Best Historic Poems
Battered
From a dark angry cloud
Beaten
By a storm wild and loud
Splattered
On history's hardest rock
Heaven
Smile at the little flock
For as a drop of water
Curls to become a river
So I gather my dreams
To trickle like a stream's
First fall
From a leaf, to swell
To haul
The hill down, and tell
My victory in the sea
Tell me history from the sea
This month
Short as wounded memory
I hunt
Myself, stalk their history
To find all I have lost
Just to tally the cost
Of being black
Of watching the clock
For the hour.
A dry habitat where sailing boats were invented
and the paper, pens, keys and toothpaste.
Also where beer was a national currency
and the last dress standing is preserved.
This dwelling offers worship to more than a thousand deities
and cats’ funerals are honoured with the shave of the eyebrows
The most numbered Arab citizenry
possessing the globally most spanned river course.
Eye painting is practiced by both genders
for healing ability and a cover against the sun.
Even with the myth of mummification and the awe of Giza
It is certainly true that one of its habitations
Was found to be swallowed by the sea
We arrived with expectations of triumph
There were agonies, desperations and tears
Coloring the hills with melancholy shades
Erasing the imaginings of soldier’s anguish
Embracing loss from the heights of passion
Where worries win and misery invites pain
To grasp the soul with a sense of forbode
Whispering despair through breaths of air
Filled with black dread and amber silence
Created in the hearts of those who shall kill
The sons of chaos who reach for a chance
To divide and conquer – defeat the wretched
Wickedness of those who long to succeed
Reach victory along the front lines where
Gettysburg soldiers are drifting along paths
Of loss and sorrow, fears of all that has past
And the tomorrows that are filled with knowing
Death is a friend to those who defy it with
Mercies murmuring and sighing, silencing
Each breath of hope that finds its way to the
Surface where there are only defeated desires
Drenching the spirit with gloom that comes
From losing every battle to the one who will
Finally overthrow the light with darkest night
The Battle of Gettysburg was fought July 1-3, 1863 in and around Gettysburg, Pennsylvania by Union and Confederate Soldiers during the American Civil War. This battle involved the largest number of deaths during the war and is often described as the war's turning point. The North won this battle with General Lee's forces.
A Historic Event Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: William Kekaula
September 18, 2020
Legend goes on discovery of
Universal Law of Gravitation
as an apple from tree just fell off
on ground, watched by Sir Isaac Newton.
He considered ripen apple
as experimental sample.
Free fall of fruit made him curious.
Scientist started thinking serious.
On detachment from stalk aftermath
the apple neither hangs in air
nor goes up under wind’s care,
but is bound to fall on Earth.
Great Gravitational force is responsible.
To escape attraction of Earth is impossible
for all earthly materials.
Gravity claims credentials.
The Mathematician and Physicist Sir Isaac Newton discovered Theory of
Gravity. Gravitational Force acts between all pairs of bodies. He formulated
the Inverse Square Law of Universal Gravitation in 1687.
09/22/20
After seeing Jurassic Park
A scant few minutes after dark
I dropped my burger and froze in fright.
There, lurking and almost hidden
Formidable and forbidden,
Stood a hideous sight!
A historic creature, oh, so scary,
With armored shell and feet so hairy,
Held me in a hypnotic stare!
Its body heavily plated,
Bony and variegated,
Appeared forebodingly there
I grew dreadfully nervous
Of this dinosaur, impervious
To my imminent cardiac!
But later, safely on my pillow,
I knew it was only an armadillo
Having a Mac attack!
The Wall
A near three thousand names called out that day;
now fifteen years, they've solemnized the date
so labeled Nine-Eleven, to now stay
within our memories as tragic fate.
But listening to names cannot compare
to heartache stirred by this museum wall.
The magnitude of faces smiling there-
their beating hearts now silent in this hall.
There seems to be no end to photos lined
on panels wrapped around the room; we grasp,
indeed, how many lost their lives- resigned
to shock, as each face comes to life, we gasp.
This Wall of Faces makes the list of names
seem weak in stirring deep emotion's hurt.
Instead of words, each captured smile remains
to let the viewer's horror reassert.
Those mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers too;
small children, grandparents, spouses, and friends-
their sparkling eyes that danced with life in view,
were closed forever with such tragic ends.
This Wall of Faces shares some history
with facts and stories offered on each one,
up close and personal, their lives to see-
so many hopes and dreams became undone.
October 22, 2016
Contest: A Historic Event
Sponsor: William Kekaula
Written, and Posted, October 2016,
for the 15th Anniversary of 9/11, (September 11, 2001)
a dark day in history- after I visited The Wall Of Faces -
9/11 Memorial Museum, NYC
soft flames flickered offshore
Timucuan tribal campfires
luring Menendez’s armada
Feast Day of St. Augustine 1565
Spanish settlers rowed covertly to shore
more than 600 torches ushered in a new era of light
torches turned to gaslights
hanging yet today in a city of artists
where street singers hope you’ll look their way
centuries old Castillo de San Marcos
ghosts of slaves held within
cast a spiritual shadow on harbor water
originally restored Spanish architecture
throughout the gaslight village
living history, soft lights, no neon
antique stores adorned by twinkling white lights
lantern lit are the many street-side vendors
couples stroll past, hand-in-hand on the cobblestone street
historic integrity for the nation’s oldest church
multicolor strobes ascend through huge stained-glass windows
colors in streaming rays reveal detailed architecture
bright spotlights from the Fountain of Youth
climb the large, wooden cross Spanish settlers erected
one of two signs observed by mariners
brilliant glowing image of hope, guidance
St. Augustine Lighthouse’s beam shines a path far offshore
black and white rings glow in its tower, circling candy cane
Bridge of Lions, an illuminated spectacle
visitors’ gateway to a forgotten age
well-lit harbor, safe haven for houseboats and yachts
gaiety reigns during sunlight hours
night brings a different mood, perspective
warmth and intrigue - city of historic lights
*For the City Lights competition
City: Saint Augustine at night
*See “About this Poem” for history on the United States’ oldest city.
In the heart of my heart
I cry for you
in the harbor of my despair
I feel your emptiness
a land once yours was lost
stolen by men whose hearts were cold
and whose greed and hate knew no bounds
Prisoners on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
where nothing lived
only impoverished people
Once proud warriors who traveled the plains
moving with the winds of freedom
whose tears have fallen upon sacred ground
to be swallowed by the Earth
stripped of your pride
stripped of your guns
A people lost in the wicked transition of time
kept like cattle, treated like dogs
Lonely the empty eyes of the Lakota
when the looked towards the sun
on a Winter December morning
seeing soldiers approaching
in the dim lit shade of sunrise
heavily armed on horseback
dragging four Hotchkiss guns
bringing death to two hundred and fifty
unarmed Lakota men women and children
on the frozen creek bed at Wounded Knee
where cruelity brought its bloody coat from Hell
When it was over vultures picked at the frozen flesh
left to rot in the cold like so much garbage
Twenty soldiers received the medal of honor
for duty above and beyond
for this massacre of innocence
Wounded Knee Massacre
December 29 1890
South Dakota
250 Lakota Souix massacred
by the 7th Calvery
Hotchkiss gun-gatling gun
9/19/20 contest A Historic Event
A stable plate on two different trays
historically embracing the celebrated words of Caesar.
Home to the Hittites of old, St. Nicholas and the Antioch’s monument,
and a fine developing continuation of the ancient city of Troy.
From being a port to the legendary Ark
to introducing cherry and coffee to an entire continent.
Its mega hub, now stands a cultural goal post
to the entire pitch of its very affluent larger region.
Yet, its focal point uncommonly stands at Ankara
and the survival of Tin still stay true in Goltepe.
In time’s rare, twas the battle ground for the Trojan wars,
also the Museums of wonders of Halicarnasus and Ephesus,
but now an active site of manufacturing and Industrial boom.
While two land masses caress its identity,
the surrounding waters play and dance to its productivity.
Inside a cave lived the Stooges Three.
This was long before recorded history.
To make butter this morning, it was Shemp's turn.
Larry tickled him as Shemp shook cream in the churn.
For dinner, Moe attempted to hunt a duck.
He tried his best, but had the lousiest luck.
Aggie was the cavegirl Moe would adore.
Maggie and Baggy were the other girls next door.
Are you curious about how the situation will go?
All you have to do is watch the video.
Based on the 1948 Columbia Pictures short subject "I'm a Monkey's Uncle" starring the Three Stooges.
The year was sixteen-sixty-four
A comet crossed the sky,
And Londoners looked on in fear
Convinced the end was nigh.
The streets which once were paved with gold
Were now awash with waste.
A swarm of flies and scourge of rats
Foretold the death they faced.
And so it was that London town
Was struck down by the plague,
And corpse on corpse, wife, husband,child,
Were taken to their grave.
Deep in the dales of Derbyshire
A peaceful village lay,
Until a bale of cloth arrived
That inauspicious day.
A bale of flea-infested cloth
Hung by the hearth to dry,
Which stirred the soporific fleas
And roused the plague thereby.
The tailor's poor assistant died
A death of searing pain,
And pestilence intensified
Its unrelenting reign.
As many planned to leave their homes
The vicar intervened
Declaring that instead of flight
They should be quarantined.
'Dear flock of Eyam, sacrifice
Not self must be our plan,
For once enclosed we'll suffer but
Set free our fellow man.'
Within the space of just one month
So many perished there.
The smell of sadness and of death
Ingrained the putrid air.
The years have passed,the plague long gone
But graves still tell the tale
Of how their sacrifice and strength
Meant others could prevail.
13.02.20
Let The Pens Flow - Narrative Poetry Contest : sponsored by Jenish Somadas
N/A
A Historic Event Poetry Contest - William Kekaula
NOTE:
On 1 November 1666 farm worker Abraham Morten gasped his final breath - the last of 260 people to die from bubonic plague in the remote Derbyshire village of Eyam. Their fate had been sealed four months earlier when, after the onset of the plague from flea-infested cloth from London, the entire village made the remarkable decision to quarantine itself in an heroic attempt to halt the spread of the Great Plague.
A Historic Event
Bright stars now ascending
The silken threads
Of your earthly footsteps
Shattered – broken.
And yet you still ascend
Through galaxies of midnight
Embraced by the One
In an eternal sun storm.
Your spirits ejected
Into a clear blue morning
Tumbling with stunned eyes
Entering an unexplored world.
As you rise in blinding fury
Your exploration spirits
Still leave guide map seekers
Yearning to touch unseen galleries.
Bright challenger stars
Tragedy engulfs you –
But, your legacy, ascending in courage,
Still rises – always remembered.
Challenger, ode to explorers
In lyrics of lose
Laments from all nations
Still rise to find you.
9-26-20
Dedicated to Challenger and her crew when the space shuttle exploded on take-off in January of 1985.
153 words
Contest: A Historic Event
Sponsor: William Kekaula
You can tie my eyes
You can tie my lips
Tie my hands and legs
Block my tiny ears
But how do you tie my Destiny
Block the blows to my tiny body
World of wonder, where are you
Where skies are dark with smoke
Food and water scarce
Malnutrition staring, in my face
Staring into deaths eyes
How do you tie my heart
Our little souls now in abyss
Angels on mighty wings
Creator of smiles, have a heart
Devils have a sense of humor too
Come uplift us, we are part
Of this beautiful human race.
Yemen is facing the largest humanitarian crisis
in the world
And children are being robbed of their futures.
Twelve million children are suffering, maimed
and killed in conflict.Tens of thousands more
could develop life threatening severe acute
malnutrition over the next six months
and under 5years of age a staggering 2.4 million.
Covid-19 has added to the suffering with
sanitation and clean water in short supply.
Civil War started on 27
January 2011, ongoing till now.
Dated 20.09.2020. Written For ( William Kekaula )
Spoken by the tides,
Gurgled legends of past shores:
Mythical currents.
Ottawa the beautiful-
in the province of Ontario . . . in Canada
at night it is a magical fantasy land and even during the day . . .
I grew up in this town and I love it the Parliament buildings are breathtaking
Neo-Gothic surrounds a grass courtyard used everyday by citizens from dawn
and into the night with sounds and light shows music and words
projected onto Parliament . . . the center of Ottawa is a mingling of
grand Victorian and modern the result is quite stunning
we have a place called the Byward Market
where farmers and craft people sell each day and at night it is a gathering of
restaurants and clubs . . .
the historic Rideau Canal is full of boats in the summer . . . skaters in
the winter considered the longest skating rink in the world and on each side
it is park lined there are areas of the city quite ethnic like Little
Italy Chinatown . . any kind of museum I love the
National Art Gallery of Canada tons of festivals and performing arts
nature can be found in our many wild parks lush and green and with snow
covered paths in the winter if you want white water rafting we have it
horse back riding fairs you name it we have places you will love . . .
just walk around old neighborhoods it so inspiring to see the homes in
many parts of Ottawa . . . this is a town that I love
and I know you would love it too . . .
Whenever, I have to leave I hold Ottawa in my heart until I return.
_______________________
April 7, 2017
Poetry/Free Verse/Bask In Historic Beauty
Copyright Protected, ID 17-844-921-0
All Rights Reserved. Written under Pseudonym.