Best Bearable Poems
Had a thought a moment ago, just before I broke your aura'd wing,
trapped here, forever, within Audouin's vast crater alone and pining.
Starved for ages, a new gnawing hunger'd vision looked to bring.,
had we met, you and I, before the javelin started skyward climbing?
Though skin is rough and jagged as scoria litter that surrounded,
there beats a heart recognized by all the vanquished ghosts of Mars.
Was this love, don't know..,tho' never felt quite so astounded.
Perhaps startled to realize, it was I..,snared by her eyes in fawning stars.
Pitiful, mortal creatures molded by divine hands such as we,
learn only now, the cosmos proves bearable only through love.
And so I'll starve tonight, and tomorrow, and perhaps forever be.,
though joyous still..,no longer alone, or taunted by constellations above.
At last you take wing again, watch you soar away into the starlit night,
this day found love to save, and let your spirit go in merciful flight.
~~My apologies to Carl Sagan~~
Categories:
bearable, flower, heart, heaven, loneliness,
Form:
Verse
JESUS by Joan May Donnelly Ellis
Jesus, You are the Brightest Light of Love
A hearth fire ablaze on Christmas Eve
A child's uncommanded hug
The flicker from a candle's flame
A Hand whose touch leaves a glow
The whisper of a lip's caress
The shower of an autumn snow
Jesus You are the manifestation of my praise
A military stride illuminated by grace
The reception of delight when pure humor releases all care
You are the warmth of an appreciative look
As You muse from your rocking chair
Jesus, You are a revelation spilling forth and pouring Light into my soul as I meditate on You
You are fresh, You are clean, a poet's dream come true
Jesus, You are as welcome as a mountain stream I surrender myself to after a hot Summer day of toil in my garden
Jesus, You are regular visits to Adventure Land
A glove, snow white shifting silken sands
You are a boy running 20 miles to be with the girl he loves.
Jesus, You are a head sinking in a bale of new-mown hay
The healing power of a Palm Tree's sway
And Jesus, You motivate every good that I do.
Jesus, You are the juice from a blade of Kentucky Blue
The tremor following a California Quake too
And Jesus, You've got what it takes to cause the Universe to fall in love with You.
Jesus, You're the dawning of a Carolina moon
The Decider who dines with silver spoon
You're the Yellow Rose of Texas in full bloom
The revival of Pentecost.
Jesus, You are a Prince in housecoat and slippers on a front porch swing
A LOVE for better or worse that clings
You're the Composer of songs Your Angel's sing.
Jesus, You are brevity
An embrace that lingers long after You go.
Jesus, You are the One who never laughed
When the child's love letter was mocked by the elite class.
And Jesus, You make bearable the insults one suffers through
Forgiveness granted for the incomplete, inaccurate view
You're the only One worthy & the only One true
Potter me in word & deed more like You.
Categories:
bearable, jesus, spiritual, universe,
Form:
Verse
(Sir Frederick Treves, Victorian surgeon, has the
following claims to our respect: (1) he discovered
and cared for Joseph Merrick, "The Elephant Man":
(2) He followed the route in Italy of the characters
in Browning's "The Ring & the Book", taking
priceless photos: and many more things!)
The Eloquent Man
Sir Frederick Treves enjoys four claims to fame:
the lifelong friend of Thomas Hardy, who
supped with him in the King’s Arms snug: the name
of Joseph Merrick (Robert Browning, too!)
is intimately linked with his: he’s due
a place in heaven for his healing feats:
and yes, he lived here, on the street of streets.
It’s Dorchester, or Casterbridge to some.
And Treves, a native, knew its ways and whims
as well as Hardy did. When he succumbed
to his appendix, genteel pseudonyms
were dropped. Tom Hardy chose the funeral hymns.
He also honored Treves in gentle rhymes,
to mark his passing, in the London Times.
The wretch named Merrick, or the Elephant Man,
could well have lived his loveless life untended,
had Treves not found him. Merrick’s mortal span
was made more bearable, being befriended
by one of London’s foremost. When it ended,
poor Joseph Merrick, long reviled and scorned,
found home in Wimpole Street, where he was mourned.
King Edward feels a grumble in his tripes,
and sends for Surgeon Treves, the kingdom’s best.
“You mustn’t operate,” the sovereign gripes,
“My coronation’s looming.” “Which seems best,”
asks Treves – “a crowning, or cremation?” Pressed
to give an answer, Edward takes the knife –
and Treves the genius saves his monarch’s life.
The poet Browning wrote some novel verse,
or rather, a verse novel: ring and book,
Italian murder tale. Treves was immersed
in it, obsessed with it, completely hooked:
went off to Tuscany, made notes, and took
some photographs, made sketches, thus preserving
the base of fact. The man defines “deserving”!
Categories:
bearable, london,
Form:
Rhyme Royal
Her tears lost to rain ...
Dorothea stood in the cold mist,
her habit soaked through, though she cared not.
The gray markers spread out before her like stone soldiers at attention,
as if she were a commander of the dead ...
'No', he would have corrected, 'You are my gift from God' -
her soldier, as cold as stone, now long dead,
deep in the frozen earth at her feet.
She ached for his touch ...
it had been twenty-two years since he'd left for the war -
since he'd been killed protecting his platoon,
yet the wound was as raw as ever,
and the longing for his smile burned a hole in her deepest being.
God was the only thing that made it bearable,
and that devotion was for his sake alone, not hers -
not the children she tended to at the abbey,
not the twisted-limbed gentlemen at the veteran's center,
not the numberless parishioners she had comforted over the years,
not the long lines of homeless at the shelter,
not even the family members she loved and missed back home,
but his ... and his alone.
She read the gravestone aloud,
as she had done so many times before:
"Lieutenant Theodore James Crowley, Jr"
Theodore ... Gift From God, she thought to herself ...
Though she hadn't known it then, it was what her name meant, too ...
almost as if it had been planned, somehow ...
as if it was ordained by the heavens ...
almost as if God had created them ... for each other.
Which, of course ... He had.
N/A'd May 27, 2020, 4:05 AM
In the "Nun" Poetry Contest
N/A'd June 5, 2020, 11:24 PM
In the "Select 5, Any Form, Any Theme" Poetry Contest
~ 3rd Place ~ in the "N/A Re-Run 7" Poetry Contest, John Hamilton, Judge & Sponsor.
Categories:
bearable, death, heartbroken, loneliness, lost
Form:
Free verse
rock bottom
buried under heavy layers
of stones and gravel
a dangerous liaison with melancholy
breathing in poisonous dust from crushed impact
a heavy weight rests on the mind
has made itself too settled for comfort
but there must be a shifting of the light
inconceivable at first
gradual until life
becomes bearable once more
21st November 2023
Categories:
bearable, courage,
Form:
Free verse
if only I could show you what you mean to me
maybe your struggles would be bearable
sometimes kindness is all it takes
if only I could express what I feel for you
maybe your pain would be easier to tolerate
sometimes a simple smile is all it takes
if only I could tell you everything I feel inside
maybe your loneliness would vaporize
sometimes a friendly hug is all it takes
if only I could share all that’s in my heart
maybe your world would be a better place
sometimes a tender word is all it takes
if only I could write the poem of all poems
maybe your heartache would heal and mend
sometimes a warm kiss is all it takes
if only maybe sometimes under this rising blue moon ~
AP: Honorable Mention 2021, Honorable Mention 2021, Honorable Mention 2021
Posted on October 27, 2020
Originally posted on August 3, 2020
Categories:
bearable, care, heart, hurt, longing,
Form:
Free verse
No life is ever perfect,
And for too many it seems they are in hell,
But personally, I have always found a way to make mine bearable,
At the very least,
And more than that I have been able to experience,
Moments of pure joy,
As well as to find many a thing to laugh about along the way.
The older I get the less I feel able to give advice to others,
As I have come to the conclusion that no two people,
Look at life in the same way.
So, I can only comment on how I see it,
And pass on what works for me,
Which is to try not to blink too much,
Or you will miss the important moments.
Categories:
bearable, analogy, appreciation, best friend,
Form:
Light Verse
I wonder who I’ll be when alone
A salmon spent on Lagunitas creek
A giving tree robbed of it nuts
A sunset rooster with no eggs
When your chick has flown the nest
Even if for a summer vacation
Who’ll give you meaning when life is fallow?
Who will you be when your seed is in college?
Will you be a cobweb at the mercy of the breeze?
Children need bedrocks for roots to grow
Children want a sober lighthouse keeper
I can’t imagine that day coming
When we're backstage in their theater
You can’t retire from parenthood
Even if your fishies are not there
Even if you abandon them in the flesh
Do trees miss acorns dropped?
Do fish long for their brood to go to college?
Do you never think of absent cherubs?
Like salmons’ last gasp upriver
We expel loved ones, it’s natural
But we are human, not fish, not seed
We are mandated to nurture
Even if it kills us or kills us in dreams
No more or less than Coho
Resigned to golf and Mahjong
Collecting Medicare
Waiting at the pool
Where once was caviar
Waiting for sons and daughters
For them to swim upstream
If God allows us retirement
Grant dilettantes a hobby
Show and tell darlings
When and if
They return
Almost makes
Growth and breeding
Bearable
If only I were
And will be
A Coho
I’d know
What to do
With myself
Now and then
Rather than die
It’s only natural
To lose
To the river
And to the ocean
Waiting
Like a human
In Lagunitas
Alone
Categories:
bearable, animal, birth, child, death,
Form:
Free verse
A Dental Alliteration
Both bearable breakable bicuspids became beautiful
by being blatantly brushed by me.
How is that for an alliteration? You don't have a
category for dental.
James Thomas Horn
Retired Veteran
Categories:
bearable, courage, inspiration,
Form:
Alliteration
Look at you
Oh so fashionably accessorised
In a demi-couture package
In your environmentally conscious style
Playing out ecological homage.
But bright red plastic buttons tinge your dress
iPhone resplendent in its fluoro yellow cover
Television screen sized sunglasses
Your hair infused with streaks of amber.
Revolutionary or is it maybe avant-garde?
Your visionless voice on sustainable ecology.
Little chance dirt would have graced your nails
Nouveau magazines guiding your ideologies.
The empowerment that must come with driving
Urban tractor, fuel efficiency rating and bling
Billowing air-conditioning making it bearable
Jingling bangles as you swap CD’s to sing.
Small pity the organic shop is across town
But the drive is so definitely bearable.
Cling filmed ethical food on polystyrene
The Emperors clothes so plausibly venerable.
You disdain the smog of a wood fuelled fire
Preferring the heat that occurs from a pump
Oblivious appliances are fed by a coal powered station
Comfortable the broken hair dryer goes to the dump.
But I’ll always admire your self-serving tenacity
Because with candid conviction you’re the first to judge me.
* A wee dabble and play
Categories:
bearable, environment, judgement, pollution, vanity,
Form:
Rhyme
You walk around without a clue
The memories you've missed, have also missed you
Yet you keep on going without looking left or right
The big picture is nowhere in sight
You continuously repeat the cycle
I had to release myself from you.
I completely understand the life you were faced
But I don't agree with the decisions you've made
After I gave birth my whole life changed
I had to cleanse myself from myself
Build a whole new me
In order to instill myself in my new found legacy
See, my offspring will know their bearer
Not just of her, but the full her… with error
I will teach lessons and hold lectures in order to guide my two
I will walk beside them with the voice of reason, all the way through
I learned without being taught the lesson of what truly matters.
Now I will pass down my wisdom to make others happier
Thank you for the lessons your absence taught me
It pushed me to be the best me I could be… for me
Not to say that I don’t hold a sense of resentment
I try my hardest to fight it
A constant battle inside
What’s completely wrong and what seems to be right
A war within that is inescapable yet is becoming more bearable
The truths of the most ugliest and most terrible
Reveal the honesty of what is pure
The essence of life is being explained
The Essence of life could be my cure.
Categories:
bearable, absence, abuse, childhood, conflict,
Form:
Couplet
Words like the above seem to be fading
Now days being courteous is outdated
Who would’t like someone who is always quick to say “thank you” or “please”?
That would give your day peace and be at ease.
Some may say that in this dog-eat-dog world where there is aggression.
No one has time for face to face conversation.
Being courteous will make you a likeable person.
We should be being kind and courteous is a way to make the tough times a little more
bearable for everyone.
It’s also the right thing to do.
Plus it is true.
Terrorism have become something we all have to face in one form or the other.
We are really sisters and brothers.
Common courtesy is essential.
It is being polite and in our society is vital.
Rude behavior usually results from selfishness
Be nice and get blessed.
Expect nothing in return, not even a smile.
Just remember it won’t hurt if you go that extra mile.
Categories:
bearable, friendship, happiness, hope, inspirational,
Form:
Rhyme
First steps, every morning, not taken lightly
I move slowly with closed eyes and hands outstretched
Stumbling, mumbling
Like the decaffeinated zombie that I am
CO---FFFFF---EEEEEEE
Then I see my salvation
The only thing capable of turning
a horrible morning in a bearable one
Nectar from the gods
CO---FFFFF---EEEEEEE
Ohhh, saviour of the early day
Killer of the sleeping glands
I'll take a cup with me, on my way
To the daily working dance
CO---FFFFF---EEEEEEE
My first sip: ohhh sweet Ambrosia,
exploding on my tongue, reviving my cells
Thank you, I’ll be able to survive one more day
My preciooouuussss....
CO---FFFFF---EEEEEEE
***
April 20, 2017
Copyright © Darren White and Claudia Polydoro
Categories:
bearable, funny, giggle, humorous,
Form:
Free verse
its small not to see yet fresh inside
the curly of its skin sweet to see
the touch of its feet sweet to feel
the breath from it nostrils so warm
to kindle the lights of a candle
simple structure and lifestyle
sweet and sincere sound produced
from its heart bounces the love
all the very confused realize the dreams
the chance to focus leaves not a scar
a great mind combined not wise like it
see from above is a kingdom
from below is all we need to have
the silence of its throne is bearable
war can never separate its consciousness
its contagious like a drug in African land
to finish it will kill all we have today
to see its eyes directly brings blindness
all we need is faith to conquer
ask me tomorrow never comes
it lives in its past to survive today
Categories:
bearable, anxiety, black african american,
Form:
Personification
Simple acts of kindness
Can turn the world around;
From dull and gray with little to say
To something far more profound.
The touch of a hand says, “I understand
The pain you must be feeling.
I’m here by your side
Even when you can’t hide
From all life’s difficult dealings.”
A telephone ring can make a soul sing
And dance by the light of the moon;
Unexpected measures are priceless treasures,
Anyone will do.
A card in the mail like billowed sails
Of a ship on open seas;
Can make new friends all over again
Despite endless miles between.
A simple act of kindness
A smile, a look or a song;
Can make life more bearable
And right some hurtful wrongs.
Uplifting gestures of humanity
Cut across party lines;
No one has a monopoly it seems,
On the goodness in hearts and minds.
One simple act of kindness
No matter when or where,
Can change a soul from cold steel to gold
By saying that we care.
Categories:
bearable, hope,
Form:
Rhyme