Best Trudging Poems
I long to—
Walk one more time
To where the land ends, and the ocean begins
To listen expectantly for the sounds of infant waves
Grasping layers of golden sand
I long to—
Hear the fat gulls with white bellies
And ebony eyes
Floating on invisible wires
Calling for the savory morsels
Hidden inside the curled fingers of an old man
I long to—
Stand beneath the tangerine sky
Lazily descending into the cradle of the sea
Vacating heaven for the snowy celestial sphere
Hung upon Vincent’s starry canvas
Ten thousand lights scattered forever
I long to—
Be embraced by the tenebrous sea
Her loneliness engulfing me like lovers of yesterday
I long to—
Gaze beyond the past wrapped in sorrow
The years of trudging through cheerless mire
Searching for reasons without answers
Answers without questions
I long to—
Remember only moments worth remembering
A twirling montage of love and hope
And dreams
Of a time when two became one
Hearts pulsing in harmony
Minds ascending to tidal floods of ecstasy
I long to—
See your face
To walk hand in hand
To where the land ends and the ocean begins
I long to—
Do it all again
Categories:
trudging, love,
Form:
Free verse
Trudging under frozen starlit skies
Against stiff Winters bitter blowes...
When ambling up past frosted trees
From the wooded valley down below.
As stepping into a clearing glade,
Surround ragged drifts of thinning snow,
Once Summers haze - long since forbade,
Now pale Moon beams all aglow.
For within this realm of Twilight,
Perched high up in a bush,
Snugly within his feathered form
Roosts a warbled Darkling Thrush.
Stirred from his ruffled thoughts...
Dulcet voice lifts upon still night:
With euphonious notes so sweetly sung -
Poured forth in harmonious delight!
Oh tawny Throstle, nemesis of
Nightingales,
Did Heavens Choirs ever sound so sweet?
Your scrawny throat of melodious rails -
That kept my lover from her feet!
Categories:
trudging, bird,
Form:
Rhyme
Golden soft was the light that swiftly flew,
as whistling rain pelted majestic oaks.
And, the soaked birds began to cry for you
as Nature silently wrapped up its cloaks,
thirsty for coming dawn, so bold and new.
Silver Maples fluttered in the wind
where fast asleep the rabbits hid away;
all the beauty we wish would never end,
the brightened colors of each joyful day,
as Nature's glory flowed out to transcend.
Still, in the silence, a flowing stream sang
a melody of bygone days and stones
skipping from little hands as flat slates sprang
and lent a lilt of laughter to each tone.
Can you taste the winds as the seasons flow?
The comfy scent of wood smoke on the breeze
recalls the snap of pine cones in the hearth
or trudging through forest deep for downed trees
to bring home for a Yuletide's start.
Water, wood, metal, fire, are God’s gifted plan.
Robert Lindley & Debbie Guzzi
Categories:
trudging, nature,
Form:
Verse
from suffering and pain
that is piped into veins
by the organ-less master
who relentlessly plays
from a congested gutter
of fake themes
hiding in deception
and callous clutter
from distaste of the old
the sick the poor and uninvited
from the self-imposed
silent deaf and short-sighted
I rise
as a bed of plume feathers
carry me gently towards
an untainted treasure
klimt gold ash pours over my body
soothing the distress I allowed to infest
I stroll along the mountains aurora
feet sinking into a bed of stardust flora
gazing out at mankind
a dull drum beat of the blinding matrix
trudging in sync to a contrived greatness
oblivious to the thundering roar
of perishing seas
animals lie floating
in warm global soaking
smoldering sun with rusted rays
shivers in the sky
with disheartened malaise
the illusion is breaking
a decision is undertaking
a red beaked sparrow beckons me
to look off into the darkening blue
a great tempest is coming
and long overdue
Categories:
trudging, environment, humanity, political, truth,
Form:
Free verse
As I Walk Hard Narrow Path, Dust In My Mouth
I walk hard narrow path, dust in my mouth
Just a poor farm-boy, born in the dear South,
With edges slippery and turns so quick
Oft so weary, too often so damn sick.
Trudging on through, into midnight's dark cast
Praying my courage will forever last,
And in my dreams, I meet my angel here
She of sweetest heart and devoid of fear.
Each new sunset , I watch those red-burnt rays
Muttering words, as only poor boy prays,
In wind's soft blows, I hear, "patience rewards"
Step thee lively, avoid the broken shards!
I walk hard narrow path, dust in my mouth
Just a poor farm-boy, born in the dear South.
R.J. Lindley ,
July 11th, 1973
Sonnet, ( Working on the farm before sun-up until after sunset)
Note: I decided this morn, to bring this one right on out of my private journal.
Hope you may enjoy it, as I wrote it at age 19..
Any that worked on the farms in the 60-s, 70's, and 80's, will certainly get this..
Categories:
trudging, childhood, farm, feelings, home,
Form:
Sonnet
The cold is now a distant memory
As snowfall comes the heaviest in years
With drifts now formed of northern wind that blows
For all I see is covered, it appears
Pure white the only color now that shows
The chill inside my body steady grows
I can’t believe this morning that I chose
I shiver as I’m trudging through the gate
My hands and feet are frozen to the core
When will this frigid weather soon abate
Not sure I can withstand this anymore
Have never seen such weather, this before
I wonder what the future has in store
When suddenly such beauty comes my way
Of every dream my mind might hope to see
Her face as if a heavenly display
My eyes, behold, the warmest artistry
True love this day is standing next to me
The cold is now a distant memory
My heart hath found this morning ever grand
An angel born this winter wonderland
11/27/18
Written for: The Winter Wonderland Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Emile Pinet
Urban Sonnet
Categories:
trudging, love, winter,
Form:
Sonnet
Never alone
Sadness invades
every corner left open
Ears falling deaf
to the thoughts that do scream
Heartbeats are breaking
in moments of worry
Tears on the edge
of a fracturing dream
Anguish now splintered
as window panes shatter
Closing the curtains
to fend off the fear
Still there is one,
if you need to hold on too
Look in your heart
and you’ll find I am near
Taking your hand,
bringing light to the darkness
Trudging a path
so your feet do not bleed
Lifting you up
when your spirits are drowning
I will be there
in your moment of need
I am not much
just a man who adores you
Taking your pain
as if it’s all my own
Heeding your call
nothing else it does matter
Forever your friend,
you are never alone
Categories:
trudging, friendship,
Form:
Rhyme
goodbye i'd rather die stay away from me from my abandoned arm
it's taken way too long to say so long i finally know this is wrong in my arm you don't belong
you wher my friend for years drying all my tears numbing my fears
this will be harder to turn away but i'm sorry i'm searching for better days
you cannot live here anymore for there is somerthing else i adore
never leaving me wasted on the dirty floors you've done nothing but complicate me
finding the sinner withen mechewing me up spitting me out leaving me exposed and in doubt
i tried to hide you but you were on my sleeves more and more
the days got so hot i just forgot to cover you up
people could tell how much you really loved m,y by the tracks on my arms
they could tell how much you made me feed youby the bruises counting the number of uses
i was driven by your emptiness your nimbness i was raped by your security
now i'm driven by someone elses this is no gamecall it lame you make me ashamed
ashamed to know i trusted you all i wanted to do was die with you
i just want to try a new and see what's it's like sober
we can no longer sleep together no matter the beautiful sunny weather
i am gonna start over and learn how to grow older so goodbye to you please stay away
forgat my name forget your game having something else beside me
for my sobriety will never lie to me never hurt me never desert me
your every promise empty you've taken all my money it's no longer funny saying it's better
than sweet sweet honey
i get so sick after your every prick you're never enough making my life extra hard
only satisfied for a few then back out searching for you only i can let you in
somehow you always seem to win all the dreams i had were taken away
it seems in just a blink of an eye then you find me and i'm all scattered and torn
feeling so good after trudging through the hood i sit with your company and drift off
addicted to the unknown that has always been shown now i'm flushing you out
i'm brushing you off it's my time to shine thanks for the memories i'll bury them with you
don't you get it you're all alone you creep around like a stalker i'm prepared for you
hear my words get go be gone now i'm strong and you're dead wrong
someday i'll shine and sobriety will be mine
Categories:
trudging, me, leaving, me,
Form:
Free verse
Don’t Quit
When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you are trudging seems all uphill,
When funds are low, and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh.
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest, if you must, but don’t you quit!!
Life is ***** with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about
When you might have won,
If you’d stuck it out!
Don’t give up though the pace seems slow-
You may succeed with another blow.
Success is failure turned inside out-
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you can never tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far.
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit
Its when things seem worst that
You must not QUIT!!
Categories:
trudging, inspirationalmay,
Form:
Rhyme
Don’t send me more
Of your tragic poems
My dear
Covered in blood
Of your monthly flood
Of tears
Don’t send me more
Of your angry poems
My dear
Carved with the knife
Of your molten spite
And fears
I’m just a peddler
With a cart
Bringing discount words
To hearts
Broken hearts across the land
Woman left without her man
Broken hearts throughout the world
Anguished boy and crying girl
Your poetry’s too heavy, dear
For me to read, for me to bear
Your poetry’s too heavy, dear
For me to get from here to there
Don’t send me more
Of your bitter poems
My sweet
Forged in the fire
Of your endless ire
And grief
Don’t send me more
Of your hopeless poems
My sweet
Ripped from the womb
Of the lonely room
You keep
I’m just a peddler
With a cart
Bringing discount words
To hearts
Broken hearts across the land
Woman left without her man
Broken hearts throughout the world
Anguished boy and crying girl
Your poetry’s too heavy, dear
For me to read, for me to bear
Your poetry’s too heavy, dear
For me to get from here to there
(You see that shadow on the road
Trudging ‘neath its heavy load
A heart weighed down by sands of time
And your poems only make him cry
And he won’t add them to the pile
So he can walk another mile)
(And he won’t add them
To the pile
So he can walk
Another mile)
Too heavy, dear
Too heavy, dear
For me to read
For me to bear
(They make him sad
Make him cry
Beat him down
Deep inside)
Too heavy, dear
Too heavy, dear
For me to read
For me to bear
They make me sad
Make me cry
Feel as though
I want to die
(And he won’t add them
To the pile
So he can walk
Another mile)
Too heavy, dear
Too heavy, dear
For me to read
For me to bear
(A heart weighed down
By sands of time
And your poems
Only make him cry)
Too heavy, dear
Too heavy, dear
For me to read
For me to bear
Categories:
trudging, angst, depression, music, on
Form:
Ballad
The End of the Road (Love Grows Not Cold)
We started as friends, a long time ago.
We’d meet every day and walk to our school.
In fall’s brilliant beauty, then trudging through snow,
and later in spring, when weather was cool.
I’ll always remember the sunniest day.
His mood had been changing when suddenly,
during our typical chatting away,
the look on his face seemed so sweet to me.
He took hold my hand, and turned a bit red.
I didn’t mind; I’d been wanting him to!
Just starting out – such a long road ahead!
Love blooming from friendship grew strong and true.
While still in our teens, he made me his wife.
That was the spring of our love blossoming.
Then summer came on the road of our life.
With joy came also the woes life can bring.
When autumn set in, it was the time that
our children were grown! Now we’re getting old.
But we’ll warm each other when we are at
the end of the road, for love grows not cold!
Jan. 7, 2017 for the contest of Nicola Byrne
Categories:
trudging, love,
Form:
Quatrain
What is love?
The North Star guiding
a lost seafarer home
or the Siren’s song luring
him to the rocky shores?
Is it frolicking in the moonlit
nights in a field of flowers
or trudging across
an arid, scorching desert?
Is it a freeway to bliss and joy
or a meandering trail
through a rugged terrain
of grief and woe?
Is it a cup of hemlock
or a chalice of nectar?
Is it a snake pit
or a bridge over the chasm
of hatred and bigotry?
Is it an ever-elusive mirage
or the rock of Gibraltar?
Love is all that and more
and yet it’s nothing,
A mere emotion, a feeling,
At first blush, irrelevant
and yet it’s an impetus, a catalyst--
An euphoria permeating our entire being.
It is here, it is there,
and it is everywhere...
Yet, it is nowhere!
It creates mayhem and chaos
if it turns and walks away.
Love knows no boundaries,
It follows no customs or creed;
It cares not for any
race or language.
Not unlike air and water
or the enlivening sunlight--
Vital in good measures
devastating in excess,
Vexing as a thorn but
as enticing as the fragrance.
Love is but love!
No one has seen it
Yet everyone is touched by it,
Its constant presence is overwhelming
Yet you’ll never find
if you go looking for it,
It traverses distant shores,
Yet it doggedly never
leaves your threshold.
You are born with it
but never can you own it,
Forever it hovers around you
but never can you rein it in.
“Love is a many-splendored thing”.
Yet none can explain its true meaning,
It would call through a bullhorn
and you may not hear it,
It merely whispers in your ears
and turns your life topsy-turvy,
More furious than the flowing lava
It would give you the chills if provoked.
He indeed is a poor soul
bereft of hopes and dreams
who befriendeth not love!
~05/02/16
~Free Verse on Love contest by Laura Loo
~"Love turns the world around"
contest by Nayda Ivette Negron
Categories:
trudging, love,
Form:
Free verse
Six months since Christmas and people are down
Trudging through life with a full facial frown
Back in December we hoped it would snow
But not a flake settled, well wouldn’t you know
I remember thinking if it can’t be white
Let’s have a Christmas that’s sunny and bright
Move that joyous season to balmy July
For Boxing Day sunbathing when we can fry
Those Aussies have had it too good for too long
To them a white Christmas would simply be wrong
A dull, cloudy Christmas is Christmas gone flat
But a Bognor like Bondi… I’ll have some of that
If Christmas in Britain was moved to July
We’d leave out ice cream for when Santa comes by
But no doubt we Brits would find cause to complain
It’s July in Britain… it’s still bound to rain
9 July 2022
Contest: Christmas In July
Sponsor: Tania Kitchin
Rhyme Checked by… ensuring words sound the same ;-)
Categories:
trudging, christmas, july,
Form:
Rhyme
2/12/2017
RIZE
Air molecules bursting at the seams with hydrogen
A crafty fish could just about fly…draining a lil’ bit H2o through its gills…flitting from one molecule to another, while delightfully enjoying its very first aerial-panoramic perspective!
Caldron of Sun, heavy trudging through the almost misty air
Pushing, pushing, pushing…slowly forcing the horizon more and more south over the Atlantic Coast…Steaming moisture from the air whilst creating a larger and larger horizon of a grey and pink glow
Other forces of nature…shall not overcome the fiery center of our Universe... no, not this day! As more and more of the sea’s horizon is unveiled…a marbling of pink and at least three shades of grey
Oh, alas! A blank page is as to a new day, Yay! Another chance as the East, Atlantic sky widens faster and faster, forcing upward with increasing momentum, as the blue-white hot plasma forever-thirsty, drinks from the Milky Way Galaxy's precious molecules in its' atmosphere
Once again, I am but a grateful blessed witness
Jill Spagnola
Categories:
trudging, imagery, inspirational, nature,
Form:
Free verse
In this arid plain of perennial drought,
as I stand transfixed with vexations rising in my spirit
and sadness lying mute as a stone,
I discern, I am alone with none to hold my hand
or share the burden that weighs me down.
Trudging through rugged paths
with my mournful shadow, tottering along,
the past sneers at me, breaking open
bottled up memories- of years spent in unbridled passion,
the smell of cigarettes, ganja and beer
wine and women, bet and gambling,
and the thrill of having won and lost
I had addictions many and they kept
gnawing into my psyche!
Once I walked with stilted gait
with friends and fans, amid laughter and haste
eager to please and to praise
Inebriated and effervescent were we
Fancied money could buy all we yearned
and turn this Earth-a virtual Paradise
But how swift was the twist of fate!
With no condiments, life suddenly turned bland.
The gorgeous castles I once built, burnt down to cinders
like dry leaves blown by the wind,
Friends, I thought never would desert,
flitted away one by one!
With dejection and despair warping me down
a rabid dog I strayed.
Grew irritable and vicious,
fled away from bond and bondage
spitting the saliva of my angst,I barked… barked at everyone;
“Where did vanish all the fabulous dreams
Whither gone life’s ritzy splendors?
But the wildfire burnt itself down,
now a passive stillness has settled in.
In this inert hush, as I grope,through murky corridors
with the sound of my footsteps falling like a thud,
a single query breaks out from within
‘Where shall I hide unseen
from this horrid loneliness staring me in the eyes?’
Categories:
trudging, addiction, angst, depression,
Form:
Free verse