Best Betrayal Poems
There’s a beguiling danger in beauty…
seduced as I was by the fickle fingers of fate musingly stroking my hair,
I envisaged
this lusciously lavish landscape
of sun-raptured heavenly hills and valid valleys
to be a lush, plush place for me to land ~
alas, such deception my naive perception did offer.
Buried beneath the facade of a fertile dream-come-true
and a mesmerizing mirage of natural light and zephyrus breaths -
where your thoughts hugged the horizons of my mind
like clouds on the edges of prairie dog skies
and where your stampeding passions trampled my inhibitions -
were delicate bandeaux of ice;
finespun and feathery like polar gossamer
that formed on the stems of your ruptured dreams
that then became my nightmare
when you had your hard freeze
while warm sap still flowed through your veins,
pumped and pushing through your broken being
and freezing on contact with the chilled clime
cocooning me, in a sudden silken surge of your glazing gauze
holding me, in the vivid wild magic of your frosted crystallized clutches -
fossilizing me, in icy opalescent ribbons of ornate whorls.
Unable to escape the grasping glacial petals of your exquisite pain,
your frost flowers plunged me into the frigid heart
of your bitter bluestem’s prairie winter...
There’s a beguiling beauty in danger
hypnotized and hijacked
as I was by the rhythmic sways of your tall grass ways -
your flickering tongue tasting my air
as my emotions were extorted
till I was bled white -
obviously oblivious
that I was being preyed upon
by a stealthy force of nature motivated by indigenous instincts.
Susan Ashley
March 13, 2018
~ First Place ~
Premiere Contest: Poetry for the Sake of Poetry
Sponsor: John Lawless
*bluestem: tall grass native to the Great Plains with bluish leaf sheaths*
*frost flower: thin layers of ice extruded from long-stemmed plants in autumn or early winter. These thin ice layers form dainty ‘ribbons’ or ‘petals’*
Betrayal devastates your trusting heart,
severing the bonds of love from the start.
And depression slowly entraps your soul;
for disparaging lies exact their toll.
Chameleon clouds change to match your mood
by releasing tears, sad emotions brewed.
And at the crossroads of sane and insane,
your heart breaks under the weight of your pain.
A fickle Sun no longer shares its light,
sulking within shadows gathered by Night.
And feigning feelings, you struggle to cope,
for a broken heart cannot harbor Hope.
The specter of fear festering in dreams;
fuels frightening bouts of silent screams.
And at the end of the tunnel, no light,
the future is opaque, obscured by fright.
The promise of tomorrow made to youth
was written on yesterday's fragile truth.
And happiness is a wine without weight;
simply a bouquet decanted by fate.
You had me oblivious to your antics,
as you hushed me tenderly by the creek
into your hide and seekable
soul-surrendering secret relief.
There, you cottled me into softness
with a simple chin caress,
which continued to smooth
the entire twisting course
of my delicate remorse.
My garments shifted
from their skin,
slipped into the witnessing wind.
You convinced me to sin
so remarkably, so recklessly,
for one worshipped glide
of feigned intimacy.
I bemoan my mixed senses
behind the curtain of uncertainty.
Oh, Romeo, if only I'd known you.
If only I knew that
your prestigious people-pleasing smile
was practice for the play.
That those granny pleasing manners
and Band-Aid banter
would soothe my soul to sleep.
That those jovial jokes
and caramel coated coaxing
would lead me quietly to the creek
where your meaty man hands would span
each inch of my innocence and beyond.
That your chivalrous, chiseled chest
and incandescent camper's scent
would be compressed
against my gentleness.
By this indulgence
I had relinquished your respect
and you had tossed my trust.
So dissolved the blending of lust,
and with it the end of us.
Your camouflaged fibs
of forever love
would continue deep
through the space in my ribs,
into the closing scene.
Romeo, so applause-worthy were you
on your secret stage that
Shakespeare could have cast you
just as you had cast me.
"All Children Are Beautiful"
His heart of white, deep shallow wells, -yet beautiful
He smirks with a grin, an ego that won't let me in' -he's beautiful
Bastard of beauty, running ashes without a name
A face with no claim, a young man pound from shame
What is his sin, -he's beautiful!
I want to breathe from his ashes, swim through his veins
I want him to come into my light, like a good man
I sing and tell a tale, "A Bastard through the night"
His eyes I wage a thousand times, young and poor, I felt saved
Lying down in the arms of my white knight
My hair perfectly caressed, he came to my light
The furnace burned, the night was fast becoming trite
A lover, he did it well, then went back to his wife
A moment of gold, the ages live, his son is born
"He Was Beautiful!"
Another Bastard brought into this world
Introducing: Jan Allison & Poet Destroyer
Pierced by shards of shattered glass
Deeper and deeper you stab me
With lies and venomous words
Dissecting my heart piece by piece
Crushed like the petals of a withered rose
I’m dying …
Scarlet blood seeps into my very soul
Drip
Drip
Drip
Into pieces and a bloody mess
I sacrificed secrets;
Secrets you tore and tore,
Gracing a fake friendship,
Trust tossed like a sweaty towel
Now karma a poisonous snake
You plea ...
To be on death row, decomposing
Dripping into the night -- Silently
fading and fading
Stung by my viper lips,
smiling
grinning
laughing
Until you are no more
~A Poet Destroyer Collaboration~
Like a spider you drew me into your web
Cocooning me within your silver threads
Words, pretty words
I was totally taken in
Wrapping me up in silk ribbons,
like a party gift.
One for you to open at your pleasure.
You teased me, toyed with my emotions
Powerless to resist, I believed your web of lies
I was trapped …
"Trust me," you said.
Oh what lies, what wicked lies you wove
Foolish was I for believing your every word.
Love blinded my eyes,
My heart heard only your song.
I thought you could do no wrong,
Then slowly, the scales fell from my eyes.
I realized your web was one of deceit.
The cockerel crowed three times
You lied!
You lied!
You lied!
Keep yourself wrapped in the lies you weave.
Other innocents may fall victim to you as prey
But I've broken free from your hold,
and untangled myself from your web of deception.
06~27~16
Contest Pretty Talker Sponsored by Skat A
Entered into Any free verse poem in 200 words or less
Sponsored by Laura Loo
word count 157 words
A man’s tale
With mind control there he was,
A man for sale…
Hearing the vocal sound from this wordsmith,
A man in his own tale…
Currently, he was sitting and calling upon the earth.
Prior rumors about his love for the Queen.
Yet to come would be a bard, singing for Her Majesty-
A fool wrapped in a cowardly way.
Flowers and scars sat on his floor.
A torn heart, making its way out the door.
He caresses the image of her in his mind.
This man, this bard, sang a song for the blind.
Releasing a soft note, she turns towards the sun.
Forgetting the ferocious rage of the king.
The man kneels with the light flashing in his face.
He drinks with his eyes, one moment of glee.
His headlands under the moon's winter space.
Never again, will he spend his days thinking.
Never again-
will he feel the shivers when calling upon the earth and her beauty.
Never will he know, he was the tune that eased her thirst.
A man’s tale always ends under a woman’s spell.
by;PD
Her piercing eyes burn through paper-thin lies,
igniting fear as flames erupt inside.
And reluctantly, she breaks down and cries,
trying to salvage what's left of her pride.
She believed you both had found your soulmate,
and thus, never thought either heart would stray.
And she struggles with bouts of love and hate,
as she watches her dreams slipping away.
There's no such thing as an innocent flirt;
it's the first crack in a relationship.
And the lies that accompany it hurt,
causing the scales of happiness to tip.
Jealousy is an emotional dance
that stomps out flickering flames of romance.
Arousing opulence of ancient ballrooms
She creates her own make-believe world
Waltzing coyly in terpsichorean rhythms
Upon glittering stage where they sell love
Each time she caresses arms of a stranger,
Pretending to levitate in sultan’s harem
In glitzy appeal of polygamous mansions
Where she reiterates to sighs of ambivalence--
This used to be once the venue of glamour.
But her allegory of ardor quickly fades
As her disillusioned ego yearns for solace
When invisible bruises begin to ache
Having surrendered esteem to ruthless nights
Trading dead-feelings in lavish marbled halls
Where stench of alcohol, perfumes, and cigars
Traps perturbed anguish inside prison walls
From which, she knows, there’s no escape.
Initiation period for her was the hardest
When beauty and youth at height of apex
Squandered her magical Cinderella zeal
Abandoning fabled-castle her childhood built
Crying into that gutless, gruesome night
For lacking the force of fortitude to leave
Before she condemned her soul into abyss.
She’s worthless to the heartless crowd now—
A shriveled rose desolate in parched garden,
A discarded bottle of expensive scotch;
So, voicing contempt, like a caged bird she sings
About the wedding night she always fancied
Reciting lyrics, crooning spent feelings,
Whispering the names she picked for her kids.
Look closely at her, she has no chains now,
She can abscond easily whenever she wants
But, alas, no longer has she the desire to fly;
For her mutilated spirits relentlessly bleed
Ever since her own hands clipped her wings.
August 29, 2020
Placed 1st: Woman in chains poetry contest
Sponsor: John Hamilton
Inspired by Woman in Chains song by Tears for Fears
There is a proverbial hypocrisy to
'See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil'
when sinister perversions,
lurk behind closed doors,
contained inside four walls.
What is a sin and what is not,
is in the eye of perception,
but within the pretense
of immorality and deception,
so much is lost in silence
yet it is the tormented who suffer,
when innocence is aborted.
Tongues are timid with trepidation,
afraid of the resulting violence.
Daily thoughts contorted,
they walk among us -
abused, broken, forgotten, misguided.
Like elevators moving up and down,
until you push the wrong buttons -
then all passengers are refused.
In silent sins, evil shame grins,
at those with bandaged hearts,
slowly ageing into stone,
as sadistic oppression wins.
Faces that I have seen,
strangers in their own homes,
struggling to belong in society,
a rejected and dejected priority.
We all seek flourishing green pastures,
a place some have never been.
Some try to run away further than before,
but each trap leads to another trapdoor.
There is an art to suffering,
in darkness you can't see hope -
too much is lost in secret silent sins.
Mizaru open your eyes.
Kikazaru, open your ears.
Iwazaru, open your mouth.
The Silent One
30 October 2020
When the
seaside sepulchre
of a kingdom,
without its queen,
is smeared with
screams of lighting,
I wish to crackle
these slivers
of silver shakle,
and devour
that consoling
taste of balsamic
twilight, which
drapes every
ritual of woe with
maleficent vows.
I wonder, if
the thievery of
of my soul, will
enhance the
crawling of
raven sun
or, bestow power
upon the baptised
mannequin,
by slaying those
jealous lilies,
floating in
summery
estuaries of
my stolen destiny.
As these sage flames
fly across the
chambers of
my castle,
petrifying those
puerile promises
of life, I seak to
be an amaranth,
rising beyond
oak skies as
I engulf those
taunting meteors that
enshroud my
solitude and
dethrone every
essence of
false light, that
consumed those
waltzing scents
of my sangria spring.
Has my heart
become a
fickle thorn,
who will keep
bleeding guidance
in moonlight or
shall this
fortnight be
traced by the last
streak of treacherous
bloodline?
Perhaps,
'The Goddess
of Thunder'
is unfurling
those flaming
rose' maidens,
who wish
to splash ebons
of roaring wreath,
across the
woeful vaults of
my ribcage,
which concealed
their silence
in sentinels of
sacrifice.
I don't assert
the want of
swathing myself
in the perfumed
petrichor of
heinous healing,
as I don't want to
quench this
rage that
is carving a
strife to
refuse my
surrender towards
this succumbing
darkness.
" I wish to be
the soul of a marionette's
pearly pupa,
satiated by fiery halo
of chrysalis,
and slowly weaving
silken hymns of
desperate hope,
desiring to emerge
from the emeralds,
that betray every eye... "
SLEEPING WITH THE ENEMY
See what you want to see
Don't Look at me!
You are staring you are watching;
Eat what you can't be
Come sleep by my side
The whole world is our playground
Don't make a sound
Stop clowning around
In the mist of the night,
You keep me from crying
I wipe off the taste of your lips
You kiss me starting at my inner hips
You broke me in a way..
I hate to say your love is better every day
I deny you, the one thing I can't say
You are my pillow
Where I rest my legs,
Can you feel me~
This moment feels right
I just want to die here,
Die here ~
Die here by your side
I sleep with my eyes wide open,
I sleep with the enemy by my side
Come here and hold me
After you watched my worlds collide
Come here and love me
I'm yours till the end of time
You can rock me!
Under the moon and its rhyme
I put it all to a side, how I hate you inside
I can't let go
I just want you to know
I'm a fool in love with you
Even if it doesn't show!
~SKAT~
12- 7- 10
~Not Like Me~
When you were first put into my arms,
I begged God, to make you nothing like me
For my sins, ask for no transformation
This is my song, my meditation
Look at my face
Where has it gone,
You no longer desire to be part of my song
Look at my life,
The toll hasn't been paid
I'm the one suffering every day
The vengeance of eternal flames,
sit near the empty heart
Burning my needs to hold you once more,
I need you more than you'll ever know
Now, Look at me, at the age of 73
I have nowhere to go
Everyone I know awaits in a place of gold
Unlike you, you're too busy, proud and bold
------ A different song!!!
I sing a song, that accentuates the mind,
I have no one to blame, I neglected all the signs
Hoping the rain would slowly die off
Today here I lay, wondering where I went wrong
I implored God, to cause you nothing like me
I have a heart that forgives and tries to forget
I kneel, and I give, and I treat others with respect
My compassion, I measured in the poorest way
I judged my life worse than the others did
Why did I ask ---- Not Like Me!
For my sins, ask for no translation
This is my song, my speculation
The dreaded conclusion of this song,
All I can say is, "Be careful what you ask for."
In the end, all I can say, I got what I asked for
Someone, who's Not Like Me......................
By: PD
[Verse 1]
Just another sinking tear
In this river full of pain
Racing fast to nowhere
In a world that’s gone insane
Hope hung herself in silence
Before I got to speak
Now I'm haunted by your absence
And promises too weak
[Pre-Chorus]
They say it gets better
But they never knew the fire
That burned us down forever
Left me buried in the mire
[Chorus]
But it’s alright — you’ll never know
I’m living dead, but I don’t show
Empty words and hollow eyes
Behind this smile, I hide my lies
Yeah, behind this smile... I hide my lies
[Verse 2]
Everyone’s got the answer
But none of them are right
The blind lead the broken
Claiming they’ve found light
Love — a cruel illusion
A fool’s delight, they say
Left me cold and naked
In the night that stole the day
[Pre-Chorus]
They offer silver linings
While I’m drowning in the grey
Their voices can’t reach me
In the wreckage where I lay
[Chorus]
But it’s alright — you’ll never know
I’m living dead, but I don’t show
Empty words and hollow eyes
Behind this smile, I hide my lies
Yeah, behind this smile... I hide my lies
[Bridge – Preserved, Enhanced]
Handcuffed by this culture
To a grave of silent screams
Treading water in the shadows
Of once beautiful dreams
Too far gone to rescue
Too lost to even fight
Alone beneath the surface
Under a waterfall of night
[Final Chorus – Lifted Emotionally]
But it’s alright — you’ll never know
I’m living dead, but I don’t show
These haunted eyes still memorize
Every truth I try to disguise
Behind this smile... I hide my lies
Yeah, behind this smile... I hide my lies.
Mara loves to steal from others
A skill well learned with no druthers
Paraphrase one word or two,
Hoping no one has a clue
Her poems formed from another's
Mara cannot hide behind her word crime
And pretending to, is a waste of time
Poems and words can be traced,
to a new plagiarism case
She needs to stop and find a new pastime