Best Mercifully Poems
Grandpa
a kind face
skin leathery and creased from years of working in the sun
long jowls like a basset hounds
sad droplet eyes
always a slight aroma of beer
brown wrinkled callous palms
dirt-stained fingernails were evidence of an old man’s toil
a blue plaid shirt now ashen from wear
a tall man
always unshaven with scrapes of gray hair that would scratch you un-mercifully if he asked for a hug
he walked with shoulders hung and bowed over as if broken
that of a man who had known the burdens of inequality all his life
the kindness in his eyes reflected a graceful acceptance of his fate
his tears masked a rage and unforgiveness for the destiny of his children
late afternoons he would sit out yonder under a huge black gum tree
a blackened wood briar pipe a pack of red man chewing tobacco and a can of snuff beside him
one jaw always popped out as the tobacco had to sit just long enough before it was time to spit
he would sit in that shaded spot for hours on end
up till sunset most days
always staring intently at something out there
was it memories from his past
or perhaps the dreams of a past that someone stole
eventually, grandma would call out to him
Henry where you be?
he would always reply
after awhile
I’m just there…
I never understood what that meant before
Until now
Categories:
mercifully, grandfather, grandmother, memory,
Form:
Free verse
hope and joy
sprinkled liberally
in generous amounts
butterfly magic juice
summer holiday shine
dragon flits mercifully
sunlit orbs
rainbow feelings
heartfelt spirit man
garden entices
marigold's ruffles
teasing the honeybees
faeries tiny secrets
hidden forever
mystically sound
peace and hope
calm above and beyond
earthworms heaven
sigh comes from soul
I feel the music
of the vegetables
pushing their way
realizing their truth
nurturing us forward
butterfly magic juice
enjoyed in all aspects
on a summer day
Categories:
mercifully, 10th grade, 11th grade,
Form:
Free verse
My grandfather on my father’s side, was a pecker-toothed sidle who raped his
daughter when she was just ten. He threw down vodka from an eternal well and took my father out to buy prostitutes when he was just fifteen... It was here that my father first learned the true value of a woman. Mercifully, a permanent steel brace got loose at the Pennsylvania steel mill where he worked and crushed Grandfather into a pool of blood and urine.
My father was a dried seed rattling in an empty gourd… he had grown up
hardened with leather-stiff roots exposed too long in the sun. My mother knew
that he wanted to rape me, so I kept guard with knives and ran away whenever I could. I went to bed fantasizing how to sneak into his bedroom and kill him with
the kitchen carving knife.
My older brother hadn’t adjusted well to the chaos either, so he put all his expectations and dreams into a matchbook and burned down three houses in the neighborhood. He secretly, robbed his friends of their valuable coin collections. He grew weary and confessed and was taken to a local Mental Hospital for evaluation. At fourteen, I needed a good stiff drink! I was transferred to two different foster care homes and grew up like a weed.
My mother Dolly was an auburn haired porcelain bisque, matt finished doll from a
discriminating collections of dolls... her father's dolls. She was not a witty woman
but silent, afraid and alone. She gave birth to three children who grew up like
wild dogs while Dolly made Betty Crocker weekends and otherwise TV dinners
until she grew tired... very tired.
One day the brothers were playing with Dolly tossing her back and forth…
like a ball, one to another... until we dropped her. Fragile, she shattered into pieces
on the gray cement patio. My father came out determined to put the pieces back
together but clumsily, he repeatedly stepped on Dolly crushing the refined
fragments into powdered dust.
Categories:
mercifully, childhoodfather, father, grandfather, mother,
Form:
Narrative
Darling,
Forty seven years ago, young and in love.
We fell in love on the Bobo-lo Boat.
A mutual acquaintance arranged our date.
I was eighteen and you were twenty.
You took my breath away as our eyes met,
And I must say Dear, you still do today.
Way too young to marry our parents pled mercifully.
We insisted, married, and then you went away.
The Vietnam War parted us physically,
But our love letters tied our hearts-
Tears, warm feelings in waiting hearts.
Many decades have past since our first date.
Love was worth fighting for, being brave for.
We've been through the good and the ugly.
We've learned, and built, and grew together.
I believe our true love conquered it all.
I adore seeing old people still in love-
Smiling, holding hands, and talking,
Opening a door for his sweet girl,
A gentle touch and a kiss on her crepe cheek,
Then I remember we're the old people, my dear.
Our hearts still tied together with love,
Even after all these years.
Forever Always my darling.
For Heather Ober's contest, 'Love Letters'
And For Gail Doyle's contest, 'Reflections Of You'
Categories:
mercifully, for him, love,
Form:
Free verse
I watch the rain flow backwards,
back up into the sky.
I was soaking wet
and now I am dry
All the moisture is gone,
sucked up from the ground.
Reversing rain,
it makes no sound.
The flowers cry,
tears joining the rain
As the moisture is lost,
do the flowers feel pain?
Their colors exhaled,
only dust remains.
The trees look angry,
gnarled branches are bare.
Colorful foliage no longer there
Leaves like breath,
have blown away.
The birds have left,
no reason to stay.
The world we know,
reaches it's end.
Back to the sky,
life's blood ascends!
With each droplet,
we make amends.
Back to dust,
we do descend
Our crimes are many,
the earth cries out for blood.
We become part of,
a different kind of flood.
Now rejoined to the earth,
us foolish men of mud.
Questions answered,
as we rise from the dead.
The Earth is restored,
by rivers of red.
Fountain of life,
no more need for rain.
True Joy makes way,
ending human pain
Blessed are the forgiven,
God mercifully reigns!
Waking in a garden,
within a city of light.
We are clothed in garments,
of brilliant white.
Sins now forgotten,
like dust blown away.
Night and darkness,
replaced by this new day
Gifted new bodies,
we're no longer just clay.
God's promises are kept
He has the final say!
Categories:
mercifully, anger, angst, bereavement, blue,
Form:
Rhyme
Hang your head, and mourn
the lost smile of elation,
Happiness shattered asunder,
While melancholy tears, stain
the frame of a tarnished silhouette,
And speak words of wisdom, that
pain the ears and restrain laughter
by the chains of harrowing truth,
Demeaning a demeanor, with
structured news of elated nuptials,
Which force the ambivalence of love
and lost wishes, that belong to
a memory, which fades with time
but can never be forgotten,
Leading to a flaw in poetic justice,
that pushes a mind to delusion
But to return from a dismal and
desolate place, with even an inkling
of untainted hope, there alone lies my
whisper of salvation, And while my
pen freely bleeds, with phrases of my
most tender reminiscence, I can
only assume, that faith
is purposeful...
Thus by a dangerous choice, to
trust my memories to save me,
before they eradicate my being, I
find a breath of grace in writing of
you, and knowing you through my
words, and all your beauty throws
to them, and by this plea, hope to
know you, if only another moment,
With the mere faith, that
rediscovering you, will mercifully,
help me find myself...
Categories:
mercifully, lost lovelost, lost,
Form:
Free verse
Death waited
Sat patiently in the hallway
We all sat there with him
Looking at
and not seeing the paintings on the wall
We took turns
waiting, visiting, waiting
The hallway
Where tears stung our eyes
We cried together in that hallway
Why didn’t we notice death?
Maybe because he brought no flowers
Maybe he blended into the wallpaper
Shadows can hide in plain sight
He didn’t have anything to say
Still he would have the final say
Our loved one knew death was waiting
Maybe that’s why
He asked us to close the door
Maybe he wanted us to lock the door?
Inside the room
We grabbed bits of happy
Told stories
Laughed like it was the beginning of spring
It let us pretend that we had more time
We wanted more time
But we felt the chill in the air
Sadly, Death had more places to go
More people to see
Still, Death let us say our goodbyes
He waited for family and friends to arrive
He mercifully came when we went to the hallway
He slipped silently past us through the door
I think he whispered something
But I’m not sure
One day when my time comes
I’ll ask him what it was
I hope he won’t be in a rush
I’m hoping summer will last a while longer
Is that a chill I feel in the air?
Categories:
mercifully, death, emotions, feelings, heartbroken,
Form:
Free verse
The windchill is 45 below sanity
a snow man has frozen snot
dripping from his 1 carrot nose
but the cold doesn't stop the gun toll
in my sweet home Chicago.
27 dead across the Midwest
Frozen solid in the echo of their final step.
A snow shoveling heart attack,
took out a veteran who did three tours in Iraq.
Still three months to go till the sunspots warm up my soul.
My neighbor kept me awake, wielding a leaf blower.
To whisp away little puffs of snow.
He knows I work the graveyard shift.
but tomorrow I'll give him my happy hello.
He's on permanent disability drives a nicer car than me.
He's the one who rolled the snotty snowman.
into form even with his bad back.
Clever little mother#%$&*$
He'll never will have a heart attack.
There's a variety of starvation and riots.
Thirteen wars going on at present.
but the primetime gossips are obsessing about.
Trumps big orange belly and wispy hair...
Mercifully they cut to a Kotex commercial.
It's a good time to coffee up and take a piss.
I've got a very serious case of the polar vortex blues.
Categories:
mercifully, confusion, heartbreak, humor,
Form:
Free verse
~ Dear Old Golden Rule Days? ~
The 2023 school year mercifully limps to a close
Seems eons ago when students could afford to doze
No more - Today they'd better stay on their toes
Every few days a mass shooting, or a bomb threat -- to your stations!
Teens fighting their teachers over perceived rights violations
There is gender dysphobia, bullying, taunting
Halloween the day that is least haunting
Ah! But perhaps common ground exists, the books we've all read
Then again, I forgot, teens watch Tik-tok instead
Categories:
mercifully, books, change, community, culture,
Form:
Rhyme
Long tennis matches stretch on and on for love of deuce,
While endless freight trains mercifully end with a little red caboose.
Domestic snits could be shortened dramatically with a fruit juice truce,
Though kids keep on playing 'Super Elite 4' when they might be watching
'The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle the Moose.'
Some highly-paid accountants play with their clients' numbers, fast and loose,
As weight-loss specialists do patients' expanding waistlines fail to reduce.
More and more often gynecologists must early labor unexpectedly induce,
So that a healthy, social-media-acceptable baby be rapidly produced.
Romantic poets with winsome words do their audiences seduce,
Since philosophers do airtight, logical conclusions no longer deduce.
Injun squaws are still known to carry their young ones in a papoose.
Whereas a hanging by a noose is a custom quite understandably out of use.
And, of course, the current Oval Office Occupant continues to rule the roost
By tweeting, texting, and twittering a refuse-storm gallopingly profuse.
Which all leads to the inevitable, inescaple, perhaps irrefutable con-cluse
That some people will and others won't throw up their hands, saying
"What's the Use?!"
Categories:
mercifully, humorous, perspective, word play,
Form:
Monorhyme
Please tell me what you think of this poem I have written....
Blessed by God
I open my eyes and praise His name,
He never changes; He’s always the same….
Out of my mouth I glorify is presence,
Thanking Him for yet for another day…
Blessed by God in so many ways!
The people He has chosen to stand by my side,
Has definitely been a blessing in disguise…..
They have showered me with love and devotion,
A feeling I can’t explain, except that…
I'm blessed by God in so many ways
Beginning a new life, and putting Jesus first,
I have had this unquenchable thirst….
To give Him all the Glory and Praise,
As I get ready to move on to the next Phase….
Getting blessed by God in so many ways!
A new job, my self- esteem, a wife to be, helping those in need,
Financial security, a closer relationship with my Abba, I’m planting those seeds….
Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control,
This is what I’m manifesting deep in my soul……
Truly blessed by God in so many ways!
Trusting in God it surely pays,
I will serve and love Him the rest of my days….
My life belongs to you Yahweh, do with it what you please,
I’ll continue to worship you down on my knees…..
Thank you Father, blessed be your name,
You have gracefully and mercifully blessed me in so many ways!
Jessica Romero
January 22, 2021
Categories:
mercifully, blessing, celebration, giving, god,
Form:
Rhyme
where are your eyes in the 11th hour?
do they roam to and fro, roaring
with insipid power, baiting the hook,
fishing for retractable men?
where is your nose in the 11th hour?
is it sniffing out a cesspool of plots,
hanging with odious men by the fire,
drawing in men with deceptive smoke signals?
where is your mouth in the 11th hour?
are you rambling out rhetoric, grandiloquent smut,
smirking, curling your lip, your serpentine tongue
slithering and snapping up every adamic crumb?
where are your ears in the 11th hour?
are they trembling with vibrations of horror,
jingling change from restless legs, harkening to
every pandering pain - every wicked wile?
where is your touch in the 11th hour?
are you reddening faces, tenderizing
every black and blue artery and vein,
darkening the skin of Eve like a cancerous cloud?
~ ~ ~
in the 11th hour, her kind eyes shower,
with rainbow tears, leaping upwards,
bowed in reverent fear, insightful and wise,
vigilant and circumspect.
in the 11th hour, her nose drawn to scents,
yes of honeysuckle and baby powder
but also the downpour of the poor and sick,
attentive to the stench.
in the 11th hour, her mouth soothes
with compassion, just and good,
sensitive to worn out souls, smiling
tenderly, speaking at chosen times.
in the 11th hour, her ears ever alert,
pierced by the outcry of Eve’s children,
drawn to lilting laughs, lullabies and psalms,
anywhere a helping plea sounds.
in the 11th hour, her touch gentle and soft,
changing diapers, dusting off tears, foraging food
for her family and the lonely, handing out hugs,
midnight feet tucking in the sheets.
~ ~ ~
Indeed, the 11th hour is here,
a time where good is called bad
and bad pronounced good.
In the overcast skies,
the spread of candlelight
like stars, so mercifully bright.
As midnight strikes,
each star is gathered like wheat,
the sun and the moon fall asleep.
4/2/2019
Categories:
mercifully, christian,
Form:
Free verse
Taliban fighter
Mind in a whirl
For love of his god
Shoots teenage girl
Places his bullet
Coldly in her head
Taliban fighter
Leaves her for dead
Medieval mind
Full of bigotry and hate
With twisted views
Centuries out of date
Taliban fighter
Don't you think it odd
Although you claim
You did it for your god
This little girl
Is still alive
Very good chance
She will survive
Taliban fighter maybe
In your god's eyes
You're a low creature
Loathed and despised
Taliban fighter
You bring much shame
By your acts supposedly
In your god's very name.
Taliban fighter
I think it too late
For any chance
To re educate.
Taliban fighter it would
Be better if you were dead
From well aimed bullet
Placed deep in your head.
When a dog is mad
You don't hesitate
But quickly and mercifully
Exterminate
Categories:
mercifully, anger,
Form:
Rhyme
So deep the loss...loss
different than any of those others’.* Others
can’t help but hear my cries, cries
of help. So deep the sorrow...sorrow
keeps the lump in my heart, heart
of despair. The one I need most to hear...hear
me she never quit, until her time was up. Up,
I look for help. Down I read the tether lines, lines
upon pages in books. Books
written by varied authors. Authors —
I glean from their advice...advice
with stories of suffering, suffering
taken to the cross, nailed through feet and hands. Hands
fold. He patiently, lovingly, mercifully listens to me.
6/3/2021
*Or so it seems
Categories:
mercifully, grief,
Form:
Verse
I mourn for your passing
for your family
for your friends
for those you held close
but do not mourn for you...
you came to our shores
you came and you lied
lied about your baggage
illegal baggage you bore
within your body...
your baggage was deadly
lethal and contagious...
biological warfare
launched upon our nation
silently exploding...
first target: Lone Star State
close to my home
close to my family
close to my grandchildren
why did you come..
your predecessor: a playboy
who detonated a viral bomb
in a gay bath house
through seduction
why did he come....
he was careless, he was cruel
he was a selfish, silly fool
as were you
as am I
why do I judge...
(I mourn over suffering souls
whose insides turned to mush
a congealed and bloody mush
who writhed in ineffable pain
who mercifully died...)
yes I mourn for your passing
but do not mourn for you...
Categories:
mercifully, africa, death,
Form:
Narrative