The HyperTexts

Malcolm Ernest

Malcolm Ernest is a poet, artist, musician, historian, mathematician, logician, and scientist who lives in Southern California. His poetry concerns love and passion, human nature, and the subject of artistic and poetic achievement itself.

He takes inspiration from such greats as Blake, de Vere, Whitman and Yeats. Ever since he was very young, Ernest has had a true passion for poetry. When he was six, he memorized the entirety of The Cat in the Hat. When he was eight and nine, he would doodle poetry while in his gifted class instead of paying attention to the lectures. And by fifteen, when most of his peers were mowing lawns, he had conceived the ambition of becoming a true poet!

At college, Ernest spent most of his time with the ladies (where he was a huge hit) and arguing with his professors about their dogmatic views. But every now and again, he found the time to compose a poem. Some of his favorites of his poems date to that time, including his unpublished 1200-line epic “The Quest for Poetry” and his sonnet “My Passionate Love.”

After he graduated, Ernest put his mathematical talents to use in accountancy. But he never lost his passion for poetry. And the heartbreak he experienced through the years have, he hopes, added true depth and poignancy to his later works. He is profoundly glad to share his poems with you, and hopes you will enjoy his work.



A Mother’s Love

Which is more beautiful:
A sunset, or a mother’s love?
A mother comforts her child on Earth,
But a sunset lights only the sky above.

Which is stronger: a grand oak tree,
Or a mother’s love for her little one?
Oaks can be felled by a logger’s axe
But a mother’s love cannot be undone.

Which is sweeter: a sugar cube,
Or a mother’s words of tender care?
Sugar can be digested
But a mother’s words will forever endure.

More beautiful than a glorious sunset,
Stronger than a great oak tree,
Sweeter than a sugar cube...
Who but our mothers could it be?



My Passionate Love

My passionate love, what is it you are like?
Like a beautiful, iridescent dragonfly,
Whose gossamer wings reflect the dying sky’s
Orange and red and pink, to seduce our sight …

Like a rose’s powerful, blood-red hue,
That makes my blood pump faster … makes my heart
Beat like a hummingbird’s … makes every part
Of my body fill with blood, excited for you …



When I First Knew

I fell in love
Beneath an autumn sky,
With a kindly moon
And faint starlight.
You were holding my hand
And you whispered to me,
And I knew it then …
I was in love.
It has been five years
And every time I think of you,
I think of that night,
The soft owls’ calls,
The soughing night breeze,
The trees around us
Making a gentle cage,
The feeling of your hand grasping mine …
Every time I think of you,
I think back
To the time when I first knew.



As Delicate as a Flower

As delicate as a flower
When the first soft petals appear…
There’s no place I’d rather be
Than lying beside you here.

As warm as the blossoming dawn,
As beautiful as a rose…
As the months and years go by,
My love for you grows and grows.

You shine down upon my life
Like the sun in the summer sky.
I’ll praise you in my poetry,
And love you till I die.

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