Best Retrace Poems
What seems now old
Used to be utterly new
What was previously told
We cease to over chew
*****
All that is old hold a treasure
If only we all knew
Just weigh and measure
Under the veil a unique hue
*****
Out of memories we grow
Been taught lessons to the bone
We do reap all that we sow
And for wrongdoing we atone
*****
Pleasure and pain what we gain
In a life not taken for granted
Who can stop time or rinse rain
Or suppress anger that should be vented
*****
Life will continue to hurt and heal
Vomit its villains to mould the meek
Send its saints to instill ardency and zeal
Never always the ones at the wheel
*****
Deeply inside my prayers I recite
To always endurance and faith embrace
Be human of worth, decent and upright
And paths that stain never retrace
*****
A great depth of gratitude to God we owe
For both strength and forbearance
For age that vigorously flow
And for the gift of Love in abundance
*****
An abiding passion for her Majesty the word
Delving into my smile and feel would draw
The music of heart in verse softly whirred
My poetic human soul imbued with awe.
Categories:
retrace, deep, destiny, emotions, endurance,
Form:
Rhyme
To the little machine, that's so hard to clean
And sits alone on the shelf,
I'm thankful to you, for that potion you brew
That turns me into myself.
You may be a squatter, but I still give you water
Some grounds and then flip a switch
My steps I retrace, brush teeth, wash face
Come back and drink 'til I twitch
You're always ready, you drip so steady
And that smell is heaven sent.
You always work quiet and help with my diet,
My hunger you circumvent.
I have heard you stutter, sometimes spit and sputter
But in truth, that's all on me
If I do my part, then simply push start
Then you do the rest for free.
You start everyday helping me find my way
As I wake in my early brain fog
Then at noon, then night, you continuously delight
You're my hero, my silent demigod
Life wasn't the same before you came
I just couldn't seem to wake up
So here's to you and all that you do
A Toast! Hang on, let me fill my cup.
Daniel Turner
2/22/23
Categories:
retrace, appreciation, funny,
Form:
Ode
Curving, swirling, in moonlit stance, butterflies merrily dance,
Undulating tenor of nocturnal music, beneath stellar expanse,
When celestial orchestra plays, occult notes of galactic tune,
As titillations of love croon, mystical lyrics of melodious moon;
Echoing doting rhythms, twinkling revelry of luminous stars,
In realms magical, scintillating thrones of Venus and Mars,
As longings of soul blossom, spurring reveries of romance,
Where I decode latent missives, glinting your esoteric glance;
Enamored in tones ambrosial, humming riffs of moon song,
Cherishing sweet promise of love, reverberating lifelong,
Exalting fantasies of awe, emanating from ethereal heart,
Edifying ecstasies of morrow, as shadows of bygones depart;
Enlivening themes longed for, in womb of romantic night,
As we embrace paradise of passion, desires ecstatic ignite,
Lauding refulgent beams of moon, glistening fervid space,
When ardent images of grace, memories beloved retrace;
Waltzing in airglow above, thrilling on wings of butterflies,
Attuning to sound of music, resounding in lambent skies,
Choreographing a ballet love, rowing aura of galactic stream,
Enchanting sensuous theme vying shores of utopian dream.
Categories:
retrace, butterfly, love, moon,
Form:
Rhyme
As you ponder each turn that has landed you here,
taut tempo will quicken and frail futures loom near.
Take one somber moment, step away from the din:
The voyage, the detours, the past and what's been.
You look back behind you to retrace every mile.
It bring tears of regret and the trace of a smile.
Hang on first, then let go, due to whimsy or age.
What you keep in the end is the test of a sage.
Fools still ignore the supreme ticks of the clock,
in each change in fashion, embraced by the flock.
Walk on and ignore them, don't bother to chide,
these pathetic lemmings swept away by the tide.
Peer off in the distance as you fight off the chill.
You must climb still further to the top of the hill.
Play the tailor to time, cut and trim, make it fit.
Find the time in your life. Take time to enjoy it.
Categories:
retrace, introspection, life, philosophytime,
Form:
Quatrain
Wishing Well by Juke55 @ Deviant Art
I circle from pale to shade,
countless steps
around the abandoned well.
Wasted wishes rest
in dried-up depths,
we perish
in its hollows.
Promises break
but wishes will wait
to be retrieved,
granted,
cherished.
When you were the promise,
you washed over me,
permeating sacred spaces,
shrouding my soul.
I searched your changing face
for symmetry and solvency,
longing for stability.
In wrung-out wrappings,
I chilled in your deception
as I clung to the warmth
of our inception.
I trusted you.
It was easy.
You promised. I believed.
I wished the same wish everyday
that love would last.
Now, I reel in my resistance to love,
an outcast of wreckage from your ravine.
Will I ever love again?
I want to reach in to divulge a deluge
of brokenness and betrayal.
I retrace your words between
the yesterdays.
They start as whispers
then wail in echoes
off impervious walls.
Each sanguine syllable a lie,
projecting sound into a chasm of darkness.
From the depths of the wishing well,
vows reverberate from my own lips,
gently rumbling then rousing
feelings of love turned to loneliness.
If one drop of water remains
to reflect only one recollected wish,
I may find my own eyes
not yours looking back,
and in the end,
I may learn to forgive.
Maybe I will love again.
written 6/2/20 for Silent One's
Promise Contest
Categories:
retrace, betrayal, feelings, heartbroken, trust,
Form:
Free verse
As autumns of dear life, I endeavor to face,
Reminiscing in springs, memories I retrace;
Cognizant that splendor of seasons will end,
Seeking amends, life’s goodwill I befriend;
Resolving to shed grimness trapped in yore,
Discarding grievances, hatefulness I abhor,
Filling voids with wisdom of enlightened soul,
Welcoming endearment aging vibes cajole.
Harmony I shall hoist, to apex of its tempo,
Strumming mirthfully rhythms of tomorrow,
Freed from obscurity of yesterday’s shadow
Rejoicing with family on life’s sunlit meadow.
Hosting sentiments that elucidate life anew,
Ethereal I wish to woo~ revered, and true,
Pleading for bliss of heaven, eternal as time,
Living and letting live, in tranquility sublime.
Disavowing shackles of material, mundane,
Compassion I’ll chase of benevolent domain
Redressing incongruence, vying virtues divine,
Steering autumns of my life till values align.
December 22, 2022
Placed 3rd: Resolutions for 2023 Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Anoucheka Gangabissoon
Categories:
retrace, emotions, life,
Form:
Rhyme
I would practice each day without satisfaction,
longing to capture the moon's oratory.
DeBussy, God, help me, I should say that I'm sorry!
Though my fingers were nimble, I'd lose concentration,
and fumble along with a grumble and sigh.
Provoking the chords, that should tumble and rise
into a glorious, exquisite river of mist.
But, when thumbs went adrift, beyond the abyss,
I'd return to the first bar, and start once again.
-
I'd retrace every note of the measure and time. And time after time,
I'd assault a B-flat, where a C-sharp should chime.
All my hopes and my schemes came from this longing to please.
My dreams to succeed, and to offer this gift.
To grant her the wish.
The rapture, to swoon, as I played 'Clair de Lune'.
My mother's favorite. -- And I aimed for the moon
__
I remember my mother with dishes piled high,
soap on her nose,
calling out from the kitchen.
“That time, much better!”
Or my dad, in the dark room, Walter Cronkite, his companion,
calling out from the shadows,
“I think now, you've got it!”
Tonight in the dim light,
I'll watch how the moonlight,
slides over the piano, sliding over the keys.
It seems that the moon knows,
that time cannot stand still.
That years come and the years go.
But the tune, is the same tune, and the moon is the same moon.
And DeBussy still winces in the place I called home.
Categories:
retrace, childhood, music, nostalgia,
Form:
Free verse
Soft creeps the splendid dream tides of the night
The burning embers of heavens breath descends upon my dreams
Dreams of you, my love tonight
Sparkling wishes, amulet stars, a kiss goodnight.
Heart withstanding aches I dare retrace,
I am accompanied by a newfound face, an explorer’s vision
Tears of joy sprout from their jeweled wings,
Flying toward the smiling moon,
I welcome dreams…tonight, I welcome you
Where whispers trail the sleeping waters.... my love goodnight
Unending sails, hearts submerged in love's delight
Tonight I dream of you
On the rosy fields of memoirs sweet
Soft, tender breezes remind me of your crescent touch..
I curl into the swaying waters, cradled by our memory
Where once you smiled in afterthought, and I in golden reverie
Would beauty among these gentle scenes kindly draw you in?
So maybe we can share the graces of light that lives within
Soft moonlit roses, dripping in night-shined dew,
Yes, even as they close, tonight I dream of you.
Take my hand, don’t let me leave this land
For it thrives on our love’s horizon,
Draw your words upon my life, and let night take its stand
But before I sleep, my love tonight. Oh let me seal it with a kiss.
That in beauty's dream my light would float in your love's eternity.
A thousand saddest days may come, and a thousand darkest dreams
But I'll chase them all for you my love, just to have you in my dreams.
These eyes closed tightly with the rosebuds ,
Shall open before clouds, dark and awry
And in the ground, my love for you shall yet still bloom,
Fed by the healing rain, and your steady love refrain
When tonight I dream of you
-A special collaboration with poet Mustapha Mohammad-
Categories:
retrace, adventure, deep, dream, hope,
Form:
Romanticism
As scented air aroused my misty mind,
a shadow broke the early morning Sun,
aromas wafting from the morning’s grind,
assured the senses morning had begun.
I felt an airy presence from afar.
Unnerved, I sought some comfort in my joe
when then appeared this early morning star
with beauty that would set the dawn aglow.
She passed with nonchalance and without glance,
and as I gaped, she simply stared astray,
her exit, with a whim and fickle prance,
fanned arrogance that whisked my breath away.
I contemplated thoughts of giving chase
though in a haze I let her slip away,
but like the Sun, this path she may retrace
and destiny could pass again my way.
And as the morning’s essence ebbed and waned,
her image kept returning o’er again,
the vision twisted aimlessly in vain
as sunrise caused her beauty to transcend.
I finalized my mundane morning rite
then pondered how its remnants would unfold,
and knew… that I had seen the Morning’s Light
and hoped once more its beauty I’d behold.
Categories:
retrace, allusion, beauty, morning,
Form:
Rhyme
“Your skin like dawn
Mine like musk
One paints the beginning
of a certain end.
The other, the end of a
sure beginning.”
Passing Time: Poem by Maya Angelou
Harkening all the way back to the origin of time
I ponder conjectures about the theory of Big Bang--
A moment that exploded into infinite expanse,
And I wonder if this ticking clock will ever stop
Collapsing on self into ashes of nothingness
Or will it keep stretching space on eternal path;
Its existence, compared to mine, incredibly vast--
I am just a speck of dust in its cosmic compass--
A spot on its continuum, born in recent past.
Living in my present I can easily retrace steps,
No theories are needed to ascertain my start;
And unlike this universe that goes on and on,
My end is as assured, as beginning of end was.
July 5, 2020
Time – 8 Word Challenge Poetry Contest
Sponsor: A Dear Heart
Categories:
retrace, time, universe,
Form:
Free verse
Once again without my lover;
a cold moon is soon to be
For this I have some tension and
anxiety...
If only then I knew
that here would be a twist,
For once there was and now because...
gazing at the mist.
The moon will keep on rising,
stiff my bones become.
This weeping soul; I loved that troll,
freeze sets in; I'm numb.
Will huddle to the morning,
alone I'm here and older.
From the bites of nippy nights,
feeling so much colder.
Be still, retrace eternal grace-
the nights of making love.
So I stir with me you were...
the man unworthy of.
Thus it will keep rising,
as memories return.
Once the cold is bitter,
maybe then I'll learn.
Dear it haunts me truely,
my first, my very last.
The moon it spun- the damage done;
lost love from in the past.
Understanding a mere branding,
revising such disguising.
Never knew I'd be so blue from this
cold moon rising.
You loved me very much,
whilst laying in my bed.
For the day- I'll be OK,
now think you must be dead.
Here it did so take me-
again a night of gloom.
For me was cold- the love you told
reminiscence of thee ruin.
Somehow I must escape this;
to break the loop of woe.
For heavy is the burden,
due to weight I tow.
So looking at the future,
marriage- he's devising.
Will he miss the past of bliss,
through a cold moon rising...
22/03/19 1. Cold Moon Rising, Pick A Title, Vol. 2 - Rhyme - Poetry Contest- Sponsored by: Edward Ibeh
Categories:
retrace, anxiety, depression, loss, lost
Form:
Rhyme
Your lover’s drawing straws without you, better bid farewell;
he’d never time for rhyme or reason, so it’s just as well.
Slip out the curtained window quick, the future winks and calls,
ignoring paths of pagan gods, where faulty footsteps fall.
Identify faint flashbacks, cloaked and clustered in a heap
and sort out those you treasure most, you need or long to keep;
Forget about the epoch past, which wasn’t what you’d sought,
pursue instead remaining dreams before they come to naught.
Reflect no more on what it was he’d meant for you,
strike out ahead where something waits, has sent for you.
The graveyard night is haunted still, it hovers where you sleep
recalling souvenirs amassed, the ones that made you weep.
The poets poised in dungeon vaults, now growing old and bald,
retrace their palsied pleas in dust, like those that you once scrawled.
Except for runic proverbs carved on stone walls ill defined,
assumptions will not dog you that you dare to leave behind.
The fortune-tellers waiting at the moat for you
read tarot cards while setting sail a boat for you.
The road behind is empty now, the sky is painted black
so gather all the wisdom gained, no time for looking back.
Forego the prophets’ prophecies, so tempting to pursue -
although they might be asked advice, they seldom have a clue.
Reject the secrets they reveal, enveloped in their guile,
which be betrayed between the tombs in ruins of their smile.
They’re waiting with a fractured rule of thumb for you
while beating on a perforated drum for you.
A sand-glass dribbles distant dunes, the sun dial’s shadow’s late,
so now’s the time for slipping through the open swinging gate.
A joker wild defies the fools to read between the lines
in search of cryptic radiance the future world enshrines -
“the days ahead will wake again like waves before the dawn
when picking up the pieces left behind a passing pawn.”
A noble knight awaits to clear the board for you
when, soon, a cup of nectar wine is poured for you.
Categories:
retrace, destiny, fate,
Form:
Rhyme
The wayward wind forever so aloof
across the prairie blowing wild and free;
just like a herd of horses on the hoof,
and running loose with nature’s grand esprit.
A restless spirit is this wayward child
who’s never satisfied in just one place;
she longs to solve the secrets of the wild,
and ne’er her ventured steps will she retrace.
A wayward heart is like the wayward wind,
forever restless, always on the move,
and always searching, seeking, ne’er chagrined;
she’ll leave you lonely and her love disprove.
Beware, before you carelessly depart,
don't wrap your love around a wayward heart.
January 8, 2020
Categories:
retrace, loneliness, lost love, love,
Form:
Sonnet
Where is that woman
I so loved so long ago?
And for reasons unfathomed
I love as much still
Beauty beyond compare
to me
Simple in thought
But complex in love
Years of remorse
have run their course
They have worn me down
I admit, I deserve no more
For as i guess oft happens
A fool will hurt himself
Where is she now? I wonder
Does she sleep alone like me?
Or next to someone
She wishes is elsewhere
Or, if blessed with luck-
Entwined in the arms
Of one she so loves
Oh, if it could be me
Foolish me...
Unable to endure
A love so intense
I felt I was losing
my identity
I found this powerful
love, this passion,
almost an obsession
Too scary to deal with
So I walked-
and 35 years later
so much
would love to
retrace my steps...
leading to her...
At least to know
how her life has unfolded
Not to rekindle
Love's embers
I'm not the same
as I was then
Worn down by years
Of abuse and pain
Yet every day
I think of her again
The apple of my eye
Layla incarnate
Once bodies entwined
Sweetest hours of my life
I'm a fool
So much a fool
Regret is my daily meal
Fools deserve no more
For many years gone by,
And many years to come
I will regret...
The acts of this fool."
Categories:
retrace, life, lost love, sad,
Form:
Ballad
Mantle of summer, cloaked so bright
Where flowers pose lending their grace.
Along red vines as sun ignites
My carefree notes that twirl, retrace
The gleam of breezes dappling through
On painted strokes with finest hue.
How then can I resist
The gush of wildness’ flow
When come nightfall, hands lift
To reach flamed moon aglow,
Like vignette of night’s show...
And tasting summer’s blaze
Heated sighs I release,
As blossoms now amaze
With my notes that tease...
One more dance
While hips fling
Of sweet romance;
While through beats
I'm a dizzy
song!
Contest:Who am I? Or, What am I ?
Sponsor: SKAT
Categories:
retrace, dance, magic, summer,
Form:
Rhyme