Best Replayed Poems


Premium Member Shadow To Shadow

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Shadow to shadow, shade to shade
In youth the Eden where you played
was left bereft, destroyed, decayed,
by trusts malignant masquerade

Shadow to shadow, shade to shade
No grass survives your fallow glade,
when opportunist needs invade
and bleed the lives from every blade

Shadow to shadow, shade to shade
First, victims surging song is brayed
but dirges of the wronged soon fade
and urges pant their serenade

Shadow to shadow, shade to shade
Agendas you arrange cascade
to keep your motives undisplayed
and cover cracks in your charade

Shadow to shadow, shade to shade
You planted with your soiled spade
these spoiled seeds in hopes that they'd
advance the rancid plots you'd laid

Shadow to shadow, shade to shade
In kind, your ruined past replayed
will find each bloom on whom you've preyed
entombed in blighted beds you've made

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Premium Member Litany of Borrowed Sorrows

The sorrows we borrow,
the sorrows we keep—
are debts of the dead,
replayed in our sleep.

Blood writes the tally,
blood writes it in red;
tomorrow collects
what yesterday bled.

The sun drags its shadow.
The sun drags its shroud—
darkness advancing
cowering aloud.

Dry eyes at dawn.
Ashes inbred;
a prayer in the dust,
a prayer for the dead.

The sun flares faintly,
a wound in the sky.
The clouds part briefly,
yet cold will not die.

What was served yesterday
lies rotting today;
a banquet of abstinence,
a plate of decay.

Tears must be borrowed.
Tears must be sown;
the covenant is endless,
the debt as ever has grown.

I am summoned.
I am again sworn—
to gather the blood,
to nourish the thorn,
to water dead flowers,
for sorrow's reborn.

Pages - a Shape Poem

  THE NEWS 


____________________________________________________________
Life Defined by Moments Blindsided
written by The Broken Hearted

Read the news today. There is blues                  Obituary    
today. Agony in whatever we choose              His life was extraordinary. 
today. Is there no  other  way  than              Proud family, wife named Glory
to escape the day? Why did you have            His children Edward and Tory
to end your life this way? Too many               Died Monday first of July
have  to  question  there  own sanity             Police give no reason why
taking  your  own  life,  is  it  vanity?               Service will be held at one
Trying to control your own calamity?             a potluck diner after it is done.
Why didn't you just converse with                ________________________
somebody?  Isn't  that  how  it  is 
suppose to be?   No one is suppose             JOIN THE ARMY
to feel so alone that they end their
own life. What are we going to do                 A Bright Future
as society? It is paralyzing to think                Awaits YOU! 
of what could be, when we take to 
the destruction personally. It is not               ______________________
suppose to be that way. Pages ripped
away, the book is close and can't be                    oil change
replayed. A story over and its gone.                       14.99
___________________________________________________________                        
 POLICE BEAT 

Police arrived on the scene shortly after hearing a gun shot fired on the second block of Hayes Road. A male was found deceased with a self inflicted wound to the head. 

Cat in a tree on Main street. Firefighters, paramedics and officers dispatched. Cat is safe without injury.

_____________________________________________________________

WEATHER                                        Lottery Numbers
Partly cloudy with  chance of
thunderstorms. 85 degreess                             6, 42, 66, 81, 89    01

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Folded away, tossed aside, no longer in view.
Nothing else printed, nothing else said about you.
We'll probably move on, we'll probably heal,
and we'll never have known what you feel.


Clarity

untested waters
 ripple,
 strands of light
 flash in the beauty
 of my mind

---

the past dwelt
 in the corner
 debilitating
 disabling
 untethering,
 I was thrown
 back in time

(bad happens
 to the good
 and the good
 happens to the 
bad)

visiting sins
 replayed in my 
head
 reminding me
 shaming me,
 the circle went
 around

but I remembered
 the dashes of hope
 the splashes of 
love
 all that I had 
shared
 all that I had lost

but going
 round and round
 the strings of 
sanity
 were unbound,
 the white rabbit
 called for me
 reality was paper 
dolls
 burning in the pit 

I held fast
 as the standard 
ripped
 falling into delusion
 I lay in the mire
 for a millennium

clarity returned
 with a song
 the dance of life
 flooded my veins
 my being
 declared whole

---

the clear
 untested waters
 of my mind ripple
 in wonderment,
 today has returned
 with no fear of joy

Premium Member Clutching This Instance

If ever I had two hours with you… or three,
the vacancy of this night and lulled
shores would be refilled with the gushing
of frosted air on our reveries past;
the multitude of amiable stars bestowing
a hush of surrender... raged midnights ending
into fresh  mornings backed by our
theme song replayed.
Then, to recall the sevens and nines of time
cutting our names into crumpled paper: a departure
of hearts traveling in different territories.

We inched away,
not because of lack for vows marked in deepest
sands. But… by fate’s desire to shelter you in
a faraway place, while I... I burned skies
through the pain and beauty
the long distance of regrets had claimed.
If and when we unite again, two or three hours
by God's grace, oh the fluttering of a thousand
fearless thoughts would not be enough to say you were
the branch that got away, and I was your last rose
that lost its stem.
Perhaps, now is the moment to clutch the moment?



Regina Riddle's Seize The Day ( Carpe Diem)
10/26/2014

Premium Member The Earl of Pence

'Twas a dark and stormy night! (OK - so I'm being a tad histrionic!)
The Earl of Pence was lounging by the fire sipping his gin and tonic.
Lightning flashed and thunder roared sending shivers down his spine.
Even his hound, Lord Percival, was so upset that he began to whine!

'Twas well-known thereabouts that phantoms haunted the earl's castle,
And on such frightful nights they were bound to cause a spooky hassle.
Nefarious deeds had occurred within Penceshire Castle walls in the past,
And were replayed in 'spirited' form leaving generations of earls aghast!

A shriek from the bowels of the castle sent the dog into howling fits,
And brought the earl bounding to his feet, scaring him out of his wits!
The blood-curdling screams were from a former Earl of Pence who in 1642,
Was hung by his thumbs in the dungeon for a fair maiden that he slew!

Suddenly, the ancient organ in the hall began playing eerie chords.
Heard on the floor above was rowdy dancing by ladies, knights and lords.
Ghastly emanations from the past paraded through the terrified earl's room,
Antecedents all, leering and grinning and predicting the anxious earl's doom!

Lord Percival sensing trouble long before, across the moat had bolted!
The storm subsided and the apparitions faded leaving the earl quite jolted!
He felt a bony hand upon his shoulder that took away his final breath.
'Twas his valet who offered a gin and tonic to the earl who now lay in death!


Premium Member Paper Comic

Some don't think  I'm funny
But that's not true at all
Others think I'm serious
Although I'm having a ball

I have a sense of humor
Even though it is my own
I sometimes laugh quite loudly
Mostly when I am alone

When I see other's antics
It's not my wish to be rude
So I listen to each word
And to their actions I am glued

I keep my thoughts to myself
Most of the laughter is inside
For my inner comedian 
Is the one enjoying the ride

All my gathered material
The observations I have made
Conversations and actions
In my mind are all replayed

By reading my words with intent
You'll witness the humour within
My methods are somewhat subtle
For my content is paper thin

Premium Member Speak No Evil

When crepuscular shadows loomed in a bay
to grate upon this opulent view’s grandeur,
my visceral thoughts reeled like windmills
where breaths heaved low, desultory the mind.
Gazing at Anger, doubts replayed a cynical past,
in lone sojourn...winds hummed,” speak no evil”
yet, penumbra of waves turned desultory.
Until a hundred stars bathed my eyes whole,
kindling exuberant rays, to console love’s blow;
and jealousy faded, in homage to a halcyon moment.


Silent One’s Contest
"see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil"
2/01/2016

Premium Member Shadow To Shadow Revised

=======================
Shadow to shadow, shade to shade
In youth the Eden where I played
was left bereft, destroyed, decayed,
by trusts malignant masquerade

Shadow to shadow, shade to shade
Sweet grass dies in my fallow glade
as opportunist needs invade
and bleed the life from every blade

Shadow to shadow, shade to shade
First, victims surging song is brayed,
then dirges of the helpless fade
and urges pant their serenade

Shadow to shadow, shade to shade
Agendas I've arranged cascade
to keep my motives undisplayed
and cover cracks in my charade

Shadow to shadow, shade to shade
I've planted with my soiled spade
slick seeds of doubt in hopes that they'd
conceal the putrid plots I've laid

Shadow to shadow, shade to shade
My blighted past will be replayed
and every bloom on whom I've preyed
must lie now in the beds I've made
=======================

The Lady of the Lake Part I

Mirror silver clad she stood, upon the lakes dark shore,
A spectral icy vision , that chilled me to the core.
A vapour’d hand she raised to lead, across the sheet glass lake
With racing heart and awestruck eye, I traced its misty wake

A  cold dead air, that chilled my soul, now held my senses keen.
For there among the darkened  woods, I saw what can’t be seen.
Like unlit candles stood a host, of mournful waxen dead,
In decaying desperation, with the fixed stares of the mad 

My pounding heart so close to fail, beat faster at the sight,
As gliding ever closer drew, these sentinels of night.
What fearful power, what dreadful fate, hath drawn them from the 
grave.
Whilst  I transfixed upon that shore, my sanity I craved.

Then turned the lady of the Lake and fixed her steel grey eyes,
then pointed once again to where, the darkwood secrets lie.
My fading gaze could scarce suppose the horrors there replayed,
Whilst spectre ranks, in silence viewed with countenance dismayed. 

Upon my knees, through fingers splayed, and terrified  to see,
the horror there unfolding, between those witness trees.
I saw the bloody massacres, heard shocked and dreadful cries,
I felt their fear, and died their deaths, with terror in my eyes .

Each wicked deed, each evil act, each thrust assassins blade,
of every dreadful murder done, within that forest glade.
With screams of death, and cries of loss, the misty shore resounds,
To haunt my soul and flay my ear, upon that hell struck ground.

In faint I fell with senses lost, afraid to look again,
as words she spake in whispered tone, ‘Remember when you wake, 
these unjust works, these sinful acts, leave vengeance thirst unslaked,
thus you must tell of this darkwood, beside the silver lake.’

I Reach For You

Fingers tantalize like whispers 
Heated breaths upon supple skin
Dancing in softness parallel to feathers
Aimlessly tossed by the wind

Enticing me with lips as they play 
Like strings drawn with rosined bow
A skillful loving melodic sway
Sung quietly in a lovers moan

Emotion piques with subtle kiss
Consumed like brazen embers 
In the rush of a restless wish
Desire settles as sunken treasure

When sleepy eyed I reach for you
Your pillow untouched and cold
Leaving me with only your alluring scent 
As if fragrance without touch could console

Return me now to dreams allure
Where your touch has not departed
In your manly frame I rest secure
Your whispers of love never falter

Your present warmth I miss tonight
Though I know you'll return tomorrow 
Still the hours from now till then
Exaggerate with lonesome sorrow

Sleepless now my heart proposed
I rise to pass old father time
To feel you nearer I wear your clothes
Intoxicated in the knowing that your mine

As longing lingers in passions extreme
Our duo of comfort reduced to one
Where shirt prodigious and slight convene 
Willing emptiness inside to be shunned

Back between our sheets I lay
And pray for sleep to come
In dreams your instrument each touch replayed 
Exciting awe in my heart as you strum

Premium Member A Ripple In Time

A summer day, a gentle breeze
As butterflies float with ease
The morning dew,  the setting sun
The rising moon, and starry skies
Woven with an ethereal thread  as one
  As webs of time are  spun

A tender kiss, a hug, a smile
Moments of sweet caress
Upon the edge of time they rest
 Memories that the heart remember best

Like the flicker of a flame
Time dances with illusive grace
Making waves as years go by
Rolling like the river wild

Precious moments are like ripples in time
Echoing through the corridors of the mind
And replayed when the  reminiscent  wind
Make those golden memories chime
© Joseph May  Create an image from this poem.

Premium Member Night Invaders

It rained on and on.
the fire in the hearth
had long died out.
hunger grew,	
frustration raged.

vultures swooped down
 to feed on flesh in the night
half willing, half resenting,
surrendered, rather subdued,

desire spilled over,
bristles pricking
from organ to organ
thrusting and tearing 
devouring in greedy gulp

waves surged past the log

passion spent,
hunger appeased,
purse strings loosened,
silver coins tinkled.

amply paid,
her wages of shame……!
the toil not wasted!

nights came one by one
creatures of the night frequented her more often
and the scenes were constantly replayed

though she abhorred them,
 there was no other go, but yield

 ‘exploring hands encounter(ed) no defense’.
each night closed in smutty h(r) ut,
when the h(r)ut turned a prostitute,
she started to rot.

feeble she grew,
languid she became,
body thinned,
energy waned,
ailments plagued,
and
immunity lost!

now,
she lives an outcast.

a luscious fruit 
blighted by the worms!

no more nocturnal invaders…..
no inebriated blather falls in her ears

only the hoot of owls !

___________________________


June.16.2022

Placed Fourth

Creatures of the Night Poetry Contest
Sponsor- Julia Ward

Premium Member Both of Us Got Away

,,,,,,,,,,~.~.~.~,,,,,,,,,,,


if ever i had two hours with you… or three,
the vacancy of this quaint café and barren
shores would be refilled with the pouring
of pink- frosted air on our  glass-window’s past;
the multitude of disheveled suns ripping
arms of surrender; raged midnights ending
into carmine mornings; swallowed  inches of stars
turning into lyrics replayed. and what splendor to
infect the whiteness or redness of seasons’
fingers wearing the pains and gains of many
a porcelain days. then,
to recall the sevens and nines of time’s scalpel
cutting our names into crumpled paper: a departure
of hearts traveling in different territories.
we inched away,
not because of lack for vows marked in deepest
sands. but… by fate’s desire to cart you in
a faraway land, while i.. i burned telephone lines
hiding beneath the long distance of regrets…
yearning for your comeback  instead
of stamped letters thousands of miles so
removed from alleys where our arms used to walk,
we side-tracked along with stooping songs 
that gently genuflected…
if and when we meet again, two or three hours
by time's grace, oh the fluttering of a thousand
thoughts would not be enough to say you were
the trunk that got away, and i was your last rose
that lost its stem.



all rights reserved
            ©


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love lost from long distance relationship

For Frank Herrera's Contest

By: nette onclaud

Yesterdays People

Their days are very much the same
Like soldiers marching to the drum
The cadence of the ticking clock
Marking time as each day passes

They wrap themselves in memories
Replayed like notes of a well known song
Steps slowed by the weight of years
Their candles growing short

We look at them but do not see
We listen without hearing
They are but shadows in our minds
Close but yet so distant

But if we were to look inside
We would find ourselves
Sharing needs that transgress age
And values that are timeless

They are the you of days gone by
Their life then still in bloom
The taste and thrill of love and life
Now just footprints on their hearts

And as their many seasons grow
And their autumn becomes winter
Who will mourn and say goodbye
When their soul meets its tomorrow

Inspired by volunteering at a nursing home and watching the deterioration of body and mind.

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