promise backtracked at the eleventh hour
creates no ripple in our glowing heart
we have no desire for grapes sweet or sour
for all we feel is bliss ignition start
breath by breath adding magnetism to cart
each moment flowing in time deemed sublime
the song of our soul mirrors bliss beat’s chime
Female, I felt! Chirped differently than on other days!
As though crying and screaming in many ways
It might not be owing to the change of weather, I know.
Nor, due to the drizzles, visited its nest like a forgotten foe.
I, with my little ability to climb the trees, took the adventure
As though signing with the tree, a unique indenture
I could not find anything unusual at first glance.
Soon, I fell enraptured by a skeptically unsympathetic trance.
I could find something, like an ipomoea black heart vine, sway
And crawling towards the eggs that, like turquoise stones, lay
While I stood dumbfounded, I could witness the frail bird bounce.
And attack the intruder, and his death sentence pronounce
Silence shrouded my so-far self-complacent wisdom.
I backtracked, pondering over the powers of the bird kingdom.
I
Dora was 82 this year
My onetime neighbor
Three years back
I was new again
From USA, I backtracked
She inspired me about Africa again
II
Jesus, she loved Thee well
We pray, shalom, live to tell
If an ordinary, great South African
Bye Tanie Dora, godspeed
You wanted to care for your needs
But Thatcher Home was there
For a while, you shared your flair
In faith and community spirit
There it is, the facts!
Some passed foolish words or acts,
a picture presence of a thousand words
looking back without grace to be restored;
what you said or what you did
no one can ever forgive.
Everything we say or do
haunts us until we're screwed
no one forgets the human brewed stew
backtracked apologies, missteps or intended grace
our past comes forth to ever be in your face.
Wisdom seems to come with age
and in our endeavors, each is gauged
by the very steps, we play upon life's stage
but time hardens and wrinkles our face
with mistakes regrets never erased.
Flashback to Fridays when I was a wanted guest
a common companion strolling the riverside
with more than just the moon willing to chat
where words resonated with hand-cut diamonds
lighting up my vision and your restful eyes
where missed lessons were backtracked
and praise was left to pigeons hiding
in the shadows pretending not to be seen
Harlequin days have passed us on by
and what once were sailboat dreams
have quietly motored ahead
I'm relegated to slip silently in the cracks
chasing down demons with a crooked stick
fighting off the famine in air too thick
left with thoughts lingering in a darkened sky
broken in heart and spirit I'm left to die
Form = Free Range Verse
The Hunt
Mans desire to hunt
Testing skills from the beginning of time
I had outfitted myself the day before
With camouflage, and all the tools of the trade
The excitement of catching my prey
Outwitting my fellow hunter a plenty
Tracking for hours and hours on end
Off I went in search of the trophy
In my jeep and down the hunters path
Being not so familiar with the terrain
I often backtracked, here and there
Moving from one place to the other
Silently and with anticipation
Looking forward to bringing home my kills
I had already a few scores to my name
Now for the final
The pièce de résistance
That made the hunt all the worth while
Bang! I got it
Hunts Tomato sauce in Isle seven
Oh how good the spaghetti dinner will be
Hope she appreciates all the fine hunting you see
I have done at Wal-Mart to make this evening show
Candles and guitar in the shimmering moonlight
The hunter so proud for being her shopping Knight!
There's someone I need to write to…someone i take for granted.
Someone who knows who they are and some others can't stand it.
I mailed a few letter yet she hasn't replied back.
I think its been too long since I wrote with some love attached.
My last one i backtracked was so bad it lacked the simplicity of my feelings and made stability seem cracked.
The essence was gone and she was feeling low.
My pen started to dry and the paper stayed blank, saying, "no"
The mailman even looked at me in a peculiar way.
You're the writer yet you have no letters today?
I haven't had the time was my reply and he half smiled.
Not everyone has time but we still walk the same miles.
I pondered his vagueness and picked up on the metaphor.
I saw you in the clearing light that was dropping like a garage door.
My heart poured into the nearest pad and I wrote down all that i should have said.
You would hear what your ears deserved what your body needed.
You would get the letters, the i love you's i repeated.
You told me to slow down, what was this all about.
I told you, what i was giving wasn't enough, for the sun still shines, even hid behind the clouds.
I meandered through the muddy Mekong
Searched in sultry sexy Saigon
Ravished in the Cat Thien Rain forest
Yet I still could not find you
I found myself haunted in Hong Kong
Caught up in the cacophony of China
Trailed my way thoughts to Taiwan
And still I could not find you
I jostled and jaunted through Japan
Hoping Kyoto would hold my Karma
It only got me caught up in Korea
And still I could not find you
So I backtracked and got tormented in Thailand
Which had me pondering Penang
Hoping you would be caught in Kuala Lampur
Yet still I could not find you
I searched for you in the East
Hoping to calm my inner beast
Believing my inner mind to be true
That maybe one day - I'll find you...
The Fates must have been drunk, when they led me to you
or maybe they were blindfolded, they didn't have a clue
I was lost for more than a decade, you already had it made
but still you backtracked, left breadcrumbs on your trail
I didn't even know me, I felt alone and afraid
but you held my hand, and taught me how to sail
On sleepless nights, you lulled me with your psalms
on whirlwind days, you told me "Stop. Just smell the coffee."
In my sea of worries, you showed me there was calm,
in my joy you glowed with me, cried with me in my agony
Looking back now, for you my heart bursts into song
for I am grateful for the Fates, they must've known all along
02.16.2010 Written for Matt's I love you Because contest :)
I was so sad I was about to cry
When she appeared in the corner of my eye
Being carried gracefully by the wind
I believe she wanted to be my friend
She had rainbow wings and big brown eyes
Like silver dollars floating in the sky
There was a reason that I was so sad
I’d lost the most beautiful thing I had
It was more precious than anything
For I’d lost my diamond ring
I had my ring since I was four
But now at 5 I have my ring no more
Dad and I backtracked my steps nice and slow
Searching for my ring both high and low
When the butterfly came floating down
Landing on my ring lying on the ground
I ran and got my ring up off the ground
Right here on my finger it can be found
I thanked Mrs. Butterfly with a smile and a tear
Waving goodbye as she disappeared
Into a rainbow that crossed the sky
My magic ring finding rainbow butterfly
Written by my daughter Michaela and I
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.