Anna Belle 1619 (Part One) She set out to Jamestown in 1619 She's a Nordic ship on the sea She's purple in shades in streams She bathes in the Caribbean breeze She needs no bard's flattery No barroom cajolery Only God with His love sets her free Along the Levant coast, Aqaba, and Red Sea My Shulamite who longs for me She whispers softly, a euphony Her chestnut flowing glory Cascades oh womanly And shaded for only me to see A music-box dancer Flawless she prances Her beauty captured in Renaissance fancy Reciting "I do" My bride in June My beloved in truth As we walk together towards God Anna Belle MMVI (Part Two) Streetlights lead the way from home Into the distance I drift and and I doze Off to sleep where I meet Anna On the coastal retreat out on the veranda I hand her a poem and it reads: Anna Belle You have a lover's light It is a beacon to this traveler's eye You are grace and life A sunburst shining Christ Luminosity on this day which God has made I m-i-s-s-i-s-s-I miss your kiss When you're away She sighs, what a look in her eyes I desire to know as she ponders each line In her heart unfurling more woes A cascading of tears and hopes Holding hands, we share our dreams Of a journey together, the valleys the peaks Our eyes meet, we momentarily hesitate Then univocally say "You are my soul mate" Goodbye Anna Belle (Part Three) Preacher by day, poet by night This hero's weakness is iron pyrite A ship among ships I sail on by moon eclipsed No stars or astrolabe To navigate me me towards my babe The captain of the Eternity Has set course and ushered me out to sea With memories of her and dreams of home I seek the shore in the sad poem As I roam and comb Rome I see faces from pages I've written in tome Familiar, I see her everywhere In the euphemistic flower and cascading hair I ponder the thought of all thoughts Why did Jesus endure the path and the cross Out of love, a love that leads step by step Through a mystery of enigmatic depths I say my goodbye in this melancholy ode I mourn, but not as one with no hope