That only I can see
I faced this lonely road alone
I walked this blind street
With a faultless mischief
My fears withheld within
A stranger to myself
So I embraced my shadow
And prayed for quietness
in my head!
I still quarrel with the words you said
On the day we loved in bed.
Beneath them hid the pain of evanescence,
Wrapped in a crumpled paper dress.
I cannot forgive the promise you broke -
One more sunrise together, one more shared joke.
At least one parting kiss,
On the deathbed before you left.
Chains of Love
It's better to be without your kiss
Than your betrayal
Your hidden secrets of misusing my overly love
True and only true
But you have a lot of damage
Which I cannot be come through
Without your chains of Love
I will be happy man again
Again I will be , happy, without you
No, I forthwith forgiven you as I held the door open to my heart you ripped up
My arms and hands released you from the embracement
For thou I have so forgiven you for what I’ve done and we do
In the truth of the matters we are both sadden by the view
Of the empty room one entering another moves I run forthwith unto you
I applies all is forgiven come here my dear lets reside
you've been forgiven and excused
6/5/25
Written words by James Edward Lee Sr. 2025©
A hope that I’m now clinging to…
when it comes to individuals, state or nations….
is that:
Sometimes the most difficult roads
can lead to the most beautiful destinations
For me…when times are rough…I think back to Fairy Tales….
How evil wins its share of battles…but in the end…how good prevails.
Whenever I fight evil…sometimes I lose…sometimes I win…
and oftentimes I’m in need of mending….
but I truly believe for every Once Upon a Time
there should be a happy ending.
I also know life in not always a Fairy Tale…
filled with joy and love…and laughter…
I know there is pain and suffering and heartache in our world
and that everyone does not life Happily Ever After.
But…having been influenced by Fairy Tales all my life…
my mission is a simple one:
To enter into the fairy tale of everyone I meet…
so when their story’s done…
I may not have been able to come to their rescue
riding a white horse…like a knight…
but their lives will end a little happier…
because of the pages I helped write.
May we be blessed to understand and enjoy the diversity of art
whether in a museum
or on a nature walk….
from the artists who work on the canvases of today
to the artists whose canvases were rocks.
"As furry as sheep’s clothing;
It’s thick, fluffy, and profuse.
As timid as a white woolly.
I think it all fits you.
The greener the pasture,
The greener the opportunities await.
But friends don’t compete for one blade of grass,
For meadows are as vast as fates.
As evergreen as mountains,
Beautiful friendships grow eternal.
But there are leaves that shed too fast.
This, we have, seems ephemeral.
Picket fences are built for comfort,
They stand still and sturdy like your intentions.
But soon, they'll collapse,
There’ll be no room for circumventions.
MY HEART WITHOUT YOU .......
YOUR LONG HAIR STILL LINGERS UPON MY COLD FACE
TOUCHING MY FINGERS SKIN AND SOULS
CANNOT FORGET YOUR OPEN HAIR ON MY MIRRORS FRONT
FORMING THE MOST STUNNING PORTRAIT
THE ODOUR OF ATTIRE ON MY ROOM
ROAMS IN STILL AIR OF MY ROOM
TELLING ME TO CALL YOU AGAIN
TELLING ME TO MEET YOU AGAIN
COME BACK LIKE THE OLD FRIEND WHO HAS FORGOTTEN ME
TAKEN ALL THE SWEET MEMORIES OF OLDER TIMES
MEET ME PRIAVTE AGAIN TO REVIVE OUR LOVE
MEET ME IN MY SOUL IN MY DREME
MY ROOM IS EMPTY NOW NOR MY SOUL EXISTS WITHOUT YOU
FORGET THE PAST NOW COME BACK NOW
LET THE VOID BE FILLED WITH HAPPINESS AGAIN
LET THE BIRDS TO SING SONGS OF OUR LOVE AGAIN
TAKE ME AGAIN NOW
COME BACK NOW
TAKE ME AGAIN IN YOUR ARMS NOW
COME BACK NOW
COME BACK NOW
COME BACK NOW
If we believe life is a circle
where the end of one journey
is the beginning of the next
Today I’m thankful for donuts
because…
Nothing epitomizes that belief
more than a donut does
Today I’m thankful for the sea…
When you first experience it…
no matter where you are..or when…
once you’ve looked out on the ocean
and been mesmerized by her tides
you’ll never be the same again
Darling I forgive you yet I must part, so my love I am sorely displeased
Even in my forgiveness you have tarnished and dulled mine heart
I forgive yet still I must part, in your untruth displeasure you’ve called me out
Even in my forgiveness you are a lair a cheating doth
But to core values and heart of the matter
My heart matters in this I’m leaving you
For your unfaithful and lawlessness has finally stalled me out,
Darling I forgive you yet I must part
2/20/2024
Written words by James Edward Lee Sr. 2024©
'Twas a tawdry affair that trifles pittance fare,
A Qualified Judge.
~0~
Allied With Grudge.
~0~
Pride Did Smudge.
~0~
Backslide By Nudge.
~0~
Denied To Rejudge.
~0~
Teary-Eyed No Budge.
~0~
"FORGIVENESS"
"Implied?" ... "Theorized!"
"Her fate has already been decided ..."
"... and what of me ...?"
"Your fate will be defined."
The House of Bernadotte.
Oh my, what have you got?
It's been more than a year,
Swede reporter made clear,
adultery in the land of Moose,
high up the ladder may vamoose.
Yet after all, he's just a commoner,
until he married, King Gustav's daughter,
the heir apparent to Sweden's throne,
wedded tryst to the roamer of Stockholm
poor Crown Princess Victoria speaks true
Princess Estelle, Prince Oscar, & grandpapa too,
The alleged, Prince Daniel, publically denies it, soon all forgotten!
Regal, Crown Princess Victoria, "Reconcile, House of Bernadotte."
Today I’m thankful for simplicity….
for how often do we discover
in love
in life
in everything we do…
as each day goes by…
how much happier we are…
when we learn to simplify.
Introduction
The most gripping pleasure of a Vaasokht is that its complaint is rarely only a complaint. The speaker exposes hurt while attempting to recover authority, so tenderness, accusation, pride, and withdrawal may occupy the same small dramatic space. A reader is asked to hear both what the lover says and what the lover may be trying not to reveal. That tension makes each poem feel like an intimate address with larger questions of dignity and power behind it.
As you read the community poems, notice how differently writers can stage that confrontation. One poet may sound wounded and restrained; another may use wit, theatrical outrage, bitter irony, or cold finality. The careless beloved may appear through a vivid gesture, an unanswered message, a remembered promise, or simply an oppressive silence. Some speakers genuinely reclaim self-respect, while others make claims so grand that their vulnerability becomes even more visible.
Browsing multiple examples reveals possibilities that one isolated poem cannot. Compare how different poets balance musical pattern with conversational heat, how quickly they move from grievance to defiance, and whether the ending feels like liberation, threat, bluff, or lingering attachment. Read beyond the first example and consider how each poet interprets the form's charged relationship between devotion and withdrawal. The resulting contrasts make the collection valuable not merely as a set of models, but as an ongoing conversation about what happens when love becomes an argument over attention, value, and emotional control.
Reading Guide
Approach each Vaasokht as a dramatic utterance rather than a neutral account of a failed relationship. The speaker is addressing, imagining, or judging a beloved, and every choice of tone helps construct that unequal encounter. Because displeasure can conceal longing, the most revealing moments may be those in which confidence wavers, affection leaks through an insult, or an ultimatum sounds suspiciously like a plea. As you browse the poems in this collection, compare not only what each speaker claims, but also what the language allows you to infer.
- Identify the implied addressee. Notice whether the beloved feels vividly present, emotionally absent, or reduced to an accusation. This determines how theatrical and immediate the complaint becomes. Ask: does the poem seem spoken directly to someone, rehearsed in private, or presented to an observing audience?
- Track the emotional turn. Look for the point at which hurt becomes defiance, judgment, dismissal, or threatened withdrawal. The turn gives the poem its inner movement. Ask: does the shift feel earned by what precedes it, or does the speaker change posture too abruptly?
- Examine claims about worth. A speaker may imply that devotion grants the beloved value, but that claim can sound powerful, defensive, ironic, or troubling. Ask: does the poem endorse the speaker's judgment, expose its arrogance, or leave the power struggle unresolved?
- Listen to the rhyme as pressure. Recurring sound can make anger feel controlled, obsessive, ceremonial, or sharply comic. Ask: does the sonic pattern intensify the speaker's emotion, or can you hear places where wording has been bent merely to secure a rhyme?
- Watch the pace of escalation. Compression requires each statement to advance the confrontation. Ask: does every line sharpen, complicate, or redirect the grievance, or do several lines repeat the same emotional information?
- Distinguish image from accusation. A concrete sign of neglect often carries more force than a general declaration of cruelty. Ask: what object, gesture, silence, or remembered scene allows the reader to experience the beloved's carelessness?
- Test the ending's authority. The final gesture may close the door, issue a warning, or reveal that the speaker remains attached. Ask: does the conclusion transform the earlier complaint, and do you believe the speaker will carry out the threatened withdrawal?
Compare several poets' approaches before deciding what the form can do. Differences in voice, implication, and closure often matter as much as visible pattern.
Writing Tips
Begin with a conflict that contains more than disappointment. Productive material usually gives the speaker two incompatible desires: to make the beloved recognize the injury and to prove that recognition is no longer needed. That contradiction supplies dramatic energy. Before shaping the poem, write down the specific act of neglect, what the speaker wants in response, and what emotional cost is hidden beneath the speaker's proudest claim.
- Choose a grievance with visible evidence. Avoid starting from a broad statement such as being unloved. Find the unanswered invitation, divided attention, broken promise, returned gift, or altered ritual that embodies carelessness. A precise incident gives the speaker something to argue from and gives the reader grounds for judgment.
- Create a voice that performs an action. Decide whether the speaker is warning, mocking, bargaining, renouncing, or trying to provoke remorse. This keeps the poem from becoming a static list of complaints. The diction should reveal how the speaker hopes the beloved will react.
- Build escalation rather than repetition. Let each movement change the stakes: evidence may lead to accusation, accusation to a claim of self-worth, and that claim to departure or reversal. A common beginner mistake is restating the same injury in increasingly ornate language without developing the emotional argument.
- Use rhyme as emotional discipline. Draft a bank of usable sounds, but reject any rhyme that requires distorted syntax, vague padding, or an implausible word. The pattern should make the speaker sound controlled under pressure, not trapped by a technical exercise. Sometimes a plain phrase carries more authority than a conspicuously clever match.
- Let imagery carry the charge. Select one or two motifs that can change meaning as the confrontation develops: a locked threshold, fading perfume, an extinguished lamp, or a screen that never answers. Repeated with variation, an image can move from longing to indictment without requiring explanation.
- Complicate the claim of value. If the speaker insists that the beloved matters only because of the speaker's devotion, decide how readers should receive that assertion. It may express wounded pride, expose possessiveness, create irony, or mark a genuine recovery of agency. Nuance prevents defiance from becoming a flat boast.
- Protect compression. Formal pressure can tempt writers to squeeze several abstract ideas into one line. Prefer one clear dramatic beat at a time. Read the draft slowly and mark where breath, syntax, and emotional emphasis conflict; then revise the thought rather than relying on punctuation to repair it.
- Design the ending before polishing every sound. Decide what changes when the poem closes. Will the speaker leave, threaten to leave, discover indifference, or betray continued longing? An effective ending does more than announce that love is withdrawn; it makes the reader reconsider whether the preceding confidence was strength, performance, or both.
During revision, read the poem aloud first as the speaker and then as the silent beloved. The first reading tests pace, rhyme, and vocal credibility; the second reveals exaggeration, missing evidence, and unintended cruelty. Remove explanations already carried by images, replace merely convenient rhymes, and sharpen the precise point of emotional change. Finally, ask a reader where sympathy shifted. If that answer surprises you, decide whether the surprise deepens the poem or exposes an unfocused voice.
Interesting Facts
- The complaint can function as self-portrait. Although the speaker concentrates on the beloved's carelessness, the intensity, logic, and exaggeration of the address may reveal even more about the accuser. Readers often remember the gap between declared independence and audible longing.
- Confidence is not always emotional victory. A forceful claim that love can be withdrawn may sound triumphant, but it can also operate as a defense against rejection. Skilled poets preserve enough ambiguity for pride and pain to remain active together.
- Rhyme can cool or inflame the argument. Smooth sonic control may make the speaker seem composed and decisive, while conspicuous chimes can produce obsession, sarcasm, or theatrical excess. The artistic effect depends on voice, not simply on correctness.
- A silent beloved still shapes the poem. What the absent addressee does not say creates interpretive space. The silence may confirm neglect, suggest that the speech is imagined, or make readers question whether the speaker's account is complete.
- The ending can revise every earlier line. A credible departure makes prior accusations feel like preparation for freedom. A hesitant or extravagant ending can instead reveal bluff, dependence, or unresolved attachment, giving the same emotional material a very different aftertaste.
- Contemporary settings need not weaken the form's identity. Unanswered messages, public indifference, shifting pronouns, and revised relationship roles can carry the old power struggle into present experience. What matters is sustaining the charged movement among neglect, valuation, protest, and withdrawal. Browse the community poems to see how broadly that movement can be interpreted.
Popular Themes
Subject matter matters here because the form thrives on an emotional imbalance that can be argued, not merely reported. The following themes are literary possibilities rather than measured popularity rankings. Each gives the speaker room to move between attachment and resistance while allowing tone, image, and sound to alter the reader's sympathies.
- Neglect and unanswered affection. Missed meetings, emotional distance, and unreturned attention provide concrete evidence for displeasure. They also create a telling question: does the speaker want justice, acknowledgment, or renewed love?
- Dignity after rejection. The movement from humiliation toward self-command suits a voice attempting to reclaim value. The strongest treatments let confidence emerge through changed language and action rather than through unsupported declarations.
- Jealousy and replacement. A rival can intensify the confrontation without needing to appear directly. Comparison exposes the speaker's insecurity and may make accusations sharper, more comic, or less reliable.
- Love as power or valuation. The claim that devotion increases another person's worth invites exploration of vanity, possession, reciprocity, and dependence. A poet can endorse that claim dramatically, question it through irony, or allow the reader to resist it.
- Ultimatums and departure. A threatened farewell naturally concentrates the poem's pressure. Its emotional success depends on whether departure feels possible, overdue, manipulative, or contradicted by the speaker's continuing tenderness.
- Memory after rupture. A cherished object, phrase, or place can become evidence in the present argument. Memory complicates anger by showing why withdrawal is difficult and what the speaker risks losing.
- Digital silence and public indifference. Unanswered messages, visible online attention given elsewhere, or a relationship denied in public can provide contemporary forms of carelessness. Such details work best when they reveal an older human struggle over recognition rather than serving as novelty alone.
As you read the community poems, compare how different writers transform similar themes through voice and perspective. One poet's farewell may sound liberating, another's accusatory, and another's heartbreakingly provisional. Those differences show how subject becomes art through treatment.
Editorial Insights
The central artistic tension of a memorable Vaasokht lies between exposure and command. The speaker must reveal enough injury for the complaint to matter, yet seeks to reverse the relationship's imbalance by judging the beloved or withdrawing devotion. If the voice is only wounded, the distinctive counterpressure disappears; if it is only boastful, the emotional cause of the speech becomes inaccessible. Strong poems keep both forces audible. Even the fiercest dismissal may retain a trace of attachment, while an apparently tender appeal may contain a developing refusal.
Structure feels necessary when it enacts that struggle. Recurring sound can suggest a mind mastering anger, circling an obsession, or turning pain into public performance. Compression can make each line resemble a deliberate step away from the beloved, provided the emotional argument genuinely advances. Editors and attentive readers notice when pattern and subject reinforce one another: a tightening cadence may accompany growing resolve, a repeated image may acquire harsher meaning, and the final sonic resolution may coincide with a psychological break. In such cases, form is not an ornamental container placed around a grievance; it becomes the means by which the speaker acquires, performs, or fails to acquire control.
Weaker drafts often announce neglect without dramatizing it, then leap to superiority before the reader has felt the stakes. Predictable accusations, generalized images, forced rhyme, and mechanical line-by-line patterning can make the conflict seem borrowed rather than lived. Over-explanation creates another problem: if the speaker repeatedly names anger, worth, and betrayal, little remains for tone or imagery to imply. Insufficient development is equally damaging. A declaration of withdrawal has limited force unless the preceding language establishes what devotion meant, how it was mishandled, and why renunciation changes the speaker's position.
Individuality enters through the exact moral and emotional framing of the confrontation. One poet may let the speaker's arrogance undermine the argument; another may portray defiance as overdue self-preservation. Humor, restraint, colloquial directness, ceremonial intensity, gender perspective, and contemporary setting can all alter the shared dramatic premise without erasing it. Comparing multiple community poems develops judgment because technical recognizability is only the beginning. Read for the example in which the language makes the conflict feel unavoidable, the turn changes your allegiance, and the ending continues to complicate the speaker's confidence after the final sound has faded.
Read, Write & Share
Read several community poems before settling on a single impression of what a Vaasokht can accomplish. Compare the speakers' grievances, the balance between pride and vulnerability, the use of rhyme as emotional pressure, and the credibility of each farewell. A thoughtful comment might identify a revealing turn, a memorable image, or the moment your sympathy changed.
Then try shaping your own confrontation. Give the beloved's carelessness a concrete sign, let the speaker's authority develop rather than merely announce itself, and test the ending aloud. When the poem is ready, publish it on PoetrySoup so other readers and writers can consider your interpretation alongside the collection.
Collection Statistics
This collection currently contains 21 poems, offering multiple opportunities to compare how writers handle grievance, wounded pride, emotional leverage, and threatened withdrawal. A collection of this size can reveal contrasting choices in voice, imagery, sound, pacing, and closure without suggesting that every contribution approaches the form identically. As you browse, allow for poets who closely follow conventions, those who adapt them to contemporary situations, and those who challenge expectations while retaining the form's central dramatic tension.
Vaasokht Categories
Definition | What is Vaasokht in Poetry?
Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.