Best Scared Stiff Poems
His scarlet head droops
towards his soulless emerald chest.
Perched upon a fruitless branch,
his spiritless eyes stare
at the emptiness of freedom.
Above, streaks of ruby hints
flow among coral flamingo shades,
as golden streaks swim through
crystallised kaleidoscopic skies -
but he feels no enthusiasm to fly.
What he thought would set him free,
has left his heart a companion-less hostage.
A lovebird without a purpose,
he is unable to warble a melody,
nor whistle for the love he left behind.
Raindrops splash his forlorn feathers,
he is too scared stiff to spread his wings.
His heart thumps like thunder,
as flashbacks of sitting, singing and locking beaks,
with feasts of berries, apples and seeds,
are regretful reminders of his misjudgement.
As he falls,
his last thoughts -
maybe freedom is not all that it seems..
Silent One
22 September 2019
A Monster Calls
A monster calls,
But I do not respond.
The frightening voice enthralls,
But I feel as though forewarned.
Down the ages and across the hours,
The fiend has shown emboldened powers.
A shadowy presence stalks within,
Bringing with it feelings of chagrin.
I hear its sound, but I do not listen,
I only strive my indifference to christen.
Truth to tell, I confess I feel scared stiff,
When the evil force awakens, I get a whiff,
Of what it means to be truly afraid,
To uncover things of which I am not made.
The terrifying fiend lies within,
Securely hidden far beneath the skin.
Our duality walks along a sharp knife,
Within us lie forces of good and evil rife.
We think we are free in whatever we chose,
With no fear of consequences for what we lose.
What use is the good of being completely free,
When in choosing the wrong thing we do not see,
That unlimited freedom comes with a steep price,
If we lose our souls when the clock strikes thrice.
The midnight hour will have long since gone by;
We cannot gather up the pieces even if we try.
Our hearts will now be carved with a ragged edge;
The monster gladly calls when we offer our pledge.
THINGS THAT GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT
Often times things go bump in the night
We shake and tremble, filled with fright
Tiptoeing softly in search of the sound
Nerves on edge making our heart pound
Suddenly in the parlor, what did I hear
It sounded much like the scraping of a chair
Peering intently where the shadows lurk
Wondering if someone's watching me with a smirk
The parlor is empty of goblin or ghost
Then the thing that I dread most
A sound from the kitchen like pots and pans
Being banged together by unseen hands
I creep across the living room floor
Gently, I open the kitchen door
Nothing scary greets me there
The anxiety now is more than I can bare
I break out in a cold clammy sweat
Afraid to keep looking – but yet
I want to find out the source of the sound
Worried beyond measure at what may be found
I'm wielding a chair in self defense
Still filled with fear and great suspense
I flip on the lights to find out that....
I'd been scared stiff by my neighbor's cat
22 September 2013
for the Everything Halloween contest
In the ancient city of York
My friends and I have been for a walk
Studying a little Viking history
Instead of returning to the car
We decided to visit a bar
That's when a nice American couple ran into me .
Howdy y'all
In his best southern drawl
Do ya know where we might get somethin nice to eat
There is a restaurant in the bar
and its really not that far
Roast beef and Yorkshire pudding would be a treat.
They were in the dinner queue
When my mate got out his snooker cue
After dinner might our American friend have a game
Of course you can play a frame or two
We'll be at the table waiting for you
but don't you think we ought to know your names .
Of course you should he said
This little lady is Andrea , I am Ed
I'll see ya soon an we'll have a beer
I knew when Andrea shook her head
He might be going shopping instead
but he whispered '' i'll be staying here''
Well he must have talked her round
Or a compromise had been found
Because soon he was telling his tall tales
Ya see American women , He insisted
Love to have their arms twisted
but if ya show em who is master it never fails.
He began to titter
Calling him a quitter
When my mate said he was going to call his wife on the phone
Just show her who is boss
She aint never going to get cross
She will know she has to leave you guys alone.
It was then Andrea came in
Her face as angry as sin
Ed had promised to meet her half an hour ago
C'mon Ed we teased
Show us you're the big cheese
Teach us what us soft British guys out to know.
I have never seen such cowardice in all my life
He was scared stiff of his angry wife
C'mon Ed pull the other one
You are no better than us Brits
You know when to call it quits
but thanks for the memory. It was fun.
Summer night, scared stiff
Trying to pay for condoms
With a rubber check
there are those times in our lives
when we are the most afraid
a symptom of brain activity
that tears our nerves to shreds
in those times of misery
when the future is in doubt
we try to find some peace of mind
looking all about
while trouble speeds our way
were looking for solutions
before the fateful day
when it comes the conclusion
in this place and time
is where i am right now
i know God has the answer
i just wish i knew how
here i sit in my home
just days before destruction
i never felt more alone
while waiting for Gods instructions
in Him i'll put my trust
each and everyday
where ever this thing takes me
i know it is His way
i cannot see the future
but i have seen the past
i've seen a few disasters
i look back now and laugh
i've done this thing before
i have to face my fears
give up on the loneliness
doubting God and tears
no matter what the future
if it's here or if it's there
i know God is with me
my God is everywhere
He's giving me patience and faith
for when i'm old
things that now seem to me
worth much more than gold
a little more patience and a little more faith
two things i earn while God has me wait
with hairs turning grey
my wisdom is found
it took a lot of years
for wisdom to come around
there is danger in the future
but i am safe and sound
I've never been here before
Why is it so dark?
This place is unfamiliar,
So cold and unforgiving,
I can hear wide open spaces
And feel something close to me.
There's got to be a way out of here
But how much pain
How many deaths
Lay between here and where I want to be?
Scared stiff, don't move a muscle
Thank god I'm still alive,
Safest place to be
s'where I've been standing all along.
God damn, just take my hand,
Lead me out of here.
I can see you when I close my eyes
Your halo burning bright,
I catch your ghost just for a moment
When I open them again.
Where'd you go, please take me there,
It's where I want to be.
Out of here
Away from here
It's where I want to be.
What's that sound? Something's moving,
Something dark and huge and heavy.
What's that light? Something's shining,
It must have been in hiding
Behind what's hunting me.
It's moving further, getting dimmer,
Fading faster back to black.
Can't see my feet but hear them running,
Cool air rushing by me.
Can't see my breath but feel my chest,
And the nest of coals inside it.
What's going on
I was safer where I stood,
Why am I chasing in the dark
After your fading golden halo?
Running blind- I shouldn't say that,
I chase the only thing I've ever seen.
Gaining slowly it comes closer,
I see now a little truer
A horizon burning brighter,
(I've) not laid these eyes on it before.
How did I go so gently into this cold starless night?
How do I not remember what the day had brought ashore?
Jumping hurdles I can't see
Landing gracefully on
Roots and rocks and rolling ankles,
Feeling so less safe than I am sorry.
Limping, bleeding, scarlet drops in darkness,
A trailing crimson tail behind me shows I must be getting closer.
Pits and claws and stakes and jaws
Crawling now and gaining still.
Lighter, brighter, shining down,
Your halo there above me.
I've made it, I have won,
Your honey bathes me well again.
But I am tired and I must sleep,
Here on the ground close at your feet.
Let me close my eyes and pray that if they open
This was more than just a dream.
Between a castle and a moat
One small goat
Strays too far, too long
But nothing happens
Yet scared stiff, the goat is scared stiff
To see this beast, this terrible monster
The medieval lands have made him out to be
What can this beast do to prove
There is beauty beneath his sharp teeth
Beauty behind his scales
Beauty beyond the smoldering ash belonging to the distant corner of the cave
This goat retreats and the animal escapes again
For the fleeing goat will bring enraged villagers
Local pillagers who think it’s an ultimate title gain
To slay the beast which breathes in coal and spews the hottest fire
But the beast, far from majestic, contains neither dark deeds nor twisted motives
He is not part of his parents’ disgraceful lineage
The violent overtaking and burning down precious fields and wildlife
He believes it to be intolerable, unimaginable
And if he could, he would change his complicated anatomy
And happily breathe water, become a different animal of peace
But this is a curse from a destructive dragon lineage
That refuses to stop haunting a mercy-filled being
The day is dying
The half-moon is faltering
In its nocturnal crawl
Across the gloomy sky
As the sleepy village goes to bed
Under the inky dark African sky
Stragglers are home-bound with trepidation
From another day of disillusionment
Lonely drunks lost in alcoholic world
Stagger home on the sandy paths
Boastful about feats known only to them
As the alcohol ebbed with their fading dreams
In the barricaded walls of wealthy mansions
Glittering outwardly and lit by obscene chandeliers
Lay looters and scoundrels of our commonwealth
Wide-awake scared stiff of night marauders they have created
As the gulf between the leaders and the led continues to widen
The day of reckoning has come for African predator overlords
Like Macbeth they have murdered sleep
They shall sleep no more
He cringes in fear, his legs wobble, his young wings scared stiff;
below the nest yawns a dark, deathly chasm of what if;
plunges into space,
flaps, slows down the pace;
ah, new-found freedom of flight, across, around the home cliff !
Crushing snowberry bushes on a hillside,
Droops down, discarding fallen blossom petals,
magnificent sand dunes soaked in pure water,
countryside nature soothes with the sweetness of honeyed melody,
And down to the beat.
A stream that appears as blue beads,
Draws the surroundings light,
Pretending a strange miracle,
Sometimes it hides, sometimes the stream shakes out,
Screams for people to hear,
Make sense to the floras too,
Hey! I am very happy, This is great!
Grinds at a point,
In another place,
loud and shivering,
No matter how much these things are,
Immediately unmoved,
The journey goes on and on,
It travels as long as it meets the place called the ocean somewhere,
As soon as they meet, donates whole water resource to the vivid ocean.
Rocks crash and give birth to sweet water bubbles,
There is ecstatic happiness in those bubbles,
Says, while walking on the plains,
Hey!!! I'm so bored going on like this,
However, the journey continues,
Nevertheless sometimes,
scared stiff because people walk on the banks,
But accepts sadness and happiness in moderation.
Quenching the thirst of the people,
The precious thing called aqua is worn like a charm,
It preserves its cycle preserves,
The splendid appearance even awakens wonderful visions in man,
Being like a winsome astonishing and pretty fem-me,
The nature of this journey is similar to the life of a peculiar lady,
Like a railway line...a mind-blowing blue resource on the surface,
To the world, she is a channel carrying water,
But an artistic depiction,
pointed out as a river.
One day under a starry sky,
While standing among the rocks,
While near a forest,
While under the caves,
I hear her whispering,
Bringing a beautiful message to this world,
It is a doctrine for nature,
Is an authenticity,
Something eternal that does not die.
Shrieked thunderously,
Sensitive as if shaking the whole world.
Hey! Someday we all have an end,
It's comforting,
In the right way,
With the noble reality,
With Overcoming challenges,
As long as you walk with the truth and finish.
Trapped like a mouse!
Squished like a bug!
Stuck like glue. Eeeew!
Scared stiff like a deer caught in the head lights!
Shaking like a leaf.
Sick as a dog.
Dumb as a doorknob.
Blind as a bat.
Mad as hell!
One thing I'm not lately is,
sleeping like a baby!
The Well
The Watcher watches all the watchers, for the Watcher knows
That what the watchers are watching, is something to behold.
But what are they watching? The Watcher can’t tell.
For it appears to be only a plain looking well.
The Watcher asks and pleads for the watchers to state,
Why they are watching this plain looking well and what is it’s fate.
But the watchers don’t budge, they don’t make a peep.
Why they are watching, that secret they will keep.
The Watcher is frustrated, he wants to know, why?
The Watcher gets ANGRY! so mad he may cry.
He YELLS! at the watchers, he abuses by voice!
But the watchers keep watching like they don’t have a choice.
The Watcher watches their faces he studies their stance,
The Watcher looks on for hours, not just a glance.
Curiosity sets in, the anger subsided.
“I’ll examine this well” the Watcher decided.
The Watcher scans the surroundings, then peers the inside.
Too dark to see bottom - a good place to hide.
The Watcher looks, he stares, he steadies his gaze.
A peculiar scent arose, put his head in a daze.
He stumbles backward, refocuses eyes.
The Watcher stands like a statue, can’t move but he tries.
He stares at the sight, can hardly believe.
Frozen by fright, there will be no reprieve.
The Watcher stands and he stares like the watchers before him.
All the watchers scared stiff, the sight dreadful and so grim.
The watchers all watching, all watching in line.
The watchers keep watching, bound to watch throughout time.
There they all stand watching that plain looking well when...
A new watcher happens upon them, starts watching, and then...
Corruption the putrid core
Of the crop that cripples
Trust that create crucial hold
Between ruler and the ruled
Greedily troubled equivocal thoughts of the cruel mankind
Equipped with massive power over naturally resourced terra firma
Die many times hopes and aspirations of the destitute.
Amandla! Ngawethu!! Really?
Sons and daughters of the golden continent
Come to life and reclaim the immense power you possessed
Reclaim the dignity and wealth your leaders traded for personal enrichment
It’s time we make our leaders comprehend
The significant detail that WE people govern
And they should be scared stiff by your growl.
We were strapped in ready for take-off,
the engines churning all around us.
We'd longed for this moment,
but when it came we were scared stiff,
wondering if we'd survive.
"Countdown to take-off!" the captain roared.
Gritting our teeth we made ready.
pushed hard into our seat backs with stomachs
turning cartwheels we were off at last!
bright lights and bogus noises
surging from under the blankets.
There was a wobble and a whistle,
the signals to burst out at warp speed.
Our bodies felt the rush, the rumble
and finally the jolt of the touch down.
"Look out the peephole! We're on the moon!"
the captain cried. And sure enough, we weren't
in Kansas anymore. The moonscape was
strangely full of familiar looking objects,
Grandma's afghan flowing like a river,
what looked like the pillows
from Jimmy's bed, crumpled like space debris,
and my school project, a volcano
puffing out baking powder.
Yep, this was the moon alright.
"Imaginations still intact," Jimmy yelled,
but how are we gonna get home?"