Best Reminiscences Poems
Snowing tonight ~ whispering, luminescent, dazzling,
Air misty, heavy ~ wind calm, serene,
Sights outside blurred, indistinct through the hazy window glasses,
Rooftops getting blanketed with white laces ~
A picturesque winter wonderland,
Treetops embellished with silver ornaments,
grasses caressed by soft touches of snow,
My heart is with you,
Craving for the profound tenderness of your company ~
If only you knew.
At the first demure light of dawn, open my eyes,
It's only you I think of.
In between numerous mundane chores,
Multitude of unavoidable responsibilities,
Hours of running meaningless errands,
I ponder about you.
At the end of an arduous day, before retiring to bed,
who fills my heart with magical dreams?
You ~ and the twinkle of your eyes ~
If only you knew!
So far away, exuberantly exploring unfamiliar countries,
You are immersed, building a meaningfully bright future,
Surrounded by charming delightful folks,
Sometimes a mysterious dream may wake you up at midnight,
You wonder why!
I write and write, pour my deepest thoughts,
My innermost hopes and desires, pains and agony,
Spend sleepless nights until my eyelids droop in slumber ~
If only you knew!
October 25, 2020
For "If Only You Knew" Contest (Second Place)
Sponsor: Silent One
Categories:
reminiscences, longing, love,
Form:
Lyric
dad you unrolled the hose in the late afternoon
when venus slips by the moon,
fresh water for cemetery cypress,
green monster in the middle of the yard,
then I see you smoking carelessly among the plants,
the spiraling smoke rising to the sky,
police cars chase what they can on the avenue,
while motorcycles hum jovially,
the music playing on his cell phone has nothing to do with it,
it is almost funereal like the cypress
and produces the ghosts that come out of the speaker,
the abandoned house next to ours,
welcome one by one these hauntings,
was a place of sacrifices,
and received black goats on Fridays,
there was singing into the night,
people in white danced their tropical pagan cult,
when they moved away the silence seemed like angels,
sanitizing the structures,
but today through the broken windows,
the wind sings a litany,
with a taste of heresy and abandonment,
the ghosts dance and disappear into nevermore,
as if taking away those who have already died,
and the dead that we will also be,
this is a dreary late afternoon father,
you collect the hose and disappear inside our house,
always worried about the bills to pay,
I'm surrounded by little stars in the sky,
they draw in light an erratic pattern,
like a surrealist pentagram,
and there is a frightening cypress,
a ghost house next to me,
the only thing that saves me from being raptured
by the ambiguous feeling of fear and curiosity
is the voice of my angry mother,
Come have dinner you idiot!
and I obey running toward the secure dining table.
when I grow up,
I will be this mix of coward and trailblazer.
Categories:
reminiscences, growing up,
Form:
Free verse
Listen closely to the wind's softest hum
It gently caresses and touches my hair,
Sweet scent of jasmine it brings from afar
Together with ambrosial fragrance of roses,
Every sense-bud in my body feels serene
Not a single feeling forgetfully untouched.
Tantalize my soul, hypnotize my heart
O soothing wind, you make me yearn for days gone by!
True emotions sway through reminiscences,
Heal pain and sadness magically, calm
Every chord of an aching hurting soul.
Wind, you whisper and murmur a tale so poignant
In harmony with a river's rippling sound,
Nostalgia envelopes my total existence
Dive with an ardour into retrospection.
Categories:
reminiscences, memory, nostalgia,
Form:
Acrostic
REMINISCENCES OF A DINOSAUR
Nothing really changes; each one thinks himself
Slightly better than others of similar type :
“Oh, he’s too fat ; she’s gonna be left on the shelf”. . . . .
I hear all this daily and it’s just hype.
“He’s a bit of a dinosaur” -- an insult to his ears --
To show inability to modernize the way he thinks.
Yet the dinos ruled supreme for a hundred mill years
Humans for less than a million -- couple o’ blinks
And another thing, dinos had feelings of superiority too
They were just as human as you and me
They probably used to stand around saying “It’s true,
He’s a bit of an invertebrate” -- as an insult (the same, you see?)
I dunno, but invertebrates probably in turn felt mellow
By referring to their forebears, and then
Mocked disparagingly at some inferior fellow
As “a bit of a plant” or “one of the amoeba men”
Categories:
reminiscences, funny,
Form:
Quatrain
Summer days, meals-a-plenty,
Mystical playmates gathering gently
their wares to return another day to
share again in magnified dreams of elegant castles,
Caught on unknown cliffs
with vast green expanses celebrating life,
play, intrigue, and fun!
Days fly, nights fly,
Everyday I try
to keep light touches of
Years gone by to amplify,
My present thoughts of why
these scenes are nigh;
Enshrouded in tulle-like coverings
projecting childhood images,
Leaving the mind clear,
focused on the unimaginable
of long winters leading to opulent springs!
Categories:
reminiscences, childhood, memory,
Form:
Free verse
"recently scenes of early life have stolen into my mind, like breezes blown ..."
Quote by _Samuel Taylor Coleridge (from his writings)
Spring whispering through sunlight and hope
Plowing rich soil in rows – dirt awaiting tender seeds
Beginnings of lettuce, corn, tomatoes, cantaloupe
Breeze kissing cheeks, soft caress supplying needs
Promise of blessings raining down through the haze
Warming prayers on gentle hearts who God reads
Mild brown eyes from a cow whose milk will amaze
Sensitive to my Pa’s urgent nudge, liquid streams out
Enriching the spirits and nourishing calves who graze
Chickens peck the powdery dust sprinkled with doubt
Worms and slugs bring sustenance to the hesitant beaks
Roosters bide their time in the barn awaiting a handout
Seasons fall over the farm like an old quilt, thawing weeks
With joy that only comes to the one whose memory of home
Is like a vibrant painting splattered with tender, rosy cheeks
Breathless landscapes spoken into life by feelings who roam
The silence with songs of praise and beautiful rays of inspiration
Daring the dreams to believe and hearts to savor the honeycomb
Life on the farm is a wonderful world that brings great elation
It was here, on my Grandparent’s farm – that was my foundation
Writing Challenge - Past Memories - ''T'' Forms Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Constance La France
October 11, 2022
Categories:
reminiscences, animal, beautiful, childhood, farm,
Form:
Terza Rima
In grey zones of my cerebral hemisphere lies
A wild village almost buried under debris of
bygone years.And in the mozaic of my memory
stands adamant ahouse with clay walls old,
unrenovated,visible from its windows unending
stretch of wilderness-Long winter nights spent
under its roof listening to the elegiac notes
of howling jackals,shepherds'huts in vicinity
Their hounds vigilantly guarding goats from
ravenous wolves,rain pouring menacingly,ceiling
oozing and cowdung-coated floors getting damp
Today inhabiting an industrial desert,dwelling
a company quarter with amenities makes difference
With fragrance of life missing
Categories:
reminiscences, inspirational, nostalgia, philosophy,
Form:
Free verse
Do Thou carry some magic wand
Upon Thy invisible hand?
Which You wave and memories flood
Like myriad waves which sweep the sand.
A sweet sojourn before You flee
Dousing me with a joyous glee
Yet more often You leave me sad
My heart beset with grievous plea.
These turns you take with good and bad
Of what I shared and what I had,
All that lost in my halcyon days
Which leave me wiser but not glad.
Sometimes I wish that I would know
Whether You’re a friend or a foe?
Such thoughts play like the sea-waves do
With sands upon the gentle shore.
But I know not what I would do
As at times I have not a clue,
How to humour my passing days
Sans colours of your mystic hue.
***********
Categories:
reminiscences, memory, time,
Form:
Rubaiyat
In a dream of bare, I awoke
In the blared walls, it misspoke
The winds of Auria eluded in the cascading windows which then provoked
Envisions of Auria descended through the glistening saint
Without a flair, I discerned a haint
Auria wandered in a stage of fright,
Meanwhile, invading my dreams of spite
Her nebulous words echoed in my mind
‘What a faint creature, so misled by fracture’
They mellowed as it prospected my perceptions
As she posited her hand on my exceptions
Envisions of Auria repulsed its regressions
She was my fate of progression
She rehashed my reflections
A memory of infliction
She wandered off into a glistening spade
Relinquishing her jades
I scrutinized her windows of glade
I lingered against her pallid hair
Then, woke up in tedious wear
‘Auria, a lady of fate, yet dart of spade’
Such assimilation wandered in the glistering gape
My thoughts were so heavy, yet so light, though seemed rather bright
They were my reminiscences of Auria”
Categories:
reminiscences, absence, allusion, angel, confidence,
Form:
Haibun
Whenever I remember that God sees me groaning in pain
Languishing in gloom, ruled by misery that has me slain
Earnestly hoping for His miracle to gain...
I thank Him for inviting me to immerse myself in His loving domain!
Whenever I remember that God hears me crying for divine support
Excruciating with my downfall’s hurts along shame’s discomfort
Sorrowfully begging for His help, my ultimate resort...
I thank Him for leading me to kneel humbly before His gracious fort!
Whenever I remember that God knows me needing for urgent care
Beseeching for His assured welfare due to discontentment’s scare
Desperately longing for His promises I treat as rare...
I thank Him for bringing me to His throne of blessings' share!
Whenever I remember that God understands me sighing anxiously
Expressing my complaints; murmuring about unfairness grudgingly
Unreasonably questioning my state bitterly...
I thank Him for counseling me to seek His will meaningfully!
Whenever I remember that God recognizes my struggle and frustration
Succumbing to sins’ oppression toward welcoming exasperation
Sincerely craving for His pardon’s restoration...
I thank Him for granting me forgiveness for my transformation!
Whenever I remember* that God regards me cringing in difficulty
Mourning over my self-inflicted calamity and physical infirmity
Wholeheartedly yearning for His joy and tranquillity…
I thank Him for upholding me with His mercy so I can attain maturity!
*Psalm 77:11 I will remember the works of the LORD: surely I will remember thy wonders of old.
September 5, 2018
Categories:
reminiscences, appreciation, blessing, faith, forgiveness,
Form:
Rhyme
the Secret Cottage,
a forest trek where
sundown gently on
your face. Riverside
drifting.. the grasp seeds.
Forest game, heartbeat
of the wild nature,
inhuman natures
bloodstream chasing
the tormerting Faces.
Categories:
reminiscences, absence, angst, beauty, nostalgia,
Form:
A time for rest,
a time for enjoyment,
in order to keep our mind at peace,
we venture out,
in search for something quite special indeed,
these are known as memories,
in order to keep these memories as lively as possible,
we tend to travel afar,
finding a number of ways to preserve these,
especially the good ones though,
but elaborating on a number of these would exceed the pages indeed,
so keeping in short,
the travel to the Himalayas,
is what I can think of,
the elegance and the beauty of the place ,
keeps on registering in my mind from time to time,
how I wish to spend my time in there,
but a voice calls me back,
for it’s not yet time to rest in here!!
Categories:
reminiscences, beautiful, beauty, dedication, happiness,
Form:
Free verse
I met an old friend whom I hadn't seen in years
We didn't get mushy, so no spilling of tears.
However, we did sit and chat for a long while
Reminiscences of a time that oft made us smile.
He is one of a few people who I have known most of my life
And I had thought of those days when we knew not strife.
We talked about how we had been such wild kids indeed
That now, for only our souls, our prayers needed to plead.
We spoke of the generations in our understanding of love
Our parents and grandparents, watching down now from above.
Then, of our children for whom we wanted a better life there to be
Realizing of course, that this is every parent's wish to see.
We talked of the things we remembered most dear
Lighting small images in my brain front and rear.
Those few lights that are kept in that deep recess
Are only allowed out, when thought of with much tenderness.
There were other images there too
That stuck to my mind, like paper to glue.
Of course those images are now a nostalgic smatter
At the time they occured, they were no laughing matter.
We parted the eve with a solemn promise
That we would continue to share these thoughts in us.
For it is not often that you have a friend for so many years
And the ones who are gone...for them I shed tears.
Categories:
reminiscences, childhood, friendship, introspection, nostalgiafriend,
Form:
Rhyme
Why am I so lonely,
Why didn't I share love and time?
Why couldn't I make death wait longer?
You were always on my mind.
I would have shaped myself better,
Controlled my stubbornness and drive,
Listened to you, ignored conflicts,
You were always on my mind.
I would have reset my life's course,
Repenting past mistakes,
Heard your whispers of love so clear,
You were always on my mind.
Through days swiftly passing,
You were always on my mind,
In silent nights, your face appears,
A phantom of regret.
With tenderness, I'd hold you close,
Cherish each fleeting breath,
For every beat my heart has missed,
You were always on my mind.
Categories:
reminiscences, love, remember,
Form:
Free verse
My thoughts reflecting upon a year that is about to pass into history. Each month bringing its own joy, sorrow, and contemplations. I have written It in the form of a couplet, adopting a 12 syllable meter per line of verse which can also be called Alexandrine. My thoughts are mostly based on Indian weather conditions which are diverse and complex in nature.
My resolution for the New Year was anew,
Then the time to break the resolution was due;
As the new year grew old again, so did my will,
A few clichéd preachings and the routine drill;
It was the month January, new was the year,
Armed with newer resolutions, I had no fear;
The month was gone, shortish February was here,
To grapple with resolutions, mind’s still unclear;
March, beware of the Ides, they bring nothing but gloom,
It was also the time for the flowers to bloom;
You should never forget the trusting April Fool,
Do not be deceived by friends, remain ever cool;
May, dedicated to labour, union’s call,
Yet, most reactions to work, often whimsical;
Summer was upon us as we reached mid-year June,
People could not bear the heat and were out of tune;
Just as I came to terms with the heat of tropics,
‘twas time to discuss rain and related topics;
Wet July had come, quenching, and never too soon,
The topics to discuss changed to stormy monsoon;
August, too rainy, no Sun, no blue sky, no fun,
Yet, vibrant shades of green filled uninspiring dunne;
The weather can get cyclonic, come September,
The havoc it caused was something to remember;
The ancient name for October, Winterfylleth,
Romans chose Octo to name the eighth for the tenth;
November, orphan nobody wants, damp and cold,
Uninspiring, barren too, nothing to behold;
Snowy December brought with it end of the year,
Heralding celebrations for X’mas, and New year;
Another year passes, promised all so much joy,
Delivered pain, hate, and too little to enjoy;
Why new hopes are always linked to resolutions,
Love forever primal fear confabulations;
If character, attitude is impeccable,
That’s when hope matches success glorifiable;
mbfarookh
Categories:
reminiscences, christmas, farewell, poetry, remember,
Form:
Couplet