Best Parch Poems
The hands of June will soon scoop up this earth.
Her palms will gently cup sunlight and rain.
The wind, her fertile breath, will warm the eves,
yet here I’ll wake to feel her blush in vain.
Without my love, each star-filled night turns black.
At dawn, the sunlight breaks to blind my path.
My ashen heart will char as summer flames,
and flowing blood will parch in aftermath.
I ‘ve often heard of death by broken heart.
It seems that winter’s chill could hasten this,
but this oppressive heat has fueled my pain.
A frozen heart turned numb might feel like bliss.
The summer sun has slouched, the moon has gone,
but somehow through my grief, I carry on.
Written 5/29/20 for JCB Burl’s
A World Without You Contest
What a difference the sun makes,
All the flowers begin to show,
And the meadows we pass
Are full of lush green grass,
While all of Earth takes on a warm glow.
Yet we know rain is also needed
Or the meadows will parch and dry
And all the flowers that bloom
With their own sweet perfume
Will slowly wither and die.
So it is with the seed that is planted
Within the heart of us all.
Though it is tended with LOVE
Through God’s GRACE above,
He allows some rain to fall.
For it is tears that nurture compassion.
Gentleness can come out of pain.
For all the struggles we bear
Are to teach us to care
They’re all part of life’s pure refrain.
The earth is nourished by sunshine.
Yet rain replenishes it too.
For the earth to succeed
It is both that she’ll need
So nature provides her due.
Though in life we seek to be happy
Sorrow too must play it’s part,
For it is through tears that flow
A soul can blossom and grow
In the garden of the heart.
There was a season, precious was that time,
When you were my dawn of ebullient sunrise,
Song of my mornings, exuberance of spring,
Blossoming gleefully life’s verdant prairies
Whispering to dreamy nights hints romantic
Adorning love verses in indulgent promise.
As autumn arrived, you were still by my side,
Though vigor of hearts soon began to parch
As resplendence dried amid meadows’ sighs
When memories of spring autumn spurned
For music of romance was abruptly paused
And you left the stage as emotions stormed
Leaving behind effigy of affections denied.
There I struggled in turmoil of the bygones
Recalling forever-vows pledged for lifelong
Dissonant in your resolve~ time to exit now,
When rejecting my pleas, you were soon gone,
Refusing to ponder where did love go wrong.
Those days of spring still bloom my prairies,
Your passionate themes still blossom my dreams,
Though you have left and time has moved on
I am still holding on to reveries of our past
Knowing, at times, while love may not last,
It still strums the music and recites its song.
October 25, 2022
Placed 1st: Inspired By a Song-Once There Was A love
Poetry Contest; Sponsor: JCB Burl
Dust dry winds that leech and parch,
Skeletal soldiers that endlessly march
O'er barren sand and rocky crest,
Examples of nature's cruel jest.
Plants that bristle with vicious quills;
A land that teems with ancient ills.
Cursed and blighted by gods unknown;
Loved by bandits and rogues alone.
Loneliness that echoes the land's bleak need;
A cancer that grows like an unholy seed.
Twisted remnants from an age long past;
Memories linger, but nothing lasts.
Broken spires and crumbling sand;
Fading ruins on every hand
Of once proud cities gathering dust;
Abandoned dreams now choked with rust.
Shadowed lands now harsh and bleak;
Drained of life, of decay they reek.
Blistering heat to sear and scorch;
A land benighted, the sun its torch.
Mountains loom high on every hand;
Timeless sentinels o'er the broken land.
Yet in this desolate, deserted place,
Life yet lingers, if only a trace.
Lizards, snakes, and scorpions abound;
Cactus blooms and birds give sound.
Reminders to all that life will live,
And survive on whatever nature will give.
A wasteland it is, and yet it is more;
For it harbors secrets of forgotten lore.
Lessons of serenity, hope, and trust;
Covered in blankets of alkaline dust.
When playing desert golf I parch easy
Which then means I don’t get pars easy
So when I am done
I hide from the sun
And play eighteen whole games of Parcheesi
Racing the oval of tide
Watching the sun and moon collide
Riding on horses in the oval of fate
Saddling on courses in the ring of slate
Horses in breeds of colors and shade
Forces in creeds of odors and glade
Mares and lasses of cold and wintry grounds
Grasses and races on parch, dusty mounds
Sun speaks of myths and bounds of horses' blether
Moon tweaks on blithes and squally weather
Sun and moon are light and dark horses
Scuttling, bustling in many races
Sprinting is a long distance course
Glinting and weltering without remorse
Humans breathe as horses, treading and running with reins
Born to win in the oval... praying, striving with strong veins!
Monologue of loneliness
Do I still look like a man my dearest?
When I seek a bit of life and soul prays into orphan seasons
Could you paint the light of my eyes that parch?
Why you remake my soul in the loneliness of monotone mosaic?
Can you touch a light or the sun above my black darkness?
I try to hide the pain and you plant only love
Do I look like a shadow or a ghost when I suffer and breathe Albanian?
I cry and smile, fall and wound, but love over and over again
My spirit faltered once again, on the landing of the stair
Each step would lead me further still, from yesterday and you
I forced myself to walk awhile, and savor morning air
While hoping I could clear my head and take a breath or two
I did not wander out too long to watch the golden strand
Of sunlight warm the distant hills. It held a sense of calm
The landscape that surrounded me, I knew like my own hand,
Was holding heartache, and my faith, so gently in its palm
The rim of light behind the hills, and as so well it should,
Had come before the moon took rest, they both claimed separate skies
Of course the time was running out, and yes, we knew it would
While silent hopes were found, then lost, within dark circled eyes
A long night spent of holding on, of letting go the hours
Our whispered love in increments, unspoken farewell words
Sought fragile woven memories, so held as tender flowers.
To treasure after dawn would bring tomorrow's lonely birds
So, up the stairs I'd climb once more, to hold a sleeping hand
It wasn't long before the sun reclaimed the summer skies
One moment watching flowers fade, would parch the golden land
But tomorrow comes with butterflies. Against the sun, they'll rise
_______________________________________________________
For Brian Strand's Contest: FEB 2018 STANDARD CONTEST,ANY FORM OR NONE,ANY THEME UPTO MAX OF 20 lines
(Rhyme Scheme abab)
BE
Be like the rain
that moistens the parch land
and revives the earth
Be like the wind
that blows gently on hot days
and gives comfort
Be like the water
that quenches thirst
and brings relief
Be like the sun
that brightens the day
after the night
Be like the ocean
vast and limitless
and deep
Be like the sky
wide, open
and unbounded
Be like the moon
that glows with beauty
Be like the star
that sparkles brightly
Be like the season
that brings color
and leaves a beautiful memory
The thousands of words pain of imagination which improvised the parch of life to itchy sky, the foods is mudslides to the sadden caskets of corpses lying unattended, in the morning where they monitored to acidic
The ceramic of thoughts parches of imagination group of fact finding gluing by the fire exchanging stories, history of lives so fresh in their memories like the vultures covering the cloud of helmed of fathers.
Now the ends of Ebola to new era of mountains of nightmare hiccup of the hills and valleys at the center of cry, the shadow of death dubious actions
Invitation of mourners lining up, water meant to entertain throats shining drink that cuts the trunks of trees and swept mud rolled down to the true generation of tomorrow to basement of fallen heroes to the feeling of lofty debris of death.
The nation shaded their only treasures to the rubble of hills granites of pillows, the rapture of once called city of our own to the leak of the sky cloud of corpses waiting for identification to sound of euphemism to insignia on their faces
The media molested the dignity of our nation pride to the fence showing the world the pain was buried down to the earth, the name they painted pictures cloud of degrading your neighbour to the media dilute of understanding and lack of online etiquette and allotment shame on you.
Buried in the shape of valley swallowed by Cinderella of waves, banged the hope mama ‘Salone’ draining to the drench to the hope of nation to naught swirl rivers of cry tantamount billions memories hijacked the love of one another to anoint bodies lying down to brink of calls that never been answered by the valley of Regent shroud to plastic bags.
I gulp a flame of desire
At the sight of your ecclesiastical attire
Being proxy for a pacifier
That elicits a comfort for my quagmire
Your smile, your smile
A sun in a darkened profile
A moon that illuminates the eventide.
Oh lily of the while
You let your movement twist my writing style
And your utterances, parch my bile
Your cheek,
Comely and with a perfect sleek
It brings forth my devotion like to a holy week
My arteries gape and tweak...
When your eyes greet my eyes in streak
And I feel your eyes can unbend an oblique
When you call my name, l inhale peace
Right from the direction of your sheen anatomical masterpiece.
It flows into my centrepiece
And makes me say "how I need this! "
This aura of hightened affection
Induces my heart's rhythm section
My pulse beats to the sequence of your rock n' roll session
Your complexion,
Makes me want to have no objection
To any of your imperfection
But to uphold your perfection
Your entirety is graced
Euphoric and grippingly fun-aced
Your pulchritude is emphatically embraced
And your probity, well showcased
Appeals to my aftertaste
Once have you spoken, twice have I heard
Like you stole the password
Securing my ghost word
From where I will fangle your byword
Please don't make it your watchword
Rather let us build on the foreword
Millenniums have I traversed through mists and thunder
Hovering above volcanoes, stretching through sea-caves
My passionate trips surfaced along the meander
Of mountain ridges, swaying like a marooned slave
My autumnal greenness suffered a parch
In the days of searing summer pretty much
During winter the swirling wind laid me astray
Summer again to turn me green from grey
Suffering from others’ pains I writhed
The days of intense agony were built
The confounding rays of sun made me swoon
Was I born again? Was it nature’s boon?
Today I look up at the distant Sun
Covertly content; I have made my run
So very many amazing things
beauty of life tugs at heartstrings
the height a man can reach to
and glory when the gifts are true
Submission to the voices call
spectrum of talents given to all
a measure of each within it’s presence
remarkable joy in their pleasance
My Lord beneath you I bow
prostrate myself the view me allow
with praise for the knowledge I see
bounteous is the perception that be
Indwelling mankind genius you shower
capacity for splendor that you empower
Voices lifted to you in praise
that endow us grandeur within our days
Articulation of an heavenly song
woven tapestry whose fabric is strong
sculpture divested the works of hands
magnificent music produced in the lands
The filigree of crowns in artifice
in every skill produces things nice
who among us will credit you
that as children copy what you do
With lightening you so us inspire
and draw upon our inner desire
amongst the rocks and stones we gather
searching for life and loves that matter
Like a seamstress who gathers dreams
stitched together in close knit seams
clothing us in royal vesture
a grace given by your gesture
An architect who builds dream homes
music of heart practiced by tones
in gardens where rainbows live
diversity of presents in man you give
Sometimes I look at man and see your face
you build those who recognize your grace
little pieces of joy in such empty space
and so many have lost it’s trace
The adversary seeks to leave us dry
to dam the waters from our sky
and parch the land of God’s vision
to hold us all in his derision
COPYRIGHT © 2009 C. Michael Miller
via Duboff Law Group LLC
As Love Dies
How did the amber of emotions lapse?
When did the bleakness of romance have to parch?
For the life that your love made me feel
Has oozed through a space that time can't cure.
The maim clamour of birth for our love.
Our bodies were so bound that each parting would hurt.
As we planned the fantasy of love and a life we would share.
To which nature only dust off a dream that's not there.
The body of feelings took shape with our breath,
But now all this beauty will suffer its death.
A pain full of sorrow is being brewed within my weak heart,
As the life of our love and our romance grew dim.
When did the steam of emotions elude us?
My heart was the rich oil mine but now protracted to the bankruptcy of love.
I can not hold it anymore as I break into tears while the love we had faded away.
It was the time of Hadrian
18 years old, became a man
Said, goodbye to those back there
Left, became a legionnaire
Bade farewell to all at home
Serve and protect the gates of Rome
Became a mason, built the way
The mighty army will not sway
Joined into the conturbenium
With seven other new fresh men
A fighting unit, proud of Rome
Eight young men who just left home
This was to be my family
This was to be my destiny
To live as one and share a tent
Become as one, become cement
Intense training with full kit march
With hunger pang and thirst of parch
The Roman army life is tough
The food and water just enough
Hunger for food, hunger for kill
Hunger for war with well taught skill
Off to battle, the time has come
The Roman legions all as one
The enemy in all their hordes
Shall feel the wrath of Roman swords
Pigs head formation, shields high
Sword at arm length, points to the sky
Edge towards the enemy line
Take his life or he takes mine
The ballista's placed in tactical zones
Begin to hurl their heavy stones
Which crush the foe, create panic
The enemy have met their satanic
The line is broke, the army through
Heads have rolled, blood has spew
The heat, the gore, the screams, the pain
As swords slash flesh and flesh again
Some try to flee, its far to late
The enemy slain at Rome's great gate
A message sent out to one and all
Try and take Rome and you will fall.