Best Tether Poems
A setting Sun singes the edge of Earth,
stillness swiftly spreading over the ground.
And its receding rays give shadows girth,
swallowing the last lingering light found.
As Twilight fades, darkness begins to creep;
loosely leashed to an ebony tether.
And from the undergrowth, there's not a peep,
where Dusk gathers stray shadows together.
When the day shuts down, the stars start to show,
twinkling against a vast backdrop of black.
And the tides, in cobalt seas, ebb and flow,
while darkness welcomes a pitted moon back.
Awaiting Dawn's releasing rays of light;
Shadows, shackle silhouettes to the night.
“Whatsoever that be within us that feels, thinks, desires, and animates, is something celestial, divine, and, consequently, imperishable.” Quote by Aristotle
The aurora borealis glowed above us,
Beckoning us to the stars,
where meteoroids and asteroids challenge,
microgravity becomes our new reality.
stardust speckles our skin,
creating an ethereal glow.
I’m lost in your soul's windows,
diving into your solar plexus,
drowning in the Milky Way's whirlpool.
Our bodies sweat, cosmic confetti bursts,
celestial hallucinations haunt my mind,
my engine is ready to combust,
asteroid ashes and space dust swirl.
As our lifetime dissipates,
I stitch my lifelines to your skin,
in shimmering ink,
we await the encore of rebirth,
new bodies formed from cracked constellations,
descending from heaven's opalescent gate.
So deep the loss...loss
different than any of those others’.* Others
can’t help but hear my cries, cries
of help. So deep the sorrow...sorrow
keeps the lump in my heart, heart
of despair. The one I need most to hear...hear
me she never quit, until her time was up. Up,
I look for help. Down I read the tether lines, lines
upon pages in books. Books
written by varied authors. Authors —
I glean from their advice...advice
with stories of suffering, suffering
taken to the cross, nailed through feet and hands. Hands
fold. He patiently, lovingly, mercifully listens to me.
6/3/2021
*Or so it seems
It’s a tare.
A sort of find.
She’s not there.
Yet a this is mine.
It’s an after.
For a longs to be.
She’s not weather.
For a look to see.
It’s an always.
At a door a name.
She’s not there.
For a way a frame.
It’s a languish.
A less than take.
She’s not there.
For a way to make.
It’s a wonder.
An always in a wish.
She’s not there.
For me with a kiss.
It’s a tether.
An ask for a care.
She’s not there.
In a miss to bear.
for B
I walked into the psychiatrists office and sat down/ I noticed there was a strong smell of strong wood/ the exact type you expect to find in an office like this/ He sat opposite me behind a large desk/ grey suit nicely pressed/ he leaned back and stroked his nostril hair/ “Why is it bothering you so much?” he asked/ What the nostril hair? I had thought/ But “Because it’s crippling my sense of self” was what I said out loud/ “it crushes my belief that I exist in time and space as a real and true physical entity with actual molecular integrity” I said through sharp breath/
He was looking just as perplexed as I was certainly feeling/ He fell to his knees as tears kissed his cheeks/ “Professionalism be damned, I have felt this way too” he spluttered/ my heart fluttered the way it does when faced with the possibility of human connection/ Using only my eyes I begged him to continue, this man made of not bone but pure PHD/ “When it happens, you feel the full force of the complexity of the philosophical conundrum within which we drown like helpless fish”/ Yes he was right, I decided to add “And when it happens you feel as if your actual soul is invisible and you question its very existence”/
This was getting heavy, the other psychiatrists just never understood/ but this one did/ he rose to his knees/ he looked quite majestic/ well, if majestic meant pathetic he did/ “no my boy”/ his trembling voice began to sing/ Well, if sing meant moan he did/
“No, my boy, not you nor I, nor any other man will ever be able to comprehend in any meaningful way, why we English feel the need to say sorry to someone who treads on our foot”/
The relief of hearing someone else say it aloud/ brought on a mass of tears. I hugged him and lit a cigarette.
Give me seconds, give me thirds!
Do I deserve what you've preserved!?
Lovesick, heartsick--kept chained inside
Numb--tight lipped, captive to the fear
Listening to the gears as they begin to turn
Watching in dismay as everything starts to rust
I must release myself & become one among the captives
Love crippled, my heart's petrified of letting someone in
Losing sleep--tossing & turning amongst the sheets
Moonlit screams come piercing in--waking me from my dream
Breaking every tether, drifting like a feather
I smoother the 3 leaf clover, list I wish for another dreamboat lover.
Tethers
I stole upon a lusty wind
To gain the Summer sky.
A slender tail
Sustained me well
As I began to climb.
Uplifted to fantastic heights
Yet higher still I sought
But, lo, my frame
Could nothing gain
No matter how I fought.
For from below the tether bold,
A simple length of string,
Restrains my urge
And every surge
Else I would wander free.
A snap and I am reeling hard,
Convulsively I spin.
Untethered I
Am wielded by
A juggernaut of wind.
Oh would that I were tethered now,
Complicit with the breeze.
It's where I ought
To be and not
Entangled in these trees.
Take my hand and tether me
my fingers outstretched,
long and unnatural,
being pulled gently, slowly,
vibrations slowing.
Don't let my fingers slip away --
do not release my weight
or am I weightless?
Which second or millisecond
do we transform from weight to ether?
The soul knows and prepares for lift
and for loft.
I see you now, expressionless,
or crying -- maybe dying,
as I drift upward, speed increasing.
I see you and you grow smaller.
I'm flying now. Can you see me?
You are a pinpoint
much like an ink mark, superfine,
on paper that once recorded
who I was and
who you will continue to be.
Tether my memory now, dear love,
I fear I am a pinpoint too.
When we share a passionate kiss
I feel loved and completely whole,
conjoined in both body and soul.
Love fills my heart with instant bliss;
coaxing fragile, fledgling feelings,
to fly to heights without ceilings.
Believing nothing is amiss
love caters to my trusting heart,
healing the parts time tore apart.
All doubts are easy to dismiss
when two souls intertwine as one;
like a knot that can't be undone.
Eternal, we'll cross Death's abyss;
our souls bound tightly together
by an emotional tether.
You alone make me feel like this
imbuing my day with a smile,
always going that extra mile.
When we share a passionate kiss,
love fills my heart with instant bliss.
Believing nothing is amiss,
all doubts are easy to dismiss.
Eternal, we'll cross Death's abyss;
you alone make me feel like this.
my tether has broke
the life I had is over
everything I held on to is gone
the joy I longed for stopped
grabbing reaching for my existence
swallowed breathing now gasping for
it’s over I don’t care anymore
my peasant is in the past
nothing to hold on to
nothing to grasp
all I want is peace
and another chance
I lay face down
praying you will save me
from this life of sorrow
you said you would never
leave me nor forsake me
as I lay I feel your presents
you hold me in your loving arms
a breeze flows through me
just like the first time I received
your gift of life
how can this be ?
you didn’t forget me
I am the child you have always wanted
A crazy tether ball playing hornet
Fell on her head over the game’s rope net.
Her mamma said “What?”
She fell on her butt.
Accidentally showing her pink corset.
A fragile soul of a girl simple and small.
Whose dreams grow endlessly tall.
With no hopes of ever catching up to them at all.
A desolate grace of a woman lost.
Giving up her life at no cost.
Allows her sympathy to gather frost.
Tears to which they've cried.
Together.
And alone they've tried.
To break their tether.
The home of a girl.
To which there's no soul to uncurl.
No love or memories to unfurl.
A woman holding onto closed eyes.
Enclosed to feel no one else's lies.
Hidden only to feel her own cries.
Fears they've blocked.
Together.
And the gun is cocked.
To rip apart this tether.
The only thing holding these two together.
The only emotion keeping them sheltered from the brash weather.
A torn and stressed tether.
Watch as their forgotten emotions grow.
Heard miles away...The echoing of the gun's blow.
To tear and shred the tether that brought them down so low.
Day ends to be eve,
And mounting come memories
Gloomy heart to grieve.
Yet, sets in when late eve’s breeze,
From tether frees tied up ease.
O thou late eve’s breeze,
What if ye come all alone
Without memories,
To let me linger till dawn
When pleasant dreams play nigh prone.
_____________________________
Tanka |04.04.2024| evening, memories, dreams
Threads unseen, yet tightly wound,
Hearts in silence, ever bound.
Through time and space, a soulful call,
One love found, one love all.
A fleeting breath, a whispered vow—
Forever starts in the here and now.
I never realized nor told you
My love has always been a lie,
Because I never wanted to tell you,
Or else you would cry.
I never wanted to hurt you,
But to be fair in love and war
You had emotionally hurt me too,
As my heart became what you tore.
I never want to be with you anymore,
Because I found what I needed,
A sense of paradise lost made my heart sore,
As I felt the seeds blooming from an old love long ago seeded.
I never want you to forget me either,
Just never try to win me back,
And never try to force me to your tether,
Just please cut me some slack.