Heartbeats

Floyd E. Myers

Description

A volume of poetry explores sixty-plus years of life experiences, faith, and unconditional love.
You placed the seeds of your love deep within me,
and strong roots grew to completely wrap around my lonely soul …
You are the dazzling stars in my heaven, sweetheart,
and the scenic river that nourishes a once-parched land that was the essence of my life.
Floyd Myers and his wife, Margaret, have been blessed with a happy marriage that has flourished through six decades filled with ups and downs, challenges, and obstacles. Yet throughout all that life has placed in their way, they have not only continued their love for each other, but also nurtured it in a way that it continues to grow to this day.
In a debut collection of poems, Myers chronologically shares verse that begins with their marriage in 1960 and continues through the following decades as they maintained a state of mutual adoration, built a family, and found hope and humor even in their darkest moments. As he lyrically reflects on their life experiences and emotions, Myers reminds others that love is a generous and healing gift from God that can never be purchased or pretended and will only be fully alive when permanently
given away with a commitment to each other.
Heartbeats is a volume of poetry that explores sixty-plus years of life experiences, faith, and unconditional love.

Sujets

• Poetry

Informations

• Publié par: Archway Publishing
• Date de parution: 25 octobre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781665729307
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

Heartbeats
Poetry and Muse over decades
 
 
 
 
 
FLOYD E. MYERS
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
Copyright © 2022 Floyd E. Myers.
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
 
Archway Publishing
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.archwaypublishing.com
844-669-3957
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
ISBN: 978-1-6657-2929-1 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6657-2928-4 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-6657-2930-7 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022916076
 
 
 
Archway Publishing rev. date: 10/19/2022
Contents
Dedication
Introduction
Today
Pipe Dreams Resolved
Beyond Starstruck
A Life Cycle Perspective
Emboldened Imagination
Ode to Suzie
A Twentieth-Century Christmas Prayer
Loving Gratitude
Champagne Glasses
My Valentine
Aphrodite’s Island
Have You Seen Any of These?
Another Valentine Greeting
Cornucopia
Philia
A Path to Happy
Dedicated
A Risqué Ode to Texas in the August Heat
These Two Are One
Facade
Among Those Passing By
Birthday Appreciation Report
Allison
Brushstrokes: A Portrait in Progress
Valentine Realities
Birthday Wishes
Abundant Ecstasy in Grams of Love
Prose behind Margaret’s Garden
Margaret’s Garden
Growing Old
An Honorable Hand
Sunday, February 25, 2001
The Chain Is Round
Essential Forward Motion
Forty-Two
The Butterfly Is Me
Janice Ann: A Battle for Self
Our Son Scott
Metamorphosis: Janice Anne
Awakened in Time
New Beginning
Not Awakened in Time
Two Melded Hearts, One Eternal Love
Sandy Time = Anytime
Over the Hill
A Time in Tuscany
Wondering
The Marriage Vow
Good Friends
After
Got Time
A Good Foundation
A Love Matured
Except for That
A Fountain of Love: Fifty-One Years with the Miracle of Margaret
The Fountain of Youth Called Love: Fifty-One Years of Loving Margaret
Ageless Eyes of Love
A Time for Thanks
Margaret’s Bounty: Precious Gems Embedded in Fifty-Four Years of Marriage
A Relevance of Time
A Short Time Out
Completely
Enchanted Love
Elements of Enduring Love
The Nourishing Fountain of Life
The Tree House Concept
Preposterous Postulations?
How Shawn Promulgated Mike
I Love You More
Margaret’s Oscar
Evolvement
The Wonder of Flowers
Gracious Love
Reflections in the Rearview Mirror
About the Author
Dedication
To my darling wife, Margaret Myers, who is the inspiration of this endeavor.
Also to our entire family, the daily bread of our wonderful life together.
Special thanks to Kathy Myers, wife of our son Mike Myers, and James Buchanan, our daughter Allison’s husband, each of whom enriched our immediate family and each other.
With seven grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren, the list is long but filled with love for each.
Introduction
This book documents a marriage transforming to a love story in poetry and muse over sixty-two years. It is arranged, mostly, in date order, from the first words to the current state of mutual adoration. It is a personal journey that is family centric but one with circumstances that one might find a decent degree of interest. He hopes you will see some maturation as the tale proceeds though time. And that a gentle and committed thought process will reveal itself to some extent.
In the mix, you will see love in most of its colors, grief still living in those hearts, a bit of amateur musing around physics, and the flavor of behavior patterns in our humanity. The author presents the work in hope it will convey warm feelings, some humor, and many definitions of love. A subject he views in need of repetitions, constant reminders of the same truth still very active. He knows the body of work, if read hastily, may become boring for those reasons. Singularly, he hopes each piece standing alone will provide some degree of merit.
Most of all, he wishes to create a mindset that love is God’s most generous and healing gift. One designed for those of us who open its door together. For he believes genuine love is always long lasting and can never be purchased or pretended. It will only be fully alive when permanently given with commitment each to the other.
When this young man married

Floyd E. Myers, USAF, 1957,
440 th Fighter Interceptor Squadron,
Erding, Germany
this lovely young lady,

the future Margaret Myers, 1954,
in her Apache Belle uniform at TJC, Tyler, Texas,
there were wonderful dividends.
And the story begins.

Left to right: Janice Myers, Scott Myers, Allison Myers, and Mike Myers.
A Letter for Tomorrow’s Bride
April 22, 1960
Margaret, Sweetheart,
As you go through this, the day before our marriage and its issues, and feel upset to a point you feel cold, just remember, darling, and repeat to yourself how much I love you.
Also remember that little poem I told you by Robert Browning Hamilton, which goes like this:
I walked a mile with pleasure, and she chatted all the way, but left me none the wiser, for all she had to say.
I walked a mile with sorrow, and never a word said she; but oh! The things I learned, when sorrow walked with me.
Well, in that is a wise philosophy. We sometimes have a little nervousness and doubts to really bring home the point. Marriage, honey, will be a joyful union, and ours will have God’s blessing.
We will be together, under God, and very much in love. You make me so happy that, even when I am tired after working on our house, my heart is alive with a song of love. We have something that is truly exclusive, which no one could humanly have to any greater degree. That is our love with which we can attain any height or bear any of depression’s sores.
Just know, honey, you’re not entering a bondage. You are rather entering completely into my being, and I to yours, to become one in the eyes of God. That means, by the grace of that God, I will strive to give you the complete and truly unselfish love you deserve. I will never knowingly hurt you and would lay down my life to protect you.
So do not worry, sweetheart, for that which I have written is well meant. Remember this should you feel the stress of tomorrow’s events, and then ask yourself why it is warranted. For you can rest assured your imagination has yet to possess a complete understanding of how much I love you and need you, let alone your conscious mind.
Lovingly yours always!
Floyd
P.S. Smile!
From a spiritually influenced letter one day before our marriage.
Today
Today doesn’t come along every day.
This is it!
The stage is set, and your audience is waiting.
Give it everything you’ve got.
Only by making all your todays count can all your tomorrows create the path leading to success.
(May 23, 1960)
Pipe Dreams Resolved
Now you better watch out wherever I go because I am mean and tough.
And when it comes to cars and girls, I really know my stuff.
My engine roars when a gal walks by, and my spirit never sags.
On every Sunday afternoon, you will find me at the drags.
I’ll rev my motor, and I’ll rack my pipes and burn off rubber with pure delight.
I’m a devil on wheels, with a light in my eye for a pretty little girl in sight.
Because I met that girl the other day; with her, I could go far.
But she doesn’t like the way I act or the way I drive my car.
Guess I am not so tough and will change my ways right now.
Then marry her this coming week—if she will allow.
Now I never rev my motor or rack my pipes ’cause it ceased to be a thrill.
I’m an angel on wheels with a glow in my heart for that pretty little girl.
(April 18, 1960)
P.S. Sealed the deal on April 23, 1960.
Beyond Starstruck
A star forever shining, its beauty so aptly spread,
Must share its warmth with all, the living and the dead.
But you, new bride of man, gives of rapture’s seeds
To one, an individual, who perceives and shares your needs.
So give your heart and love him well, and he to you the same.
Share his burdens as he shares yours; be proud to bear his name.
Walk united, hand in hand, each an inspiration be.
Committed one to the other, forever bonded, you and he.
(August 14, 1960)
Almost four months, and I smell the joy of a lasting love for which I shall always rejoice and treasure.
A Life Cycle Perspective
There was once a star flying miles above in the dark blue sky.
Its brilliance was so intense while it raced so quickly on the fly.
The wonder it created, though in a span so noticeably brief.
That star was quite amazing to the view, some say beyond belief.
But shine so clearly it did, a fact proved to the point of no denying.
Though now it has burned itself out and lies here, slowly dying.