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Season
of Lovers
Discover the joy of developing your sensual self
from the verbal and visual images of Mary Carol Lewis
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Hawaiian
Surprise
Loneliness
Surrounded by beauty,
Heart breaking
Loveliness
That captures the soul
And holds it hostage,
And pummels it
With fragrant flowers,
And gentleness of spirit,
Brilliant sunlight,
And a flashing sea.
from
Season of Lovers
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WINNER
of
The Editor's Choice Award
September 2003
for outstanding achievement in poetry,
and Mary Carol
Lewis' work appears on the opening page of Colors of the Heart.
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Readers Comments about Season of Lovers ~
"Mary
Carol Lewis has given an authentic voice to the single life. Her
willingness to search honestly, remain open and find hope are written on
every page. You witness and experience the coming into the fullness of the
self. A tribute to a life of all kinds of loving."
— Ginger Sullivan Schneider, MA, CGP
"I applaud you for your efforts in addressing the needs
of single adults. Keep up the good work. Congratulations. The more the
merrier."
— Terry Hershey, author of the best-selling book, Beginning Again
and Intimacy
"Season of Lovers
is a thoroughly enjoyable and vivid reminder of the
restorative power of nature, the freedom of imagination, and the eloquence of the written
word."
¾ J Chamberlin
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Dedication
During my alone time
I have had many lovers:
Among them the mountains,
The streamside, the
sea.
There were many surprise
meetings
And gentle moments,
Joyous pleasures and
Soft reverie with someone
special.
But always, always
There was the gracious
love
Of the One who created
The beauty that surrounds
me,
The One who knows me best.
So that all in all, I
know
That truly, truly I am
loved.
Thank you for calling me your Beloved.
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Passion
Driving Thoughts
The incredibly beautiful music in my ear
Brings my thoughts passionately to you.
Who are you – this man that haunts my dreams
And takes my thoughts on a rampage:
Running gaily through the meadow
When there is work to do?
I want you in my arms
And against my body.
I want to take your head in my hands –
My fingers long to run through your hair,
Grab a wad and pull gently until you squeak.
I dream of brushing my lips against your cheek
Searching for something more.
I discover your ears
And begin searching them with my tongue.
Upon Waking
My passion is a raging stallion.
Neighing wildly, it wants to run free, to mount.
Its eyes are glazed over a roaring fire –
Hot within.
Well the writer said, "It is better to marry
Than to burn."
I am burning, burning deep within.
Silence dampens the embers like ash.
Why do people want to put out my fire?
It is not good?
It is burning in a spirited being
Standing sentinel in an evening meadow
That has just escaped from a glowing sky.
Is it not beautiful? Should it not be free? |
Season
of Lovers
This 140 page book
contains beautiful images, insightful entries from the personal journal of Mary Carol Lewis,
delightful quotations, and original art by Cathryn Stephens.
This enchanting new
book was published in February 2003.
You can
order Season of Lovers from www.BookSurge.com.
You can also order directly from
www.Amazon.com .
An excerpt from the
Book:
Nature Lovers
I am like a
waterfall,
Magic, effervescent,
unbounded and free,
Cascading wildly
down the side of a mountain
That understands
the capriciousness of time.
Endlessly caressing the one I call
my lover.
Our bond is secure –
secure and ever-changing,
Fresh as the new buds of spring.
Mountain majesty, my lover,
Standing in royal splendor
over the plain
Veiled in clouds and mystery
Producing vibrant new growth
From things deeply rooted within,
Holding jeweled treasures in your inner heart:
Beauty, challenge, otherness, hope.
Hold me in your arms.
Shelter me in your mystery.
from Season
of Lovers by Mary Carol Lewis
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To My
Beloved:
Waiting for true love to capture you
and hold you close,
Creating yourself anew
so that you
can live graciously
in relationship with someone
who opens the inner heart to your love,
You are still a sensuous person.
All your senses are alive –
And keeping all your senses alive and well
is the challenge that is put before you.
Alone time is a season
full of
tempestuous storms
and quiet reverie.
These are the notes from my sojourn
in that season.
May they bless you in your journey. |
"Through the collected writings of this book we discover the
journey and the connection that love has – with second glances, chance moments, and
the beauty of being alone atop a mountain – knowing that you are not alone and that
all of this was created so that you may know the true meaning of love. We find that the
love of God and all that he offers – nature, compassion, harmony with the earth,
bravery to be alone – are simple and available. Season of Lovers tells us that
relationships change like the seasons, and that we must change: by becoming more
forgiving, discovering that we can trust God, and coming to know ourselves more
completely."
¾ J Ellingsworth |
from
Memory Beach
The
Purpose
I come to the sea to meet my lover.
And he comes too,
Worshipping as I worship at this glad hour.
But he has his own thoughts,
his own plans.
He is sharing ideas with the universe
At this threshold I call memory beach.
He is quiet: thinking, murmuring, questioning, longing.
I know not what is in his mind.
But I honor his time alone with this point
On the earth’s doorway
Which he holds more sacred than life.
And it is teeming with life.
The sea gulls draw life from the ocean,
their playground
And their succor: their source.
They call and cry overhead,
And they dispute territory on the
shore.
There is endless beach,
but still they cry and worry.
There will soon be young ones to feed.
There will soon be new life on the shore.
And the beach is teeming
with sea creatures –
I right a young horseshoe crab,
about the size of my thumb,
And he aims his baby waddle
back to the sea
Whom he calls mother...
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Sensuous
I think of the marvelous shiny smoothness
of my car after bathing and buffing
to polished splendor,
The smell of fresh-turned earth
when I've spent a day in the garden,
The "song" of the frogs on the evening
before a cold front invades
their watery community,
The poised neatness of the stack of papers
for the project - completed at last,
The melting taste of meatloaf
served in the kitchen by someone in love,
The sensuous movement of a pet,
The radiant face of the person receiving the bouquet the giver smelled on the sly.
Ol' Noah (the lexicographer,
not the one with the sailing zoo)
was right when he wrote that sensuous
is a word meaning "pertaining to the senses."
I find favorites in the glorious multiplicity of gifts and joys that please the senses:
A bunch of late summer wild flowers or a gift
from the garden - or road-side stand -
A walk in the woods, or the country,
or on the seashore,
or in the mountains or even in the neighborhood
Provides a wealth of surprises and delights:
The neighbor's new delphinium,
The tiny red bits on a woodland moss
in full "bloom,"
A mockingbird singing
its joi de vivre to the sky,
A curious cow protecting her stringy calf,
The endless roar of the ocean,
The feel of the wind in my hair,
The cool retreat into shelter,
The ecstasy of an eternity of time
on a cliff overlooking darkening beauty -
What better gifts than these?
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Readers Comment:
"It
evoked in me a bigger sense of my own humanity and the enjoyment of life
and gratitude
for the subtlety and gentleness of my own inner and outer
experiences in living.
Thanks for being transparent enough to allow others
to read your thoughts in verse!"
— Kristi Maddox
"Your thoughtful book, Season of Lovers...
expresses the feelings of other singles.
I pray that writing those words
also brought you pleasure and peace."
—Lucy Marsden-Hottle
Woods in Summer
I am alone – and yet not alone.
I hear no voices,
but the sleepy birds in
nearby trees
And a watchful dog in the distance
Are making their small noises.
The summer crickets
surround me with their
whir,
And some animal provides
a cadence to the
snare.
The insects move about quietly
on the rocks and leaves
Without making a sound –
Yet they are all around.
A shaft of sunlight
breaks through the open
woods
And lights a stone –
As if it were the Stone of Destiny.
What is my destiny, I wonder?
If I knew my destiny,
how would it change
my life?
The low stream water sweeps
around the mossy rocks
Softly, gently – hardly making a
sound.
The summer drought
has softened its voice,
But can never silence it.
Season of Lovers is also
available from www.BookSurge.com
Sunlight
My kitten likes
to sleep in the sunlight.
Even in late
June he finds a board in the garden
which is
splattered by some cedar chips.
He plays for a
while, and then he winds himself up
and stretches
himself out again.
He purrs for a
while, then he sleeps in the sunlight.
He does not
care about the news.
He is not
concerned
about all that
is happening under the Sun.
He is not
thinking about the meaning of life.
He is simply
enjoying the warmth of the sun.
My children enjoy
playing in the sun.
They spend long
days enjoying its brightness
and the shadows
it creates for cooling off.
They shout for
joy as they run and play on the grass
it draws out of
the cold, silent earth each spring.
They are not
interested in information on sunlight.
They have no
desire to know about photons
and neutrons and
light particles and pulsars.
They do not seek
lessons on how worship of the sun
has affected
human history.
They just want to
play in the sunlight.
My heart rejoices
in the sunlight.
My heart welcomes
each bright new day
(each one fresher
than the day before)
With songs in the
garden.
I notice that the
garden flowers lift their heads
and open their
beauty to receive its radiance.
They rejoice with
me and sing their silent joy.
I am not
concerned about the allegories
the sun brings to
mind
as it affects our
experience of life.
I’ll just go
outside and sing in the sunlight.
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here for more excerpts from Season of Lovers
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