Aphelion Issue 292, Volume 28
March 2024
 
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Erato

by James Matthew Byers


When flames of passion seer my soul
Within their burning embers,
I find myself without control,
Unable to remember.

The only thought propelling me
Within the spell’s design
Compels a lover openly
To build his love a shrine.

Erato, shape the words within
Involving this delight
To think and dream, become the pen
Compelling me to write.

Of every Muse, love is your call,
Desire most sensual,
So here before your feet, I fall
In love, perpetual.

Erato, how your eyes seduce,
Enticing in their gaze.
My heart and soul at once reduce
As I crawl through your maze.

Complexity does not denote
The depth of what I feel,
Nor are there words that I could quote
Expressing love’s appeal.

Erato, move my heart again
While swelling in my brain.
Your essence sparks apart this man
While driving me insane.

I long to touch, to feel, to taste
The presence that you are,
Eloping, groping you in haste,
So burned you leave a scar.

Enumerated, blissful kiss
Upon my spirit’s flame
Has left me helpless, lost, amiss,
Bound by Erato’s name.

Her fingers haunt my flesh and bones,
Her fingers grip me duly,
See, Erato, it is known
My love is all yours, truly.

Trust is earned, concerned by what
You deem as yours alone,
But never fear, for what you’ve got
Is my life; that you own.

Carnivorous, the sexual
Contentment you require
Has placed me bound, consensual,
To melt within your fire.

An emblem, golden-red, has turned
The coolant in my rod
Unto a fiery- furnace spurned
By you, sweet gift from God.

No other means than of the Spirit
Led me thus, ‘tis true.
Erato, draw me ever near it,
To the flame of you.

Of poetry, I search the heart,
Of love I search instead
The meaning life consumes apart
From your consuming thread.

Indeed, where words themselves will fail
To say what dwells inside,
Emotion sets the poem assail
Upon the lover’s tide.

Erato, cool and douse the fire
Burning, turning in
Until your aura moves me higher
Than I’ve ever been.

For here and now, an open book,
My soul is yours to roam.
Erato, snare me in your hook
And make my heart your home.


© 2008 James Matthew Byers

James Matthew Byers is a published author(Grecian Rune, 2004) and a father of two. James has been married to his wife, Dorothea, for seven years. Mr. Byers teaches 8th Grade English at Moody Junior High. He resides with his family and two cats in Rainbow City.

Find more by James Matthew Byers in the Author Index.

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