Best Crusade Poems
“Make love tonight as if it were your last
Then hold your youngest; memorize his face
Next time you see your sons, years may have passed
Hold fast to moments time tries to erase
“Our lion-hearted king calls us to arms
Tomorrow morning at the dawn’s first light
We leave our families, our friends, our farms
To free imprisoned warriors, we’ll fight
“Crusaders chained and whipped by potentates
Are aching to view England’s shores once more
So bring your lance, a battlefield awaits
Our native sons are what we’re fighting for
“Four hundred strong, we’ll cross the moat at dawn
A checkmate’s in our future, king to pawn”
*September 9, 2020
For John Lawless’s “Warrior Sonnet” Contest
Dearest damsel, thou art my life
If thou want for food, it will always be there
I will offer confit and other gourmet fare
Whatever jewels ye desire I present to you
Be it Australian opals or Colombian gold
Dearest damsel, thou art are my life
The ravages of nature may threaten ye
But I’ll cool thee in the brutal heat
and warm thee in the bitter cold
I will slay where all the dragons dwell
I'll protect thee from the gates of hell
Dearest damsel, thou art my life
My strength and resolve to win thy love
I will defy the gods above
Until my labors bring fruition
all these enumerations that I have stated
I promise thee with all my heart
Dearest damsel, thou art my life
But thou cannot have my Tapioca
the holy
grail has
been
found
yet
sated
by blood
i'm not
instead a brown
paper bagged
bottle of red
dry wine
Tapioca (Free Verse)
I’ll always be thoughtful and treat you well
Mi amor
If you want for food, it will always be there
Mi amor
I’d protect you from the gates of hell
Mi amor
Whatever you desire is yours
Mi amor
But you cannot have my tapioca
Feb. 6, 2003
The Knight’s Crusade (Villanelle)
Dearest damsel, thou art my life
If thou want for food, it will always be there
I will offer comfit and other gourmet fare
Whatever jewels ye desire I present to you
Be it Australian opals or Colombian gold
Dearest damsel, thou art are my life
The ravages of nature may threaten thee
But I’ll cool thee in the brutal heat
and warm thee in the bitter cold
I will slay where all the dragons dwell
I'll protect thee from the gates of hell
Dearest damsel, thou art my life
My strength and resolve to win thy love
I will defy the gods above
Until my labors bring fruition
all these enumerations that I have stated
I promise thee with all my heart
Dearest damsel, thou art my life
But thou cannot have my Tapioca
May 4, 2014
Makeover Contest Roy Jerden
Ralph Sergi March 26, 2015
CRUSADE
The crusader brandished his stiff sword
sharpened
didn´t want
but beheaded idols
to liberate his inner temple
swift and passionate was his riding
saturated
didn´t want
but unpaved the temples
to remember the first stone
and had peace
on the way he clashed spades
bled
sparked spades
was blinded by light
floated in the void
and saw colors
earthly shades
and then kinetic spatial explosion
of unknown prisms
crossing cross crusaders
irreligious and revering
who knew than the crusades with melancholy singing will bite your ass
for the warriors at a lost to distract you from your computer and cell
A field of fire where hails of bullets streak,
Across the holy lands of God and men.
Exalted knights with weapons breathing rage,
The hearts and hopes of every heathen rend.
When glint of steel and clouds of dust give way,
Such glorious scenes of blessed pain remained.
I gaze upon the blasted ruin of God,
The gates of heaven; by holy blood be stained!
I sing the praises in an empty hall;
Sepulchral shadows flit in paradise.
I find myself alone in gilded pall,
Surrounded by the spectres of the dead.
A summoning I’m trying to forget. There’s too much left between the ashes
Life lingers far except with me
My screams don’t seem to reach you
The warmth it surged right through my essence
Mine is not the same as yours
I want to feel me, can’t you see me?
It’s never like it was before.
Your voice echoes through me
As I go through life this way
I hope you’re not watching me
Fight this hopeless crusade.
Smoke is drifting It reminds me of the fog
Debris is lifting
It reminds me that you’re gone.
I remember the infirmary
Giving their apologies
I’m crying from the outside
I’m locked in from the inside
I can’t break free You’re not coming back to me
Your life is missing
And now I’m alone
I’m reminiscing
My heart beats like a stone.
These clouds just never seem to part
There’s not enough time to shield my soul
It hurts just knowing your touch is gone
Why can’t it be just like before?
THE CRUSADE
Crusade, crusade,
Ally,
Do you know where to,
Be in this period?
Crusade,
A place to block white horse so tell me,
Where will you be?
Crusade,
A place were thou sees the sun and the moon,
Very well,
What about the stars and the mountains?
When can thou get the full definition of them?
Can thou tell me?
Crusade,
A place that the cripples rejoices,
I love it what about you?
When shall we be there?
Crusade,
A place to see the crusader.
THEMES
1. Heeling and deliverance.
2. Visitors
3. Miracles
4. Dialogue
Carrie Nation loathed saloons and whiskey,
And took some actions that were quite risky!
She chastised dudes who reeked of intoxication,
And used her hatchet to smash kegs of booze across the nation!
Entry for Andrea Dietrich's "Educate Me With Humor" Clerihew Contest
We work on the Funny Farm
Charlie And I
Different Cartoon Characters everyday
Heckle and Jeckle, Droopy, Captain Caveman
Careening through the day like Homer Simpson
Curiously, where is he?
Oh, he’s around somewhere
Crusading for a better day
Because when all is said and done
We all deserve a Duff Beer at the end of the day
Barefoot
I walk
across isolated wastelands
Silence
engulfs me
and I am alone
Strangely
it does not frighten me
to be that solitary figure
stumbling on a path less traveled
Other missionaries
join my crusade
chanting hymns of unity
Our crossroads
each a different route
hidden agendas guiding us all
Barefoot I limp
over thorn and stone
Silence once again surrounds me
and I am no longer alone...
Copyright Deon J.H. Burger 2014
Thud
This thing born of breath and bone,
Seated on its secret throne,
A harbinger of ignition,
Pulling us from our perdition.
Thud
By the dream and the waking,
Anger ripe for the taking;
It reaps the spite from our minds.
By moon and star, flesh it grinds.
Thud
Distortion: its holy blade.
Singing songs of pain and rage
Wrought of mortal blood and steel,
Hefted high with fervent zeal.
Thud
The power of death endowed
While the thunder rolls throughout
This keen five-minute crusade.
In finale, the sin fades
Thud
The Metal cannot be stopped.
Born from those who rolled and rocked
It’s darkness: a warm embrace.
Rage released, a swift escape.
Thud
Thud.
And pounding, my heart feels the pull of the music, and it knows that it is free.
His earnest quest for survival
Has meant off-and-on revival,
Bus boarding to far-off crusades,
For weeks avoiding nice brocades…
Not anymore one who’d bubble,
Sometimes chin with a week’s stubble:
Arch enemies in connivance,
The injurious for contrivance;
Had in dreams poisoned his noodle
And Christ said “Straight into puddle!”
Enemies flexing raw muscle,
God making it Divine Tussle…
His fervent quest for survival
Has meant much speedier arrival
For their camp’s redemptive prayer
That should fortify John Sayer.
We age past time
We aim up high
We tell how fine
We feel so high
Hence,lie, to those whose eyes
doesn't want to see us cry
-At distance miles-
When a fiend asks why?
Then, tauntingly, we grow
hauntingly, our souls are sold
-We tend not to know-
Which is golden or gold
It goes, so on and on
Our erring hearts so burnt
We yearn to be reborn
But time-reflects so blunt
Vague is the road we trod
These forlorn gifts are false
Its all a test by God
For the first man's curse is us