Best Shade Poems
Just as days long ago, when decorum resolved,
before composure, and poise,.. were corsages, unknown
Where propriety mattered, and was favored as gold,
high society, has gathered to flavor their tea
There's a trellis, embraced by a rose climbing vine
Places are set, for dining in jade
beneath shadows that stretch under arthritic old trees
While slivers of sunshine, squeeze through the branches
of silver leafed limbs, in magnolia bloomed shade
Tea will be served, by large knuckled hands
at several round tables dressed with Swiss lace designs
Wearing lavender silk is our proper Grand Dame'
who fits her surroundings, as vintage as wine
Voices are lilting like the birds in the trees
Laughter and chatter, mingle with soft, summer breezes
A bouquet of old friends, around a few scattered tables.
Silver coifed hairdos, to make celebration
Crepe myrtle and wrinkles, beneath ashes and maples
Water cress munchies, and triangle creations
Sweet honey-suckle, tucked over the porches.…
Rose petal blossoms, are painted on china
Bridge cards, tumble by Blue Willow dishes
Biscuits from England, crumble sublimely
Large bosoms bouncing, and big floppy hats
Gossip dished up with lemon-sliced frowns
Up in the tree is the neighbor's calico cat
who catches a glance, and a chance to crawl down
Are they ladies of leisure, from a time that is lost?
Or a painting I've seen on the wall from the past?
______________________________
Inspired By the Garden Party Contest
Sponsored By Cyndi McMillan 6/6/14
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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
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
He's infuriatingly...
pretty...
and I follow myself over his smile to find my eyes, promising uncertainty and chewing on
my bottom lip with the hunger that resides in...
love...
He rolled me over and kissed my dreams, his mouth became my salvation and I nailed myself
to the bedpost as we made love, my legs became morning while I screamed midnight to the
dawn...
and I had never seen such a beautiful sunrise, I had never seen the beginning color herself so
strangely...
I told him, as our eyes appeared shallow, as the light dimmed and he breathed summer on my
neck...
“Blue is blue, Dear, don't try to shade it with red.”
But he explained to me the art of bruises, he informed me the results were beautiful, and
he held up a mirror to my unmarked skin, places where the black and blue and...
purple...
has dissipated...
while he sheltered my chest with his hand, covering my heart with his palm, and told me
the results still beat...
in.me.
I cried, tears of the rain that once fell in April, and he held me, time slipping between
us, beads of sweat that spoke eternity and seven more months, and I spoke silently so he
could hear me, I whispered his name...
“God, you're beautiful,” he said on the second I realized the sadness had left me, that
she had found content and was studying the games we never played with the fascination of a
child, I touched his cheek with the surreal movements that occur when one has fallen and
been caught and smiled at the thought of us...
I sacrificed my pain that night, I handed it straight over to midnight when the day broke,
I blended the sunrise with blue and watched the sky turn purple with him right beside me,
I counted the minutes to eternity and he laughed at my obsessions as he told me I was...
beautiful...
as he drank my belief off my left shoulder with a kiss...
and I looked at him, in the light, my eyes deep with the memories of the sea, as I kissed
him, with a certainty I never questioned as tomorrow started forever...
and he would live inside me
for seven
more
months.
I love walking bare foot on freshly cut grass
Sitting under the shade tree while the day rolls on past
Listening to songbirds as swallowtails flutter by
Watching the sun set and the moon rising high.
You can bring a large blanket and a bottle of wine
If you also have cheeses that would be so fine
Kick off your shoes, lay your head in my lap,
I'll massage your temples as you take a nap.
I can play some sweet tunes from on app on my phone
The only thing better than being here is not being alone.
As long as we lay here, I've not a care in the world
I'm in my favorite place with my favorite girl.
Just two glasses of wine and I'm already feeling a buzz,
You ask, "Why did you kiss me?" I simply answer, "Because ...
... I love walking bare foot on freshly cut grass,
Sitting under the shade tree while the day rolls on past;
You brought out a blanket, some cheeses and wine,
I am feeling so happy, I am feeling so fine."
"Besides ... if I need an excuse for kissing my wife,
You're going to have to excuse me for the rest of my life.
Now finish that wine, take the last couple of sips,
Scootch a little closer and bring me those lips."
Honeyed amethyst is the soft shade of twilight
as it smoothly melds with sunset's prismed hues
Moonlight glints with the glow of a lustrous pearl
Stars gleam as multifaceted as crosscut diamonds
Celestial beauty reigns in the bejeweled night sky
Love forever eludes me perhaps because it flies on angelic wings
And yet my earth bound body is beneath the weight of gravity
Its like following a rainbow to an end I'll never see
Or like chasing the horizon as it falls away from me
Will I ever find that pot of gold and embrace a warm sunset
With my heart on sandy shores beneath a sky I won't forget
To become envious of the moon as it illuminates her face
Gently dancing across her skin as it adorns with utter grace
Then inhale the scent of beauty as her lips press next to mine
As I watch the midnight sky reflect inside her radiant eyes
and in her starry shade
Of dim and solitary loveliness
I learn’d the language of another world
That I found deeply within one kiss
~ JJF ~
Delphinus stars
~Lord Byrons Manfred~
You speak as if you've read all the pages.
All knowing; bestow yourself this grace.
Beneath that serenity lies an abandoned cage.
Don't try to hide what's scrawled across your face.
I've forsworn myself, now I'll tell the truth.
The only reason for love in this world is you.
Do you want to see my eyes shaded from the sun?
Take this love and concern from deep inside me.
Tear down these walls, show this damaged heart is done.
Prove it's not "you and I" and no longer "we."
A tomb is set in earth, shuddering beneath you.
A souvenir of your self-inflicted ascension.
Housing the victims you so lovingly slew,
Demons overtaken; yearning for redemption.
Please don't tell me it's wrong to keep holding on.
Don't say those feelings were never worth the fight.
Even when the pain is numbed and gone,
I'll still need and bleed to feel your sunlight.
Her head tilted back towards the darkened clouds,
Mocha curls rests on shoulder blades,
Lids shut tight hiding emerald eyes shedding crystals,
Water rushed from the grey sky,
Shades of ulysses butterfly flooded over flesh,
The drops pierced her tender pores,
Seeping under her pale skin,
Merging with her spirit as one,
Then remained.
Sitting on the front porch in the evening shade,
strumming on a flattop guitar that was made
to play along with a country song
about a sad heart who was done wrong.
Old Shep beats his tail to the tune,
enjoying the breeze and the croon
of the melodic voice which fills the air,
encouraging the birds to sing with flair.
Friendly neighbors stop by to listen with glee
to the one-man show which is free,
there isn't anything he can't play,
taking all requests on any day.
Favorites are heard and the group is a part
of the dusk-like entertainment considered art,
joining together with voices raised up high,
taking a walk down memory lane with a sigh.
Sitting on the front porch in the evening shade
is a summertime thought that will not fade,
singing along with the guitar,
making sounds in unison near and far.
Beneath cool green shade
we roil in inner undulations--
a fever of hands, a pox
of sunlight glinting
high canopies of summer trees.
Creeks crackle, clear
water molding speckled
pebbles as laughter
churns cooling shade
slipping past memories,
holding moments briefly --
white seeds of cottonwood
spinning in sun, settling
listlessly on a skin
of stream.
A darker shade of blue (revised October 22,2020)
I came home from work today,
and saw the note you left
It took me by surprise,
couldn't imagine what it said
You said you needed time and space...
to figure some things out
I think there's prob'ly more to this...
you left me here with my doubts
Bridge
Looks like...I'll keep on living without you
Looks like...there's nothing more to say
Looks like...I'll just stay home without you
Cause with this latest news...
My sadness takes on a deeper hue...
I'm a darker shade of blue
You called me up the other day
and said our daughter's doing fine...
She started her new school today
she'll call when she has time
Chorus
I guess I'm happy for you
yeah...so happy for you
You're trying to find a new life
and I don't know what to do...
but, I think you might come back to me
or, maybe you don't want to...
Now, I'm a darker shade of blue
I'm a darker shade of blue
So much time has passed by
but, I still feel the same
My life ended long ago
the day you walked away
You called me on the phone today
said you've found your one true love
I guess I was just dreaming
cause, I thought I was the one.
Bridge
Looks like...I'll keep on living without you
Looks like...there's nothing more to say
Looks like...I'll just stay home without you
Cause with this latest news...
My sadness takes on a deeper hue...
I'm a darker shade of blue
Chorus
I'm so happy for you
really...happy for you
You finally found your new life
and I know that it's true
now I know you won't come back to me
Cause, you really don't want to...
now, I'm a darker shade of blue
I'm a darker shade of blue
Now I see you won't come back to me
Cause, you really don't want to...
Now, I'm a darker shade of blue.
I'm a darker shade of blue (repeat two more times)
(fade to zero)
John Derek Hamilton
Original write February 06, 2017
revised October 22,2020
Spring still knows me
Out, about and carefree,
Wandering a flower bed
Nurturing the blooms ahead
Summer does not see
Very much of me,
Hiding behind the shades
Until the heat fades
Autumn knows me well
Standing where leaves fell,
Kicking them all around
Wherever I am found
Winter, too, will see
Little more of me,
Crunching on icy flakes
A million smiles makes.
******This poem had special appeal to me in that a friend had brought up that I had a talent for poetry and he encouraged me to write more. I was very proud of this piece, which was written at one of my 'hideaways' where I find inspiration; nature poetry or what some call 'nature erotica'. This poem was anthologized, which makes me feel rather fortunate, since a publisher requested it among many other poets and great poems. I think I finally 'saw' what my friend had after it was officially published*****
Amid the sylvan shade,
the footpaths teem with wooded laugh,
the sylph she giggles atop aerie slumber,
tickled in soft-slender breeze;
the nectar dews,
meady-moss and carpet-leaves,
juniper and berry-sweet breath
She sings amid the sylvan shade
nothing to do but sigh and dream
her wanton-wistful way
The glade whispers wishes (weening)
tempered hush,
echoed odes of faerie-tongue forgotten rhyme,
But for the meadow and vale,
aerie eagle cries,
none has come but I;
to sit and ponder, and listen -----
homage,
amid the sylvan shade
Dancing trees, clapping leaves
In their shade a whistling cool breeze
We listen to nature breathe
There's someone behind me
Following me,
Copying me,
As same as me.
I looked behind,
There was nothing.
I looked down
And there was she,
As usual.
But she’s not loyal,
She only lasts in light
And leaves in dark.
And if not
Then makes me afraid,
Of course, That’s just my shade.
But it’s good to have it.
It makes you unique,
Because you at least have a follower.
And moreover,
Without it,
You can’t call yourself
A Human being.