Best Alights Poems
(Dedicated to one of my childhood friends)
You were one of those charming lilies
that bloomed, so fresh, in my springtime pond;
when my homesick wings of longings flutter and soar,
and my mind alights
on the periphery of the playparks of the past,
I reminisce all the little fun we had
along with our other friends -
as we strolled through the narrow trails
in the verdant flowery meadow
that sprawled near our school
during the tender years of our lives.
The giggles and the laughter
the chuckles and the chatter -
those shrieks and the squeals
that baffled even the needles of time
to forget their own pace
and hop and waltz along with us.
Then roads diverged, new air we breathed
as we took new paths to pursue our purposes in life.
Years later, you arrived once very near my place
yet we could not connect and get ourselves to meet.
That day when we talked on the phone
and I heard your voice after a very long time,
my mind leapt for joy and soaked for some time
in a summer drizzle of rainbow memories -
of those I had long forgotten
as you reminded them to me in our chat -
they linger on like pleasant petrichor.
Later, I tried to recollect and sing our childhood songs
rhyming it perfect with the
unrhyming clamor of our choruses.
When commitments in work and family responsibilities
seem to have rusted the gate to my nostalgic dam -
your call was the key to open it - and when creaking opened
wistful emotions gushed forth
to form an ocean of yearnings
to be a child once more.
You revived the puddles of my mind with paper boats
that carry leaves, stems, and flowers of fond memories.
I felt like a gleeful kite in the vast blue,
fleeing for a moment from the humdrum day.
You will forever be the same charming lily
adorning my little lake of most treasured blossoms.
My bestie, my soul-sis.
Your love touched me…
As a butterfly softly alights on a flower.
I didn't notice until you flew away.
6-1-22
Bite Size Poem no.45 Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Line Gauthier
*Note: This poem is about not realizing you
love someone until it is too late.
The fish needs the anemone; the anemone, the fish
The pollen needs to be the bumble bee’s most precious wish
There’s fishes that frequent the mouths of huge man eating sharks
There’s places where I walk my dog, where he, at nothing, barks
The dragonfly leaps into flight, how does he know he can
A dolphin will attack a shark… to save his fellow man????
A chick will clamber from an egg and when he’s fully grown
He’ll fly five thousand miles to find a land he’s never known
All of this is cool and yet defies all explanation
So what on Earth created everything in every nation
Coincidence or accident, the odds just made it so
When mother nature’s dice were bad, she took another throw
Do I marvel at the splendour of the stars or moonlit nights
Do I smile when on a lavender a butterfly alights
It’s truly hard to comprehend; to find a rationale
For each astounding thing in this whole world - or this locale
Some say it’s evolution and the rest say we should pray
As though it’s Mother Nature or a god made things this way
But nature plays a game of chance; things work or don’t last long
I wonder at the notion that a god might get things wrong
There’s negatives… volcanoes, earthquakes, famines and tornadoes
I’d like to think a watchful god would save us all from those
I know not who or what made planet blue ’pon which we live
But when I see the truth my full allegiance I shall give
For all the birds and all the bees and all the plants and all the trees
Shall fill my heart with joy but shall not bring me to my knees
And yet our science tells us that it started with a bang
Which, some say, is as likely as, “Then all the angels sang.”
But all of us - you, them and I - are mortal as that butterfly
Will answers come the day we die, or will our souls lay down and cry
Will we float into the light with no fears, needs nor appetites
Or will we simply cease to be, with no more days and no more nights
I gaze at all the wonders that form part of all that is
And I don’t know if they are nature’s work or they are ‘his’
I envy those who have the faith; for me, I make this call
How lucky have I been to witness all of this at all?
Fluttering beneath the newly cut
Festive green hollies,
Decked out with heaped drapes
Of freshly fallen snow,
A bold little red breasted Robin,
Busily searching,
Cheerfully hops to and fro.
Darting between the soft, swirling
flakes
Of unique crystalline, driven without
respite,
He alights upon his sheltered
perch
And begins to shrilly trill:
Against the on coming, long
Drawn out Christmas night.
For the drawing darkness is
deepening,
Whilst the harsh wind blows so chill;
And, gently waking
From nonsensical dreaming,
I harken to the old dog Fox,
As, barking, he pads on down
Through the gorse strewn hill.
Suddenly stirred from dozing
Idleness,
As the charred log shifts and
settles in the grate,
I recall with vivid fondness:
Some old memories, good times,
The well meant promises
I did so earnestly to undertake.
Of old acquaintance...
Not forgotten,
And those that were
Or are no more,
Of circumstance and friendship:
And of they
That daily come
To pass through my open door.
But now the flames from the fire,
Dancing in the frosted window
panes,
Are calling for the poker
So I may stoke the blaze again;
For turning my warming back
Upon the locked out winters keep...
I hear that steadfast little Robin
Sing once more -
As I fall back into uncontested sleep!
at the break of dawn
a Hummingbird starts his rounds
Morning Glory sought
flaunting a red hue -
Mexican Sunflower tempts
looking hot, hot, hot
the Don Juan of birds
sucking nectar from Beardtongue. . .
drunk on French kisses
Goldenrod at noon. . .
Zephyr carries a sweet scent
beneath a gold sun
between Rose bushes
the Flower Kisser gets lost
in Blue Infinity
Sweet Pea and Bee Balm
entice with purple petals. . .
Bees join the orgy
Monarchs swarm in droves
when blue Hummingbird alights
on Butterfly Bush
Evening Primrose
waving in the dusk’s last breeze. . .
the proper lover
the Flower Kisser
leaves his harem sated as
white Moonflower glows
*The capitalized names for flowers
represent some of the most popular
flowers visited by hummingbirds.
When harvest moon alights,
to sail like gauzy lace
on through a cloud’s embrace...
I watch her mystic rites,
as beaming, she excites
my lithesome hours of grace.
How glorious the view
atop a mountain crowned…
with lilies all around
that settle on her queue,
beguiling eve, anew
when sparklers reach the ground.
Till weaves of dawn advance
which ends fine Luna’s trance.
--------------
Andrea Diterich's The HexSonnetta
Rhyme Scheme: a/bb/aa/b c/dd/cc/d ee
~ the word glorious has 3 syl count~
8/22/2015
I sit
at a small table
outside a café.
Along a low
orange wall,
rows and rows
of flowered bushes
decorate
the foreground of
a breathtaking scene.
Out to
a horizon
where sea meets sky
is endless blue.
I inhale
perfect beauty!
Fine wine and good food
are on the way.
Here in the sun
I will revel in
the fragrance of
the red roses
and the freshness
of the air.
A butterfly
alights nearby me.
How simple a thing
yet how divine.
Fly, Butterfly -
Fly out to the bay!
I wish to see
how long I may
keep you
In my sight
before you vanish
into the blue.
July 30, 2016 for Edward Ebb's Anacreontic Verse 4 Contest
On a harbor of restless shore
she scans across the deepened waves,
to end pain’s grim just like before...
as necklace breaks, in chilled farewell.
By edge of evening, time races
with hope to drown in circling tides.
Not a chance to hold stars’ graces,
a wish tangled in poverty.
Big dipper heeds her whimper, faint
as dazzling light soaks in blue sea.
Until her child harks ,” Mom, have faith;
I'm here with you, through love’s glory.”
By questioning the bleak of life
her truth alights, now out of strife.
Suicide Prevention Month Contest
Sponsor: Laura Loo Rhyme-- Sonnet Form
Re-submitted 9/16/2017
Ghosts have all but abandoned this lonely place. It's just me here. The cold, drizzling rain is relentless, yet calming somehow. Marble stones lodged in leafy pastures keep taunting me. Autumn was her favorite season; the rainbow of colors, the tantalizing smell of decay. Odd how beauty is most evident just before death. Feeling so drained. The park bench beneath the willow provides some respite. Branches sway in the breeze and caress my shoulders tenderly as if to comfort me. Before long I slip into a dream:
A hummingbird, flitting before my eyes, wanting something from me. Holding out my hand in invitation it gently alights. Time stands still as we gaze into each other's soul, desperate for a sign. Then it happens. A solitary tear drops into my palm. Its warmth sends a chill down my spine. And then she's gone.
I wake to the taste of salt upon my tongue. The rain has stopped, evening approaches. Time to return to my nest, as she has to hers. Why do I keep returning to this wretched haunt? There is hope where she dwells now. Her tear was for me, I'm sure of it. Loneliness is a kind of death. Death on two legs. How I dread the coming of winter.
life in monochrome
crimson and tangerine dreams
to be where she is
Like ballerinas airdropped from on high,
Snowflakes pirouette to damask the air,
Tutued geometries dimpling the sky,
Veil our stinging eyes with arabesque fair.
Downy fields we walk, where aureoles tide,
And white breaths upon your face softly flare.
As my swooning kiss to your frail smile dips,
A wayward prism alights upon your lips.
Farther than mantles of a pewter night,
Comets reel in their own immeasurable world
Past earth's sky, gloaming through lattices
Woven by celestial bands... a grandeur
From a multiverse illumined with other heavenly forms
Like asteroids unknown to human eyes, mirrored
Only in a roulette of divine Infinity : Out there,
With the bursting spiral from gas, fire, molten rocks
Twirls a dreamy carouse within a hub of Life Source.
My heart aches to greet them beyond zone's limit
In star-studded cast of aureoles...a poetry in motion,
Which alights into Borealis songs, their haunting lore.
And through sacred Mystery , I connect with this force
Designed by one Galactic handiwork-- moons, stars
planets circling around Milky Way, ever vibrant...
And to bestow a natural pace
of night and day,
Season upon season, I see myself as one
With creation reaching ---out for God's light.
...............
Re-post 6/28/2019
Contest of John Hamilton: Best Free Verse 2019
Originally written 2/20/2019
The ordinary water that she sips
transforms into a sparkling crimson juice
of cherries, cold and sweet, upon her lips.
The blues she sees are sapphire, greens, chartreuse,
and hardly does she know the color white,
for pearl or alabaster it appears.
The fog is lilac mist, and she’s a kite
that climbs the sky while loosing mundane fears.
Consumed by wind, she does not flag. Instead,
embracing zephyr, soars. Responses of
this mortal are not common. Served dry bread,
she’d name it manna sent her from above!
Half Pegasus, on wings of beauty borne,
her other half alights, a unicorn!
For the Screwed V Contest of Rob Carmack
Far as my eyes can see, 'till lake touches sky,
Earth beats as one; Poplar, Jack Pine & Birch all
Sing with the White Throated Sparrow, our Planet's
Love songs.
Sloping (5'canopy) an ancient Deer trail along the
Baptism River (flowing into Lake Superior) I startle a
Buck during his midday Nap. Soundlessly lifting up,
He elegantly bounces away.
From above, a dark object swoops in, Brother
Raven is curious, (always a sentinel for Hawks
And Bald Eagles). I stand motionless, willing my
Neo-Cortex to flood my aura with peace; as I
Extend my arm and gently imitate the Raven's
Welcome call, a double-beat "Caw caw"...I am
Here Raven, I am me". My heart quickens as
He alights on my arm, talons gripping my
Forearm gently, but firmly. Cocking my head,
I look deeply into his obsidian eyes to his
Soul...he imitates me, tilting his head in unison,
letting my gaze enter. Images from high race
Thru my mind...the rushing river...undulating
Tree tops...in an instant, we have become
Brothers of the wild, as I softly shake my arm
To set him free.
"I am me, Brother Raven, I am me"
05/30/15
© All Rights Reserved
Fat midnight bats feast, gnawing gnats, and flit away serene
while on the trails in distant dales the lonesome wolverine
sate appetites as dawn alights and daytime's crystalline.
A migrant feeds on rotting seeds with fingers far from clean
and thereby’s blessed with barren breast (the easier to wean) -
her baby sucks an arid flux and fades away unseen.
Game of god or a way of life …
Fate left me so weak and tiny.
Forbidden love ; a trick of life.
Passion alights in brevity.
Years back , decision hard I made.
Game of god or a way of life …
A last kiss and goodbye I bade,
Shattered, I could not be his wife.
Lived in hope ; love has afterlife.
He came back to hold me in maze
Game of god or a way of life …
At my door he stood like in daze.
Patient! Time stood with nurse's word.
Ethic was fighting emotion,
His wife sat beside him. Absurd!
Game of god or a way of life …
30/07/16
Contest: A Love Lost, then found only to lose again - Brenda Chiri Caroll
Quartern: 8 syllables per lines, 16 lines, 4 quatrains with refrain
Honored: Poem of the Day 1/08/16
Judged 26/08/16 -Win - 3rd place, Glory.