Best Grimly Poems
I feel your unrehearsed pauses--
the rustle of a blue shirt in leaving
a tangy ache your firm lips make,
holding back cold, collected words.
This rendezvous ... a slow-fire quiver
an ending which has it's own interment;
and outside, night wrestles with time
brittle dew against my eyes, dry mouth
licking an estranged bite that reminds me
of your frivolity . Until sighs
become hollow and stuttering
like a thirst from a weltering breakwall.
So it is with discovery,
the trails of affection are never mine
as I call you grimly,' 0 heart-breaker'
while banging shells litter on the dunes
as this heart shrinks from tangled lies:
There is still much to learn about
young passion... needles upon my chest
losing you from sight like a migrant breeze...
for a woman , fragile at eighteen.
Twas darkness upon the quietly residing heath...
And deathly was the sullen red sandstone tower...
Standing gloomily inside the masons dry-stone walls
Amidst toppling granite slabs and the faded, wilting flower.
Solemn was the chime of the hollow, mournful bell
When tolling out on midnights grimly sombre hour;
And thinly the swirling, unearthly mist
Did so wend abouts her silent, melancholic bower.
Where from a fronded yew of venerable years,
Besides ancient trunks of ivy-entwined gnarly oak,
A chilling screech from a sudden ghostly apparition...
Summoning upon waking resident souls - did thus invoke!
For pale his form in soft white downy flight...
But none paler than that of me...
As across from the stream, held by an unblinking stare -
My shaky fears are transfixed so unnervingly!
Oh wise old feathered sage of long owl-lived age,
Unctuous incumbent of learned perch within black night,
Allow this the moment to calm my pounding heart...
And catch upon my fleeing thoughts - after such a wicked fright!!
Oh, death malevolent!
The taker of us all before our time,
you grimly reap a myriad of souls,
cruelly stealing many in their prime,
and countless young and innocent
have you whisked ruthlessly away!
Oh, death Malevolent!
Why this utter heartlessness that you display?
Oh, horrifying death!
When young, I read of you in Revelations.
Your nature so atrocious
filled my tender heart with trepidation -
thinking of humanity's travails
the many painful ways to die.
Oh, horrifying death!
What good is it to even ask you why?
Oh, death omnipotent.
to the yang of life, you are the yin.
Your power cannot be withstood.
Everyone you call upon must let you in.
A higher and mysterious law you answer to
and fighting against you, we all are powerless.
Oh, death omnipotent!
when did I begin to fear you less?
Oh, unbiased death!
Whether you be torturous or kind;
whether you be swift or slow;
no man or woman will be left behind.
You serve a God of justice and of truth,
and, I'm told, a God of mercy too.
Oh, unbiased death!
Can I grow in faith, knowing you're the path to something new?
Oh, welcomed death!
When our friends and family have passed on;
when grief engulfs the soul;
when youth's abilities are all but gone;
when life seems somehow more than we can bear;
you come along to bring us sweet release.
Oh, welcomed death!
Are you thanked enough for bringing us to peace?
Grimly he comes.
Day after day,
hour upon hour
second by second -
for centuries
into eternity.
The face
beneath his dark hood
he will reveal
when he comes
for you.
30-word poem/ Nov. 17, 2017
Based on pic #2 for nette onclaud's Pic Motif Contest
I stopped to smell the roses I got stung by a bee
Weird as it might seem that made me so happy
For the bees they are a dying it seems something is wrong
If those bees keep dying we won’t be here very long
I know I could just blithely continue down this road
Refuse to be responsible, refuse to carry my load
But isn’t that exactly what led us to this place?
Where we are grimly facing the end of the human race
I know I could keep writing about the rising of the seas
The millions confined in poverty and the dying of the trees
Oh the subjects they are endless this truth that we must face
However self glorification causes us to move at slothful pace
I guess it is more pleasant staring at yesterday and fail to see tomorrow
And the price that we will pay…sadness sadness they refuse to listen,
And when told they refuse to listen, they refuse to listen.
So to you I wish to say…I love you and goodbye
The first weakening of night
picks out telephone lines,
black against sky.
The eyelid of a garage door
lurches laboriously up.
A car coughs blue breath.
With aerosols and plastic scrapers
clandestine delights of frostwebs
are raked to chemical sludge.
Starter motors whine.
Windscreens cloud with pain.
Gears grind teeth.
An electric train
gingerly
utters inarticulate from the sheds,
groaning over cold joints.
Thinking grimly
of tunnels ahead,
it flares with ill-humor
crossing the points.
On unworked land beside the track,
a fox is heading home.
Gliding through
beneath the "keep out" sign,
he grins at the engine,
which just judders along,
headlights trained
on parallel lines
which glint ahead,
reflecting lurid signal red,
extending out, but never meeting,
towards the vanishing point.
A stone's cast ----
but what great arm has set about the motion?
was not the first mother reared? ----
her children on the smiles of angels?
her womb filled with devotional design;
to flourish to some end with hope in God's motivation?
..... back to the (garden), with this posy and its ink near end,
and its quill dipped still in mystique;
yet I did not come (here) by chance,
nor was my mother born from some heathen improbability,
there can come no answers in doubt;
for fear of the wolves the woods are too shadowed
and loiter most grimly,
always death on the wind....
I shall not doubt the design in the weave the Great Artist
hath woven, and what magic touch with the world's eye in mind;
only the dullard doubts the infinite graces in the reflecting pool,
and the skeptic accursed without revelation -----
his own child but water, flesh and bone
and the cold earth but waits for him,
in the bellies of fattened worms;
when death's breath whispers and curls and furls
as serpent wisp-mists, coiling to mortal truth ----
he shall cling to God and eternity!
Have I died a thousand deaths?
walked the cool of earth ere?
tasted of the sweet nectar of love,
and the bounties beyond death?
That we will to live, and climb to some end,
the jagged-precipice, and toil to experience
and seek the Final Mighty Mount ----
is our great testimony to eternity;
To leave our fingerprint upon the world,
and slip into paradise as a welcomed wind 'neath its door.....
The days are long and unproud, they brood...
and please not the weary soul wearying in its wake;
when gnashing snow and rain bite
cold and bitter nights ---
smite the weary traveler soul
The spray of oceans fierce, the tattered sail
and shattered galleon hulls,
whipping winds above the dead below the waves,
heave torrid warning weeps,
to forgotten realms...
to misty denizens deep,
buried 'neath the seas
Fathom after fated fathom, bugle from mermaids call,
belated beckonings, doom from harp ringing culls;
'ere the storm ends many men;
they sound the trumpet and bugle ---
and sea urchin minstrels again,
'ere the storm ends many men
The masts seem as wooden-braced ghosts;
shackled to grimly merchant (boors) for sailor eyes ---
aghast for Captain Bold and his pickled laugh ---
To the eye! Straight on! Through her gutteral seas we go!
'ere the storm ends many men
The crest of waves rise monolith and mighty,
scolding beam and soul,
lancing forthwith all aboard ---
visions of ill-fated meagre pay;
of wife and child far and away,
forgotten faces...
lost in venomous haze
Terrible is the vanquished soul,
smitten to meaningless display,
needless heroics of Captains Bold,
(summoning water thundered fates)
sleeping seas,
then silence...
sweet silence...
***Dedicated to the sailors who lost their lives at sea***
It never seems to end
as you lose another friend
when death comes grimly reaping
and he leaves the mourners weeping
How terrible the day
when someone fades away
and they join with those at last
who populate your past
So once again you start
with a broken mind and heart
as one more soul along the way
stays behind with yesterday
In a mirror dimly
The image thou wilt see
Is a trick of the eye,
Which clouds reality.
Thy soul is lost inside
This specious looking glass.
Such misplaced vanity,
In time will surely pass.
For time will have its day,
And all shall feel it stir.
An affliction bereft
Of remedy or cure.
If soul lies not within
Thy woeful withered husk,
What shall remain of thee
When daylight turns to dusk?
The last sight thou wilt see,
As thine eyes meet grimly,
Is thy true reflection,
In a mirror dimly.
Into the woods the three did wander
Graceful teenage girls carefree
I had great cause to ponder
Surely someone held the key
When they were never seen again
Suspecting things grimly gone awry
What evils lurks what evil men
Might dare beneath God’s watchful eye
AP: Honorable Mention 2025
The day’s eyes closing bidding goodnight
Stroking the skies bitter reddish copper
Wind arrested folklore settling low
Lit only by the soft blushing of candlelight
My final stanza is penned for me
The bounty of my lifetime in toil
Strewn wearily about yet I am gratified
Back to the beginning at last I’m beckoned
The wonder of life sweetly consecrated
Eons of drudgery sit pure upon my crest
The symphony strings echoing dully
Life’s eminence now infinitely darkened
Those earthbound lament over me
Their salty sacrifices fall a blessing
The attribute of living sits grimly
Yielding with each burdened exhale, venerated
I fight ahead awaiting those whispers
A final focused moment of noble dignity
Delaying but an instant to express…before
My spirit answers back in perpetual silence
The first weakening of night
picks out telephone lines,
black against sky.
The eyelid of a garage door
lurches laboriously up.
A car coughs blue breath.
With aerosols and plastic scrapers
clandestine delights of frostwebs
are raked to chemical sludge.
Starter motors whine.
Windshields cloud with pain.
Gears grind teeth.
An electric train
gingerly
utters inarticulate from the sheds,
groaning over cold joints.
Thinking grimly
of tunnels ahead,
it flares with ill-humor
crossing the points.
On unworked land beside the track,
a fox is heading home.
Gliding through
beneath the "keep out" sign,
he grins at the engine,
which just judders along,
headlights trained
on parallel lines
which glint ahead,
reflecting lurid signal red,
extending out, but never meeting,
towards the vanishing point.
Like the autumn weaves warmth
With hope and grace,
Inspirations in temptations of laughing scarlet,
Blazing tangerine and glorious gold,
Soothing away the darkness as beautiful
Casts its shadow over my spirit,
A dream reflecting peace that rouses me to remember
Where there was a choice, reserved for joy,
Light was the sustaining power –
Arriving in my unwritten absence,
When bold flames of passionate bronze
Faded into the summer and reminded me why,
Why I was like the dwindling moon, sliding beneath
Stardust dreams, coloring the night
In ebony history – grimly waning ways,
Soothing away the fog of yesterday and creating
Intimacy in the bonds of laughter and compassion,
The seclusion so liberating, smiling into the moments,
Erasing the black and putting away the smallest tasks
Excusing melancholy and blaming dusk
For its exasperating way of giving in to doubt,
Listening to the enchantress, lunation
Who boldly praises the nocturnal memories,
Roaring and seeking temptations,
So wise and wonderful they cling to the flesh,
Like sweat shimmering and sliding,
Sticking to the moments in an abiding grace –
Is memory so brave as the reflection it gave,
The intimacy between two echoes,
Night and day, yesterday, the past – weaved
Into the present moment, erasing the wistful wish
Who dreams light yet focuses on the night
And remembers only to agree with autumn’s brave kindness,
The memory like a taunting of two thoughts,
One of love and one of sorrow, each with their own fears
Their very own tears and so many trusted years
When everywhere there was light
Poured out on endless stirrings of what it is
To give in to the past and its spirit,
The blessings rising like a mist across the mountains,
The moments when life fades in sterling sands
Visions of kindness when life is truth
And life binds the days with praise,
An aching praise who restores and renews,
Invites the beautiful to breathe
And the sadness to grieve…
This is the past and it’s healing will give hope
To the ones who remember
A clinging ache, meant to break…
Yes, there is victory in the faith who believes
God wins – in the end, GOD WINS!
Written: September 07, 2023
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In the depths of sorrow, as pokiness prevails.
A smile defenestrates, though my heart wails.
Zestfully decrypts the agony and loss I endure.
I flashed a false grin, yet none grasped it for sure.
Hypnotically, when we had previously danced.
Has drifted away, leaving me entranced.
The voice I adored is now only a faraway echo.
Strands my sultry heart, tears yet to flow.
But still, I smile through tears, breaking.
By the scraps of words, my mind is belittling.
A cherished knot is now a thing of the past.
But life must fare as its spell shifts and casts.
I hide every trace of my misery and grief.
Put on a plaid face and find comfort in belief.
Walking out into the world with a clear wound,
Bleeding soul, grimly sobbing, yet unattuned.
Nobody surely heeds my pain.
I rarely condone its reign.
I mask the sorrow with the loth handlooms.
And persist, as if my heart still blooms.
But did I interpret their generosity as love?
They stole shards of my heart from above.
I smile, despite the tears that threaten to spill.
None leads to the same effects as the creeper, still.