Best Grant Poems
stoic or mourning
in a time of depression
or keepers of secrets
with a hostile divide?
why daylit drawn curtains
made from fabric she's wearing
and 'mother-in-law's tongue'
on the porch to the side?
is the pitchfork that's upright
a symbol of darkness
that's repeated in lines
on the clothes, arch and face?
a tribute to values
in eldon, iowa
or a satire in oil
of its people and place?
Categories:
grant, america, farm, symbolism,
Form:
Ekphrasis
God grant, you always call me friend,
If heaven's real, this truth descend
Like dove returns to Noah's ark,
A fire gets lit by kindred spark!
All life then flows by gravity,
To merge with love eternally.
In blooming may our lives preserve
God's will indeed, not lose our nerve,
Surrender hope to enmity,
Our love survive (though both are free!)
Life's meaning found in serving Lord,
All other paths revealed untoward.
I share your yoke, and you share mine!
Your dreams? Forever Valentine,
A gift that I hold to my breast
Where in my heart you're 'treasured' guest.
Oh, count the stars that paint night's sky
And feel love's depth, there's no goodbye!
Long Tooth
June 2, 2018
Dedicated to Hammad Khan on his Birthday!
(My publisher, mentor, and friend)
June 2, 2018
Categories:
grant, friendship, life, love,
Form:
Rhyme
Make me a flower delicate and sweet,
spewing fragrance into the blowing breeze .
Make me a violin from whose strings
melody flows to soothe the ailing nerves .
Make me a rain cloud sailing over the breadth
and length of the skies showering cooling droplets
on to the thirsting mouth of the Earth.
Make me a lamp shedding beams of light
dissipating darkness from the mazy depths of gloom .
Make me a vessel full with love to pour out
into all the empty pitchers.
Make me a yacht with sails filled by the wind
that I can ferry the sinking souls to safer shores of life.
Let every atom of my being throb with Thy filling love
Let it spring forth in jets to form the gushing stream
Let many drink from that fountain and taste
the sweetness of Thy nourishing love
Let the land be watered, let the dirt be cleansed
Let the Earth wear a celestial charm
Let the plants celebrate the carnival of colors
In my basket shall I gather many a fragrant bloom
to be offered at your feet with love
and remain squatted in Thy presence ,
not losing in the pageant of this transient life.
Winter Wishes Poetry Contest
Sponsor- Chantelle Ann Cooke
Categories:
grant, celebration, devotion, longing,
Form:
Free verse
"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference"
By Reinhold Niebuhr, 1892-1971
I surrender all my past and present fragmented memories
all my grief, tears and sorrow, regret, failures and blunders
Lord, I put them in your arms, so I can let it go, help me Lord
Mom and Dad, I am so sorry that I was not the best daughter
in my youth, I wish that I could take it all back but I was lost
seeking a love that was always mine, but I was blind to see it
my only excuse is the death of my sister left a scar on my soul
a dagger wound that is still bleeding ... I can still see her blood
seeping into the snow on the road and Mom screaming, screaming ...
see my tears Lord ...these are my tears of regret
hear me, listen to my prayer, my soul is faint, I need refuge from
my grief, Lord wrap me in your wings, give me forgiveness for
not being a perfect girl, give me pardon, help me have a better life,
I have lost everyone in my life to death, even my baby boy ...
how I survive is because of the gift of words you gifted me, Lord
it is my bones, my veins, my thoughts, my dreams, my heart
the pounding of my pulse, the sound of the earth, this gift is
music to my soul, and now, I shall be like a mighty tree
planted by the river and bring forth leaves that will not wither
and whatever I do in the future will be good, I open my soul's gate ...
I know Lord, that when my life is over you will judge me
yes, you will see the wrongs but I pray the good will be more
I saw that evil comes from the east, west, north and south
and I defeated evil, I turned away and let your light shine on me
always the Lord you are my rock and my fortress, my wings
my shield, my strength and shelter, let me enter the gold gates
at the end ...
______________________
January 09, 2023
Poetry/Free Verse/God Grant Me Serenity
Copyright Protected, ID 01-1515-505-09
All Rights Reserved, 2023, Constance La France
Written for the Standard contest, Revealing Your Soul and Other Tensions
sponsor, Sotto Poet, Judged 01/14/2023
First Place
Categories:
grant, introspection,
Form:
Free verse
He could fight and win battles, could this General Ulysses Grant!
Other of Lincoln's generals were continually sayin', "I can't!"
Though 'twas well-known that General Grant relished his schnapps,
Even soused he could concoct solid battle plans by studyin' his maps.
Becomin' frustrated with his other generals and their lack of action,
Abe suggested to an aide that if it would help them get some traction,
He'd like to know what Ulysses drank and where he got the stuff,
So he could send a barrel to every general to get him off his duff!
Robert L. Hinshaw, CMSgt, USAF, Retired
(c) All Rights Reserved
Categories:
grant, history, humorous, war,
Form:
Couplet
Grant Olmstead
1868 – 1899
Just once.
Just one single sublime moment of love
Is all I ever desired.
All I ever reasonably wanted in life!
Was I not a man with a river of passion
Raging through me, raging with rushing torrents
Rushing madly through the deepest gorges
Of my manly soul?
Was I not a human being with gazing probing eyes
Cursed with blinding sight,
Cursed with confounding appetites for flesh
And incredible intimacies in the dark,
Intimacies even the gods of Olympus had access to
Tons of minutes ago?
And so I ask: What good is a windmill without the wind?
What good is a man’s tongue without words to utter
Words of deep intense longings
To the faces of patient pulchritude?
What good are a man’s prayers to a dead god
In an empty universe?
Now I’m here in Clark Cemetery,
Still thirsting for one woman’s touch,
One woman’s thrilling embrace!
Instead, I am tasting the kisses of a thousand worms
Here in the sheets of my bed of death.
Amen to lost love!
Categories:
grant, death, universe,
Form:
Epitaph
Cover me please,
with reverent grace
at others’ losses
and allay their pain as well.
I am not the only one.
©Kathryn McL. Collins
revised
Categories:
grant, emotions,
Form:
'Twas well-known that Gen'ral Grant liked his rum
But he knew how to make an army hum
Lincoln said that if he knew
Where Ulysses got his brew
For his slothful gen'rals he'd order some!
Robert L. Hinshaw, CMSgt, USAF, Retired
(c) 2014 All Rights Reserved
Categories:
grant, drink, humorous,
Form:
Limerick
The moment I woke up
Tiredness granted me Good morning
With all the strength I had
I prayed what I could
Collapsed into bed
Agonized with fever
And throbbing stomach aches
I lied in my bed
Shaking..
From the cold
Wrapping myself with rugs of clothes
Constantly feeling the urge to throw up
Nausea covered me, surrounded me
And I waited
It was Ramadan
Food or water I was not allowed to have
A pill of drug or medicine I starved
But I waited
Three hours were ahead
I had no intention of wasting my fasting
I wondered here and there
The painstaking headache pursued me
And buried me in ache
The trash can beside me awaits
The upcoming throw up
That didn’t arrive
In pain I lied
The smell of food protruding from the kitchen
Smothered me
Causing my stomach to hurt and hunger even more
To my laptop I went
Motionless and lifeless as ever
I sat there waiting for the call
Waiting for the call of the mosque
Granting me the allowance to eat
And so it did
I stood up, shaking in my clothes
To the kitchen I headed
Like a lousy drunk I looked
To the food, to the water
I took my pills
I drank my juice
No feelings of hunger conquered me
I lost my appetite
I left the table
Dizzy and sore
I fell to the couch
Like a mummy indoor
The feelings, the headache, the soreness
Continued still
I said thank God for my health
Lying there, as my family watched
The shows ahead
Not a moment in this life
I will remember less
Because at last
I realized the price of health
What I lost
I remembered still
And God
The merciful granted me
What he took from me
Because of a reason
I lacked knowing yet
Categories:
grant, recovery from..., god, me,
Form:
Free verse
My dear sweet Jeannie,
don't be a meanie!
No holds barred,
Here they are:
I might aspire at first to what Solomon had,
wise enough to ask, forever grateful and glad.
Then my caprice might turn towards great wealth,
but in lieu of the gold, I surely settle for health.
And last, I would hope to find more than one friend,
who would be there throughout and there at the end.
Grant me these, Jeannie, then thank you, depart.
Forget all the rest for with these three I"ll start.
Categories:
grant, fantasy, imagination, thank you
Form:
Couplet
In this place where we have made progress,
this civilized world is still a wilderness.
To distinguish between the righteous and the devious,
one needs acute perspicaciousness.
Too often, we see a lack of honesty.
Many individuals resort to trickery.
They take advantage of other’s gullibility.
We can be someone else’s victims easily.
In this life that is God’s given privilege,
our most useful weapon is our gathered knowledge.
A strong adversary is the thing called ignorance.
In the perpetual wash, there is often blood in the rinse.
Allow me the strength to fortify my resistance.
Between good and evil, let me know the difference.
“and wisdom to know the difference”
Robert Pettit for Nette’s Serenity Response contest
Categories:
grant, hope, life, uplifting, me,
Form:
Rhyme
Armageddon wold be an amazing boon
to accompany ourselves amidst others in rubble strewn cocoon
or perchance an arid extra dry spell blows humungous dune
donning any brave soul to weather
fierce-some dust bowl appearing like a ghoulish goon
vis a vis via global sand man disallowing any inhabitant 2b immune
whereat autumnal days will mimic those analogous to tropical June
day where nary a species of flora nor fauna,
which latter muffled cry viz Claire de lune
barely heard above the blindingly pitched
(scoring major lunar home run) when earth's moon
appeared to be batted, snatched, and whacked -
piñata like casting darkness at high noon
this out of other worldly debacle
(viz: a scene of apocalyptic, cosmic and epic rune
from twilight zone re: outer limits offsetting
sole millennial Gaia satellite believed rigged forever) -
which end of planetary status quo came soon
er than expected, accompanied by Gustav Holst eponymous tune
once Luna rung seismically, titanic ally uprooted, violently wrenched
prior to crash landing at ground zero rocked and rolled out of orbitz
before careering, and screaming thru the atmosphere
analogous to a near full term baby in utero yanked out of womb.
though the above dynamic gigantic jack-knifed
nihilistic quantum spectacular universal wreckage
sans the inner sphere of solar system
(known to mankind, when said creature, an outlier)
whence even amidst the early
bipedal hominids that throve a sage
no event (whether natural or caused by human error),
would compare neither cap cha, when are bit rage
emasculated, and wrought onto the terrestrial firmament
no way to measure nor gauge
the depth, length, and scope of total and
absolute value eradicating any trace of simian equipage
reducing the arrogant, conceited, ego-maniacal, dotage
boot far-fetched science fiction phenomena would
witness civilization captive in their own technological cage!
Categories:
grant, allusion, angst, conflict, grave,
Form:
God, grant me wisdom and with it, good judgment.
I shall make right choices on this walk through life.
For it is in wisdom that love abounds.
Wisdom with understanding begets good judgment.
Sometimes perceptions might be askew.
But wisdom perceives, loves, and forgives.
Absolving anxiety and steadfastly soothing anger.
Wisdom places peace in the heart of life.
Making days wonderful, it brings harmony.
Bestowing calmness to the mind and stillness to the soul.
The gift of wisdom is my greatest desire.
For wisdom shows forth love from beginning to end.
God, please grant me wisdom so that life will be wonderful
And I may be found worthy in the end.
© January 24, 2012
Dane Ann Smith-Johnsen
Written for Poetry Soup Member Contest: SERENITY RESPONSE
Sponsored by Nette Onclaud
Phrase Chosen: God, Grant Me…Wisdom.
Categories:
grant, life, love, religion, love,
Form:
Free verse
Looking down the barrel of a weapon of destruction;
I have been bitten by the venomous deceptions of a reptile;
And once again I have concern for my ability to recover.
And beauty my friends is truly only skin deep
And with those eyes much like those of an angel;
She dwells far beneath the many layers of deception.
And from her mouth untruths hurl as if it were undeniable and I shudder;
At the twisted propensities of my own self as a man
Love being displayed as proof positive flows smoothly as if rolling down hill;
And all appears as tranquility of a well-oiled tool of entombment.
But death one must assume only comes after;
All ability of defense has long ago fallen to the evils of torment
So I’ve told myself don’t get caught trying to please that which seeks it not
I’ll never win nor can there ever be harmony or acknowledged self-worth
But this time-escape has illuminated a portal of escape and I make my plans
So I dust off my sandals and accept happily that she’s not my style anymore.
Categories:
grant, angst,
Form:
Free verse
Grant me, O Lord
A heart with the strength of Samson
To break the barriers of indifference
To the needs of my neighbor;
A mind with the Wisdom of Solomon
To identify those who hate me
So that I can love them more;
A soul with the courage of David
To see beyond my wellbeing
To foster the happiness of my neighbor;
The lips that laugh
Along with my enemies,
A tongue that never tires
Of telling the truth,
And the eyes that see your Will
In everything around me.
Categories:
grant, blessing, christian, courage, prayer,
Form:
Free verse