A
Star
Shines
So bright,
Sparkling clean
In the dark night sky
It peeks out behind a carpet of dark clouds
Like a cosmic jewel, twinkling bright in the sun
With its particles sprinkled across the sky.
Like thousands of gleaming pupils,
That gleam like pearls on a necklace:
Celestial diamonds aglow like fireflies
Heaven's joy hope beacons
Sent from God, just
To us
Contest: YOUR CHOICE f
Sponsored by: Brian Strand
Contest Judged: May 14th, 2025 8:47:00 AM
Placement: Tenth
As darkness wriggled into every place,
The land was governed by a veil of silence.
The previous vivid life had left no trace,
All but some crickets singing in defiance.
The mortal realm stood petrified as though
Succumbing to the conquest of the night.
However, in the sky, a tiny glow
Was rather willing to put up a fight.
What a one-sided clash of force
Conducted by the rebel and the tyrant,
And yet a brutal one without remorse
Between the little David and the giant.
Oh, how alike we were, the lonely star
That dwelled in an unfathomed galaxy!
Though separated by a space too far,
We both possessed a common destiny.
We were the beacons of sagacity,
The last remaining citadels of light
Amidst the ocean of opacity
That wrapped the whole world in the depths of night.
There are people who are beacons of hope,
Who keep bitterness at bay,
Despite all that comes their way,
Each and every day.
Of course they feel anger,
Despair, sadness, and loneliness,
And want to scream out loud,
But bitterness they keep at bay,
Each and every day.
Kindness they somehow keep,
Each and every day,
Not letting bitterness creep,
Into their day,
No matter how bad the state of play,
And that is why they are a beacon of hope,
In a world that gives bitterness too much scope,
To creep into the day and make it hard for most to cope,
Without kindness to point the way,
To making it through the day.
Nothing
Beacons..
The unnamed
Neutral..
Seeming goals
Hidden and not..
That's the story
That's already
Nothing
Neutral
And not even...
I stand before the ocean
a lone beacon
enduring the crash
of relentless waves
absorbing their hidden secrets
Weighted whispered woes
and carried calls for compassion
wear on fragile shoulders
gritting truth behind a smile
where withering resilience hides
Navigating the intentions
of those with insatiable thirst
narcissists crave to drain
the vulnerable empath
standing alone in constant company
Lightly treading depths
lost in a running river
I can walk away
but stay submerged
as boundaries dissolve
An empath has no option
dwelling in cores beneath spongy skin
innately woven in veins
flowing with the essence of others
outweighing mere empathy
Yet, beyond colliding tides
a distant, soothing glow
from a familiar lighthouse
emits an ease of missing peace
A suffering human
aches to be known
by those who know
RUSTIC BEACONS
overgrown
crowded busy
shrouded in mist
understated
austere
stark subtle
undulating
stripping away
to
near abstraction
a motif
an echo
pitched
touches
the tonal unity
until
disposed
unseen
interrupts
the minimal mood
in the shadows
closely
exploring
this moment
THIS IS AN OPEN(organic) FORM VERSE without grammatical symbols the ' open' relies upon 'the one breath limitation' & so inherently requires the 'reader' (reciter) to input and respond thus making the form a two way interplay and often a unique interpretation by the enigma so derived
Beacons of light
haki
taa iko wapi
katika giza kubwa
kwanini jioni
kupofushwa na giza linalo kulia
iwe nyeupe au nyeusi Mwana ainuka
Mungu anatufanya wote kuwa Beacons za nuru
justice
where the light
in the formidable dark
why must the dusk
be blinded by the cries darkness of light
be it white or black the Son rises
God makes us all Beacons of light
7/10/20
written words by James Edward Lee Sr. 2020 ©
The eyes of heavenly beacons
Peek out from amidst the shadows,
Like so many playful stars
Behind a mist-blown sky—
Or the diffuse glow of street lamps
Draped with sculpted snow.
From songbirds to sonatas,
From meteors to mantras,
They veil themselves in fetching garb
And wink at us as a lover.
soft light waves within
a heart of crystalline rays
the darkness abates-
bright vision of flame combusts
angel orbs dispel the haze
Here's one to two great people, my beacons of hope.
They really cheer me up when everything goes down the slope.
I owe so much I have to these amazing guys,
And I really don't know what I'll do if everyone of them dies.
They're brothers to me, not by blood but by heart,
And I don't feel like doing anything when we're apart.
Only thanks to these two guys I'm still alive,
For I haven't met them back then, I'd take a window dive.
I know that with them, I will be happy one day.
Their very presence makes my problems slowly go away.
So thank you, my dear brothers, for being here with me,
And I promise that with you around, I'll never cease to be.
Like stars in the night
Guiding wandering souls home
Marbles of delight
Seven beacons, one by one.
It started with the number one son.
He paved the way with tar and gravel.
For sometimes things would just unravel.
Number two, her spirit true.
She always did her best.
But no one get's to always be right.
Sometimes good will lose the fight.
Then number three did come to be.
Of course she lived in shadow.
Trying to add up one and two.
Her tally ended up too low.
Four gotten son was number one.
But only to himself.
He left a family far behind.
To collect dust on the shelf.
A third girl from a prior marriage.
The fifth to be pushed in a carriage.
The last of them from father one.
But alas, she wasn't done.
Along came Dad and sister six.
She added nicely to the mix.
But blended family's do grow up.
It didn't leave much in the cup.
Along I came, the seventh son.
She finilly said, that's it, I'm done.
I've often wondered why.
But somethings just are never known until the day you die.
As long as man has lived upon this Earth
The quest for beacons of light has endured
Primitive cultures, man’s earliest ancestors
Found wonder in the moon’s allure
Upon the seas, more advanced civilizations
Made their way guided by celestial orbs
Eventually creating historic lighthouses
To guide their navigational course
Greeks found solace in a light
Emanating from Mount Olympus
Gods and Goddesses they worshiped
Until the discovery of those truly blessed
God’s light serves as our beacon now
Eternal glow that guides us through storms
And when we discover this light’s power
The spirit of the believer transforms
Satan’s path winds only through darkness
Images of eternal suffering emerge
When we fail to find the beacon of light
And remove the stain of sinful scourge
It is man’s choice to pursue radiance or darkness
The preferred path is usually lit by the bright
For just as early man perceived from the moon
Souls are ever drawn to beacons of light
*For Wounded Words "Eternal Figures" challenge
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