Best Burned Poems
A flame once burned so brightly everything in sight
seemed quite beautiful in its blinding light.
Everything I took for truth once upon a time
seemed to me more glorious; love seemed more sublime.
Then the fire began to die. Every little flaw
I began to clearly see till I’d seen it all.
Half a lifetime and the flame still is burning out.
As it dims, I am learning what life is about.
But the happy medium I had come upon
soon will flicker less and less. Going….. Going…. Gone.
When my flame goes nearly out, will there come a pall?
In the darkness that will come - will I see at all?
How I miss those days of yore - passion of my youth -
when a flame once burned, and I thought I knew of truth.
"Playing With Fire"
The heat of the fireplace
enhances the spark,
we know our love
will not fade in the dark.
We kissed amongst
burning candlelight,
your presence alone
brightened my midnight.
Nothing can extinguish
your warming touch,
a lasting impression
that meant so much.
Bound to be burned
As we played with fire,
we could not resist
and gave in to desire.
This kind of scorch
I was lucky to find,
and neither of us
ever seemed to mind.
We were both engulfed
by passion's flame,
and we only have
each other to blame.
November, 20th, 2013
Long ago they met
a night filled with sweet romance
igniting two flames
life took them separate ways
fire cooled, dwindled to embers
sparks flew once again
when fate threw them together
rekindling the fire
cherished love led to marriage
twin flames burned: deep in each heart
:___________________:
March 3, 2016
Twin Flames: Nayda
Burned out dreams
Lights strung above this out of place darkness
create shadows of an invisible existence
Filaments of glowing hopes and wants
droop towards empty heart beats
I am alone in this overcrowded nightmare,
checking the time on faceless moons
Floating in no particular sequence
like sentries on broken boundary lines
An endless runway of lifeless orbs
dot the landscape in Morse code warnings
As I turn away in a curved defiance,
unable to accept the words touching my eyes
And still, glistening drizzle falls from overhead wires
reflecting each tear drop of dampened descent
For even if I wake, screaming as the night disappears,
she will still be gone, like every other burned out dream
Hiss, Hiss, Snap goes the lighter
And he walks ahead
Just like a fighter
Click, Click, kaching goes the money
And he leaves with his poison
Why am I laughing? This isn't funny
But I can't help but laugh, laugh, laugh
My face hurts
My mind is starting to drift
And boom! Something bursts
I'm the boss of me
And I'm not so right
What do I do
I'm losing my own fight
Who is this?
This isn't me
I can't believe what I see
Hiss, hiss, snap goes the lighter
And he passes it round
Down, down, down, goes the fighter
We all make a sound
Crash, crash, crash
We are heading
Burn, burn, burn, we are burning
But, no one is learning
What did I do?
What was I thinking?
I can't believe I wanted to
I'm the boss of me
And I'm not so right
What do I do?
When I let myself lose sight
Who is this?
Who is she?
What did I do?
Is this me?
I found a picture of us
Tucked away in an old...dresser drawer
By the smiles on our faces, I’d guess
We both wanted more
Now to this day I say
I let you get away
And knowing that
Always gets me down
I can’t believe this old flame
Still hasn’t burned me down
There’s no smoke but there’s fire
A four alarm desire that don’t end...
Times has fanned the flame and it’s a shame
We’re still only friends
This internal inferno
Can’t be quenched but who’s to blame
I can’t believe this old flame
Hasn’t burned me down
If not for the wanting...I wonder
Would I keep hanging on...
We’re still living, so there’s a chance
To someday right this wrong
So as I sit and wonder
Wonder If we’ll ever have our day
Will the flame that we both carry
Be allowed to rage
I can’t believe this old flame
Still hasn’t burned me down....
It won’t stop until they lay me
6 feet in the ground
We can see by the pictures
They speak volumes... without sound
I can’t believe this old flame
Hasn’t burned me down
I can’t believe this old flame
Hasn’t burned me down
They ask if I mend fences now,
or burn the bridges down;
as though a heart can always choose
which ruins to surround.
There was a time I'd shoulder beams
too heavy for one soul,
believing if I carried them,
love somehow would be whole.
I'd cross the bridge through wind and rain,
though every board would groan.
The planks grew smooth beneath my feet;
they learned my steps alone.
The railing knew my weathered hands,
the river knew my name.
Yet every trip I made across
returned me just the same.
I thought that love meant building back
what others let decay;
that if I gave a little more,
they'd somehow meet halfway.
Some fences lean from winter winds,
their cedar silvered thin.
Two willing hearts, with patient hands,
can set them straight again.
Those are the places worth the work,
where grace still finds a way;
where truth is spoken without fear,
and both hearts choose to stay.
But some old bridges never burned.
No match was ever thrown.
They slowly bowed with every step
that echoed there alone.
One day I stopped and turned to see
who walked the bridge with me.
I searched the weathered boards behind;
no footsteps came to be.
But silence held the other shore;
the river wandered free.
The bridge had learned my footsteps well...
none answered back but me.
So now I keep my willing hands
for hearts that labor too.
I'll mend the fences worth the work,
where love is built by two.
i burned my candle from both ends
and then complained
about the dark.
couldn’t tell night from day—
just a long hallway
with bad lighting
and worse memories.
the clock kept lying.
the mirror too.
through the wall
the magpies talked—
not poetry,
just the usual report:
pain,
someone elses suffering,
rent due,
another body giving up before it should.
I listened
because what else was there to do.
maybe it was madness,
maybe wisdom with a tight fist.
hard to say
when you’ve trimmed the wick
from both ends
and called it living.
I wanted more light
without paying the cost.
that’s the trick
that never works.
now I’m tired.
not heroic tired—
just used up,
like a matchbook
with one good strike left.
so I’ll take a nap.
let the smoke settle.
and when I see you—
keeper of the flame—
don’t lecture me.
you know
I burned bright
because I didn’t know
how not to.
sometimes
that’s all a man has and a good woman can only watch.
I caught a glimpse of my mirrored reflection
but dared not stop to take a closer look
for I feared my eyes would be an open book
with lines I wanted no one to read but me
No brush strokes of my brush or pen
did I want to capture with my sorrow seen
It was an absolute absurd notion
to paint the pale countenance on my face
as I walked and wallowed, lost in time and place
Since no longer does he exist in this life
I sometimes feel I am a mirage, a sullen shadow
The merest gossamer ghost of floating flesh
I know because it's what the mirror saw
With the whispering wind, I aimlessly drifted
A dreamer without a dream of what life portends
wandering in the darkest nights, depending
on the sun to rise when dappled Dawn opens his eyes.
I didn't go gentle into the nebula night
for I feel jealous when moonlight fondles the sea
feeling more pallid than Luna's light
and an echoing emptiness washed over me
I feel as if I am an alabaster phantom
my skin the transparency of a colorless hue
Procol Harum's whiter shade of pale
miserable that somehow along the way, I failed
and so it was that later...
I went gentle into the nebulous night
without the need to hem and haw
without the want to rage or the urge to fight
for the dirge of death burns in flames of finality
With my eyes wide open, I couldn't read the words
I'd written for they were blurred on the page
My eyes might just as well have been closed
for exposed was the room I'd kept locked
behind the cage of ribs that protects my heart
My silence is not anger for having lost him
without so much as a final word of goodbye,
one last smile or the chance for my eyes to weep
My silence is not bitterness, just anguished awareness
It's an umbrella I wanted to open against the weather
That storm of emotional pain I knew would arrive
I chose not to open it so the torrent of my tears
would mingle with rain, but beneath the gloomy skies
one look into my eyes would give my heartache away
If he were still alive, I wonder what we would say
"A Flame Once Burned"
as the golden twilight of dawn arose
illuminated the September sky with pose
tears of wallowing sorrow fell
as a flame once burned with the tolling bell
while memories flooded deep within
of a lost child .. extinguished without sin.
staring at the tiny white casket in pain
a soft blanket caressing his flesh in wet rain
without life, a heart lie broken without breath
shattered pieces entombed in early death
as invisible scars and sereated wounds cried
mingling with tragic tears for a little soul died.
placing rose-colored petals on his grave
interred in darkness as tiny boy brave
a flame once burned in his eyes so blue
a sweet adieu' ... from we who love you
your spiritual flame will burn bright eternally
an integral part of our loving family.
*Dec. 1, 2012
*Written by: Linda-Marie SweetHeart
*For Gail Angel Doyle's Contest.
I once tried to burn Day Light
But found she was not flammable
So I decided to try Twi Light
Not a chance...Twi just laughed at me
and Day smirked, snickered and pointed
Which REALLY burned me up...
'Try burning Night Time,’ Twi suggested
(No way! Burn me once? Flame on you
Burn me twice? Flame on-on...ME I think)
‘There’s no need to be aflamed my man’
(Aw shucks...Thanks! Any chance y’all are sisters?)
‘Aw shucks...You’re welcome! Yep, Sisters of the Sun'
‘The Moon is a cousin but we don‘t stay in touch‘
(If it‘s not too personal, might I ask why?)
‘No heat! Also, He‘s been manipulating the tides
Sister Sun even threatened to burn His Dark Side'
(Did he relent and resume his proper orbit?)
‘HELL no! Now She’s confused and feeling the heat
As a result, we’re getting REALLY weird sunsets’
(Really? Well I’ll be a sun of a sunset!)
'SO, You wanna burn Night Time or what?’
(Yeah, but I’d prefer burning Day Light
There’s this contest on Poetry Soup
and the theme is Burning Daylight)
‘Nope, Night Time or go down in flames’
(Well, how shall I Set the Night on Fire?)
‘You’re plagiarizing...The Doors did that’
(Not familiar with that I’m afraid)
'Geez! Come On Baby Light My Fire??
Try to set the night on FIRE!! Got it?
(Ah...So I’ll be needing a Baby then
and how can a Baby light a fire anyway?)
'(Sigh) So here’s what you’re gonna need...
A flame thrower and some gasoline’
(Got it! I’m sure burned up about this!)
'Pssst...Sis, I’m certain he meant FIRED up’
*The consequences were devastating
I set a pine tree on fire in my yard
which of course, spread to the nearby forest
and then, to my utter shock and horror
the entire neighborhood was consumed!
Thankfully, everyone got out alive...
**Jail-time and numerous lawsuits followed
SOMEHOW, I managed to burn all my bridges
but didn’t quite make it off the last bridge
which really burned my ass...
Submitted for the contest 'Burning Daylight' sponsored by John Lawless
A flame once burned where embers glow
And deep inside my heart I know
Untended embers turn to ash
And I know dreams are known to crash.
Our love kindled a passion’s fire
That promised never to expire
Somehow, though, time passed us by
And our endless flame began to die
We knew a flame would leave an ember --
We’d soon have nothing to remember
Yes, unattended, embers go
And leave just ashes with no glow
To say to me, “a flame once burned”
Will bring from me this, in return,
“Only, embers, flames and sparks
Can bring light into the dark.”
Ashes, on the other hand,
Still have much at their command
In their warmth remains, you see,
Some hauntingly beautiful memories.
John Posey
12/02/12
Last night I burned my mom's Tamales !
I can't tell you how much I regret it !
It was about 12:30 p.m when I sat there waiting for them to cook
But waiting wasn't any luck
I was attracted by this beast
It captured me like it knew me ...
I was attacked and out of sight for 2 hours
Last night I burned my moms tamales!
Yes it was 2:00a.m
When my mom screamed, Dulce !
I was awakened by a scream with a smell
I was too dreamy and sleepy I could barley tell
So I decided to make a poem about how
Last night I burned my moms Tamales..
It's chilly where the sun once shone,
Mem'ries haunt when I'm alone,
Bereft of joys that I had known,
My dreams all torn apart.
Scorched the earth where flowers bloomed,
The dust and ash my hopes consumed,
Hes'tations, doubts our passion doomed
Ere it had time to start.
I want in vain for solace dear,
It's dark where once the skies were clear,
When naught but what might be I feared
And the course our love would chart.
Promises broken,
Words unspoken,
Deep wounds opened,
Eyes that cried.
Wrongs not righting,
Constant fighting,
Unrequiting,
Love soon died.
It's cold here where a flame once burned,
It's empty where for you I yearned,
It's dead and life will not return
To the cinders of my heart.
Written for "A Flame Once Burned" Contest
December 1, 2012
By: Daniel Beus
It is not because I was unduly worried then.
That miserable beauty spot was becoming a ball.
I never bothered about it since I was a man
Or that it could some sort of vicious cancer I recall.
But my ugly beauty spot grew just below my eye.
It hampered my vision and made it difficult to read.
So I went to the dermatologist with a big sigh,
Hoping that cutting the spot off would not make me bleed.
The doctor laughed, we just burn it off, it would not hurt.
Alas hurt it did but the spot of beauty was just gone.
But then I could read properly for me, my dessert.
Happy I was though I had to pay well to Doctor John.
That was twenty years ago. Nothing disturbed my reading.
But now the beauty spot returned all covered in black.
I will not pay another bill and see it bleeding.
I could read my all-lovely books from back to back.
NB This is a true story. The spot or wart was a hindrance. It grew back as a dark flat skin after some twenty years. Trust my daughter to insist I should do away with it. More wasted money. I bet in twenty more years it will grow again. But in twenty years I will be dead. So who cares!