Best Relents Poems
A spike was driven deep in the earth
In a quest to find man's greed
Prodded and pricked the earth relents
As it slowly begins to bleed
The vein they found would suddenly burst
As it spewed its liquid gold
They tried to apply a tourniquet in vain
Only to make it explode
Its poison blood would cover the sea
And reach to the distant lands
But now it becomes a liquid death
Caused by man's own hands
The fish and birds would suffocate
From this sludge that covered the earth
The greed of man had come with a price
And death would count its worth
The tears of men could not wash away
The oil that the earth had cried
The greed of man now claims its victims
As the plants and the animals died
The silent dark encroaches
with another hollow night.
Old poets whisper sonnets
of love and sacrifice.
Her lips move to each arduous verse;
the emptiness advances.
Crescendos find their soaring crests.
A taunting shadow dances.
The moment lingers at a peak
then brings a slow descent.
And as the final stanza bows
her yearning heart relents.
Her memory finds his gentle face.
His voice resounds a vow.
And a quiet faith moves through her
expelling any doubt.
Soon her love will cross the sea;
his promises to keep.
Until that time, the poets sing
and soothe her soul to sleep.
I can’t help but wonder, about the blunder, of building a one room log cabin,
Where man and wife, lived a private life, ‘til kids became real, not imagined
With no partitions, or new additions, you’d think their sex life would run ashore.
But they both knew, how to make it through, by inventing a thing called the chore.
As each kid did sprout, pa had to go out, and think up a new job for the tot.
He soon realized, that for his farm’s size, there were more tots then jobs to be got.
And the matriarch, made the remark, that inside we plum ran out of space.
So they tried to rid, their house of kids, as fast as were made in the first place.
At last the last lad, made a nice lass glad, got married and had a grand party,
But pa had ma’s hind, right on his mind; they arrived at the party, tardy.
Well all went ok, until the sad day, when the old man’s life ran out of time.
And then poor ma, lost her chutzpah, plus the cabin exceeded its prime.
So ma did call, her last son Paul, asked if he knew what she should do then,
He said oh dear, I just moved here, and that we don’t even have a den.
But son relents, and acts the gent, there is space in one nook of our room.
If you feed cows, and all the sows, cause heck ma, I’ve got a new bride groom.
Written 1/22/13
I move like mercury
bobbing lightly
just under
the surface
of thought
I am the breeze
that caresses
the white-washed
linen curtain
whispering belief
that it can fly
I pacify the inevitable
until it relents
to the crack
of a new dawn
I kiss time until
the moments pass,
and embrace still
I am the space
between the end
and remembrance
of what is
I linger softly
just under
the moons glow
watching
I amuse my maker
as I taunt
between
love and hate
I am the breath
of the awakening
just at the moment
of revelation
radiant colors descend
and soothe slowly
washing judgment
into
rainbows of purity
I am the whisper
of hope
the promise of
possibility
in the endless
existence
of infinite space
As human beings, we are set a trust
Dominion over all such lesser things
Yet it's axiomatic that we turn to dust
The best of what our erudition brings
We take a fertile clay in hand to mold
The asseveration of our bright intents
To throw upon life's wheel and thus behold
The magic that our work and will relents
But much of what we strive for falls away
Our altruistic hopes and aims devoured
By all that glitters gold with glut and pay
The milk of our accomplishment so soured
Perhaps if we'd first taste that bitter cream
We'd shape a world more fit ... our childrens' dream.
~ 2nd Place ~ in the "Late April Standard Any Form" Poetry Contest, Brian Strand, Sponsor.
~ 2nd Place ~ in the "Triple A Challenge - 14 Lines Maximum" Poetry Contest, Robert Haigh, Sponsor.
January’s chill at last relents with the slant
of a Spring sun.
Winter’s secrets buried beneath the snow
hum your songs along rooftops,
across crystal threads,
beneath oceans apart
where clouds circle the mystery
of you
from powder grey to scarlet red ...
... where the universe skids on a cant
and rains your truth in petals strewn about a
solitary path.
And when I could not follow,
you left me
standing here
holding your crimson tears in my palm,
colours bleeding in the summer rain.
No bougainvillea here,
Wind and wave-tossed shores
Know no such blossom.
What blooms next stormy seas
In western outposts far removed,
Unknown to sun-soft living ?
When silken purple drapes
The open sky, and folds of grey
And pastel blue hang mingled,
Dark-mirrored in the land below,
The daily reckoning may be heard,
Another storm from off the ocean,
Or might the sombre grey dissolve,
Transformed with silvered promise
Of brighter lengthening days ?
For when the earth relents,
As now it surely must,
A universal sigh is breathed
Across the waiting dormant land.
As expectation stirs, the great unveiling.
A curtain raised upon a glorious stage,
As now the islands of the west
With wondrous spectacle are blessed.
To my mind, and for what it's worth,
The flowering of the machair
Is the greatest show on earth.
She walks through her garden of words
Choosing them carefully
She lays them all out leaving no doubt
The way it's supposed to be
All of her tears are standing in line
As she prepares to write
The darkness watches, and waits its turn
To hold her throughout the night
A sad song on her raido
Giving her tears their cue
The first one leaves finding her sleeves
As her pain starts breaking through
Her memories flooding her pen filled hand
She writes as fast as she can
Broken and mangled, her mind relents
Remembering her heartache again
Spilling her soul one drop at a time
She stumbles to her bed
Cleansing her mind, her words take their place
Knowing that all has been said
* For my grandson Makkie - my newest fishing buddy *
~
they …
are amazing creatures
with tiny little arms that stretch
inches, feet … miles -
they find you
no matter where you are or
what you’re doing
and their plump-fingered hands
reach right into you
clutch your heart
squeeze it
and say “you’re mine … for all time!”
and they never let go
not EVER …
they have a twinkle in their eye
that never relents -
not even in sadness or tears
and if you can manage to
coax a smile
it reminds you of just
where the sun gets its shine
and the moon, it’s glow …
their giggles are like
butterflies dancing across a
midday meadow
with a bounce and bliss that
makes you feel eternal
and a music as
gentle and sweet as any …
and their spirits -
indomitable delight and charm
a wisdom, untainted that
is lost over time
(convoluted by concern and struggle)
but with an insight that
is awarded to only the pure-of-heart …
everything they do -
everything they see and find -
is new and wondrous
and each lesson, learned slowly
constructs their personality
like soft clay being
shaped by the hand of experience
and hardened by maturity
there is no greater treasure in this world
than the gift of life
and nothing that carries it
as tenderly as a child -
joyful, exuberant, capricious
nothing is or could ever be
more precious a miracle
than …
they.
Copyright © Gregory Richard Barden, September 14, 2023
( this is a form I created called “Bookend Free Verse” )
Her tears fade the paper
As the ink begins to run
She'll find no peace inside her
Until her work is done
Her emotions hold her captive
As she writes with all her might
She struggles with her passion
Til late into the night
She has to tell her story
As she brushes away the stains
The poet keeps on writing
As her teardrops fall like rain
A heart that's once been broken
Will guide her skillful hand
She's writing from her emptyness
Hoping all will understand
She writes until she's hollow
Or her heartache finally relents
Her tears become her poetry
Each time the poet laments
This house has been set ablaze; ashes rain like snow,
covering what has become my deathbed.
A weighted blanket of ruins lies heavy upon my chest.
Laboured breaths and the taste of soot coat the back of my throat,
stifling oxygen from reaching the whites of enervated eyes.
Blue-tinted lips incoherently whisper, flirting with my demons,
living in purgatorial gloaming
whilst my spirit hovers between diminishing light and shadows.
Reality blurs, amalgamating with hallucinations
where demons dance in a macabre ballet,
reenacting repressed sorrows,
torturing an undead heart to the brink of insanity.
With each twirl, each act, tales of desperation are etched onto flesh.
Riverlets of blood stain the sheets bright red,
as tourniquets are nowhere to be found.
There is no way to halt the flow;
emotional instability will be my bloodletting.
Every second ticks by a little quicker
until each heartbeat grows fainter.
A clenched jaw relents,
eyes roll backwards,
and a damaged soul is severed from its mortal coil,
yet its fate is left undetermined,
flailing in the in-between forevermore.
Sky Father is angry this spring
Across the street, back and forth
Brother squirrel races
To fallen friends, unfortunate
In their travels
My tomato friends patiently
Wait, shelf-bound, at home depot
June 7th...
Finally, a break!
Stakes shived weeks ago
Hear me coming!
Welcoming their heirloom mates
Goliath, Black Krim, and Mortgage Lifters
All settle in, my hands busy
Remembering
Favorite herbs, Thai Basil, Lemon Thyme
And forgotten Sage, guard the
Corners
My bean pole teepee, long a
Staple of my garden
Still waits, for the soak
To settle
06/08/13
© All Rights Reserved
Battling Addiction
Lead me from the dark
Where all is black and stark
Lift me from the hollow
Give me rules to follow
Somehow I have slid away
And I can’t recall the day
Memory now is hard to find
All my hours are unkind
Will you feel the knife that twists
In the place where I exist
Where the demons do abide
And I have no place to hide
Come and look into my depths
Where the devil in me steps
Where I know the monster lies
Come and listen to my cries
Where I run from place to place
From the things I cannot face
To the solace of my friend
Who will kill me in the end
Will you step into my mind
There a jungle you will find
Shredded is my common sense
By the pain that ne’er relents
Once the demon took a hold
He became a thousand fold
Come and feel the terror deep
But no pity on me heap
All I shout from here within
Is to let my steps begin
Solemn is this day I mark
Come and lead me from the dark
R D Seal 26 Feb 13
In purple majesty now
The lignum vitae bloom
Across the arid plains
Moths and birds swim
Upon its rare perfume
And tourists stare
Upon the short and stocky tree
With rugged heart and strong roots
That suckle water from a droughted land
They look but do not understand
It is the symbol of the man.
My people up through rough times
Come laughing each new dawn
The wind blows them ragged
But never a sigh, they just go on
Without care for the world's rich things
Each little blessing is enough
To make the rugged heart sing
And as this tree, the national flower
Bloom beauty out of arid dust
My people bring productivity
From barren times
With only God to trust.
We are a model of the lignum vitae
A sustained strength
A permanent sanctuary of beauty
A happiness that never relents
Yet delicate in human caring
As each purple pannicle of flower
A Lignum vitae love
Drawing each separate goal into one:
O Jamaica, bloom forever.
There once was a Lass from up around Mass
Who ventured down south for some schoolin’
The boys were all giddy because she was so pretty,
But none caught the young lady’s fancy
Her suitors opined, but she was resigned
An old maid certain she’d be
Deep in her books, she gave none a look
But her grandpa weren’t without hope
Each day by the gates he stood with his hook
A young prince hoping to spy
No prince did appear, but against all fear
A gay minstrel did saunter by
Into the keep and down the main street
He passed in the blink of an eye
Off to the tower to find his fair flower
The bonny maiden he’d spotted afar
Our hero it seems was livin’ a dream
For crushed by the Ice Maiden he would certainly be
Onlookers wager the fool’s errand end
“Two Quid he’ll jump when she’s through with him!”
Onward he trod, his prize to hold
Journey at end and heart ever bold
“Come down to me!” he beckoned
The Ice Maiden unmoved
Outside her window, his love song to begin
Each day returnin’ to serenade again
Finally emergin’, the Ice Maiden relents
“Marry you will I, given one thing”
“Sing no more my love till the end of time,
For your tone deaf caterwaul drives me out of my mind.”