Best Following Poems
Following footprints in the sand
Across the beach, down to the sea
I picture you, hardy and tanned
Always joyful, always carefree
Your righteous path is hard to trace
Following footprints in the sand
Such soft impressions waves erase
I wish you could lead, take my hand
When you were with me, life seemed grand
I wasted not one bit of time
Following footprints in the sand
For with you, any hill I’d climb
We’ll meet again; I’ll join you soon
Our long-lost friends will be on hand
To launch our cosmic honeymoon
Following footprints in the sand
January 19, 2020
You sell yourself for money
Hour lunch two coffee breaks
To punch a card at 5pm
For a cheap watch and a cake
You live on autopilot
A zombie for the pay
Make copies, staple papers
Day, after day, after day
You think you're irreplaceable
Never make it without you
But if you dropped dead on the floor
They'd step right over you
And when your time is over
They blow up some balloons
Toast you with some Diet Sprite
Goodbye they're done with you
Tell me was it worth it?
Did it bring you any joy?
Did you trade your soul,your dreams
To be gainfully employed?
Were you ever happy
Or was it lies , just fake
Do you wish your life was more
Than a cheap watch and a cake?
Far, far out at sea one day
A Hummingbird so found its way
To roost upon my pulpit rail
And thus decided it would stay
Never through my years at sail
Had I seen a hummer male
So many miles off the coast
Now bound with me into a gale
All day long he kept his post
Thus, to be a decent host
I prepared some nectar, warm
(Tho' he liked my tea the most)
I worried he might come to harm
As we had sailed into a storm
But soon he found his way below
And hid until the winds were calm
When the squall had ceased to blow
And sun had set with afterglow
Up he came to perch and see
The phosphorescent undertow
All those weeks far out at sea
No better friends had we, than we
A steady thrum of wings, I heard
As always, he stayed close to me
Then, nearing harbor it occurred
I hadn't seen my Hummingbird ...
So odd, the ache that raked my soul
Eyes stinging as my vision blurred
'Twas many years, that, now I'm old
How often I've that story, told ...
Yet more, the times I've looked to sky
For hummer wings, so bright and bold
And should I spot that bird a-high
I pray he'll linger, bye-and-bye
For I've not known a better friend
Nor greater need to blot my eye ...
Our souls were kin ... wee bird and I.
~ 1st Place ~ in the "Devotion To Ocean" Poetry Contest, Chantelle Anne Cooke, Judge & Sponsor.
(This is a form of Rubaiyat I've been playing with that I call "Echoing Rubaiyat", and it carries the rhyme of line three to the next stanza - AABA, BBCB, CCDC, DDED, etc.).
babysitting Ricky
he shows me books on T-Rex. . .
ancient history
years later. . . watching
Jurassic Park on TV. . .
my two kids and I
games played on a screen
my grandson plays the hunter. . .
I’m the dinosaur
For SKAT's Dinosaurs Haiku Contest
Following the tumor blooms
that muted my throat and gut,
I duct taped my mind
to the wordless, I put my head down
charging at daggers, and
thanks to pain bullets and cancer bombs
my thoughts are catching a little headwind.
I'm looking at a sea otter floating on its back
agilely playing with stones,
it’s definitely working the crowd.
I'm looking at a lion staring into a camera,
under its heavy paw a gazelle is also staring into a lens;
are they waiting for applause?
I'm looking through a shop window
at televisions that are
revealing all this, plus my gazing reflection.
We can all do better, more rehearsals
will eventually take our perfect picture,
meanwhile it’s important to look good
as time stops, then continues to drain away
in its usual hazardous way.
Heaviness painfully throbbed your beating heart,
as the world could not understand it
and could never see it.
With your slurred words
and tired, dilated eyes,
I smiled, knowing you were not from here,
watching you drenched in sweat,
dripping down from your neck
in the midst of this muggy
unforsaken place.
And as the last song of thunderous sounds from trumpets played
while golden horns slowly waved in and out of the dark,
screaming to a high climax then falling low
and lower as if it was a rhythm of a train in the rain,
slowing making its stop,
many along the walls stood whispering to others
while gazing back and forth in your direction
as those at their tables whispered amongst cigarette smoke,
using their empty glasses as ashtrays.
And miserably, you walked towards me across the room with courage, and I already knew, just like the others, life had already broken you.
And I waited on the other side with a smile until you arrived,
as you stumbled, drunkenly aroused— into my web.
Then your eyes followed my hips outside the front door.
We walked further away from the departing crowd.
And further away.
Then further away
into darkness,
then
you heard the sound of car doors mysteriously opening.
Footsteps crept closer, and you searched and strained your eyes to see what was waiting.
And when you saw them, you were suddenly
transfixed
You cautiously called my name to get an understanding.
And there was a sound of a closing door,
and I had vanished away.
Desperate scrambling sparked, with a quick touch of a blade to your neck.
Movements pushed and pulled against each other.
And a sound of fumbling,
finally ending with a loud screech—
silence.
Heavy footsteps quickly ran away, and time had stood still.
Then you limped back to your car with an empty wallet
and a frown of dried tears—
A fake phone number folded in your pocket.
You were drenched in the darkest of dark,
and I was in my element,
watching and waiting in my car for my share
of the money we earned.
JG Finch
I must travel to that space to where I know my own perfection
To turn my eyes to the most uplifted of exalted heavens
To feed the grace of challenge and objection
As the daring confrontation to my guide to never lessen
Bearing the thrust, lifting the weight of my verdict's devotion
So to never be a slave to any untruth given
This foundation of my soul's country - its home is willingly chosen
By the criterion and wealth of its knowledge and acceptance to live in
And abide in the sweet refrain of resolve and determination
February 3, 2020
Pick A Title, Vol 13 - Lyric Poetry Contest/Infrangible Resolve
Sponsored by Edward Ibeh
Against life, one should never revolt
But
Obediently he ought to follow her wise lead to
Wherever she decides him to take
For
Life knows better one’s nature and the laws
That govern it
Thus
One has to become as complied as the waters of the river
That
Follow the river’s banks all the way to the
Estuary,
Never trying to hinder the waters’ flow but
To hasten it
For
It is the only way, one, could his destination sooner than
Later reach
And
His destiny's goal to realize!
© Demetrios Trifiatis
05 September 2021
It was our destiny,
from the moment of our birth
We were the children of the covenant of salt,
chosen by God to preserve the earth
Children of love,
children of peace
Progeny of the Day star,
luminous faith given to the least
But before our immortal day would come,
darkness prevailed over the earth
The shadow of death
covered the whole world at night
with it's dreaded curse
We saints move through the dark of this life,
as candles burning bright in the night
Walking in the mist of the coming dawn,
towards the eternal daylight
After the blinding night,
comes the day following
Awash in pure light
Dawn to dawn ... no sunset
is the day following ---
only perpetual sunlight
This is the inheritance of the saints,
this is our godly birthright
Wise Men Had Been Following
Wise Men had been following a bright star;
Distance they had been traveling was far
And in the night,
Should turn right;
With their camels they did start to spar.
Jim Horn
They said I'll never make it
I guess they were right
I never fulfilled their dreams
Some folks follow all the rules;
Others like to bend 'em,
Feeling like it's only fools
Who staunchly would defend 'em.
Which way that you lean begins
When you're just out of diapers.
Followers fear that their sins
Will make them pay the pipers.
Benders, though, might get a rush
From tempting fate and winning,
Even if they have a brush
With blame at the beginning.
We each know where we belong
When rules are in our faces
And since we all hate being wrong,
We never will change places.
I try to escape
From you there's no place to hide
Following me inside
I rub my eyes twice
You walk through walls like a ghost
How do I let go?
Along comes silence
And the prison that that brings
Time to think of things
Got to get on home
Fell down the well beaten path
Fallout aftermath
If you can’t catch me
Don't just stand there, walk away
In cadence of gait
Sinners and saints
Struggles writhing in my head
Are you really dead?
All this in my head
Old and new batt’ling in dreams
Awake from what seems
I want to follow in your footsteps
and do the things that you used to do
I want to follow in your footsteps
and be guided always by you
I don't want to have role models
I don't look up to my elders that live next door
I want to be more like the one that my heart does adore
I will follow in your footsteps where ever they may lead
I will follow in your footsteps in all that I do
For dear Lord I want to be more like you
walk the walk talk the talk no matter what the cost
I will follow your footsteps and never again will be lost.
our persecuted brothers and sisters fear for their life because they Love the Lord
and believe in God, others torture them, kill them, burn houses down, kidnap the children,
please pray for all theese people, a friend gave my son a pair of shoe lases with the words
walk in their shoes, they from open doors and a fundraising thing or prayer to help bring
hope to those who are suffering. www.gounderground.org its the youth one. a friend
also tried to attack me for my faith I simply said i will not doubt God I will not weiver
nothing will change my mind, I live for God they just lost right now and can not understand
why we live our life acording to Gods' word they will find truth one day. . If we follow our
Lords footsteps he will lead the way ahead of us clearing all obsticals out of the way and he
will keep on guiding us on the road that brings us home Amen,
Clink clank clink clank clink clank
slow steady pace, metal hitting pavement
pausing when you pause
following you home, the man is bones
and a tie, top hat, tails, not tap shoes
more like chains, the sound a horseshoe makes
when it hits the stake, clink clank
what does he want, why follow you home?
His teeth gleam of green fire, his hands haloed
by electric blue, he's a Halloween special
turned out just for you, clink clank
he wants to touch you, better run
His eyes are on fire, he's spewing smoke
from his nostrils, there's no place to hide
clink clank is faster clank clank clank
has your breath caught in chest yet?
When he touches you, you'll melt, one touch
you're on fire, one scream from your mouth
brings no one out to save you from his wrath
clink clink better speed clink clink nearer ever nearer
Is it candy that fuels him? Toss a Mars Bar or two,
toss the whole pillow sack, watch it burst in flame
there's a door if you can reach it, just up the hill
huff puff clink clank, there's a door with a wreath
Flowers black as coal, it opens a bit, precious light
spews forth, saying welcome your welcome
if only you can outrun him, outrun the bone man
the man with top hat clink clank clink clink after you
The door widens, your belly hurts,
beneath your mask you drip sweat,
and just as you reach it, hiss, pain, flame on your back
and from the door, bone man exits clink clank
Two bone men, will take you to the fire
two bone men, don't want your scary mask,
the candy you can keep, your tears mustn't weep
just pass over the pumpkin, they'll be gone from sight.
Clink Clank, phew, bone men, toting pumpkin,
lit from within, their hands holding it, opposite twins
clink clank, they are going, going kabooom
straight into the air, and off to far off moon, phew.