Best Ones Poems
The paintings where discovered in an old barn
The crime of the century
All six paintings masterpieces
All the locals where questioned at length and width
No one had but a single clue
Except for the local art dealer
He whispered to the inspector
I saw a very colorful van
Drive off in the night
It was not someone from around here inspector
The inspector asked Theo, did you hear anything?
The art dealer replied I am hard of hearing you see
Upon which he proffered a flask from his breast pocket
I think Vincent lives near there, off you go and ask him
When the inspector sought out this new witness
He was no where to be found
They suspected it was his van
In conclusion
Vincent Van Gogh
And was never found
Notes: In America we pronounce his name Van Go, not Van Goff
It is human nature to hate him whom you have injured. ~Tacitus
as children
we looked past the world’s artificial trappings
the ravelment of doctrines
and the glaring capitalistic displays
the only criteria was that we’re friends
growing up
the world we inhabited
shrank as we embraced
the rules of others
to fit in
adulthood
meant that we
overrode innate compassion for others
paramount concern
belonging to the right group
often at the expense of many others
leaving a particular religious group
would lead to shunning
even death
lost in this Troxler effect
we have ultimately lost the ability to discern human value
we’re set in our ways
our value compass
eventually deliquesced as it decomposed
like a corpse
how did we become so jaundiced in our outlook
it is obvious
we hate the ones we have wronged
forgiving ourselves is only path to redemption
14 June 2021
Chased by the fleeing clouds
defined by the wind
life running too short,
make peace with loved ones.
Tell them you love them,
hug them and be moved.
Tomorrow might be none,
for later tears and broken heart,
it'll hurt when they're beneath the earth.
12/16/2021
Happy Holidays to all my Soup Family
Beautiful Ones
Aloft in the steam, they look like Eagles.
Perched now on the edge of the bowl,
proud courtesies peck the kind and meek
with true meanings and Premier trophies.
Unprecedented vanity creates illusion
with self appointed monarchs.
Court jesters perform a merry dance
patronizing peasants.
Draws the gaze towards the stage,
demands the ‘groundlings’ awe.
Under their script, the knees bend
as truth is removed by deleted scenes.
Kings and queens laugh sadistically
offering a standing ovation, but
festivities are interrupted abruptly,
as valiant knights rebel against oppression.
Disrobed, their crowns become
spears through the sternum’s shield,
impales hearts that only bleed
weak fallacies and pretentious devices.
As their guise becomes clear,
anemic vultures are revealed.
Perched upon a bowl of blood,
anticipating their next persecution.
-------------------------------------------
A collaboration with Silent One
Inspired by the Globe Theatre
05.16.16
A light turned dark and gloom
Needing help but was invisible
Buried in the shadows
Dark thoughts consuming
A mission brought upon them
Soon to be completed
Warning signs not to be seen
Being warned but not knowing
Unsuspecting they fell
Into the traps of the dark
Bringing panic upon them
Tried to flee but failing
Terrified but united they stand together
They helped and supported one another
United till the end, but not to forget
Love the broken ones
* For my children - no one has touched my heart as deeply *
~
There ne'er were "perfect" parents -
We contend the best we can
Amidst our love's conveyance,
There remains no flawless plan.
We strive to keep our wee ones safe,
Hold their hearts until they've grown,
Yet advised we have to "let them go",
When they seek new lives, their own.
Their youth is gathered nigh to us,
Guided in our tightened clasp,
Too soon, they widen wings to fly,
And we must then loose our grasp.
But no matter what their journey,
Or the distance that may grow,
There's one sweet truth, enduring:
We will NEVER ... let them go.
Written on September 5, 2021
For the "The One Who Touched My Heart" Poetry Contest
Regina McIntosh, Judge & Sponsor.
To all who see the good in me
All that is lovely, sweet and fair
To all who will not see the thorns
Who nourish me with love and care
To dear ones who have loved my rhymes
Who with their words have spread the cheer
To all those who have seen and loved
This poetess consumed by fear
To all those who have cared to write
About me in their poetry
Who’ve dedicated words to me
And filled my heart with ecstasy
To all those whom my heart holds dear
Who are my sweet and precious friends
I send this message out to you
In it my love with yours now blends
This Christmas time I thank my God
That in my world you play a part
You bring me sunshine after rain
With joy you help my day to start
You must know this and thus be sure
Each one of you, I do adore
My life would not as wholesome feel
Had you not drenched its very core
You move me and you make me see
A wonder that's beyond compare
What would I do without your gifts?
I’d surely sink in dark despair
Each one of you, a sparkling light
Upon my heart’s dear Christmas tree
You light my days and shine at night
By giving of yourself to me
And so, tonight my gift to you
Is simple lines wrapped in my love
A very merry Christmas all
I plead from heaven up above
Healing and health and happiness
And wishes that your dreams come true
This place to me, my second home
And it’s because of folks like you.
Eileen Manassian Ghali
How Can We Hurt The Ones We Love?
How can we hurt the very ones that we love?
How can we easily neglect our God above?
It seems like I often heard about many victims
Many times, it’s from a loved one who’s been with them!
The hate and the anger that boils from deep within.
Often “boils over” toward our family and friends.
It’s the love of Christ that we need to find!
His love can totally cleanse our life and mind!
The hearts of many families are bruised and broken.
By the harshness of many of the words spoken.
If we would allow Jesus to rule and reign.
We’d have little reason to murmur or complain.
If we would yield our lives to the master’s will…
The emptiness and brokenness, he shall fulfill!
If we could allow ourselves to sit at Jesus’ feet…
He can make any family totally complete!
If we could just listen to what Christ has to say.
His words of life would brighten our day!
As a family… Won’t you give HIM a chance?
And allow his love to change your circumstance!
Won’t you allow his spirit to bind you together?
You can experience his peace today and forever!
He can change your family throughout!
This is his will and what God is all about!
By Jim Pemberton
Remember me when you hear the wind blow.
I am with God, I need you to know.
He called my name, and I went to see
If the voice I heard was speaking to me.
He took my hand, we walked along
The road to heaven, where I belong.
The angles sang so sweet and clear.
They sang of love and that Jesus is near.
I felt his touch, I saw his face,
I knew in an instant I was in his grace.
He spoke to me, I heard him say,
You are home now child, you have found your way.
So remember me when you hear the wind blow.
I am home now with God, I need you to know.
I am not lonely
Because I am alone
I am not timid
Because I am quiet
I am sparse with speech
Because I have carried
The weight of words
So I know their value, and their price
I am not impaired
Because I keep my own company
Being still is a trait to cherish
Not a disease in need of a cure
Not a malady to medicate
I am not the inept eccentric
I am not a cliche to pity
I am not a wounded bird to nurse
I am not a puzzle to put together
I am not a problem to solve
I am not your consolation prize.
12/27/18
for 'You Are Not Defined By' contest
sponsor: John Hamilton
Sometimes I've stopped and wondered
As I write from day to day
To spread ones wings and fly
And let the anew have their say
There are so many horizons
In the distance of our lives
To spread ones wings and fly
Where new writing newly strives
Audiences abound our globe
Where fresh learning's can be found
To spread ones wings and fly
Maybe there's a common ground
Topics to capture young thoughts
Like fantasy and the dark
To spread ones wings and fly
It would be churlish not to be a part
To write and grow with tomorrows kind
Is to enjoy the enriching road
To spread ones wings and fly
And settle into a new abode
Writers and poets so
Are to be read, and to aim for print
To spread ones wings and fly
And capture the readers glint
Sometimes I've stopped and wondered
More so, very recently
To spread ones wings and fly
And to find where ones writings to be
http://www.thehighlanderspoems.com/writing.php
In Memoriam Quietly Always Close
Are they whispers, then, settling
So gently upon that slightest breeze wending
Over the granite crosses and statues of cradling angels,
Which stand in their long cemetary rows?
Stating each name of the one passed on with
There-on etched, too, the noting of time alive
And telling of the beloved, who hum there their slow laments;
Who send up colorful balloons to celebrate their love and
Take far their silent greetings in the sky.
Are they lullaby heartsongs, which
Rise on sprigs of heaven-bound light,
So tunefully sweet for love’s addressed, aided
By a league of angellic composers
In their lyrical rounds from above our earthly sphere?
Are these the places of our hushed sympathies?
The places we lay over our dear ones
All the broken pieces of the grieving heart’s still longing
To stay in some way forever near, and, so, we linger thoughtfully
Criss-crossing the undulating final verdigris
Landscape, which embraces the last remains ~
Resting on in heaven’s wait for that further journey going on.
Are these faint mists surrounding
So many hours of our own remaining days —
Which are spent summoning back the stories, the touches,
The eyes that happily cast their glance into our own —
Not truly our tears
Being turned to magnifying memories,
Prayerfully appearing with each
Dusk’s close of day and placid rise of the radiant moon?
Do see that the soundless falling is our aching?
Is a furor — burst of pure, white snow:
A flash of a blizzard, looking nearly weightless,
Landing in silence, but
Incongruously, falling heavily down, into those forming crystalline layers
To dress a seeming lace-like çover over all the stone markers
With a luminous beauty, revealing a metaphor, ineffable
~ Blessed markers of life itself set here before us
Within reach of meeting the Divine.
—————————————————————————————-
(c) sally young eslinger 6/5/2023
(Written for Jennifer Wilson & Maggie Hopkins in loving
Memory of James Hopkins, spouse, father, & friend) Also written with the inspiring power of images of the 9,000 marking gravestone crosses in Normandy, France, and sights of Arlington Cemetary, Washington, D.C.
Written to unaccompanied cello Suite 1 in G major, perfomer Yo Yo Ma
Thanks be to God…
Come to me O Ancient Ones
For I have missed you
Your presence fills me with
Light and joy
I hear you calling me in the night
Tendrils whispered
On the winds of time
I receive you with grace and humbleness
In awe of your spirit
Your keen glance says everything to me
I see into you...
All that you have been
Lifetimes of pain, evolution and
Ascension beckon me
Your winged form welcomes me
Carrying shamanic wisdom from realms revealed
Returning to carry me inward
To unimagined beauty
Towards the soul we all carry within us
That seeds, soothes and feeds
Our spirits
Your gifts unfold as I journey
To purple misty valleys
Surrounded with living mountains
Adorned with ancient relics
I am gifted with your knowledge
Of all things past
Being reborn in the now
Thank you for allowing me
To know what it means
To be truly human
Scars of woven life grace my body
My depth of consciousness is a gift
That allows me
To see the beauty in others
I reach my hands out to you .. all of you
Humans, animals, plants, and energy
To kiss you with my fingertips
For we are one
Energies of light stitched together
In such intricate grace
Gold cellular magnificence
Diamond heart beats that glisten on wave tips
Salty spray
Eyelashes dotted with sunrays
We are united in our humanness
Kissed by the goddess of the wind
Always and forever
In gratitude for this moment in time
Minerva’s child addressed Lycaons son;
“we owl and wolf are truly one”,
for air and earth guardians we be.
I come my brother from the trees,
to meet with you upon this hour,
for Gaia says she will empower
us for guarding wood and bower;
we are her chosen ones.
We’ll spread the word across water and land;
there’ll be a day of reckoning for man.
All flora and fauna must be prepared,
to defend themselves against man’s snares;
from the skies to earth, beneath,
of devastation we must bespeak,
and warn all life, watch other’s backs;
for spiritual consciousness, so many lack;
the time for action is now at hand.
Awaken all ye sleeping bands,
of field and forest, river and brook;
there’s no one to be overlooked.
Warn in time for them to hide,
including those within the tides.
Extinction bears a mournful cross;
every lost life is Gaia’s loss
and for her we now make a stand.
The trees agree to hide us all,
within the woods and forests shades;
and amid the caverns and caves.
Warn those who dwell to hide away.
from human vessels hold their sway;
to the deepest caverns beneath the sea,
swim there now...flee...flee!
Without us great Gaia ‘neath man’s hand will fall.
Nocturnal nerds now Priests of Power
Crank out the code grim and dour
Grimace and groan, grind it like stone
O, you miserable dim ones and zeroes
Bite your nails and pull out your hair
Finish that program ere the sun can stare
At your flushed cheeks and ghastly complexion
At the look on your face of utter dejection
Pop some speed, another amphetamine
Tap out binary digits, massage that machine
Pent up in your cubicle tight as a knot
The screen bristling with tension, electronic rot
Your brain's slowing down, your mind's in a fog
Your heart pounds ever-louder as onward you slog
Curse your damn curser and slam down your mouse
Your soul fairly screams: "Get out of this house!"
You come up for air and you shrink from the light
The daytime for you feels like darkness and blight
Back to your dungeon, where digits are heroes
Back to your miserable dim ones and zeroes
Submitted for "All Dim Ones and Zeros - Programming Contest"
Sponsor: Brahn Bailey