Best Embers Poems
my chief ...
thoughts go back to that again -
the day you found me on the plain
so bleeding from a musket wound
and dying, slow, with fear and pain
my own kind left me there to die
to not waste cares for such as I
an orphan white boy, still a child
with troubled heart, I won't deny
yet, you did lend me mercy then
with no concern of who I'd been
and raised me like your very own
to learn the ways of Tlingit men
my course has not been easy life
more basic, yes, but hardship rife
and still, my gut and heart are full
midst joys of family, food and wife
and now I watch this poignant fire
of sparking cinders, drifting higher
while tribe and I conduct you home
all dancing ‘round this funeral pyre
each flaming ember turns the thief
and steals you off, my father, chief
o sad, to but command the flames
and scorch away my crushing grief
and yet, as each one climbs on high
those precious mem’ries, you and I
are borne the heavens, ever-bright
and placed as stars …
upon the sky.
~ 2nd Place ~ in the "Tribute To Native Culture" Poetry Contest, Line Gauthier, Judge & Sponsor.
The dawn of love, so magical and new,
Two bodies set aflame with burning kiss.
Enchanted world and only for the two.
No other pair has ever loved like this.
Young love, a wonder while its passions last
Must change its form if it’s to long endure.
Too soon the thrill of love, once new, is past.
It should condense to essence now more pure.
At time love’s embers start a blazing flame,
Soon cooling down to just a lovely glow.
No need for these to play a youthful game,
Their dreams fulfilled, as both of them now know.
For though the young and foolish long for fire,
The glowing embers, wiser hearts desire.
Entered in Gayle's Burning Embers contest.
In snowflakes’ sunlit souls - an amber chest,
orange, yellow, blushing red impassion
resplendent ember hues of stained-glass zest,
vivid vibes enliven snow from ashen.
Inspired bliss of shining kiss on pale snow,
with delicate caresses Sol imbued
highlights to saturate the talc aglow
romancing frosted facets’ fiery mood.
Warm spectrum seeps across the crystal white
as sleepy sunbeams stir the embers’ heart,
igniting jewel tones before twilight
frost bitten festival of arctic art.
Illuminated thrills in chills impress
in ruby rapture sunset's snow does dress.
Susan Ashley
December 31,2017
~ Eighth Place ~
Premiere Contest: Embers and Snowflakes
Sponsor: Anthony Slausen
My golden eve gleams ebullient sun beams
When flares of fantasies in your eyes blaze
As echoes of fervor whisper your dreams
Where sensual concert in your heart plays
Hold me my dear in passions of your heart
And hear voice of desires crooning your name
As message of warmth blazing souls impart
Where embers of romance ignite our flame
Oh! how does the moon know I love you so
And why do the heavens behold your glance
While vows of our love in gleeful winds blow
And dazzling your sight euphoric stars dance
Your answer my love in the moonlight glows
How fondly you told them, it’s me you chose
October 18, 2020
Placed 1st: Love sonnet poetry contest
Sponsor: John Hamilton
Placed 1st: Completely your choice (30) by Brian Strand
Placed 1st: Your best 2020 sonnet contest by John Hamilton
Written: September 12, 2023
_______________________________________________________________
Sunsets Paint the Sky
Embracing flames of loved ones~
Memories aglow.
Shared dawning vibrant
Now distant, yet remembered~
Love never fades out
Sultry afternoons,
zest height turns to modest warmth~
Winter's smooth embrace
Awaiting midnight
Living among sunsets' glow~
Embrace memories
Our hands and our feet were warmed from the cold,
while the campfire burned into embers and coal
The song that he whispered combined with the sparks,
and drifted away, to be lost in the dark
Splinters of light outlined his shape,
and hollowed the lines in his face.
With fingertips calloused, he strummed his guitar
into the solace of night.
We gathered to listen, and gathered our tears,
with smoke in our eyes and our hearts compromised.
The song told the fable of babes lost in the woods
who had wandered away on a bright amber day.
Where the robins of red, so gingerly spread
green strawberry leaves to cradle their graves
Crickets, like orphans awakened from rest,
lamented with sorrow from pine-needle nests
This legend was saved, but others were lost,
tossed to the wind, like ghost-feathers of ash.
My father is gone, but the song lingers on
remembered tonight, from a night in the past
The wind still unfolds the song to the night
whispering words that make robins cry
Drifting through the trees and taking me home
Still stoking the embers of a mid-summer's moon
________________________________________________________
Frozen embers still are burning;
Deep inside, my heart is yearning
For revival, the returning
Of man's heart before the fall:
Man and woman, disobeying
Lost the heart for which I'm praying,
Pure and holy, never straying-
Take my heart, Lord, take it all.
Frozen embers now are burning,
Fanned to flames by heaven's learning,
Good and evil things discerning
By the Spirit and the Word.
Fan the embers dim and dying;
Breathe in me, I tire of trying:
All my efforts end in sighing,
But through You is joy secured.
I seek for warmth by embers getting cold
and though I coax, they will not burst to flame
I sit and mourn the heart of love you sold
that bode in tigress broken now and tame
my body shivers by the dying fire
I wrap around me words of long ago
that scorched my heart with burning tongues of fire
but cold sensations now my heart does know
before I close my eyes and drift to death
I hold an ember close to bosom bare
a searing pain induces gasp of breath
and yet the burn is welcome wound I wear
You left me cold, alone in night so dark
Love's fire died and left me not a spark
Eileen
Twists and big turns in the name of real love
Either it will mend or break a heart
If this feeling of love, its author is God
Involved persons then must render their part
He logs more on oceans and she on land
Friendship to sweet soulful romance, began
No phone-lines nor e-mails nothing advance
With only black pen and paper on hand
Both of them, grab take that one lifetime chance
Thirty five years now, they are on love dance
Skin gone sag, wrinkled. Hair now thin and gray
Holding hands while walking like good old days
Romantic dinners. Roses. Gifts and cards.
Hugs, kisses... "I love you", their darling say
Ageless enduring in embers of time
Blazing better within embers of time.
written in iambic pentameter by:
olive_eloisa
1:18 am
April 04, 2014
__________________to my parents.. :) Praise GOD!
CONTEST: EMBERS OF TIME
SPONSOR: Gail Angel Doyle
1ST PLACE, praise God .. :)
Inside my deepest thoughts
There are visions of what was once
The moments of my life come to naught
Dreamy days spent in brilliance
Inside the depths of my heart
There are ideas inspired from long ago
Moments when there is a part
Of me that wishes I had no foe
Inside my spirit’s core
There are memories harbored
That gives me reason to adore
And my feelings to be stirred
Inside my heart and soul
Where frozen embers still burn
Seeming to take complete control
Reminding me of how deeply I yearn
Written August 27, 2014
WHERE FROZEN EMBERS STILL BURN
When will periwinkle dreams entwine with my lifesong?
deadly winter has blanket me? [Long, ah! so long...]
Has bloody ferns swirl then froze me as falling snow
for acrid critiques cold cloud? [T'was wrong, Oh so wrong...]
Doubts and worries weaken my weary feet
but teeming catalysts from a compassionate God
activate talent embers, once frozen to heat--
telling: "TRUST, GO AND START!", an alarm from above.
Bearing a faith anew, I spread my wings to fly;
walking even over blitz agonizing talk for ply.
Cracking myself from iceberg of fears--
twining myself to God's glory, a clear dear!
Braiding faith and hardwork in cornerstone steel,
spirits shoot hope that guards, a powerful feel.
Unfolding gifts from long frozen hearts to burn,
now mightily restored with heaven's love way turn...
(c)
10:16am
August 22, 2014
Always we’d break up. We’d get back together,
passion-thirsting in hot summer’s weather.
We’d quench our desires from love’s brimming cup.
We’d get back together; always we’d break up.
Not long would it last, and around the fall,
you would disappear. Then would come the pall
smothering my joy, summer gone so fast.
And around the fall, not long would it last!
No matter where you went, I still harbored hope
that you would return. That was how I’d cope.
Through fall’s chill and bitter disappointment
I still harbored hope no matter where you went.
A fire still lingered there, deep inside my soul,
and over it, my heart had no control.
One thought of you, I’d feel it start to flare
deep inside my soul! A fire still lingered there.
A new year would come in gloomy autumn’s wake.
A vow to never take you back I’d make!
But after winter came the spring, you, and sun!
In autumn’s gloomy wake, a new year would come.
Oh, those burning embers - when you would return,
for my resolve would melt; by June, I’d burn!
How quickly I’d forget my sad Novembers
when you would return. Oh, those burning embers!
By Andrea Dietrich, another swap quatrain written 2/15/13
for the Burning Embers Contest of Gail Angel Doyle
where frozen embers still burn
my doctor says is a thing you earn
i ask him if it is a large mass
as he quietly looks up my ass
i politely tell him it is on this side not there
he says he is being thorough there a pair
true i guess though i'm sure one hangs lower
much lower than the other up and over
where frozen embers still burn
i thought had cleared up in my youth
i knew i shouldn't have slept with Ruth
i should have done an about turn
everyone warned me about her
in fact that's why i courted her
what they thought i should fear
sounded like music to my ear
i lost the other ear while i was out hunting
there's a frozen ember i still hear ringing
just then i hear the Doc yell with an echo
his face still behind me his mouth down low
its not your balls those are hemorrhoids
boy their big they must be on steroids
be sensitive there sir those are my parts
makes you want to release a couple of farts
where frozen hemorrhoids burn and hang
no woman should yearn to touch or bang
i'll get them removed my dear lassies
don't mind mine and i won't your falsies
if per chance this deep poetry i just penned
has got you hot and thinking of my tight end
where frozen embers still burn my heart is yours
a woman as special as you this old man adores
Embers
I watch the dull fire glowing red and hot,
my face feels sunburned and my eyes are tight.
I look into the shadows, at the others in this spot,
all my people together, in the dull steady light.
They are a joyful people, they laugh a lot.
I feel her in them, now, clearly on this night.
In the embers I see laughter when I was young,
when I had burnt hot and felt fire in me.
I moved easily and surely, was quick with my tongue,
went out drinking and dancing as if it were free,
there was no life unlived or song unsung.
I was so strong and my thoughts were so bright
In the shadows of the coals a loved face appears,
so serene. The moment we met, we began to talk,
talked so many things over our wine and beers.
Then we married and often she and I would walk
I loved what she loved and there were few fears.
The heat dulls my sight and makes my eyes water.
In the fire, I see my mother die in the car crash,
me, at fourteen, so long ago, but still in the pain.
How the embers of life roll on and leave ash.
This year they lost their mother, all seems in vain.
Only she cared if I stayed up late or had been brash.
The loss is a hollowness inside and my chest is tight.
A grandchild heaves a log onto the camp fire.
Sparks burst up, like brilliant memories in the night
He brings more wood to build the fire higher
but covers the embers, ends the memories with the light.
A mothers voice sounds, “No more!”she is a sigher,
just like her mother. She looks at me and grins outright.
I realize that the fire will, in time, make good new embers.
I close my eyes
Feel my heart on fire,
coal set scorching in subterranean mine.
Now, must I pluck out
this fire burning , siphon this out
these drooling embers?
I am not to be blamed. Please,
I didn't start it, I only kept it ablaze,
with that tiny spark you blew in.
I love these golden flecks
they hold me in a fiery fantasy, a fairy
with wings of love and a sparkling magic wand.
Look, can't you see,
our dark silhouettes an entwined beauty
drenched in the heat of unguarded love ..
I am the moth
drawn to your passion's flame
dancing wild as tomorrow never comes.
Protect me, from your fire,
this golden trance I love so dear,
to dust may I burn
in embers you feed my heart!
Happily so...,what if tomorrow never comes?
For Gail 's Burning Embers contest...
02.17.2013