Best Captives Poems
Beauty-words languish in my soul, mute,
a million misty drops suspended,
trembling, in the atmosphere
not yet spoken into rain.
They lie captive within the barred cage,
innocent prisoners condemned
to voiceless wonder,
only an inaudible cry strikes the barred breast,
a silent beating against the cell.
We would speak;
We are pierced with beauty's burning sword!
We see the stars sweep trailing skirts in explosive splendor;
we warm ourselves beside the opal's captive fire;
we are the pearl forming within the darkened shell,
the silken crepe tightly wound around the worm,
the captive butterfly bound in insular cocoon.
Copyright, September 2, 2015
December’s Captives
Nights are longer than before
tepid sun in full retreat before
shallow light of cold stung moon
hanging over heaving stillness.
Crystal crispness tapping
on frosted windows
fireplace crackling Acapella response.
Outside silence – unbroken
by soft feathered Owl wings
floating over whiteness
in union with the clouds
moon shadows dancing the terrain.
Midnight, muffled tone of distant bell
devoured by the need for sound
vibrations tickling the sleepers needs.
Shivering sun slides over dawn’s
icy breath flickering through the trees
strobe lights announcing morning,
awakening the depth of coldness
seeping through the hearts
of December’s captives.
John G. Lawless
10/23/2015
for the contest - Trashed #4
sponsor - Broken Wings
Rhetoric! Over and over again, we hear
The same old arguments, year after year
Fooling around with mankind’s minds
You hide cleverly and can’t be found
The TV newsman reports, as they’re told
Edited, slanted, from whence banks hold
Merely slaves, to things, and slaves, who hear
Lies, tales, agendas, hidden, we’re captives
Sleep if you must, you’re probably ~ better off
Believe the TV ********, from comics and lust
Fall into traps, like mines strategically underground
Step on one, break your mother’s back, holy to you ~ not them.
Go to church on Sunday, play their good game
Cause no rifts, nor trouble, don’t question or blame
Follow the pope, Buddha, follow Christ, follow fame
They don’t care, just play, and appear extremely tame.
Raise no hopes, raise no questions, vote for someone
It doesn’t matter, they’re from the same, there’s no freedom
The banks, the educational system, and then there’s ~ medicare
Look behind the smokescreen, but say, very little, you’re not alone.
©2016 Bonnie Jennings All Rights reserved…
Juan, Casanova
Poetry in emotion
artistry of Love
Each and every day that comes
finds our faces washed up with tears
wondering when we'll be free again
to team up with our loving dears.
Suffering is the air that we breath
proving that happiness, we'll never find
that, is the bitter truth of our lives
though justice and freedom was our stand
Our children are illustrations of malnutrition
with ribs sticking out of their small chests
always crying due to hunger and thirst
and the cold on their halfclothed bodies.
He came across the ocean
and landed on their shore,
Looked at all the scenery
he’d never seen before;
But his head was spinning madly
and his barefoot feet were sore,
So he boarded ship and sailed away
to be seen nevermore.
It was the strangest evening
as the sea breezes did sing,
And somewhere in the distance
heard bells of freedom ring.
He came and went with most he had
but left one single thing:
A crudely written sign that said
“I’ve claimed this for my King”.
They’ve waited and they’ve waited
through pouring rains and sun;
They’ve waited in the mornings
long after days were done.
Sometimes numbers were waning,
sometimes was only one;
Though they’ve waited and waited
no more boats did ever come.
They once held the dinners
just near the landing site,
Music played and people danced
throughout most of the night.
Oft’ they’d read the yellow words
from the sign that stands upright,
But one and all will tell you, now,
freedom’s but a fading light.
There been funerals, there been newborns
as the tides ran high and low,
Everyone has got a name
though there be not one you know.
If you’re ever passing by
won’t you stop and say “hello”?
They’ll make you feel most welcome
and they’ll never let you go!
V,
Got jailed,
At the civic centre!
SOMEWHERE IN THE THICK DARK FOREST
Somewhere in the thick dark forest,
There, you'd find captives
held against their will.
Hands bound, legs chained,
They lay on the hard ground, half unclad.
Dehydrated from thirst and hunger.
Separated from their families,
As many nights and day come and go,
Thought of their imminent freedom very bleak.
The blood thirsty abductors,
Show no mercy nor compassion
As they raise their long hard twisted whips,
And dig into the wounded skin of their slaves,
With each strike, they curse and yell,
Ready to exterminate.
Men,women and children weep uncontrollably,
They have been dealt heavy blows.
Some have fallen, some have been scarred.
Somewhere in the thick dark forest,
Captives still languish
in the camp of their abductors.
What has your heart desired to say when the words could not be captured and expressed in beautiful voice? A thousand verses and rhymes and stories did wrestle within, straining against the silence. What was waiting, captive to the throbbing heart, beat by beat, aching to be set free, stirred by pain or sorrow or joy or love?
Who shall restore our land's dignity
When plundered by thieves
Who frolic about in the corridors of power
How shall we escape
From the lashes of history?
'How can the captives be delivered from the mighty'?
When engulfed by malodorous ambassadors
Who like rodents eat up the nation's trust.
How shall we escape
From the lashes of history?
Held as captives in a ship
Chains binding us together
Hunger, but we could not starve
Tears but we could not cry.
We were warriors of our land
Children of the soil
May the gods forbid that our ancestors would look us in shame.
And so together,
We ambushed our captors
And sank the ship
It was better to die
Than be slaves in a foreign land.
Captive of Love: Ode to the Cocoa Bean
Within your humble shell, a treasure lies,
A sea of flavors, rich and deeply sweet.
An exotic dream beneath the skies,
A love affair no other can defeat.
You capture hearts, eternal in your snare,
A bite, and Eden’s garden comes alive.
Surrender to the bliss beyond compare,
A tangy heaven where our dreams survive.
As simple as life, as smooth as soft silk,
I soothe the ache your fleeting lovers leave.
Dark, white, or fruity, nutty, purest milk,
A joy for passion’s night or Christmas Eve.
Am I enslaved, or simply ever fond?
Is this true bondage—or an endless bond?
Saadia Syed
In a Norwegian slumber they came to take us away.
They used shovels and torches.
But mostly arms and strong fingers.
We were the final ones out of the terminal.
The cockroaches sing with us now.
We live in utter parlance.
Askance, downward goes our drives.
But this is not about us, no-no-not us.
We call our song the soul’s vertebrate.
And we refer to the question of a soul as an angel with its hand over its mouth.
We are all captives,
Of this world our own.
Nowhere to run,
Nowhere to hide.
Life is to short,
To be captives of,
Our own fears.
So, live, learn, love,
And break free so, your not part of the…
Captives
Captives of the Calendar
David J Walker
And so goes your calendar
January nearly gone
With another new dawn
Approaching
Just beyond the encroaching
Morning sun
To me, this today is forever
never new and
The night will never grow older as
The passing of the suns and moons
The equinox grows colder
This today will never be done
Freeing the captives of the calendars
From the obligation
Of artificial precision