Best Bresee Poems
I paused today
Put cares away
And finally let
The moment stay
Saw feathered skies
Through children’s eyes
Let time stand still
And realized
This life of gain
And gathering in
Pursuits of gold
Desires to win
They offer not
But jaded dust
Doomed to decay
By moth and rust
And time cares not
Nor pardon grants
For foolish charge
Or circumstance
But slowly slips
As grains of sand
Through trembling grip
Of aging hand
So lend an ear
And pause, I pray
Take time to let
The moments stay
For precious times
Allowed to be
Etch memories for
Eternity
…Jeff Bresee
Describe the way life was meant to be
Cuz every day just melts away
To anything
It’s been a while since I think I’ve seen
The way I saw before the flaw
I’ve come to be
Another cloud, another Christmas tree
Another chance gone by, another teardrop cry
For anything
And looking back at how it used to be
Can’t help but wonder why, you and I
Turned out to be
But hear my voice
Take the words I sing
Lift the notes up high
Pretend you want to try
To be with me
Yes, hear my voice
Hear these songs I sing
Try to understand
You’ll never see the man
You want in me
So…
Describe the way life was meant to be
Cuz I don’t want to tip toe dance
Through everything
It’s been so long since I think I’ve seen
The smile upon your eyes, blue crystal skies
And memories
And how it hurts to think the things I think
Another word not said, another beat gone dead
Yeah little things
And thinking back on how it used to be
Well I don’t want to tip toe dance
Through everything
So hear my voice
Hear these words I sing
Cuz I don’t want
To tip toe dance
Through everything
Oh hear my voice
And hear the songs I sing
...Jeff Bresee
What lies beneath a sea of numb
Where ships of heart were taken down
Sunk to the bottom with the one
I hated and I meant to drown
For in its hull it carried pain
Instead of what its purpose was
And thus I had immense disdain
Because it never carried love
So yes, I set it in my sights
Then fired all I had and more
Carpet-bombing through the night
To sink it to the ocean floor
And when it finally disappeared
I flew away and did not know
The others ships were likewise pierced
Doomed just as well to slip below
They sank at random, one by one
The ships of pride and hope and fear
Of aspiration, sad and fun
The ship of peace, the ship of tears
The ship of drive, the ship of will
No ship was spared, the plight went on
They fell, and fell, and fell, and fell
Until at last all ships were gone
So now in silent flight I go
No signals come as were before
No guidance from the sea below
No hope of landing…anymore
…Jeff Bresee
Dim lit, damp and distant corner
Torn from dream of vapor’s fold
Slow descent to worlds divided
Nothing hot and nothing cold
Long ago, this soul forgotten
Cast off in the ides of youth
Un-forgiven deeds left hiding
Neath the stones of burden’s proof
Wait to see if fate redeems her
Wait to hear if time repeals
Sentence passed down just to mar her
Word and deed like flint and steel
‘Jezebel’ they mock to call her
Waging war against the skin
Pressed on by the mob’s directive
Let the judgment now begin
Scrutinize each blood stained footprint
Left across the ice drawn field
Hide the ones who hold her province
Never bend, no never yield
For from that damp and distant corner
Ever flows the world of hate
Through the veins of those who think they
Hold the key to Heaven’s gate
…Jeff Bresee
A life sustained by water pure
Yet marred by memory of the wine
Like fragrant waft of soft allure
Diminished not by hands of time
Forever clear the water streams
Yet never ends the draw to wine
Forever helpless so all seems
To purge the memory from my mind
Though water's healing - ever constant
Soft and clean and unaware
How often it hath quenched my thirst
And oft hath left me standing there
A gaze in awe, and silent yearning
Watching how the water flows
Mesmerized by every trickle...
Wishing I could just let go
Of every string the wine has woven
Through the fabric of my soul
Doth feel betimes a fact well proven -
I've not the will to let it go
For wine is strong to those who drink
And feel the fire of liquor's hold
Changed thus forever so I think
In moment's time - my future sold
But hold I fast to water's beauty
Resolute despite all time
Let God and Angel's bear this witness -
I choose water over wine
...Jeff Bresee
I can’t stand another year of this
With the sales that start after summer’s bliss
And the songs that play round the clock each day
And the cock-eyed ice and snow
And the ho ho ho’s and the ringing bells
And the wasted time; makes me mad as hell
And crowds that block every road and shop
Every dog-gone place I go!
No, I can’t stand so much as another day
Wish this time of year would just go away
And leave me here to my mansion
Warm and snug
Cuz I’m tired of the groans and the chains that creak
And those three damn ghosts who won’t let me sleep
So to you and them I say…
BAH HUMBUG!
…Jeff Bresee
So tired of fighting
Don’t feel like writing
Here in the cold of the night
As I sit here and sit
With my head full of ****
That comes pouring straight out of my life
Like a weight full off lead
Would be better of dead
Cuz the cycle would finally end
No more picking up pieces
Blown up by releases
And things that I cannot defend
And I’m tired
Oh I’m tired
Of the way that I’m wired
And the sad state of what I’ve become
That I hide behind smiles
Hand crafted denials
Built to cover the things that I’ve done
But with every day comes
A more vast growing sum
That fills every night full of dread
So I sit here and sit
With my head full of ****
Here at the side of my bed…
…Jeff Bresee
Each moment creeps
Slowly
And quietly upon you
Drifting in continuum
One by one
In unbroken chain
From within the infinite
Depths
Of circular time
And across
The velvet black of space
And existence
Until at long last
It presents itself before you
The soul whom
For which it was destine made
And then
As if a drop in
The ocean’s great expanse
Makes impact and
Forever thenceforth becomes…
A part of you
…Jeff Bresee
For the calm of new fallen snow lies in silent peace and stillness
Gently covering the loneliness of midnight city streets
And walking in the cold of night, I pause to stop and wonder
How can it be so unaware of where it present lies?
Has it not seen the desolation? Has it not heard the cries?
Perhaps it knows not the tales. Yes it seems so unaware
As it lies in quiet sanctity on the un-kept city ground
On the broken streets and walkways, and rooftops all around
And for a moment I too am unaware
That on morrow day when snow melts away
My walk shall again find the cold and blighted shadows
Of midnight city streets
But might the impression made this night rest forever upon my heart
That God is no respecter of persons. For He maketh His beauty to fall
Upon all of His children alike
…Jeff Bresee
Inside I cry
Neath sinking eyes
Against the wind
I feel that I
Am all alone
Am all alone
Am all alone…
Goodbye
…Jeff Bresee
It seems so very long ago and yet like yesterday
We stood as one and made the vow to love and to obey
Then sealed this vow as things are done ‘until at death we part’
And at the time it never crossed my mind or found my heart
That such a vow has not the power to stand throughout the years
For as time passed, dreams turned to ash and laughter turned to tears
Tears born of little things that slowly took the will to strive
Until a pointless game it seemed to keep our love alive
But near the end a whisper came, “Don’t give up. There’s a way”
“The Savior died and rose again, and so will you someday”
And I’m not sure just why I‘d never had that thought before
But like a hand, it reached inside and opened up the door
And showed me what the Lord has always meant for love to be
A seed that spouts in life…but then grows on eternally
…Jeff Bresee
It’s different now
All the world around
Grey, yet cool in the shadow
Void of sound, yet quiet
Reliable
Predictable
Sure
Yes, things are different
On the day after
You give up on your dreams
…Jeff Bresee
Midst fear and doubt
When prayers have ceased
Unannounced
Without a sound
Returns the clouds
And falls the rain
Again on barren ground
…Jeff Bresee
I had to trade another jot
I had to sell a tittle
I had to cuz they told me that
I had to give a little
I had to sit and wonder at
The setting of the sun
What giving just a little costs
When all is said and done
...Jeff Bresee
Run…
As fast as you can
Red shades of dismal
Flowing fear
Melt to the glass of sand
Hide…
In the hollow hidden dry
Drink down the spell
Of earth and hell
Indifferent to the sky
Lie…
Forever un-seamed
Face down amidst
The death of sound
Black holes of melody
Sleep…
To the blood of setting sun
From spiral dreams
Look down at what
One cell has now become
…Jeff Bresee