Toast To Love Poem by James Walter Orr

I will uncork the bottle and pour my first toast,
And I’ll raise high my glass to my ancestor’s ghost:
To the hope of our future and health of our past,
And the love that we feel and we all hope will last.

To the taste of the rum as I take my first sips,
To the taste of my girl as I kiss her sweet lips,
To the joy of this year as it always will seem,
And the warmth of the girl who’s invaded my dream.

The look of complete innocence there in her eyes;
The heat of the red devil that somehow belies;
The calmly said words, spoken coolly and remote;
As the heartbeat increases the pulse in her throat.

Let days come more often, let nights be much longer;
Let she that I hold in my arms love me stronger.
This night we can live, oh, that time we could borrow,
To hold to this dream 'till the dawn breaks tomorrow.

I call on all men to come lend me their two hands,
To stop Father Time in his tracks, where he now stands.
Oh, please don't let this night pass, oh please make it balk:
Please don't let it slip past on this path where I walk.

We are walking a moment that ne'er will return,
And the ashes will scatter from hearts that will burn.
The bane of our lives as we live, getting older,
Is hunting for love now that life has grown colder.

Oh love, come up closer, and take hold of my hand,
And look into my eyes so that you understand:
Since my words cannot tell you just what my mind's on,
Let your soul feel my heart before all our time's gone.