These 46 poems (12 unrhymed, 20 short, and 14 long) were written between 1990 and 1993, when I was in my mid forties. Each poem is introduced by a few sentences to set the mood, focus the attention, and entice the reader to read between the lines.The themes that permeate this collection are love, passion, grief, yearning, reflections, beauty, and nature. The metaphors are vivid, paint images for the eyes of imagination, invite interpretation, and provoke contemplation.Whereas a child, hitting on the piano keys, can bring agony out of ordinary notes, an accomplished pianist can bring delight by playing at a higher order. Likewise, poetry is the magic of ordinary words played at a higher order. It is the lighted fountain in the garden of letters, the sublime development of profound themes from simple matter, the music that sings fresh arias from the old mouth of expression, the charm of vivid imagery wrought out of inanimate symbols, the terse distillation of emotions into unforgettable perfumes, and the haunting, metaphorical dance of sound and meaning in the eyes of imagination.Poetry is what we have always felt and meant, but could not express. It is the limitless sky beyond the fenced word, and the warm sigh of the soul when lifted into the arms of truth and beauty.