Psalms of Love & Romance

 

Chapter 9

Psalms of Love & Romance

A female cousin of mine once remarked to me: "You know, Jordan, I have such a hard time falling in love!"

I marveled at her comment because I have always been the exact opposite; I have always been overly prone to falling in love too easily. 

I became enamored by ROMANCE at a very young age—as early as second grade (age 8)! In fact, with my steel trap of a memory, I can readily return to grade two in my mind and name you every girl and woman I ever had a significant crush on from second grade... right on up to when I met my wife, Lina, at age 27!

Part of the early onset of this passion for romance stemmed from the fact that my father and mother were both hopeless romantics. For example, I'll never forget accompanying my dad in August 1991 as he rented a fancy hotel room and then prepared it with flowers and goodies in preparation for he and my mother's 25th wedding anniversary. That act of his, and others like it over the years planted seeds that would spring into similar actions on my part much later in my marriage to Lina.

I was further influenced by my five older siblings, who ranged from four (4) to twelve (12) years older than me. They were all dating seriously and/or getting married when I was in elementary, middle, and high school, so I was continually seeing romance bloom among my older siblings and their adored partners—long before I was old enough to date.  

I was also impacted by literature, movies, and television. Many of my favorite movies, such as Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, First Knight, Everafter, and The Count of Monte Cristo all had love stories forming key components of their various plots, something that was certainly not lost on me.   

Click HERE to read my blog post about Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

Click HERE to read my blog post about The Count of Monte Cristo

Suffice it to say, from the age of eight-or-nine-on-up, I was more-or-less obsessed with romance in one way or another. For me, thoughts of romance were not only exciting and mysterious, but motivating as well.

In other words, thoughts and feelings of romance drove me to succeed, excel, and achieve in all areas of my life.   

For example, the epic "Robin Hood Group Date" that my friends and I organized and then carried out on Saturday, August 1, 1998, was motivated by one gal in particular. Like so many other girls and women, she didn't fall for me the way I fell for her, but I must thank her for providing me with the drive to organize and carry out that memorable production, which was enjoyed by 18 couples and several supporting cast. 

Click HERE to read more about our epic Robin Hood group date held on my dad's land in Monticello, Utah, on Saturday, August 1, 1998.  

Given these lifelong proclivities and propensities, it is no surprise that romance would find its way colorfully and prolifically into my canon of personal poetical works.

Of all the wondrous adventures and experiences one can have in life, few (if any) can match, much less surpass, the magical experience of romance—and especially when that romance is authentic and mutually-reciprocated. It's worth differentiating between one-sided and dually-shared romance because I have a great deal of experience with both; and my poetry was also inspired by both!

For me, there is just nothing else quite like the rapturous experience of having an authentic crush on, or being in love with a girl (when I was a boy) or a woman (when I was a man). And having that woman love me back just as tenderly and passionately is mystical beyond expression. That is what has made marriage so wonderful for me.  

Now, when it comes to being "properly in love" to borrow the words of Piers Morgan (1), I can honestly say that that truly magical experience has only happened ONCE—and that was, is, and ever will be with my Lina Marie.

With Lina Marie on South Beach
March 2007

However, I didn't meet Lina until I was 27 years old, and I'd be lying if I claimed I had not had scores of different "crushes"—some of them very deep, sincere, and prolonged—in the two decades before I met Lina. However, I cannot honestly say I was never properly in love with any of these girls (when I was a boy) or women (when I was a man) because none of these previous associations ever blossomed into a serious romantic relationship. Indeed, Lina is the only girl or woman with whom I have ever enjoyed that ultimate relationship status.  

Despite this fact, I confess that there were many others who, had they given me even half-a-chance, I might very well have been married long before I ever met Lina! At the very least, I would have had one (or more) serious romantic relationship along the way. But, as fate would have it, Lina was truly the only ONE for me.  

I am one who firmly believes that Almighty God plays a prominent role in the events in our lives—and especially the KEY events of our lives. Only HE knows the full story behind why things worked out with Lina and why they didn't work out with so many others.

All I know for sure is that I am so glad it all worked out the way it did!

Lina is my closest friend, and the romantic love of my life. I adore her. She has been, is, and will ever be one of God's choicest blessings to me. Nevertheless, before I met Lina, I went on several hundred dates with 100 different girls/women, beginning at the age of 16.

That's right... Lina was the magic number #101.

The next two chapters share romantic sonnets (Chapter 10) and poems (Chapter 11) I wrote before I met Lina. The chapter following (Chapter 13) will share poems I wrote either after I met Lina, and were therefore specifically inspired by her, or that were inspired along the way by "the woman I would someday marry," and would eventually be dedicated and gifted to Lina.  

Before sharing my own attempts at romantic poetry, I'd like to reprint a few of my all-time favorites from great poets of yesteryear. I begin with one by Walt Whitman, who succinctly summarizes both my experiences with and my gratitude for all the girls (when I was a boy) and women (when I was a man) who motivated me to think, say, do, be, and believe BIG—leading all the way up to the nonpareil pinnacle of my dating experiences—my wife to be: Lina Marie Tucker.

Some of these motivations sprang from the hope and anticipation of potential romance with a whole bunch of different gals over the years. And some of these motivations sprang from the smart and sting of rejection, which is something I experienced most of the time until I met Lina.      

Click HERE to read about Dr. JJ's Rocky Road of Romance

Old Uncle Walt
1819-1892

Sometimes with One I Love

Sometimes with one I love I fill myself with rage for fear I 

            effuse unreturn'd love,

But now I think there is no unreturn'd love, the pay is certain

            one way or another,

(I loved a certain person ardently and my love was not return'd,

Yet out of that I have written these songs.)

—Walt Whitman

      (1819-1892)

Robert Browning
1812-1889

Summum Bonum (2)

All the breath and the bloom of the year in the

             bag of one bee:

     All the wonder and wealth of the mine in the

             heart of one gem:

In the core of one pearl all the shade and the

             shine of the sea:

     Breath and bloom, shade and shine,—wonder,

             wealth, and—how far above them—

                 Truth, that's brighter than gem,

                 Trust, that's purer than pearl,—

Brightest truth, purest trust in the universe—

             all were for me

                 In the kiss of one girl.

—Robert Browning

           (1812-1889)

Love's Philosophy

The fountains mingle with the river

   And the rivers with the ocean,

The winds of heaven mix for ever

   With a sweet emotion;

Nothing in the world is single;

   All things by a law divine

In one spirit meet and mingle.

   Why not I with thine?—

See the mountains kiss high heaven

   And the waves clasp one another;

No sister-flower would be forgiven

   If it disdained its brother;

And the sunlight clasps the earth

   And the moonbeams kiss the sea;

What is all this sweet work worth

   If thou kiss not me?  

—Percy Bysshe Shelley

           (1753-1844)

Edgar Allen Poe
1809-1849

Annabel Lee

It was many and many a year ago,

     In a kingdom by the sea,

That a maiden there lived whom you may know

     By the name of Annabel Lee;—

And this maiden she lived with no other thought

     Than to love and be loved by me.

She was a child and I was a child,

     In this kingdom by the sea,

But we loved with a love that was more than love—

     I and my Annabel Lee—

With a love that the wingèd seraphs of Heaven

     Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,

     In this kingdom by the sea,

A wind blew out of a cloud, by night

     Chilling my Annabel Lee;

So that her high-born kinsman came

     And bore her away from me,

To shut her up in a sepulchre

     In this kingdom by the sea.

The Beautiful Annabel Lee
And other vestiges of Poe's poetry

The angels, not half so happy in Heaven,

     Went envying her and me:—

Yes! that was the reason (as all men know,

     In this kingdom by the sea)

That the wind came out of the cloud, chilling

     And killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love

     Of those who were older than we—

     Of many far wiser than we—

And neither the angels in Heaven above,

     Nor the demons down under the sea,

Can ever dissever my soul from the soul

     Of the beautiful Annabel Lee:—

For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams

     Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

And the stars never rise but I see the bright eyes

     Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

And so, all the night-tide. I lie down by the side

Of my darling, my darling, my life and my bride

     In her sepulchre there by the sea—

     In her tomb by the sounding sea.  

—Edgar Allen Poe

           (1809-1849)

William Shakespeare
1564-1616

Sonnet XVIII

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate:

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And summer's lease hath all too short a date;

Sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines,

And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;

And every fair from fair sometimes declines,

By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed;

But thy eternal summer shall not fade,

Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;

Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,

When in eternal lines to Time thou grow'st.

   So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,

   So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.  

—William Shakespeare

           (1564-1616)

William Wordsworth
1775-1850

She Was a Phantom of Delight

She was a Phantom of delight

When first she gleamed upon my sight;

A lovely Apparition, sent

To be a moment's ornament;

Her eyes as stars of Twilight fair;

Like Twilight's, too, her dusky hair;

But all things else about her drawn

From May-time and the cheerful Dawn;

A dancing shape, an Image gay,

To haunt, to startle, and way-lay.

I saw her upon nearer view,

A Spirit, yet a Woman too!

Her household motions light and free,

And steps of virgin-liberty;

A countenance in which did meet

Sweet records, promises as sweet;

A Creature not too bright or good

For human nature's daily food;

For transient sorrows, simple wiles, 

Praise, blame, love, kisses, tears, and smiles.

And now I see with eye serene

The very pulse of the machine;

A Being breathing thoughtful breath,

A Traveller between life and death;

The reason firm, the temperate will,

Endurance, foresight, strength, and skill;

A perfect Woman, nobly planned,

To warn, to comfort, and command;

And yet a Spirit still, and bright

With something of angelic light.  

—William Wordswoth

           (1775-1850)

—Dr. JJ

July 12, 2023

Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, USA

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Notes:

1. From 2011-2014, Piers Morgan hosted a television show on CNN called Piers Morgan Live. On this show, he would routinely ask his guests if they had ever "properly been in love." This nightly schtick unique to his show would promote repartee regarding the guest's romantic memories and relationships. 

2. Summum Bonum is a Latin term that means the "Ultimate Good."