Best Goodbyes. Poems
Once more you appear, crossing my threshold
after breaking the lock to memory's door.
Your illusion enters without bothering to knock,
stepping into my room as a wavering shadow.
You breach the barrier of cries and goodbyes,
escaping from the grave where lost love slept.
I wept long ago and swore an oath to my heart,
never would I allow you in, as a lover or friend.
Tell me, against your invasion, how do I defend?
How can I restrain you from entering my thoughts,
and if I knew, would you still haunt my dreams?
Through eyes blurred by streams of warm tears,
would you leer as a voyeur, lurking at my window?
Why do you channel the deep furrows of my soul,
gazing at me with mournful eyes blackened by kohl?
I've given up pretending that you're not here.
Here, in the chamber where we were never apart.
Please leave me in peace if you once held me dear.
On velvet nights when the moon is fully ripened,
I'm still drawn to you like the magnetism of her pull.
I tremble each time my lips whisper your name.
With each intrusion, I am powerless to defend myself,
for my heart wears no armor, my door has no sentry.
Vulnerable mortals such as I, must bear this burden
when a wraith from an erstwhile love desires entry
October 14, 2022
2022 Marathon Mile 17 Contest
Sponsored by Mark Toney
Originally posted in May of 2018
Voices choral, chimes of clay ring out
oh so merrily to a wintry sky
And earthen sounds once silent, still, now shout
in harmony and majesty, they cry.
A brightness sheers the air as metal sounds,
long cylinders of brass clink in the breeze
like childish laughter each fresh note abounds
a thankful note the past year to appease.
In churches, mosques and temples they sing
as clappers sound the tone around their rims
forged of metal, or blown in glass, they ring
resounding as the hours of this year dim.
Rejoice, rejoice a New Year has begun
Goodbye they toll and sing here comes the sun.
One Thousand Goodbyes
Years ago
a stranger became a friend
with little time left
she let me into her reflections
her child and husband dead
tragedy would strike again
her time on earth
would expire soon
her empty heart to be filled
in the heavens
she showed and told
her last wishes to me
a thousand poems
she wanted to leave behind
I think she made it
I never found out
angels stole her
On this somber Sunday
another one left this earth
some might even say St Patrick
I can make only a simple claim
a thousand poems I have written
to honor those
with more charity than I
Hazza
who will remember us all?
when we too one day shall die
Ears pricked at car door closing in the street,
and focussed on the footsteps through the gate
she stepped into the hall, unsteady feet
they bounded forward, welcome couldn't wait.
Two forty pounds of fur, and sixteen legs,
four eager snouts and tongues shot through the air
her hands held up fruitlessly as she begged,
they brought her down, smothered her face and hair.
A canine/human ball rolled on the floor
propelled by laughter, barks and sudden shrieks
of love and longing, bottled up before
the time has come to leave, and no-one speaks.
Chorus of barking, followed by the whines
the front door closing for the final time.
R.i.P Angela Miles, passed away today but was allowed home
to see her Huskies last week for a couple of hours.
The Carpenters in their time were defining,
Offered their fans so much more than more,
Uncanny that the words of this song keep returning,
For the brave Ukrainians, a heartfelt encore.
Why does the sun go on shining,
Why does the sea rush to shore?
Don't they know it's the end of the world
'Cause you don't love me anymore?
Why do people keep on sighing, God is all knowing
He is with, and loves each victim on either side,
Because of this war families are dying, HE is hurting,
That one man with ego changed a country’s tide
Why do the birds go on singing?
Why do the stars glow above?
Don't they know it's the end of the world?
It ended when I lost your love
First thing in the morning and every night
For their peace I am constantly praying,
How cruel to say goodbye to the who must fight,
Husbands, fathers, children or brothers, crying.
I wake up in the morning and I wonder
Why everything is the same as it was
I can't understand, no, I can't understand
How life goes on the way it does
So many widows, soldiers dying every day,
So many orphans from this uncalled slaughter,
Innocents whose lives have suddenly gone array,
I saw a man on the news, cradling his infant daughter.
Why does my heart go on beating?
Why do these eyes of mine cry?
Don't they know it's the end of the world?
It ended when you said goodbye
Don't they know it's the end of the world?
It ended when you said goodbye
The Ukrainians must win, no more goodbyes
Not the end of the world, but a new beginning,
For without a shadow of doubt the good guys,
Must live to record history, their pride rimming.
PS Inspired by the song sung by the Carpenters (IN ITALICS) THE END OF THE WORLD
No Goodbyes Acrostic
N ever has anyone been able to capture my soul
O nly you have my heart, using remote control
G one are the days of my never ending solitude
O vercast shadows dissipate, with my newfound mood
O bvious to all my heart and soul are all yours
D estiny has infused your fragrance, into my pores
B eauty is internal, not what's seen only with the eyes
Y our essence has consumed me, and finally I realize
E verything you do and say, to me is oh, so kindly
S eparation is impossible, because I love you blindly.
John Derek Hamilton
November 26,2015
Goodbyes are only for those who love with their eyes
because for those who love with heart and soul
there is no such thing as separation. Rumi
For every good thing in this life
There seems to be a bad
All the good ones make us happy
The bad ones mad or sad
But then there is the word goodbye
Which I've never understood
Cause every time I've said those words
Was anything but good
When those I love must go away
Other words I utilize
See you later, so long, farewell
Or wave and just say bye
But every time I've said goodbye
It always made me cry
And that's the reason why I say
There are no good, goodbyes
September 26 2016
You Are My Whole Life
There Is No Goodbyes
Time is treasured
Treasured and only given once
Once only to use wisely
Use wisely before the life ends
Life ends is brief to say goodbyes
Goodbyes are not forever
Forever to love each other
Each other with meaning
With meaning remember with silence
Silence in each other’s embrace
Embrace with wet tears
Tears of losing you
Losing you forever
Forever our whole lives
Lives of our close friendship
Friendship that cannot come to an end
~
Don’t Wait Too the Last Minute
The Last Minute Could Be Too Late
This is dedicated to my husband that is my whole life
i tripped on the laces of the sad in your eyes,
like you were to tie a knot without my hands-
you were becoming…
did you know?
a sight too beautiful for the gods
but you ran wild in the forest
with none to tame,
the odds of you remembering your name
are as slim as the bare waist you wear-
needing and feeding what once was there
i step on the waste on the green of your lawn,
struggle to spread the filth toward the horizon
so that you could finally be free from dirt's debris
you wept with passion,
raging in visceral fear of losing again,
like you were to ignite fire without flame;
time feels abandoned when nowhere
is where your life is leading-
for your mistakes keep repeating
you make enemies,
you make allies;
you took me
to
your five thousandth war-
forgotten on the front line up to your door
“she laughs, she cries---”
no more last-minute
lullabies-
only
solitude...
and
sad
GOODBYES
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1.14.20
"I carry your heart with me (I carry it in my heart) I am never without it"
E.E.Cummings
Friends I have lost as years rush by--
so many souls I have called friend.
lost to heaven without goodbye
If I could just hold once again.
Childhood memories kept by me,
we grew, walking different lanes.
In my heart, they will ever be
tan and barefoot, summer's refrain.
Good friends forever, now apart.
Those friends I've kept as my estate.
They will live always in my heart
They'll be waiting at heaven's gate.
As we gain years, we lose dear friends
New friends appear, help hearts to mend.
September 22, 2022
Writing Challenge-In My Heart-S forms poetry contest
by Constance La France
Lost to Heaven, Friend
First Place
No Goodbyes
N ever has anyone been able to capture my soul
O nly you have my heart, using remote control
G one are the days of my never ending solitude
O vercast shadows dissipate, with my newfound mood
O bvious to all my heart and soul are all yours
D estiny has infused your fragrance, into my pores
B eauty is internal, not what's seen only with the eyes
Y our essence has consumed me, and finally I realize
E verything you do and say, to me is oh, so kindly
S eparation is impossible, because I love you blindly.
John Derek Hamilton
November 26,2015
re-posted January 10,2020
Goodbyes are only for those who love with their eyes
because for those who love with heart and soul
there is no such thing as separation. Rumi
and all the while
summer came and left
yet the breeze lingered
persistent as the warm caress
we wished would never end
AP: Honorable Mention 2022
Submitted on August 13, 2022 for contest A BRIAN STRAND PREMIERE CHOICE sponsored by BRIAN STRAND - RANKED 4TH
Ebony Goodbyes
I laid my aching heart upon your grave
that February day when trees were bare
of life; their withered leaves fell down to brave
the frozen veins and blood of lifeless ground
with you, while stillness reigned without a sound
except the moaning of my heart's despair...
my last goodbyes to you, dear Dad, I gave.
Sandra M. Haight
~1st Place~
Standard Contest: Early September 2018
Sponsor: Brian Strand
Judged: 09/03/2018
Rhyme Scheme: A-B-A-C-C-B-A
When there are no more tomorrows
to become yesterdays
and regrets drip with sorrow
too late to repay,
we will wish for the chances
to say lost goodbyes --
egos that fight
blinded with pride.
But the sunlight that screams
in the skies gone away
casts gold on my memories
and become yesterday.
When I spoke without fear
of what you would say
I heard the wake of the morning
lapping the bay.
We smiled at it all
and cried our goodbyes
on the shores of our memories
at the edge of the sky...
Parting moments bring you closer.
The thought of separation
Disturbs your sleep and hunger.
Want to be a winner…
Try to be together.
Take not anything for granted,
If you don’t want to be a loser.
Goodbyes play their part.
Short verse inspired by pictures Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Lisa YY
Date: 09-08-2022
Second Place
Picture: B
Word count: 40 words