Best Heartbroken Poems
the raspy whisper
finally
gets my full attention -
wistfully I smile
..for its persistence reminds me of you..
the crisp red leaf
scuttles scrapingly
across the gray pavement
to and fro
like a dancing crab
moving with the whims of the winds
chasing me
as it seemed like I had once chased my dreams;
blown in directions left up to chance
..until I met you..
..is it now, as it was then
Destiny?
for in this instant, my sense of direction
seems predestined..
a smoky scent
spices the chilled blue air
reminding me of our cozy nights
curled with the fire
..entranced
as we were
with our warmth
and our flame..
could it be
love signals from the hearth
calling me home..?
..my soul
feels akin to the red leaf,
the wafting smoke
and I am ready to follow..
Would the cold atmosphere be so cruel
as to play capricious tricks upon my eyes... or
..is that really
YOU
standing there..?
Oh!
my beloved,
how my broken spirit
has suffered
in my pining desire to be with you -
I run to you!
years of yearning prayers answered
fingertips straining - stretching further
reaching out to touch you,
the whole of my being aching
to hold you and enfold you
..ah, I feel your heat
so very close to me..
Alas!
I fall to my knees,
my arms empty
but for the loss I carry..
your warm breath
on the nape of my neck
only my hot want
brewed with a cool wisp of the breeze
..Oh, God! Please!
just let it be
let me go..!
my forsaken flame less than a dying ember;
I but ashes in my grief
withered
in my autumn season
without you
still...
I’m slow to realize...
that your fading glow just the sun slanting low
blurring wicked whimsy with my wild sorrow
in the burning of these bitter tears.
Susan Ashley
December 2, 2018
~ First Place ~
Contest: NA the day away
Sponsor: Lu Loo
*N/A’d: Best Free Verse 2019 Poetry Contest*
~ Honorable Mention ~
Contest: Your Choice (2) Any Theme, Form
Sponsor: Brian Strand
~ Poem Of The Day ~
December 4, 2018
Now that only forgotten promises remain,
sounds of solitude are gifts I wish to obtain.
Sentiments are temporary in a world full of change,
affections are wasted in an insincere exchange.
Some say my words are engraved too deep,
others feel expression is only cheap,
so close your mind and enjoy your sleep.
because if you hear me then you'll weep.
Sometimes we have to forget our hearts visions
Life don't come with any terms and conditions
Forgive me if I seem emotionally challenged,
as I hide my feelings when everything seems unbalanced.
My soul's invisible, your ignorance won't see it crying.
Inquest of a grief stricken heart concludes into spirit dying.
Trauma vibrates like an orchestra of lightning horns,
with fate bleeding thistles in a rose garden of thorns.
In the mourning of seeds that blossomed too soon,
breathless, I wrote my name with stardust on the moon,
but now i wander in a meadow full of nettles,
as the ink of life is a burden upon the sepals.
With silent sighs hidden behind a poetic verse,
I ponder if the quill is a blessing or a curse.
Sometimes we have to forget our hearts visions
Life don't come with any terms and conditions
Forgive me if I seem emotionally challenged,
as I hide my feelings when everything seems unbalanced.
You see...
I'm struggling to discover a reason to survive,
so I stand here screaming at the Grim Reaper to arrive.
He mocks and laughs at the patheticness of my pleas,
whilst inner demons offer my soul no apologies.
I can see cosmic imposters in ebony horizons,
misleading like fake guides sparkling like diamonds.
Reminds me of a veiled star that never forgave me,
who betrayed me to decay in the death of my poetry.
Sometimes we have to forget our hearts visions
Life don't come with any terms and conditions
Forgive me if I seem emotionally challenged,
as I hide my feelings when everything seems unbalanced.
Oh regret, why do you look back with such anger?
Sometimes words are the most toxic form of cancer.
Are these just twilight stories before a prelude of sunset,
or unwritten feelings I've learned to suppress, to forget?
The 28th of April; I'll always remember that day
It was very overcast and the sky was quite grey
That short journey to the vet I will never forget
And when I think back to that day, I have no regret.
He was such a welcome member of our family
A playful cocker spaniel and we named him Ozzie
He loved to go for long walks out in the country
When he saw us with his lead, he'd go off in a frenzy.
I thought he'd take off when he started wagging his tail
The weather didn't faze him, be it ice snow or hail
I would mumble about the weather under my breath
But he was loving every minute although soaking wet.
We'd get back from our walk and I'd rub him down
You could see the joy in his face and never a frown
Then after his dinner he'd lie down for a long snooze
Out of all the dogs in the world every time him I'd choose.
He was eleven years old when he started to fade
I lost count of the many visits to the vets we made
We must have given him every medicine and pill
But we knew in our hearts that Ozzie was quite ill.
0ur family got together to discuss what was for the best
Reluctantly we all agreed that we should put Ozzie to rest
That terrible morning arrived, it was just another day
All he could do was sleep, he was just too ill to play.
My wife came home from work and I carried him to the car
Then drove slowly down to the vets, it wasn't too far
We went inside and sat down and no words were said
And I tried not to think that soon Ozzie would be dead.
It seemed like a life time then a nurse called us in
I carried him to a side room; the vet was waiting
The vet reassured us that he wouldn't feel a thing
We were both biting our lips to stop us from crying.
We'd brought his favourite biscuits and fed him one by one
And just a few minutes later our playful Ozzie was gone
We stayed with him for a while and then left him there
I know now it was for the best because we did care.
We got home it felt empty no one to greet us at the door
And I missed seeing him where he'd often lie on the floor
Its been three long years now but I'll never forget
That Ozzie was one of the family and not just a pet.
(Ozzie left us on the 28th April 2017)
Written 8th August 2020
For All Pets Go To Heaven Poetry Contest
Sponsored By Constance La France
“I know my heart will never be the same
But I'm telling myself I'll be okay”
Sara Evans
My heart no longer
beats the same,
as I’ve wiped away
tainted tints on
vain valves.
Bleeding out
shattered dreams.
Colors of fallen
needle-shaped leaves,
emanate shades
of memories,
lost along a clamor of
fragmented pieces,
where linchen-dusted lies
confused my
flower-patterned spirit,
adrift in a pastoral
landscape of melancholy,
scumbled in roseate oil,
calligraphed from
the fragrance of
forget-me-nots,
but sunflowers no
longer bloom,
although I still
see a thread
of salvation
surfing through the
airy breeze that hides
behind green
grass across
untouched,
yet butterfly nested
water mountains.
I chose to be
content alone,
with me and my
heartbroken bliss,
over passionate
petal-like serenades,
that caressed
my midnight blues.
So, forgive the stars,
named with our love,
as I bid
farewell to half-adorned
illustrations
of a perfect sunrise,
stolen by the past
that always punished me,
with trust issues,
obscured in somber clouds
that follow my
silhouette, faithfully.
I know your spirit is finally free
when I scattered your ashes yesterday
Cancer has taken you away from me
solitude is now the price I must pay
When I scattered your ashes yesterday
I said adieu to the love of my life
Solitude is now the price I must pay
I’m now a widow, no longer a wife
I said adieu to the love of my life
I look to heaven and I question why
I’m left a widow, no longer a wife
as seagulls circle in bright azure sky
I look to heaven and I question why
cancer has taken you away from me
As seagulls circle in bright azure sky
I know your spirit is finally free
New Poems Only Contest
Sponsored by Emile Pinet
16 lines, 10 syllables per line
FICTION POEM WRITTEN FOR CONTEST
4/12/18
Yes, he broke my heart, but not the usual way
With tender words, he made my poor heart sway
Each chamber beamed with his adoring smile
That chased the demons, made my life worth while
He broke my heart….
My heart was callous, filled with dirt and grime
Its walls all hardened by betrayal’s crime
And there he was a blazing ray of light
That came into my heart and made things right
He broke my heart…
He bathed each wall with sympathizing tears
And made me feel the joy of youthful years
He made of me of a woman, blooming fair
Oh how he glorified my raven hair
He broke my heart….
He broke down each defense that I set up
And gave parched lips a drink from lover’s cup
He loved my body, and adored my mind
And vowed my beauty was the rarest kind
He broke my heart….
He broke my heart, he broke my every care
He broke the chains that had me in despair
He broke my silence, and he made me sing
He broke my crutch and gave me angel wing
He broke my heart…
And in the breaking, love gushed out from me
In deluge of romance and constancy
Renewed, refreshed, revived from broken dreams
He broke my heart and bathed it in his streams
He broke my heart….
Eileen Manassian
The bleeding sunset lingers on her mind
as night approaches and the sky goes dark.
Her soul is restless; how it craves to find
some words of comfort which could leave their mark,
erasing heartache etched in grooves of tears
on ice-cold marble where lost dreams now dwell,
relief imploring from the grasp of fear,
the twilight shadows full of doubts dispel.
The wind is conscious of her thoughts distraught;
it whispers softly, plays with her long hair,
diverts attention, brings her grief to naught...
A damsel’s heart fragmented he can’t bear.
Dense clouds are drifting and the moon slips by;
the joy of healing it will not deny.
------------------------------------------
A Sonnet for John Hamilton's Contest.
Placed 2nd
“Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.”
Khalil Gibran
In days of darkness,
sad stars shimmer like somber souls.
Upon the return of solitude,
whilst shaping strings of silence,
a troubled tongue becomes a soundless voice.
In each tear there is torment.
Reminiscing unredeemed memories,
heartbeats of the heartbroken echo gently at nightfall,
as a black blanket covers indigo horizons before my eyes.
In an anthology of angst.
Shrouded shadows in manipulative mirrors,
shield the sensitivity of sincere speech.
Without words, embodied emotions,
integrate into invisible inflictions.
Perpetual pain from a poisonous past,
repeats in an unrhymed repetitive rhythm,
as fragile fingers trigger hidden trauma.
In the midst of misunderstood metaphors.
There are secrets in suppression,
with so much lost in a suicide of expression.
Spiteful spirits reappear, reflecting like
neoteric neon drops on midnight shores,
washing away forlorn forgotten footsteps -
yet the sorrows continue into tomorrow.
Trials of time leave behind trails of truth,
as facts of fate fail in this false fairground we call life.
Reflections of regret resonate a reality,
where the world is working on its own worries.
In hollow nothingness, death is a blessing,
as no one offers holy hope -
only silence remains.
When the words were intense
and the soul no longer
conceded to comfort
Thoughts got blind
and the heart beats in tension
Silence
*****
Absent are ardent
words
an inability to fill gaps
meanings suspended
seasons slowly stretching
Silence
*****
A thin veil
hiding behind
a thick weight
suppressing many a
sound
Silence
*****
Deeply delving into a void
seeking the significance
of a still word
trying to explain an unexplained
world
Silence
*****
Observing, absorbing
the aura of silence
touching its vibrant
presence
perceivable, palpable
Silence
*****
Pausing in peace
treasuring tranquillity
allowing the soul
to such a state admire
sinking in a serene space
Silence
I see the pain
Reflected via turquoise blue
Of the oceans hue
She stares out into the oceans depth
Lost
Her lover dead under the sea
The waves have made her destiny
I stare at her
From a hill above the shore
Her pain cripples me such
That I can not move
How can I love this woman so
The small of her back
Invites me to hold her
Caress her tears into the sea
The salt water offers comfort
Massaging her feet
The sun glitters with hopeful endeavors
That neither of us feels at all
I am in love with this woman
Since a wee child long ago
Her pain is my pain
Yet my guilt I carry alone
Tomorrow
We both will stand hand in hand
To bury her husband
My brother
As I keep secret my love and desire
Only wishing her sadness to ebb
Into the sea that took hold of part of me
My brother I loved and honored
So on the hill above the shore
I stare at the woman I always adored
Oh brother forgive me my thoughts
As I wish to comfort your lovers broken heart
you May-
think me odd perhaps strange
peculiar and off the wall-
but I
like to wander cemeteries
among rows on rows
I love the tranquility
there is a peace like no other
where hidden birds sing melodies
and little creatures scurry
and time stands still
and I like to read inscriptions
on tombstones in the dappled sun
or rain wet or snow covered
gravestones monolith
flagstones flat and small
all the RIP inscriptions
among rows on rows
the relic stones I do adore
those traces
of family history
faded now and obscure
covered in moss some toppled over
I have to get close to read
and even then it is a mystery
on a bright sunny day
camera in hand journal ready
my mind at peace
I noted one stone inscription
reading U N K N O W N
this of all the stones this broke my heart
among rows on rows
no name no date no record
no flowers ever I am sure
no memorial of any kind
a homeless man, perhaps
or woman, maybe
a baby unwanted so sad
of all the commemorative slabs
the huge monuments with many names
with beautiful words engraved
of remembrance with dates and names
this unknown stone has broken my heart . . .
____________________________
November 9, 2017
Poetry/Free Verse/One Stone-Unknown
Copyright Protected, ID 17-9597-09-0
All Rights Reserved. Written Under Pseudonym.
Written for the contest, Two Word Challenge
sponsor, John Lawless
Second Place
In the darkest of times
be the light of a candle
but the harshest of crimes
to let melt your candle
***
Give, unmindful of a reason
feel the heavy burden light
remember to mind your reason
fill your very soul with Light
***
Like a delicate dove
bathe into sweet waters well
feed on the seeds of Love
reach not the bottom of its well.
Philanthropic phrases of pluto sink
In my soul, a slave of lonely black
Charade, whilst butterflies flutter
In bruised heart, as pressed flowers
Grieve in between snowflake-
Pages of swan's fogged
Diary; I
Crawl upon
valleys
To
Touch
The peach
Arc of the
Sun and kiss the
Skin of polished blue
Crescent, but I drown in
Sapphire waves and garnet flames,
Carving artificial blood on
Nymph's ruby rocks; who will remember
The parched floral thoughts of a life not lived?
Away to Vermont on a Dr's appointment. Coming back and riding the Ferry to New York my wife Judy and I decided to stop off at Panera Bread for lunch thru the Drive thru. I notice a man counting his few dollars by the drive thru. His long hair and beard caught my attention.
His face looked sunburned, and he looked withered and dry. Sadly I noticed that
his tan pants had a large brown streak down his rear side. Looking at this broke my heart.
As I went thru the drive thru I ordered an extra sandwich, a lemonade and chips. My wife looked at me not knowing my thoughts and said ,"Michael your hungry today."
As I came around after picking the food, I looked for that man. He had disappeared. I drove around on a mission to find him. At last, I saw him, he
had gone into the restaurant. I parked the car and told my wife what my plans were. She was surprised and was very supportive.
I walked through the door and introduced myself to him. I said I have
something for you. He looked up smiling and said, "God bless you." I said, "God bless you." I asked him where he was from and he said, " Willow Alaska." He shared with me he was looking for his parents in Upstate NY. He said he suffered
from mental illness and that he was a minister. While talking to this stranger I felt an incredible love resonating through him, it is hard to explain.
I said good bye my friend and felt guilty because I wanted to do more for him. His name was Robbie.
I shared the story with my wife and my brother Gus and they said that God puts angels in this world and Robbie might be an angel you cared for.
There is not a better feeling than helping someone in need.
I made a new friend today, a homeless man named Robbie.
I encourage everyone to reach out to those less fortunate and make a difference in their lives. Even saying hello, or asking them how they are doing. So many people are silently suffering, and any act of kindness will help them cope better. God bless those of you that do...
Michael Tor
6/12 2023
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.