Best Ennobled Poems
From somewhere far beneath,
My father's face is rising to replace my own.
Each year the brightly silvered surface of my mirror
Reveals some other common feature
Pushing its way to the fore.
The silver of the years finds its way
Into the hair retreating at the same rate;
Years marching forward as the hairline marches back
In lockstep time. What's left shines
With the wintry distinction of age.
Whose eyes are these that now look out
From beneath my brow? Are these the eyes that watched my child in sleep,
Or now those elder eyes that watched over me so long ago?
What self is that at rest behind my silvered temples,
That rests its thoughts so heavy on these things?
Photos of the two of us together
Show the kinship of expression
The matching etchings of experience
That leave no doubt
As to the common blood by which we're bound.
I can no longer view myself
Without his presence being there as well;
Moreover, the image of his father
Shows the like upwellings in him.
The visage of the man who came before
The three of us I've never seen;
But I deem it probable there was little difference,
So back this face we share may go, ad infinitum.
Every face is a story
Of the life and its ways that shaped it.
This being so, I cannot help but feel ennobled
By the lines and lessons which have been passed to me.
This is the face I shall carry
From now to the end of my days.
My I tend it, and wear it, well.
Categories:
ennobled, father, life, nostalgia, philosophy,
Form:
Blank verse
I
The Servants of Free Men on the Mayflower
Knew "abundant life" in Jesus, Great Savior
Two servants, too, rose up to sign The US Constitution
Lover of His Morals, Binder of America's First Bible, Jefferson
Perhaps, long before, some foundations cast by Tom Paine & William Penn
II
Then there is Roger Williams, founder of Rhode Island
Who paid Native Americans for Providence, new way to get land?
More fortunate than Minister Anne Hutchinson, foe of New England
Because she read the Bible, taught it, and well ... thus expelled
Yet more fortunate than Mary Dyer, Quaker, now Watch at Boston Common
III
Smaller folk prayed for A Great Awakening. It came. Publicist: Ben Franklin
Preachers in the trenches, before two Billys: Charles Finney & Our Theologian
None other than Jonathan Edwards; when he died, on that occasion
His wife wrote her daughter: we weep but thank LORD he was our relation!
IV
The idea of America ... inimitable; Einstein came as Refugee of Distinction
And veterans I'm blessed to know, ennobled by trials and tribulation
We lost Lewis Reynolds this year; a Marine and Man of many an Invention
Your simple research will reveal we owe much to such Fighters For Freedom
And in my church: Walter Ogden, Dick (Tex) Pentecost, Russell Coleman
V
Yes, we may criticize its imperfection ... often without paying a price
There was the bad history with Indians - broken treaties and cowardice -
Yet John Rolfe did marry Pocohontas, many now claim them Ancestors
And slavery of Africans was brutish, but Lincoln busted free of old fears
As did Noble Roosevelt, Carter, & Obama ... celebrate USA in Living Colors
(c) Deo. Happy Birthday America; God empower the peoples and every level of Leadership to fulfill the Great Destiny of America. After all, Gandhi's great granddaughter, Uma, says: "Try to share; you'll have to one way or another."
Categories:
ennobled, america, appreciation, celebration, community,
Form:
Verse
the best answer for
the restless wriggle of day
ennobled darkness
my inner river
in the darkness of the night
goes away softly
nanna's bees are thrilled
they change hues to match her mood
blond shows, she is thrilled
grief taught me the truth
the power to shine through the
layers of darkness
Written: October 24, 2022
Categories:
ennobled, analogy, beauty, dark,
Form:
Haiku
Diminished
but ennobled,
the soldier came home
his two limbs
traded for the
sanctuary
of a deeper peace
Broken
in completeness,
his braces held proud
each battle
medaled
in the memory
—of his finest hour
(The New Room: November, 2021)
Categories:
ennobled, courage,
Form:
Free verse
INSCRIPTION ON THE MONUMENT OF A NEWFOUNDLAND DOG.
When some proud son of man returns to earth,
Unknown to glory, but upheld by birth,
The sculptor’s art exhausts the pomp of woe,
And storied urns record who rest below;
When all is done, upon the tomb is seen.
Not what he was, but what he should have been.
But the poor dog, in life the firmest friend,
The first to welcome, foremost to defend,
Whose honest heart is still his master’s own,
Who labours, fights, lives, breathes for him alone,
Unhonour’d falls, unnoticed all his worth,
Denied in heaven the soul he held on earth:
While man, vain insect! Hopes to be forgiven,
And claims himself a sole exclusive heaven.
Oh man! Thou feeble tenant of an hour,
Debased by slavery, or corrupt by power,
Who knows thee well must quit thee with disgust,
Degraded mass of animated dust!
Thy love is lust, thy friendship all a cheat,
Thy smile hypocrisy, thy words deceit!
By nature vile, ennobled but by name,
Each kindred brute might bid thee blush for shame.
Ye ! who perchance behold this simple urn,
Pass on - it honours none you wish to mourn:
To mark a friend’s remains these stones arise;
I never knew but one - and here he lies.
This monument is still a conspicuous ornament in the garden of Newstead. The following is the inscription by which the verses are preceded: -
Near this spot
Are deposited the Remains of one
Who possessed Beauty without Vanity,
Strength without Insolence,
Courage without Ferocity,
And all the Virtues of Man without his Vices,
This Praise, which would be unmeaning Flattery
If inscribed over human ashes,
Is but a just tribute to the Memory of
BOATSWAIN, A Dog,
Who was born at Newfoundland, May 1803
And died at Newstead Abbey, Nov, 1809
Taken from a book entitled POEMS by LORD BYRON
Categories:
ennobled, animal,
Form:
Epic
She was washed up,
Her wings were crumpled,
Her body covered in blood and bruises,
An angel should never look that way.
Oh Lord bless her.
He was washed up,
His wings were cut,
His body a mask of defensive scars,
An angel should never feel that kind of pain.
Oh Lord bless him.
She woke up minutes later,
Tears streaming down her cheeks,
Without a word, she traced every bruise she had,
She smeared herself with the blood covering her hands.
Oh Lord bless her.
He woke up minutes later
A frown across his forehead
With a startle, he felt the scars he had,
He felt the half wings he now had, he cringed.
Oh Lord bless him.
She looked to her side,
Noticed a familiar sight,
It was hurt, scarred, without dignity.
Fear, fear of treading around unfamiliar territory.
Oh Lord bless him.
He looked to his side
Noticed a sight he hadn’t seen before,
It was hurt, scarred, still with dignity.
Tearful yet strong eyes around familiar territory.
Oh Lord bless her.
She stood up,
Limping, she reached to where he was,
Slowly stretched her hand out,
To help him up.
Resistant he held out his.
And thought to himself “oh Lord bless her”.
She slowly draped,
Put him up against her shoulder,
And walked him slowly to a rock.
They sat, she tired, he exhausted.
Oh Lord bless them.
She looked him in the eyes,
And slowly said. “I have been here you see,
All these trials, I have experienced it all;
Retribution, distress, anxiety. I know it all”
You have to ask the Lord to bless you, to bless us.
You see, “I was told I am a woman,
As I was told in the wise words of a great lyricist:
A really strong woman accepts the war she went through
And is ennobled by her scars”
I fall down, yes. But I always get up.
No matter how hard it is.
And ask for the Lord to bless me.
You see, “I am a woman,
And I can tell you were never stomped down,
Maybe you were the one who did the stomping before;
But it’s alright, we all make mistake”
The Lord will bless us from learning from them.
So do not cringe;
Wipe that defeated look on your face,
I will help you, that’s why we go through this.
Yes, us woman. To help others heal.
To help others cope, we are the core of every life.
We were blessed highly by the almighty.
So do not despair my friend,
All you have to do is ask.
Ask the Lord to bless us………
Categories:
ennobled, angel, hurt,
Form:
Prose
There stands a lofty tree
beckoning to lovebirds
whilst it shades wildflowers
and dreamers resting 'neath its
majestically revered stateliness,
portrayed by famed artists alike,
written farthermost poetic essence
midst ennobled exaltation's grandeur
Categories:
ennobled, beauty, bird, creation, earth,
Form:
Light Verse
Where are you hiding little pearl?
Are you caught in the whirl
of ticker tape and media mania?
Please don’t cower in the wake of opinion.
Like other things every person has one, and
for every negative dissertation,
there is positive comfort close at hand.
Be strong as your father’s father before you
standing guard in the garden of dead poems,
some laughing hysterically at words
summarily called your brothers and sisters.
Touted as their right, they hide triviality behind metaphor,
weaving subterfuge into mediocrity, complaining, berating,
conniving against true art with despicable raving,
ennobled as poetry.
May 24 2011 cgh
Categories:
ennobled, on writing and words
Form:
Free verse
When it rains, it shines in these radiant beaming eyes of mine.
When it's cold, it's warm in these promised lands I've come afar to farm.
When you're there, I'm right here and there's nothing for us to fear.
Nights become darker and day’s grow lighter, each becomes more vividly bright.
I love, I hate, but my life has brought us yesterday, today and once again tomorrow.
My world is huge, and so are you perfectly attuned standing straight in front of the line.
I loved you, I hated you and still I brought you neither malice nor any bodily harm.
It is the echoes of uncelebrated storms in your heart I can soundly hear.
Over here and even over there! I‘m still mistaken by shined or shaded Earthly lights!
It is your love for your life of just being that I've tempered and borrowed.
Wallah! It's "A Poet's Day" and you shall be my insatiable ennobled prey.
I am always right by your side to accommodate your pleasurable stay.
Forbidden and pardoned from up above, goodness planted my glory on Saint's Day".
Wallah! "A Poet's Day" and She comes with rain or He comes with shine.
Promised from up above, you are with me from all formations of time!
I roll and I sway reckoning these implanted seeds are here for a very long stay.
I loved you and I hated you, but I'm here by very afar and by many of few.
Wallah! "A Poet's Day" cultivates golden glaring growing seeds of light to sow.
You shall know me and we shall produce a world none can ever show.
I'm yours and you're mine, yesterday, today, and then tomorrow we will shine as two.
TA DA! Your beloved reigns above all your painful empty sorrows buried alive inside of you!
Categories:
ennobled, adventure, allegory, imagination, inspirational,
Form:
Personification
Beauty changes
the embattled soul
A transmutation
ennobled whole
In darkest throes
to spread its light
Forever bathed
—in pure delight
(Dreamsleep: February, 2023)
Categories:
ennobled, beauty,
Form:
Rhyme
*Image of Rose & Ring by Amazon.com
Advents A Door
Sweet be the fragrance
of a rose bouquet
that passes a nose
which hungers after
Assured vow of a fond scent
A steady pace of careful steps
using the heart to guide
eternalize reciting words
ennobled within the eyes
Advent, whereto, the velvet case
Parts a smile for whence 'tis seen
look to heaven, cheers felt
now fronts a door, hand lift
a heart-beats away at wood
Open, hugs, echoed words, Oh yes!
2019 May 21
*1st Place*
A BRIAN STRAND Vers Libre
~~Brian Strand: Judged 2022 March 07
Categories:
ennobled, allegory, beautiful, inspiration, love,
Form:
Free verse
IN QUEST
You laid down my rights
In your ennobled embrace
I relegated them into minds margin
Lest they bother us,
In our high noon revelry
I roam, carefree, for you are alive.
Lips down the isthmus, unto
rolling hills and dales, in quest
for the golden fleece, I may not find
in a lifetime.
Categories:
ennobled, adventure
Form:
Free verse
Geniuses are unique and rare, a kind
unto themselves who are led by God’s
divine inspiration and powers of mind,
women and men whose gifts defy the odds.
Like Byron, some possess gifts of poetry;
others, like Mozart, musical composition;
and some achieve feats of artistry,
creatively shocking the dull and unrefined.
The gifts of genius are meant as fine tools,
empowered and bestowed by the Nine Muses
to create art and to exalt life’s fools,?—?
to uplift them to more ennobled uses.
So, if one’s genius be not in this rhyme,
then offer the fool the gift of one's time.
Categories:
ennobled, art, inspiration, muse, music,
Form:
Sonnet
The mobile offspring's random choice
ennobled by the Doctor's voice
deceased to wit, parental watch
to be or not to be, the catch!
As millions thrust into the void
all life, conserving matters foiled,
while venture elsewise, extra ~ toiled
embraces future new, not soiled!
That seamless entity, untried
is victim's effigy, no pride
could rancor to a thought's esteem
my body and my path's supreme!
That helpless conscience, so defined
gives hopeless viewpoints undermined,
some breaking point, the willow's gain
ne'er at the bending ~ just remain!
A loss' fulfillment so mundane
is extra tempered by disdain,
while live the chorus, not profane
must in God's hands, sing once again!
Categories:
ennobled, children, loss,
Form:
Monorhyme
Slight ajar, hand on the knob,
I stand from you,
Just a door away
Fighting back tears, bitterly sobbing,
Scarlett eyes;
With veins and everything ready to burst
I endeavour to dismount the beast of propriety and world,
Just to open the door,
And enter your world;
To touch you, to embrace you,
To live you, to love you,
Like habit, like madness,
Breaking all barriers, shattering all shackles
With unbriddled passion, oblivious of all maps of life
I'm just a door away,
Aware; you are waiting on the other side
I'm just a door away,
To commit an ennobled arson and suicide,
Gathering the courage,
I'm just a door away,
I might come in, I may not come in
The world stands between us,
The door stands between us
Don't look out of the window just yet!
The ground is gripping on my feet,
I'm just a door away!
Longing for you, yearning for you,
In pain, going insane,
I'm just a door away!
I'm just a door away,
One single heart against a universe of brains,
I'm just a door away!!!!!
Categories:
ennobled, angst, anxiety, may,
Form:
Free verse