Best Parching Poems
Upon the arc rises familiar visage of tenebrous dawn
As birdsongs protest, yet another day gone wrong,
In anguish of emptiness thrashing~ stygian, forlorn,
Screaming relentlessly of despondent, indignant void
Blasting his emotions, clasped in poignant thoughts.
Nothingness was the theme of his darkened night
That brazenly shrouded luminance of starlit skies,
As the waxing moon turned pallid, refusing to shine
And benevolence of Venus dolefully uttered a sigh
When dreams, too, acceded to nightmares’ assault.
Life has been a long journey, trekking hills of misery
In hollow pursuit of hope, always despaired trying~
Every forward step of progress unresponsive, lacking
To rescue him from oblivion, from gravity of abyss,
Where silence echoes fear, warning there is no exit.
He knows intimately, she too feels dread of anxiety:
Of ocean-storms unseasonably rushing summer heat,
Parching her delicate notions of blossoming spring,
Of harsh winters encroaching on her autumns fiercely;
Yet, she stands steadfastly, defying the curse of grief.
Prodding goodwill of divinity she tolls bells of harmony
Giving voice and meaning to life’s reassuring feelings
Clamoring for a day to brighten halo of their morning,
Demanding relief; with her clenched fists at the ready…
Forever, if it takes that long, to alter path of destiny.
December 20, 2021
Poem of the day on December 22, 2021
Placed 1st: Pick-A-Title, Vol 27 Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Edward Ibeh
Title: A Shout Into The Void
Categories:
parching, anxiety, emotions, life, stress,
Form:
Verse
Autumn delights sporting red dye
Painting meadows in crimson themes
Charming thrills of amorous dreams.
Where parching breaths of maple sigh
Zephyrs groove lilting amber breeze
Swaying rhythms of colorful trees.
How season’s golden passions vie
Waltzing glamor of stolen glance
As leaves chromatic whirl, and dance.
Sights lovesome gazing sapphire sky
Frolic with stars of moonlit night
Lauding sparkles of twinkles bright.
Hoisting desires of romance high
Venus smiles gawking lovers kiss
Boosting tempo of autumn's bliss.
Autumn delights sporting red dye
Where parching breaths of maple sigh,
How season’s golden passions vie
Sights lovesome gazing sapphire sky
Hoisting desires of romance high.
Categories:
parching, autumn, emotions, imagery,
Form:
Rhyme
My evening sky glints motifs gold
In orange vibes turned ruby bold
Glowing remnants of shining snow
Where pewter winds merrily blow
Swirling imprints of amber glaze
Bending hues of setting sun rays
Prairies sway season’s dreaded hold
Wailing in grief, as blossoms fold,
For fallen leaves and wintry woe
That shudders trees in frosted throe
While browning pastures cattle graze
Where foothills gleam in twilight haze
When fervor yawns in dreary mold
And garden sighs of parching cold
Pine trees, ebullient, dance in row
Enchanting hearts in nature’s show
While ogling the stars passions blaze
As romance blooms in moonlit gaze
On horizon mauve dreams unfold
Where blush of morn lovers behold
Greeting November's scarlet glow
That tawny dawn's sunbeams bestow
Glistening face of shortened days
Wooing warmth in autumn's malaise
Written: November 26, 2020
Submitted on October 26, 2022 to:
2022 Poetry Marathon Mile 18 Poetry Contest
Placed 1st: Lay November Poetry Contest
Sponsor: William Kekaula
Eight syllables per line (howmanysyllables.com)
Categories:
parching, eve, morning, november, seasons,
Form:
Lay
I'm but a pilgrim in this land,
Where, wearily, I roam.
My homeland sweetly beckons,
And I will soon be going home.
Yes, someday soon I shall embark
Upon my homeward flight,
To a place of never ending day,
A land that knows no night.
Where meadow grass is sweet and green,
I'll lay me down to rest.
Where wildflowers in profusion bloom,
In that garden of the blest.
No clouds of fear will trouble me,
For Christ, the heavenly Dove,
Will gently rock my soul to sleep,
In the cradle of His love.
There at that crystal fountainhead,
Where living waters flow,
My parching soul will be refreshed,
No thirst again to know.
And at my Father's table
I'll feast forevermore,
Upon the living Bread of Life:
The LORD, whom I adore.
Categories:
parching, devotion, inspirational, life, peace,
Form:
Lifeless shiver the decaying meadows
Where blizzards of winter exact a toll,
Freezing foliage in autumnal throes;
Dimming ambitions of parching knoll.
Golden beams glimmer dreams of dawn
Soothing miseries of trembling night,
Now that splendorous autumn is gone,
Sprinkling delight on withering blight.
Season of snows flaunts nature aglow
Where rivers freeze, struggle to flow,
Prairies enliven, donning falling snow;
While mountaintops adorn glacial glow.
January 14, 2023
Placed 2nd: 12 Lines of Rhyme-Winter Nature Themed
Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Tania Kitchin
Categories:
parching, nature, snow, winter,
Form:
Rhyme
I shall not fear of parching for your drop or two is enough
Even a tear would quench more than my lip, my soul
Cry me thrice, laugh me once
Leap more, tiptoe less
Break this earthen vessel if you wish
Just don’t leave a love song behind
For it will just maim a hollow tune
Like a broken violin in incandescent moon
Or a lone shell perpetually humming
The melody of his unmet clam or hermit.
Categories:
parching, love, sad, me,
Form:
Verse
Red leaves cowardly fall from trees like arrogant men
The powerful wind creeps up steadily scattering them on battered ground
While caretakers gather them into bags and empty them into garbage cans.
The giant trees still hold their composure waiting for the winter band
Autumn chills and winter spills engraved in the soul of every man
Telling us that life is entering another round and hope is still alive.
It has been a miserable year casting doubt and myriad fear
The summer season could not stand up to the parching sun
Events after events stirring up the summer heat but now autumn is here
Blowing away the evil dust making way for the winter crust.
I drove out in the wee hours of the morning and penetrated the clear blue sky
I saw millions of shining stars embedded in the dancing blue sky smiling merrily at me
And the cool autumn morning whispering songs of praise emitting sparkling delight.
I long to wake up to the day when the grumbling and contention will cease
The war will be completed and mankind will be at peace
I longed for the day when families will reunite and communities will come together
I yearn for the day when countries will be delivered and enjoy lasting peace with their neighbors.
The seasons embrace life’s abundance
The seasons empowers pinnacles of hope
The seasons with its multitude of stars secured in the deep blue sky
And the red leaves scattered on the ground is a testament
That autumn will bring new joy and stunning changes all around.
©2014 Christine Phillips
Categories:
parching, autumn, earth, growth, hope,
Form:
Free verse
The crimson moon bawls on his flight
Doleful to be condemned to night
His samba partner teems with life
Yet he hangs listless filled with strife
Whilst craters pock his dusty face
Her smooth profile glows soft with grace
Waves splash coyly along her skin
As parching drought afflicts the twin
Halo membranes caress her soul
While he claims little to extol
He’s locked away from that embrace
Like a buckle upon her waist
Sequestered on his lofty perch
He ponders how to end his lurch
He tries to shake his mantle free
So he can float with meek debris
Just as he starts to drift away
He hears whispers begin to play
Prayers hailing romance twist his ear
Until he melts away from fear
Maybe those folks below can see
Just how lonely the moon can be
Words purify to help him heal
His love for her shall make him real
Categories:
parching, devotion, life, naturemoon,
Form:
Couplet
The Faeries Are Still Outside
Trying to cheer a garden up from the clay,
But the crabgrass won’t part
And the trees are snickering
At the art-
Less way the faeries
Sway while chanting,
Casting their spells—
Such an untalented group!
Out of tune, with
Too often the lyric,
“wha’ ta’ we all do?”
Stuck in a measureless breath
And beyond any rhyming lure to
The sprouts for any wanting to grow!
Wise, the trees lean, whining,
Slow whispers that, “
The faeries should go!
Back to their wizards
For more lessons in garden growth. “
The aged trees are exasperated; after all,
There’s little more to it
Than spreading the
Spell of encouragement, because
The sun and earth are already there prepared
For the growing…
So the trees advise,
“Raise ye’ stems around us trees.
We’ll keep the winds
From blowin’ ye’ over!
And keep the sun from
Parching your leaves.
We’ll sing lullabies to the herbs,
“Hush a-bye lurra lu,
Rest now your intake of green.
Be doodle-ye-do get ye’ ready
For droplets of dew
Diddle-eye-done
Dew comes after your dreams
Along with the rise up of the sun.”
Then the trees applauded
Among themselves, promising
That as soon as
The garden grew a bit,
The trees would tell all those little plants
Just how Spirit
Lives inside their stems, their flowers and leaves,
Where the spells of the faeries cannot reside…but,
“Deed le-dee see la so sigh.” Fine,
Let the spells be sung.
“‘Tis a task the faeries prize,” and who knows if it won’t
Help the clay to crack,
“Fiddle diddle perhaps a fact!”
——————————————-
(C) sally young Eslinger 9/30/21
Thanks be to God
Categories:
parching, fantasy, fun, garden, humor,
Form:
Rhyme
Dust Bowl
Dust sifted through the dry wooden slats of the now empty homes. No sunrise serenade nor rustle of flowing wheat greeted the parching sunrise. Footprints long erased, carried on the wind of arid dreams, mistakes that scarred both hearts and soil.
no sustenance here
greed’s empty bowl of dust
bent sunflowers mourn
John G. Lawless
7/12/2015
Categories:
parching, environment, history, natural disasters,
Form:
Haibun
‘Water’ seems a fitting title
of this rhyme on something vital
for the beings we take care of
and the others we’re aware of.
Life on Earth depends on water,
whether human or sea otter,
fish or fowl, whatever creatures
having some subsistence features.
Water may have been existent
in archaic ages distant
long before we tend to think—
even water that we drink.
Yet when in our galactic history
it was formed has been a mystery…
The researchers have debated
as to if it could be stated
that this liquid can be dated
back to when it’s been related
there was a disk of gas and dust
and molecules that were a must
for water that originated
when our ‘system’ was created
(namely, ‘solar’, where we’re fated)…
Or might it be more antiquated?!
Could we trace to outer space
the genesis that took place
of the water in our glass?
If indeed this came to pass,
it would open up new queries,
not to mention E.T. theories…
But that’s within the jurisdiction
of those who compose science fiction.
Many scientists have avowed
that from the Sun’s parental cloud
of interstellar dust and gas,
from which our star derived its mass,
water, well, to be precise,
water in the form of ice
was inherited there and then,
in that olden where and when…
Some astronomers theorize
that what we may not realize
is up to half the H2O
within the oceans that we know
right here on Planet Earth could be,
yes, older than the Sun we see
illuminating from on high,
in daylight’s path across the sky,
our frets and frolics down below,
where heedlessly we come and go…
Water and life go hand in hand,
from briny deep to wooded land.
In the mariner’s rhyming tale,
all the winds at sea did fail,
and the sailors lives were lost—
the idle ship was merely tossed
as if on a painted ocean,
painted ship, devoid of motion.
There was water ‘every where’,
Coleridge says, except that there
was none to quench their parching thirst;
so the voyage seemed doubly cursed.
Water is such precious stuff!
Do we value it enough?
Oh, may there never come a time
(as in that famous rhyming rime)
when as to water here on Earth—
where mortals meet their death and birth—
we too will ever need to think
that there is not a drop to drink!
~ Harley White
Categories:
parching, earth, environment, life, nature,
Form:
Rhyme
THE DREAM LIVES ON
I shall arise and drive forward
The future is not tomorrow
Today is all I have.
I hunger for progress,
Living in this world of contrasts,
The young and the old despair
I shall arise and drive forward.
I relish the beauty in the present
Moment that promises the holiness
Of life now and in the moment of finality
The future is not tomorrow
Today is all I have.
My heart craves for satisfaction,
Of the parching thirst desert like
A light in the tunnel of my life’s travels
To meet with the dream of my creation
Today is all I have.
The elder’s coals are in embers
The desert nights are snowy
Desire to warm myself
With the fire from those ahead of us
I shall arise and drive forward.
With embers gone comes new fire
New wine in new wine skins
We birth a new source, new warmth
Aiding us to start new journeys
Meet with pilgrims from afar
Today is all I have.
This fierce dream defies the law
Of death, does it rise again?
Like a phoenix from the embers
Of deadened living in this world of contrast.
The dream lives on.
By MOONGA NSAMU
©March 2012
Categories:
parching, hope, world, dream, dream,
Form:
Lay
I can hear Thermopylae beckoning me upon my return
Leonidas’ voice calls me forward to battle with hardened pride
Time’s grains shifting bellowing out the past I have lived
And I am of that past…I can touch the echoes of who I was
I remember the summers heat as we marched to battle
Laughing in the parching dusts as brothers-in-arms often do
Praying to the gods for a cool Aegean zephyr
To dissolve my fears of the impending battle…death
But why now does my ancient king demand of me?
Why do the hoplites summon me by banging shield and spear?
I hold at the moment of entering that mountain pass
Marveling upon these memories of someone past…of me
Stepping forward I can see the army of Xerxes pride
In the shadow of King Leonidas crying “Molon Labe!”
Do I allow this ancient knowledge to lead me forward?
Or file it away dismissing it as incidence or moments chance
A moment’s time I see the battle unfold as waves of Persians push
Washing over and falling back over my fallen broken brothers
I bid goodbye to retreating men as they go to rally the Pelleponese
Leaving we…the 300 champions to perish in honored glory
As I trace the steps I have trodden in centuries long forgotten
I am a part of all things divinely made by the god’s hands
Weeping for my brothers whose tender faces I don’t recall
I stand in the grandeur of Thermopylae.
Historical Note:
The battle of Thermopylae (also know as The Hot Gates) was pivotal in the
worlds history. The group of Spartans, Theban, and allies held off the Armies of
Persian King Xerxes long enough for Greece to rally an army of its own and
defeat the persians. Those who went to Thermopylae knew it was a suicide
mission. Also, the words "MOLON LABE", were the words King Leonidas of
Sparta replied, when Xerxes demanded their arms in surrender...it
means "Come and
take them".
Categories:
parching, introspection, life, people, time,
Form:
Free verse
What is it like to live in a desert-
Bereft of those pleasures of life
That cannot be found in a desert?
You got me thinking of dear life
In the barren sands of the desert
You got me thinking of dear life
You got me thinking of sand dunes
The fighting claws of the desert
You got me thinking of sand dunes
You got me thinking of camels
The lonely ships of the desert
You got me thinking of camels
You got me thinking of the oases
The craggy fountains of the desert
You got me thinking of the oases
You got me thinking of dates
The sweet dates of the desert
You got me thinking of dates
But with the onset of the harmattan
The parching hot winds of the desert
I cannot but think of dear Manhattan.
Categories:
parching, longing, new york,
Form:
Free verse
A bead of water glistens on my palm
As I stepped on watery fields of sadness,
I’ m dying, like a flower.
That longing for a little falls of rain.
frozen inside,
I could hardly breathe
bring me to life
let you be my strength in the odd that never ends.
As I touched the sky, I see, the angels smile.
But my wings are broken,
I am fallen.
My soul is tracking against the wind
I can’t fly.
I’ am drowning in the ocean of tears.
Just like broken dreams.
That is turned into pieces.
My voice echoed on the silence of a sea.
My throat is parching.
No words slip on my lips.
Even the wind can’t hear my mournful grief.
A tuneful poem that I am trying to sing,
But nobody wants to listen.
Bring me to life
Let you be my voice in this world of deaf.
My heart melts
like a candle, soften under the sun.
My body shivers as I glance at the doom
A dark shadow surrounded on me.
Here, I am seeking for the light I wanted to see
I was so blind
bring me to life
be the light as the sun rises on east.
Categories:
parching, hope, life, me, light,
Form:
Free verse