Best Tightrope Poems
I balance on a tightrope. Surrounded by
lovers and dreamers, I teeter above a raging sea.
I admire their glossy smiles and envy
their bright-eyed confidence; envy is a sin, I know.
Please forgive me; a lie would carry more guilt.
The waves crash in dark shades of gray, still they smile.
Their laughter from all around pierces the thin air.
I teeter alone; I may or may not fall.
My fate is undetermined, in my own hands;
the tragedy today may be tomorrow's comedy.
Their laughter echoes...
On a day like today, the fresh tears sting.
If only I could wake from the nightmare,
pry open the windows of my tortured soul.
If only I could charm the feral...if only.
Oh, the skeletal monsters we are bequeathed!
Yes, I understand the meaning of loyalty.
A fool believes the wicked will fall.
A fool believes the merciless will change.
Can a hollow chest develop a beating heart?
I chisel stone walls, searching for a glimmer of hope,
a flicker of humanity behind steel beams.
Could you spare a token of remorse?
I dare to drop a coin in a fountain of wishes.
A pocketful of coins jingle as my wishes sink
to the bottom of the venomous waters.
I am patient as I teeter on the tightrope.
The audience cheers taking pleasure in my pain.
Blood pulsates through my veins, yet I feel cold winds
penetrate my soul. I refuse to cower or
live in contention...
Blood is thicker than ink.
I find my balance in the written word, a gift of life!
Words sometimes spill from a bleeding heart.
I beseech the ghosts of the past to end their haunting.
Their breath is the frigid wind. I find shelter...
Tempered is the skin of the wounded. Who knows
what may lie beneath the flesh. In the mirror,
you may find a frightened child in need of love.
Most find the strength to balance and stand.
Every step brings me closer to solid ground...
I am reaching for you. Please take my hand.
She sits in silence at the end of day
Beside the fire that barely warms the air
Her mind in anguish, threads that tend to fray
Companionless, within a room austere.
Like a carousel swirling around me
Are faces, places, traces of my life
These disjointed images confound me
Recollections sliced by a jagged knife.
The curtains drawn; the door chains are in place
Her thoughts are roaming down the paths of night
A hint of sadness settles on her face
As shadows flicker in the waning light.
There was a man, can’t remember his name
But such fine features graced his handsome face
My wild, young heart his soothing words would tame
As I danced with him in chantilly lace.
She can’t help thinking of the years that pass
The complications of advancing age
Life hard to handle just like fragile glass
Progressive weakness in initial stage.
How easily we swayed across the floor
Effortlessly as an orchestra played
An oceanside hall at some unknown shore
Lord knows, I felt like such a lucky maid!
She fears the fading of a priceless stock
Each recollection slipping from her grip
Memorabilia gathered round the clock
Accumulated in her lifetime trip.
Oh, to feel young and pain-free one more time
But this man’s gone now, and with him, my hope
My mind wanders back to days of my prime
As I tread on senility’s tightrope.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
*Poem co-written by Paul Callus and Carolyn Devonshire
She sits in silence at the end of day
Beside the fire that barely warms the air
Her mind in anguish, threads that tend to fray
Companionless, within a room austere.
Like a carousel swirling around me
Are faces, places, traces of my life
These disjointed images confound me
Recollections sliced by a jagged knife.
The curtains drawn; the door chains are in place
Her thoughts are roaming down the paths of night
A hint of sadness settles on her face
As shadows flicker in the waning light.
There was a man, can’t remember his name
But such fine features graced his handsome face
My wild, young heart his soothing words would tame
As I danced with him in chantilly lace.
She can’t help thinking of the years that pass
The complications of advancing age
Life hard to handle just like fragile glass
Progressive weakness in initial stage.
How easily we swayed across the floor
Effortlessly as an orchestra played
An oceanside hall at some unknown shore
Lord knows, I felt like such a lucky maid!
She fears the fading of a priceless stock
Each recollection slipping from her grip
Memorabilia gathered round the clock
Accumulated in her lifetime trip.
Oh, to feel young and pain-free one more time
But this man’s gone now, and with him, my hope
My mind wanders back to days of my prime
As I tread on senility’s tightrope.
*Poem co-written by Paul Callus and Carolyn Devonshire
Some days are diamond, some are stone
We all need a mix of diamonds and stones
Otherwise we would miss the comparison
If life was all diamonds, we wouldn't be able to
Handle those stone days
And all stone days, we would be on a suicide watch
The perfect mix produces balance
It produces happiness knowing
As bad as it gets, there's always better days ahead
I hear some of you saying, “Not in my life!”
Yes... in everyone's life or we wouldn't survive
Really think about your life
Unless your are in the .001% of the world's population
There have been times of exultation
And times when you didn't think it couldn't get any worse
Take heart my friendlies
If you're feeling down right now
Imagine how you'll feel when reaching the end
Balancing on the tightrope of life!
At first, the rope was thick as a trunk~
I could balance on it sleeping.
Then years pared it down to a clothesline,
then a thread, trembling with my breath.
Grocery bags became sandbags.
Stairs grew teeth.
My shadow pooled at my feet
like a dropped coat.
One morning, I unstitched the hem
of my own skin.
Thread by thread,
I learned the grammar of hunger~
not the sharp want of before,
but the slow, voweled enough.
Now the rope’s a filament,
a hair of light.
I tread softly.
Enlightenment,hope and harmony
What they are to me
Without one,you will never obtain the other two
Of these life balancing three
Living your life in harmony
Fills your heart with hope
Through hope you gain enlightenment
As you prepare to cross life's tightrope
You hope to reach the other side
As you take each step in harmony
Reaching the other side you will gain enlightenment
With the proper balancing of all three
4-26-13
Contest:By Russell Sivey-Enlightenment,Hope and Harmony
Some days are diamond, some are stone
We all need a mix of diamonds and stones
Otherwise we would miss the comparison
If life was all diamonds, we wouldn't be able to
Handle those stone days
And all stone days, we would be on a suicide watch
The perfect mix produces balance
It produces happiness knowing
As bad as it gets, there's always a better day ahead
I hear some of you saying, “Not in my life!”
Yes... in everyone's life or we wouldn't survive
Really think about your life
Unless your are in the .001% of the world's population
There have been times of exultation
And times when you didn't think it could get any worse
Take heart my friendlies
If you're feeling down right now
Imagine how great it will feel when you reach the other end
As we walk the tightrope of life!
© Jack Ellison 2015
Walking a tightrope High above the crowd Faces below me Shouting out loud Come here go there Directions all about My once certainty Has now become my doubt Lost my way Let all my demons in A blinding arrogance Appears to be my sin Never took heed Always went my own way Closed my ears To all the words people say Need to keep my balance Can`t let go now Very difficult task Seems I forgot how Feel myself slipping Into the crowd below No safety net in sight To cushion the blow Before I hit Will my arms sprout wings Will know very soon What my future brings
Tightrope high…so precarious
So liquid gold smooth rushing through my veins
I am everyone; anyone; and no one
Don’t look down.
Seven levels of thought, like spinning plates on wobbling sticks
I am outside myself and can hear every noise, every conversation
Don't let them see.
Inside is constant analysis, repetition, spelling, counting, shaking
Darting eyes over words on paper; unsteady hands for writing
Don't move my lips.
Waiting for the voices, but building a barrier in case they come
I need to go…anywhere but here
Don't lose my nerve.
Don't lose my self.
Tightrope
There's tension
As the crowd below
Looks up aghast
Before the show
A gentle breeze
Like fingers strum
On string of fate
A vibrant hum
At last, the feet
Of mortal man
Berates the gods
Like no-one can
A step, a wave
The journey starts
So high, so far
While mouths hold hearts
And hands clutch eyes
Who dares to speak?
While children squeal
Through fingers peek
So high above
What does he feel
Immune to fear
Or hurts to heal?
We sometimes risk
More than it's worth
On tricky path
Above the earth
And danger calls
Us like a drug
To medicate
The loveless shrug
We fix our eyes
On what we know
While gasping friends
Recoil below
As risk allures
We rest on grace
To see us through
To love's embrace
Yes, hearts can change
When life's a test.
Enlarged. In hopeful
Outcomes rest
So, of our man?
He made it through
To loud applause
For feet so true
The greatest challenge
We yet may find..
To walk the tightrope
Of the mind
Jinjagoliath
16th May 2023
The barbed tightrope sways menacingly
The imperceptible border separating
A chaotic world from
Inevitable peaceful sleep
She runs without trepidation
Bloodied, stained and scarred bare feet
Immune to the flesh eating jagged edges
Slivers of her soul left at every piercing blade
Leaps powered by her blatant disregard for life
Unfazed by her own inflicted sway
Thoughtless to the potential plummeting
Life or death
Escaping manic voices
Echoing from the depths of
A lunatic mind
A despairing heart
A tragedy riddled soul
Wisps of hope begin to snake beside her
An alluring path
A mirage of dreams
Stillness overwhelms
Bated breath
Mesmerizing foolish belief
Past lessons forgot
Temptation triumphing
Over resistant faith
Lured into the pretense
Arms reach out in desperation
Fingertips barely grasping the fast fading hope
Mad laughter echoing from the mouths of the illusionists
The onward chase of hope as it turns to dust
Ripples of violent swaying beneath her feet
Voices encircling
A sprint driven by
The divine hunger for the seemingly last remnants of happiness
Leaping into nothingness
Delusional enlightened hope
Only a mirror of her heart’s desires
A mere reflection of her pleading tears
Misjudgment
Condemnation
Failure
Sentenced
And with flailing arms she falls
The tightrope gone forever.
Anticipation
Expectations running high
Reality check
Living on the edge of hope
Balanced precariously.
Image Public domain
Charles Blondin.
(born Jean François Gravelet. 1824–1897)
Acrobat and tightrope walker.
I walk a rope that hangs in air,
It moves with rules I do not see.
Each step I take feels watched, not free,
And I forget who I used to be.
The rope is soft yet too tight and pulls me back,
Like Kind Hands hiding quiet chains.
It bends around but doesn’t break,
And leads me through the same old lanes.
I feel the pull from sides unknown,
Not just by you, or even me.
Some hands I never see or name
Still change the shape beneath my feet.
I walk like water in a glass,
Shaking with fear I cannot speak.
If I fall, is that called freedom?
Or just another circle made?
The rope still turns but never ends,
And still I walk though truth is blurred.
Still I walk, though the knot is hidden,
And the wind keeps shaking, blurring what I see.
There's a narrow strand beneath us,
Stretching out to obscurity.
And it beckons us to proceed upon it,
While every step has insecurity.
This is the path our mentality travels,
Where emotion and cognition play.
And while that rope will often wobble,
Attempts to balance mustn't delay.
Thought and feelings are rarely separate
Partners, as their bond tends to grow in time.
Yet it's their weight that is ever-changing,
Allowing actions to go along and climb.
Together, most thought and feeling,
Are in sync with behavior displayed.
But at times instinct may intercede,
While any rationale is ignored & betrayed.
This balancing act remains constant,
With 'time-outs' only given to sleep.
Though some dreams may give more rope to
Cross-over, the fall in the abyss is not too deep.
Tightrope moment
Narrow access
Balance is almost unimaginable
The left of the balance lays before
me deception
And on the right, distraction
The gapping drop is hard to
overcome
One misstep
And fatality swallows you whole
I want to make this journey across
But I keep diving in after a struggle
or two
This road is harder to cross than
once thought
But giving in has been my choice for
too long