Best Dark Life Poems
When life is this tough, you may long to die.
The Grim Reaper beckons, like he's your friend.
Try to remember, dead people don't cry.
A bad beginning, may look like the end.
Your soul is anguished, every night and day.
The Grim Reaper beckons, like he is your friend.
Try not to listen, he'll lead you astray.
It's hard not to follow, his dark allure.
Your soul is anguished, every night and day.
Death's not the answer, it offers no cure.
Filled with sadness, you're not able to think.
It's hard not to follow, his dark allure.
Fill your cup with love, it can be your drink.
Refreshing of mind, dancing with the light.
Pouring out sadness, now able to think.
You have the power, you're able to fight.
Refreshing of mind, dancing with the light.
You thought life was tough, you wanted to die.
Still you remembered, dead people don't cry.
Categories:
dark life, depression, night, people, dark,
Form:
Lanterne
Black and White – 3-18-24
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Black and White
Black and white come in focus -
Absent of prime –
A slice of life exposed through the lens,
A flash-dance of story, a masquerade ball.
No sunrise of sepia - clouds absent of platinum,
Lavender drained from lilacs, sky robbed of blue,
Red-orange stolen from sunsets.
Spindrift frozen like frost,
Candlelight shines undimmed and eternal,
Stark either or – life or not -
In shadows, snow or mountaintops,
Ghosts on boughs of ebony wear gossamer.
Wrinkles and lines banished from smiles of youth
While the lens loves some visages
As eyes without color look back from albums.
Positive to negative. Negative to positive.
Photoplay in wedding smiles or tears of a clown
Moments of the soul held in tenderness
Protected in scrapbooks of black and white.
Categories:
dark life, color, dark, life, light,
Form:
Free verse
Life is a song,
incomplete, yet soothing—
lullabies lulling the world to sleep
with its balladic lilt, gently swaying
to the depths of its nomadic
syncopation.
Where I can subdue archaic
hieroglyphics in hues of
rose gold notes, invading my
tentative aura, glistening upon
tragic horizons,
for the wandering seekers,
freely waltzing to arias of the moon,
escaping unsung passages to
desolate wastelands,
where fiends roam in spite;
surviving the clusters of
rain drenched clouds,
draining the life out of
sunken nocturnes,
lost in cataclysmic paradoxes
overshadowed by waves of
monotonous soliloquy.
Yet I crave the aphotic harmonies of
its flesh and bones,
cocooned in the stillness of
shadows that align,
stonewalling the
world so bent on exposing me—
finding my true element,
inhabiting where life meets its end credits,
resuscitating sentiments long forgotten,
enabling me to breathe.
Categories:
dark life, dance, dark, life, song,
Form:
Free verse
They say sticks and stones may break my bones but I
came face to face with a wall today.
I keep on searching but I'm lost
I keep on climbing but I'm falling
I'm walking but your pulling me back
Haven't you had enough of the scars that I already have
I'm shouting with no voice
I'm crying but the well within is dried up
Gravity keeps on pulling me back
Katrina keeps on coming back
Its dark where can I find the light
I'm chained, trapped, binned-ed by this chains
I can't breath your suffocating me
I can't sleep your controlling my life
I'm shouting and kicking but your laughing
Im torn apart and bleeding
You see the the beauty on the outside but I'm dying
within.
Categories:
dark life, body, dark, life, pain,
Form:
Dramatic Verse
Why do I bother being truthful
When everyone I meet seems so hateful
They wonder why I don’t talk about my former life
If they want to see the pain i've known
Just look into my eyes
You will see the millions of tears i’ve cried
And you wonder why I hide
Behind these dark and lonely eyes.
I’m alone because it’s the only time I feel safe
I still run and hide in that special place
I feel like a child
Afraid of the dark
I don’t want sympathy
And I don’t need any more sorrow
When I go out i am tall and proud
I stand out in the crowd
Then they see these lonely dark eyes
And they think to them selves
Why a young man cries.
At this time, life is good as I crack a smile
It’s a cover for this lonely man inside
I’ve been that low I often wish I had died
When I went away to fight for my pride
I’m still fighting
A personal fight battling with nightmares every night
I want to tell people how I really feel inside
But will they break down and cry
We all feel sorrow we all know pain
But why is mine, here to stay
I have fought off illness
But still I hurt inside
I’ve got my life organised
Please what ever you do
Don’t ask me what goes on behind these dark and lonely eyes
Because I will only smile and tell you lies
You wont believe the secrets hidden behind these lonely eyes
Categories:
dark life, wardark, dark, life, lonely,
Form:
Light Verse
In vile defeat I confided to helplessness
I cringed knowing I know so little
As inadequate as I am I felt responsible
I felt responsible to know everything
In this mentality I suffered long nights
Over thinking myself and overlooking life
Until I gave up the pain for a little while
And took a deep, dark look to the other side
Categories:
dark life, absence, allegory, analogy, angst,
Form:
Rhyme
Slicing the instinct
The arcane was torn, curses spit
Teardrop bated as the breath hunts
Wound wide open, the heart cries
The ripple of pain unable to stem
The cimmerian sigh loud and stay
Body falls along with the bridge of hope
Toying life unwillingly to be blamed
The chain of fate convoluted by mistakes
Incised by the foredoom of another story
Shouted a shout inevitable said
Reverses direction and unpredictably impaled
Breath blows the true bitterness
Jaded in each lamentation
Tired of every abnormalities which frequently ensue
Longing for the things which reasonably flows as it should
Life is about to choose
Though destiny had its own script
We have awarded a red carpet, but
Sorry if we still have to walk on the imperfections of life
Categories:
dark life, dark, life,
Form:
Free verse
A lonely beam of yellow-white light,
carving a curve in the ink of the night,
upon the snow-burdened branches of pine,
standing still guard to the lord of the line.
The icy wind howls in the silence serene,
tempting the light to avert and careen,
off of the timber and iron ahead,
into the water, the darkness, the dead.
And the blizzard, it beckons, with comfort sublime,
whispering rest to the lord of the line.
For burdens oft carried can even bend steel,
and wheels are not able to lay flat or kneel.
The engine is tempted, it lets out a peal,
a horn most forlorn to the wind most surreal.
Yet as the sound leaps through the valley of ice,
there redounds an echo—once, twice, and thrice!
And under the frost-covered rivets, inside,
the fire burns hotter, and strengthens the hide.
A purpose so strong is written within,
that heard from without, can bring life again.
As noble as Atlas, the train carries on,
knowing some where to go, and much where it's gone.
Accepting the fate of bitterest wine,
following on as the lord of the line.
But there is a crowd in the carriage behind,
they have many eyes, and still they are blind.
Driven by torment and anger and spite,
to tear out their hearts and sleep in the night.
Too proud to sound the horn of lonely man's fear,
their fires die within them, drowned by a tear,
a droplet of brine they would never expose,
so they swallow it whole, like blood in death-throes.
And they choke and they sputter, bottling steam,
they rush to the brink, as if in a dream.
A nightmare of pain in a cold hinterland.
And they cast off their life by no one's command.
In fear of the trials, they surrender their hope.
They laugh at life's line and they sever the rope.
A road through the darkness might lead on to shine.
Do you dare to take it, O Lord of the Line?
I look back fondly on this poem. Though I have grown in my ability to deviate from very structured poetry, I see my natural tendencies toward order when I look at this piece. I think PS drives me to explore new themes, structures, and ideas that will expand my abilities as a poet, and offer insight into my life outside of poetry.
Categories:
dark life, dark, life, light, loneliness,
Form:
Free verse
My Heart Shall Not Fade In Crying Red Rust
I shall beat down the walls of your dungeon
And smash its power into fading dust.
My spirit by you will not be bludgeoned,
My heart shall not fade in crying red rust!
Once, I saw such goodness in your sweet soul.
Those years have all vanished into the dark,
Where raging waters drown love in its roll
Madness of your hate shows to be so stark!
I still long for that soft gentle touch
With the press of those sexy luscious lips.
This heart cries deep, in loving you so much
Despite cut of claws on your fingertips!
I can never change pains of fate and time.
Yet I cry my loss in poetic rhyme!
R.J. Lindley
Sept 23rd, 1976
Syllables Per Line:
10 10 10 10 0 10 10 10 10 0 10 10 10 10 0 10 10
Total # Syllables: 140
Total # Lines: 17 (Including empty lines)
Words with (syllables) counted programmatically:
Total # Words: 116
Note- Old poem, slightly edited today to improve its form
and omit sad and deeply personal messages vented at the time of
its creation. Although its extra verses (altered or cut) to bring
down to brevity of the sonnet form were very good, I will keep
the original intact in my private writes, for my children to read
only after I depart this existence.
Categories:
dark life, art, conflict, dark, life,
Form:
Sonnet
Within your mind you silly fool
Your anger, a storm hidden inside of you
Things forbidden now begin to brew
Tormented by things you should say or do,
Whispers and lies they spread like wild fire
Wants and needs and your inner desire
Fearful of life and human touch of hand
Strength and weakness becomes demand.
You live in the world inside of you
One day you will pay you silly fool
For life is not a game for the cool
It counts for everything you do.
4/6/13
Found this in a stack of papers and not sure what I was watching that made me write this one.
Categories:
dark life, dark, life, silly,
Form:
Free verse
"The Wormwood Portfolio"
Reams of stories
riddled with worms
wood for burning
all the children
cover their eyes
tears smoked
into the lungs
gender fluid
propheticising
bitter water
electric brains
chipped like
fine-boned China
downloading
overloads
dumps are
damp
the fuse
sizzles and
stops
green as absinthe
gauche ghosts
gone all grey skinned
scales of merit
charred unweighted
vacant and vacating
like dandelions
scattering over
the barren wombs
of the childless landscape
dreaming of biblical babies
suckling the wanton breasts
of Desdemona’s structural points,
a sharp essay, feeding insouciance
mistaken identities and confusion
side-blinded by the light
of the tempestuous kill shot
burnt and scarred
beeseeching open handed
faces turning like time dials
towards two suns
gold gone all black holed
dead verdant plants
hot feet blistering
make no more demands
skipping, games of patter-cake
powdered ochre yellow
here's the church and here's the steeple
open your hands where are the people
like viruses, germinating
no more prayers to enchant
daughters of eve
sons of man
when the Word finally speaks
there is hearing damage
Reams of stories
riddled with worms
wood for burning
all the children
cover their eyes
;
the ides of march
recant.
(LadyLabyrinth / 2021)
"A tear in the brain
allows the voices in
they wanna push you off the path
with their low-frequency wires..."
recant. v.
Wormwood.
Ides of March.
Categories:
dark life, dark, life, light,
Form:
Free verse
O'er fields strewn with harvested evergreens,
There ventured a marine from Queens,
His flesh were a slight inky, his clothing was ragged,
No more alive, flowing in dread and haggard.
All around him darkness loomed quite blue,
Once a fair surround, radiant and imbue,
In the light he walked there, shadowed by fear,
But tragic winds did jinx his heart severe.
Then wondering thro' rain and stormy clouds,
Opaque in brittle hues, ghostly in shrouds,
With white shades of bubbling horror his evermore,
A mere ripple in earth's waters he'd deplore.
Onwards thro' the crushing storm he trekked,
The landscape ahead was defiantly suspect,
Its dour horizon presented a challenge to survey,
Where the sounds of thunder it rapt his day.
In raucous rumbles the marine heard the sky,
As frightening, with spawns of black fly,
Memorialized in his sleep, to haunt him evermore,
Then have brews of mystique he'd explore.
And a bejewelled goose would decorate his path,
There draped in quaint linen it felt his wrath,
Murmuring quietly the water bird flew into the light,
As bright as the sun, in some alluring plight.
To dream of despair, tenebrous in its imagery,
Hypnotic, muttering of death and infinity,
There with the wink of an eye he let the sunshine in,
His mother then smiled at her miracle kin.
She'd been there all along thro' his tribulation,
That struggle of low bumps and amputation,
Rosemary oil bid him comfort there as he woke,
From a coma it were, but horrors did evoke.
Down the pallid rush of melancholy misfortune,
A marine was reunited with life all impromptu,
His will to live it were strong after what he'd seen,
So two bungalows he obtained from a queen.
Categories:
dark life, dark, life, , memorial,
Form:
Rhyme
Rebirth
Grey ghostly clarions
Swiftly travel
To the east of darkling day
Riding on a dirge wind
Blowing harsh
Over waters that reflect
The fading dawn
When they turn to blood red,
Glowing crimson,
As they color the vast and swirling grey
Trumpeting to the earth,
With light retreating,
The call of night
Where black and twisting tree limbs
Stretch
Into the clarion sky
To grasp at daylight fleeing
While through their naked
Leafless fingers
Arias of monotones
Rise up on whistling winds
As unbelieving earth implores
The gloom descending,
With feeble lights,
Be gone!
Then wait beneath the clarion shadows
Entombed in sleep –
Still as death, chilled and numb –
For the morning star to spread
Like warm fingers
Across the ghostly clarions
Turning them into the daystar’s turquoise pearl,
Telling lightless earth
“Arise!”
See life reborn in light!
Categories:
dark life, dark, life, light, morning,
Form:
Free verse
I feel like I am a fly that lives for no purpose
Doing anything for no reason
Death to me is seven days away!
How long will this torment in my soul last?
There is a longing in me;
Big as the oceans:
Stretching beyond the shores of my solitary confinement.
And my soul lies bleeding;
Bleeding from the wounds of afflictions.
Bitterness poisons my thoughts;
Creating a huge dark cloud;
covering the diamond stars that glitter in my mind.
A drought of grace and love dwells in my heart;
And resentment has grown in me as a cactus in a desert.
Shadows of death and doubt breathe upon me,
Like vultures waiting on me as if I was a dying prey.
Destruction is taking a step closer to me every hour.
And I’m folded as a cabbage,
Squeezed on a corner,
Trembling and crying out:
“My LORD, My FATHER,
Why do you forsake me?
Clearly as the clean air; I am nothing without YOU.
Rise up my LORD!
Rise up as the sun rises up at the break of dawn wiping out the darkness,
Let YOUR light shine upon my life and put a song in the bird's heart.
Let me rejoice at the beauty of YOUR sunrise
Let me rejoice at the first ray of light that shines a beam of gold
Let YOUR light dry the tears of anguish and loneliness caused by darkness.
Restore back peace and love in my life.
Kill the torment in my soul
And in its place rise a sweet essence.
Pour rains of grace and love in my dry heart
And bring back to life the sweet fragrant flowers of spring.
Blow away the bitter clouds of thought,
And leave my mind stretched as the universe;
beautified by billions of stars glittering as eternity.
Chase away the dark shadows that breath upon me,
And let the doves bring to me the twigs of salvation.
For in my inner depths breathes hope and faith in YOU.
Let YOUR deliverance and providence shine upon me as the cloudless noon day sun;
And FATHER;
Let not the light of YOUR eyes set away from me,
Lest I become proud in YOUR eyes.”
Categories:
dark life, faith, hopeme, sweet, light,
Form:
THE moon slid slowly from the light
to slumber in the crepuscular shroud
An illuminated universe lies
in the silver light’s glow
The mighty golden note slumbering
in a valley of undying silence
The distant crimson light’s whisper
Causing butterflies in its wake
The song of the moon played so sweet
as the golden sun faded behind
Now hear the bitter mocking warble
of the bitter hermit’s chant
and ghosts watch me leave you further behind
As the dirt drips down bedding your heavy box
the front of your funeral dress all shadowy lined
And droning iridescent crickets throb in time
within your beatless heart
Cry, Pink White
Cry, Pink White
Cry, Pink White
Like a needle in the pinball machine
you don’t know what you got till it’s gone
If you’re the only one to hold me in your arms
Baby please don’t make me cry
Say it with me now
Cry, Pink White
Cry, Pink White
Cry, Pink White
My Cherry Blossom Heart
:: 07.27.2022 ::
Categories:
dark life, dark, life, love,
Form:
Free verse