Best Looking Back Poems
BOOM!! Explosion,
fire, smoke, serene...
As I realize what has happened;
Just what i've done to me...
Focusing, I regain clear vision;
As i'm gazing straight towards me,
I see myself, Bloodied;
Crumpled in a seat...
I look upon all the chaos,
that now lyes before me;
Almost as if, as if in total disbelief,
of the horror that's been created...
created within me,
by me, for me,
too me...
Lifeless, no movement from my chest;
Lifeless, without momement;
No breath...
My eyes opened wide
potruding, it seem's;
As if frightened, or caught by surprise;
I lie there, looking directly back at me,
mesmerized.
As I watch myself, lying there,
My eyes, looking into my eyes;
I drift some, just a little;
I'm farther away now,
still aware of my feelings;
Emotions,
somehow still apart of me...
Overwhelmed with regret,
of what I now see;
Alone, no movement;
Me, Looking back at Me...
I don't know any happy
super rich people -- a
friend of wealth once
told me: "See all this,
a huge property and
home, dripping gold
gilt, "I have nothing...."
I thought, myself spared
leaving, as I gave my vehicle
the usual primer finessing of
the gas pedal, before it would
prayerfully start --
Of course, having spent much
of my life with those suffering, I
have dried many an impoverished
tear, and know no joyful hungered
belly --
I often conclude, the best of my
blessings found somewhere between
two hells -- bellow the peak of
Supreme Religious Zealots, just above
The Valley of Heretics -- best years
recalled, are middle-age....
God's grace and love independent
of experience or knowledge --
Having abundance is opportunity
to better the lives of less fortunate
others....
How do I tell them about your tiny fingers and toes?
The smell of your baby head on my chest?
The warmth of your skin as you slept in my arms?
How can they know of your first little words?
The times when only we knew what was funny?
The grumpy face of awakening from a nap?
How can they see your joy at learning to read?
The world you discovered in the pages you found?
Of wanting to fly or live in a Hobbit’s home?
How will they know the fear and excitement?
The questions, the fears, the quiet upon discovering?
The crash of realizing people can be cruel?
How can I make them understand who you are?
Not who they see now as they come from afar?
How can I give them the vision to see?
That the girl they so love is no stranger to me?
How can I show them the light that’s gone out?
The sadness that’s come to fill you with doubt?
How can I give them a picture of time?
And let them see that you’re loved and you’re mine?
You're spending time in isolation now
Nobody comes to visit anymore
You've things to say, but really don't know how
To get your message past the bedroom door
Try poetry! It's fun and it's quite cheap
Express yourself, whatever's on your mind
Plant seeds your loved ones 'ventually reap
You'll do the world a favor, sweetest kind
Tell folks about the virtues you hold dear
Consistency ... Reliability
Integrity and Honesty, that's clear
Old-fashioned, but as good as gold can be
When you look back on life and love, you'll see
You'll frame your legacy with poetry
~ Iambic Pentameter ~
March 11, 2021
Poetry as Legacy Contest
Sponsor: Line Gauthier
I stared along the littered street,
Recalled a former time,
Remembered walking hand in hand,
One day when you were mine.
And then I gasped and looked again -
I saw us standing there,
A younger you was kissing me,
I told myself,’ Beware.’
I stood alone and watched us kiss,
And couldn’t change the past:
The way we parted had to be;
Our love would never last.
I blinked my tears and saw us fade
And once more you were gone:
The age old sense of loss intense,
I sighed and carried on.
Dawn unfolds nicely
Darkness descends from the bed
Looking back at dreams
October 4, 2017
Life has been a journey looking back.
I was born into this world to watch my life begin;
Learning how to communicate with family and friends.
Like many trying to making sense of this emotion love and hate.
There’s a retiring smile remembering those hopes and dreams.
I don’t know why I was in a hurry.
It seemed everyone was running a race to be all grown up.
Now wondering why there was such a rush.
Remembering this struggle how to please who and this and that,
while clinging to things not understanding what to cling to?
Life got really busy for us all.
Getting an education, a job and raising a family.
The days began with daylight and ended in darkness.
A wife, children, a house, and a home with pets.
At best we choose how to live life and responsibility within.
Time to reflect.
It’s now getting late to see the light of childhood dreams.
But, I remember those lessons and blessings of life.
It's autumn in my life now and leaves are starting to fall.
When winter comes may the memory be one of love.
Edward J. Ebbs - December 13, 2015
Looking back it's no wonder why we had to leave
Such rhapsodic idyllic plethora, lost talisman
Felicity lost in radiant sapphire dulcet through
Our chrysalis once radiant, evenescent, blew
.
I’ve not scaled the highest mountain, nor sailed the deepest sea,
But I’ve held my children in my arms and that’s enough for me.
I never walked upon the moon: repelled down steep ravines,
But the bedtime tale, told a little child, is far greater than it seems.
I once longed to swim the coral reef with snorkel, fin and mask,
But a day by the sea with my children in tow, was enough for me to ask.
To soar from mountain meadow, through skies of deepest blue:
Once a lovely dream of mine, but a dream that would never come true.
I wondered in my younger years, before I had fully matured,
If I was missing out on life and all its great rewards?
I settled young and missed some fun, as children came and grew.
I thought of all I could have been and all I'd hoped to do.
But years pile up and weigh us down: resolve begins to wane.
We’re left here looking toward the back, replaying life again.
It's strange how clear it all seems now, from an elder point of view.
How meaningless some dreams became: like time itself they flew.
And I am left just standing here with very few regrets,
For things undone and sights unseen and people never met.
For other folks my days on earth might seem to lack success,
But looking back across those years; I’m sure I've done what’s best.
© 2015 Diane Lefebvre
My past sits on a shelf, in pictures, books and letters
Occasionally I take it down, to make the present better
Those youthful days back at home, when life was in full bloom
Taken for granted they slipped away, while I chinned myself on the moon
Nameless faces and faceless names, colors fade to black and white
Evolving with perpetual change, like days that hide in the nights
The 50's were a shooting star, for me they passed in stealth
In brotherly love on gravel roads, our dreams were untapped wealth
On a transistor radio the 60's played as social consciousness awakened
In hallucinations of free love and civil rights, faith in tradition was shaken
My long hair 70's were loud, the nation showed both sides of it's face
Personal independence led to parenthood , I failed miserably in disgrace
Finding out the hard way love isn't free, independence has a price
Again the music changed with the decade, and in life I went back for another slice
In the 80's I skied in the powder, the first half is still a blur
As I slalomed down the hill I found true love and surrendered my vices for her
The 90's were a time of gains and losses, old family died as new emerged
Struggling to climb to the top, in my family my worth was submerged
Shunning old friends and old habits, I began turning into my dad
Trying to lead a good example, so my children would make better choices than I had
The dawn of a new millennium, technology spread like a disease
My children were affected early, then poor health knocked me to my knees
My life has seen many changes, just like the times that have passed
But now broken down and depressed, I've taken my foot off the gas
For now, I put memories back on the shelf, like an old dog, I'll gnaw on the bone
But I still hold my head up high, cause I did it all on my own
an original poem by the "poemdog" Daniel Turner
Gazing into my bathroom mirror
My eyes looking back at me
Anguish and misery, all i see
Years just like groundhog day
Never seeing it any other way
Life is meant to be more than this
If only a genie, grant me a wish
We all experience pain this is true
Grant me the strength to see this through
Please is this never going to end
Save me from my misery
Luck sometimes comes your way
Giving you hope a brand new day
So I am now home and all is good
Settled sorted as much as one could
A quiet moment, inhaling it all in
Know that i am here and this is real
Knowing this day hasnt been a dream
Never to be taken for granted
Not once, where i have been
Now as i gaze into that mirror
I like what looks back at me
My eyes see a new chapter
Of endless possibilities
The sky has no limits
New space longtime seen
It's been 10 years today since you stood here with me.
Looking back now I realize I just couldn't see.
The pain and the torment you carried inside.
There was nowhere left to run and nowhere to hide.
Can we please spend sometime...just you and me
and try to recapture how things use to be.
We'd laugh till we cried...but it wasn't enough.
Sometimes looking back is more than just tough.
My focus back then was a yard of perfection.
It's funny how events can cause a correction.
The yard that I then took so much pride in,
I now find that I frequently hide in.
Can we please spend sometime...just you and me
and try to recapture how things use to be.
We'd laugh till we cried...but it wasn't enough.
Sometimes looking back is more than just tough.
The hours went by...he was so calm and patient
Tomorrow would be his birthday celebration.
He gave me a hug...just out of the blue.
I was caught so off guard I didn't know what to do.
Can we please spend sometime...just you and me
and try to recapture how things use to be.
We'd laugh till we cried...but it wasn't enough.
Sometimes looking back is more than just tough.
We had his 27th birthday at our house that year.
When it was over, he asked me quite clear. Would you want to
come over to spend time with me...
we could watch movies, eat, or just shoot the breeze.
I said not today, they'll be plenty more chances.
I felt sorta bad as I saw his sad glances.
Can we please spend sometime...just you and me
and try to recapture how things use to be.
We'd laugh till we cried...but it wasn't enough.
Sometimes looking back is more than just tough.
The next day the world stopped as our son passed away.
What went through his mind is so hard to say.
His voice it rings out everyday of the year...give your love first
and you may never hear...
Can we please spend sometime...just you and me
and try to recapture how things use to be.
We'd laugh till we cried...but it wasn't enough.
Sometimes looking back is more than just tough.
P.R.Deremer
This photo is one of my favorites
Objects which are naturally decaying
Have left a rose and a couple of leaves
although it reminiscent of dying
It show the striking beauty of decay
memories that will fall to the bottom
In a gray mist of past identities
a life's work abandoned and forgotten
In folding of the wings over the nest
When you awaken in the morning hush
Remember the best times, children's laughter
Every velvet evening ~ sunset a blush
~~~
22.09.2020
Sun :) - A-L Andresen :)
Copyright © All Rights Reserved
- Writing Challenge - Decay -
Sponsored by: Constance La France
(10 syllables in each line )
3rd place in the contest
Shadow Life
And the reaching
And the feeling
And the drops
from the ceiling
On my head
On my shoulders
Weight of the
world boulders
And the mornings
Not like night time
Offers brightness
But no lifeline
The mind calms in the dark
When it’s silent,
And the silence is stark
And the reaching
Out for something
With this old feeling
That it is nothing
To cast no shadow
See no path
Clear my eyes in the light
As it rushes past
Dedicated to my children who have kept my dreams alive.
LOOKING BACK
We can’t go back
To the days of yesteryear
To capture those lost feelings
With those whom we loved so dear
I am just looking back to see
Where all of my dreams first start
You know those deep seeded dreams
Buried way down deep in your heart
I’m not trying to revive a lost love
That I once had forty years ago
Or even trying to replace the twenty years
Of not seeing my grandchildren grow
There were times of much struggle
Filled with pain, fear and torture
It was the love I had for my children
That developed my strength to endure
My children only remember the 2nd set
Of twenty years that have come and gone
When they were all moving out on their own
And when all of the grandchildren came along
It’s like I was locked in a rock
Throughout those 20 to 40 years
Not able to see my grandchildren
Filled my heart with so many tears
The bitterness you feel towards me
Is understandable and really okay
My children, you all have the right
To your feelings and to feel that way
I have finally made the escape
Since that rock has split wide open
I want you all to know who I really am
I haven’t changed at all, only my situation
The gift of feelings we have in our heart
Whether right or wrong, just happen
It matters not what others may think
We should let out our own self expression
No feelings are really ever wrong
In another’s view or even our own
Our thoughts trigger our feelings inside
The feelings we have are ours alone
Looking back strengthens my heart
Reminding me I want to pass along
To all of you, just who I really am
Before my time on earth is gone
One day I hope you will realize
With you I have always been
Filling you up with that extra love
You may have noticed you’ve been given
You have all filled up
Such a big part
Of all the dreams
Living in my heart
My best friend Grace, reminded me
That our feelings are meant to be and to last
God wouldn’t put the dreams in our heart
If He didn’t plan to bring the dreams to pass
My dreams haven’t changed
I am not letting them go
They are for new adventures
With new beginnings of tomorrow
Now that I’m looking back
I’m so glad to have survived
I know now, my love for all of you
Has always kept my dreams alive
Florence McMillian (Flo)