and simple song
Is all that I know
Listen

God of the empty sarcophagus
I love you

Ilse wrote her first verse, a sentimental jingle, in Germany in first grade. She eventually progressed to sonnets, hexameter, haiku, and acrostics. Her first English poem, “Interpretation,” 1963, won second prize in a poetry exhibition. Some of her poetry has been published in a literary magazine, the Providence Journal, Central News, and in anthologies.… [Read More]

Love’s Completion

by May Grant

He was short.
Two boys looked up from their game.
“Graybeard” floated up as he passed by.

But that long-ago day hovered just above his gaze.
He was no hero – just looking for a way out.
But there it was in front of him,
the break in every battle.

Homecoming:  There she was, smaller than he remembered,
dainty beside his new limp.
“An angel told me,” she tried to explain.
Her small hands fluttered.
“The light was so bright.”

So he took her home.
Light rays expanded to shelter a new being.… [Read More]

Amor Vincit Timorem

By Ilse Kramer
(Inspired by Gail Glanville)

I am inside an icy block of fear
Which all my poor
And feeble love
Can never melt

If I were wise and had
The key to every mystery
But had no love
I would forever be afraid

Judas the Traitor with his bag of coins
Was born and died devoid of love
And in the end he was afraid of life
And knew he could not be redeemed

God you are Love
But I am without hope for mercy —
And suddenly there is a fearless hand in mine
My helpless love turns into Love Divine

Ilse wrote her first verse, a sentimental jingle, in Germany in first grade.… [Read More]

Love

by Rose Dunlap

I love my mom, of course,
And my grammy,
And Bizmark, my dog.
I love them, but they loved me first.

I love to climb
And do somersaults.
The people don’t have to be pretty
For me to love them.

I love the bear
That Miss Ilse gave me.
When I love somebody
I always feel happy.

I love to hold the hand of a friend.
I love to run,
And I don’t feel tired
At all.

Rose Dunlap is now ten years old. She spent part of “Christmas at Central” writing her poem.

For love of a Winterberry
By Barry Bayon

Oh holly by another name,

An ornament in winter gardens is your fame.

We look forward to your three foot frame.

Native to North America is your claim,

And in floral arrangements is one of your aims.

Your globus red drupe sustains

Our feathered friends in winter,

And your medicine soothes our fevered brows making it gentler.

We await your berries’ arrival with thanks,

For the gift to the season of Christmas love on snowy banks.

Barry Bayon is a deacon at Central Church.… [Read More]