• Home
  • About
  • Reflections
  • Poetry
    • My Poems
    • Guest Poets
    • Selected Poems
    • Classic Poets
    • Classic Love Poems
    • Zen Poetry, Haiku, and Wisdom
  • Essays
  • Inspiration
    • Love
    • Mandalas and More
    • Native Voices
    • Petals of Sunshine
    • Positive Reinforcement
    • Videos to Inspire and Motivate
  • Quotes
    • Flowers and Gardens
    • Native American Wisdom
    • Peaceful Thoughts
  • Guestbook
  • Sitemap

Inspiration for the Spirit

A lovely place to wander for poetry and inspiration to soothe the soul

Home ▷ Carrie Ryman ▷ A Familiar Taste

A Familiar Taste

by Carrie Ryman

"Fragile" by Willem Haenraets, original artwork

click to enlarge

Your body warm, pressed against mine,
a sweetness oozes into me.
Its intensity is almost painful.
It swells within me.
I want to drown in it.

Your eyes darken like thunder,
and awaken a hunger in me.
I have craved this for so long.
Before I was plain.
Now I grow beautiful under your gaze.

A thought captures me and I must write of it.
You possess me now.
Will I survive this?
Because it is almost too familiar a taste.
As I touch you I touch myself.
I lift my hand to rest it on your skin.
The sensation is immediate
and fills me with the same comfort I give you.

David, I am overcome by your power,
your haunting presence near me, within me.
Your tenderness is like a ghost
that walked across my lips.
I remember it but fear is its companion.
Like spirits you could disappear
and only a fragile halo of warm light
would remain in my memory.

And so, this joy, this rapture that envelopes me
and lifts me also separates me into two parts.
One, who wishes to express it, share it
and freely give it life.
The other, frozen with fear,
shaking from the harsh possibility
of rejection, a rock hard resistance.

My eyes tell you the words
my lips are afraid to speak.

Copyright © 2002 Carrie Ryman • All rights reserved.
Painting: “Fragile” by Willem Haenraets, original artwork.

You might also like

The First Strawberry: A Cherokee Legend

Oceanwave

Carousel Dreams

Venice

Filed under love, sex & sexuality.

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

The Poetry Pages

My Poems
Guest Poets
Selected Poems
Classic Poets
Classic Love Poems
Zen Poetry, Haiku, and Wisdom
book and blue flowers

Guest Poets

  • Oriah Mountain Dreamer
  • Terry Stephen Driscoll
  • Laryalee Fraser
  • Dennis Janke
  • Christine Magee
  • Dorothy Doyle Mienko
  • Carrie Ryman
  • Tom Schmidt
  • Susan Dane Setin

“What makes you a poet is a gift for language, an ability to see into the heart of things.” —Erica Jong

Explore and Enjoy

aging anger autumn being female cancer children comfort & compassion death divorce empty nest family father flowers & gardens friends & friendship grief & sadness happiness hope & optimism illness inner peace inspiring life & living loneliness love love lost loving yourself mandala marriage mindful living mother motherhood music Native American nature people places poetry & writing positive attitude quotes relationships sex & sexuality simplicity solitude spirit spring winter

Looking for a specific poet or author?

Inspiration for the Spirit EST 2002 • Copyright © 2025 Patricia Petro • LOGIN

»