Best Hillside Poems
( Mum pictured in her Welsh costume on St David's Day)
I wrote these words to fit the well known Welsh song melody 'Calon Lan' as in the audio above.
Wales to me, through childhood vision
calls to mind a country home,
full of welcome and adventure
where I once would freely roam.
Land of song and rolling hillsides
rugged coasts and golden sand,
where a rich,poetic language
kindles pride throughout the land.
I can hear the voices singing
in the mountains and the dales,
soulful harps are gently playing
calling me back home to Wales.
Land of song and rolling hillsides
rugged coasts and golden sand,
where a rich,poetic language
kindles pride throughout the land.
There my Mother's smile awaits me
and emotions soon revive
of the people we have cherished
whose fond memories survive.
Land of song and rolling hillsides
rugged coasts and golden sand,
where a rich,poetic language
kindles pride throughout the land.
17.06.20
Wales Poetry Contest sponsored by Julia Ward
'Battle of most acclaimed 2020 POEMS' Poetry Contest
Sponsored by John Hamilton
Categories:
hillside, appreciation,
Form:
Lyric
Replenished with rain, it rushes on,
Its brown water pours and spills
Like vinegar from the pickle bottle,
Tumbling over, bubbling through
The jagged jumble of rocks,
Those early plants pushed aside to let it pass,
Its running melody ringing clear,
Competing with the robin’s call,
The stream pushes on, its cheerful song
Belies the chill beneath,
As it strives to outrun Winter,
While the fragile sun sighs
‘Too soon, too soon’.
Categories:
hillside, march, mountains, nature, river,
Form:
Free verse
Upon the velvet hillside
and in the breeze that swirled,
I gazed down on the valley
and lavender unfurled.
I felt you deep inside me,
you stirred me with sweet song
along my spine a trickle like
a brooklet skips along.
Your fragrant spice within my breast
that teased my senses raw,
your touch cooled ancient burning
like mystic springtime thaw.
The whispered call of love’s voice,
the ache of distance mourn;
upon this velvet hillside,
your memory I’ve borne.
Categories:
hillside, lost love
Form:
Rhyme
The fresh air delivered no scent at that dawn,
When i was awaken without single yawn,
Saint trinity's bell was sharp-slicing through mist,
The last of the doubts in my dazed mind was gone
By all that is holly I wildly love you
On balcony sparrow has landed on wrist,
Which you back then held and with pink lipstick kissed,
The beaks of the sparrow did move, yet not sing,
As if voice untouched did no longer exist.
By all that is holly I wildly love you
I thought I heard singing in that ghoulish spring,
Your lovely blue voice that inside me still cling,
Oh treacherous bells you have fooled me once more,
I open my heart wide whenever you ring.
By all that is holly I wildly love you.
I watched as the sun which was filled with my sore,
Obscurely was setting on our grand amour,
I must have been sleeping the whole, full day through,
For sun it is gone. Gone is all i adore.
By all that is holly i wildly love you.
Categories:
hillside, lost love,
Form:
Lyric
I stand alone on a hillside barren
Of trees and rocks, and similar thing,
Once they were lush with foliage green
But now they are stripped of everything.
Ancient mountains verdant ripped away
The price of greed more than evident,
By harvesting narrow top seams of coal
Crushing heavy equipment came and went.
West Virginia’s hills were once majestic
Grand and proud they towered brave,
Where I stand alone on a hillside barren
Saddened like standing before a grave.
Coal barons who built a mansion near
Must feel the pangs of injustice here.
FIRST PLACE WINNER
Brian Strand's Sonnet Contest
July 21, 2021
SILVER MEDAL WINNER
"Where Have All The Mountains Gone" Poetry Contest
All Poetry - October 10, 2021
Categories:
hillside, beauty, loss, mountains, sad,
Form:
Sonnet
I
A stand of timber
Each tall tree
Talking with the wind
II
Clearcut
How quietly the wind
Blows
III
Thousands of seedlings
Planted one by one
Reaching for the wind
Categories:
hillside, environment, nature,
Form:
Haiku
Suh yuh gaan, walk gud ... up the hill again
Nuh worry bout wah get leff pon line
The likkle bway will bring dem out of de rain
An de rest of wi will just be fine, fine
Yuh hear. Dat hill slope all de way up to high
But it not slippery as before, it easy
Now, for dat chariot full of angel from the sky
Seh afiyuh time, mi kno yuh ready.
...
Hush now chile kibbah yuh yai
Day dun, de sun i ready fi guh home
Fi yuh wuk it dun, praise God on high
Praise fo de likkle time pon de dome
Hush chile, nuh egg nuh spoil yah
De coal skill till a bun fe dem rude ones
And few bad fruits de rats will gnaw
But angel still walk whe mortal peeple runs
Hush now chile kibbah yuh yai
Glory bright yuh si, tek off de bib now
Guh sing wid massa Gaad in by-n-bye
Him ready fi wipe yuh tears n smood yuh brow
Wi parting here, Vera, guh get yuh rest
A yuh Sabbath now fi eva ... but I a likkle way
Will carry yuh memry inna mi breast
How yuh tun han mek fashion all de day
Hush now chile, kibbah yuh yai
De golden mawning a guh dawn bright and sweet
An nutten yuh believe was eber lie
Nuh I soon falla whe yu gaan, a deh cross de street
Like yuh, singing up to ole Jordan shore
Yuh memry will keep mi, an wi weep no more
...
De cock de crow, fowl lay agen
Anadda blessing from Gaad tiday
Anadda morsel for de children
Yuh poor, yes, but still hab fi gi weh
And dat likkle smile, it say all
It spell de courage when back is gainst de wall.
Yuh a Gad pickney fe true, enuh
Someting in yuh, yuh caan be soso suh
Categories:
hillside, death, dedication, angel, angel,
Form:
Verse
-----------
On the slope of the forest where the nightingale nests.
There, on the downhill,
where is a hundred-year-old oak tree.
Barely embraced by your tender arms.
In Hadrian's shrine shade.
*
Our garden is right there.
Your embrace is a garden to my being.
Shelter for the soul,
food for the body.
The game of life is weaved by our hands,
in the face and body sweat.
*
Scratched by the time thorns,
we have lost hope
However, the flowers woke up,
and their beauty tears down.
I lie in your arms and listen.
You talk about how shiny flower petals are.
All the colors are there,
it is breathtaking.
In delight, you cover your face with your hands.
Because of the delightful song of pollen.
*
You call my name, like no one before.
A magical call to the past snow avalanches.
At dusk, as the sun goes down.
Leaning against the oak,
I still dream of you.
In your embrace,
I seek the touch of eternity.
-----#-----
Categories:
hillside, for her, love, magic,
Form:
Free verse
THE CHOICE OF THE HILLSIDE
God did not choose a mountain so lofty and so high
To be the place of suffering whereon His Son would die.
God did not choose an island so far out in the sea
Where Christ would pay the ransom and die for you and me.
God did not choose a valley so lush and full of green
To be the place of anguish where darkness would be seen.
Instead God chose a hillside marked by the skull of man
Because it had a message for the lost soul of man.
We’re dead in our trespasses and doomed eternallyh
Unless we trust the Savior who died for all to see.
The skull of death is there now, but the prise has all been paid,
For Jesus also rose from the grave where He was laid.
The choice we need to make now is not on a mountain high,
A valley, or an island where ships go sailing by.
It’s at that lowly hillside—Golgotha is its name,
And sometimes it’s called Calcary, but the place is still the same.
Will you come to that hillside by faith in Chist today?
Nor a mountain, island, valley—No He is the only way.
Categories:
hillside, christian,
Form:
Rhyme
Bottle a vase Full of Flowers Picked from the Hillside - A Haiku
hillside steep flowers
green bottle stands placed in vase
flowers picked placed
all arrangements in
inside of a bottle green
swimming in water
while outside all’s wild
betrayed by birds steep flowers
they pick, pollinate
8/4/19
Written words by James Edward Lee Sr.©2019
Categories:
hillside, analogy, appreciation, celebration, engagement,
Form:
Haiku
As she sits alone on the hillside watching the sunrise
Silence is golden, movement is absent
Upon the grassy fields she sees shadowing darkness
The freshness in the air surrounds her intensely
Silence is golden, movement is absent
Dawn breaks, the skies come alive
The freshness in the air surrounds her intensely
Birds flutter freely twittering 'good morning'
Dawn breaks, the skies come alive
Upon the grassy fields she sees shadowing darkness
Birds flutter freely twittering 'good morning'
As she sits alone on the hillside watching the sunrise
Categories:
hillside, nature, peace, people, places,
Form:
Pantoum
HILLSIDE And ALBATROSS A Haiku
cliffs black blue strata
hide grey in the undergrowth
albatross dying
6/13/19
Categories:
hillside, analogy, environment,
Form:
Haiku
clearcut
how quietly the wind
blows
Categories:
hillside, nature,
Form:
Haiku
Hillside Dairy Cube - A Haiku
inclement hillside
a single, joyful cube skips
whilst watching the cheese
steep stoppage hillside
around, dairy pebble stands
beyond the hillside
5/2/19
Categories:
hillside, analogy, imagery,
Form:
Haiku
steep snow storms hillside;
as excellent lorry prowls;
under snow showers;
~
mountings blizzard storms;
covering grounds hills valleys
accumulated
~
white dust sparkle specs
falling downward down to ground
steep snow storm hillside
1/25/21
Written words by James Edward Lee Sr © 2021
Categories:
hillside, analogy, mountains, snow,
Form:
Haiku