Best Turn Poems
Standing firm
we live
we give
we take
we learn
we strive to make sure
each day enlightens us
and brightens us
even as light fades to gray
may we keep fighting
with two swollen feet
beneath the body and soul
experiencing trials
and intense life lessons
meshed with stresses
may we persevere
turn off fear's song
may we stand firm
as we glide along
through shifty winds of change
that may cause things to sway
rearrange
but we hold true
inside the values and morality
we stand for
we
fall for nothing
we
may stumble along the trip
we
may swerve at the wheel yet
we
do not lose our grip
because no one
can eclipse the sun
yet
everyone heals
before they're done
Just when situations arise
flooding us with pain we despise
and just when it seems like
our tear ducts are dry
from ongoing cries
we may think
things are on the brink of ending
then God shows us the ways of faith
by way of love that he's sending
Standing firm
we live
we give
we take
we learn
we make sure
every day enlightens us
and brightens us
as each day takes its turn.
~JSLambert
I’ve distanced myself
I didn’t mean to
Didn’t set out to do it
An unconscious act of the mind
For self preservation
My visits went to once a week
Sunday dinners that once lasted for hours
Became shorter and shorter
Until now its get in
Get it cooked
Clean it up
Visit
And we’re out
Occasionally circumstances would
Happen and one would be missed
Oh well I’ll go during the week
Sometimes I did
Sometimes I didn’t
Today my heart cried to be near you
I entered the home and immediately
Settled my mood into the atmosphere
Funeral home-esque for lack of a better description
I speak in hushed tones
Slow my movements
And quiet my spirit
You want something
Oh thank you give me a job
What do you need???? Anything
I’ll gladly do anything
So many things hurt you now
You who were so tough reduced to such pain
Questions, answers, questions, answers
Over and over and over
This is the part I know
I’ve practiced this so many times before
You speak and in mid sentence you cry
Have I seen my sister,,you can’t remember
Ever seeing my sister, have you seen her
Yes mom remember mom
My answers are calm
Almost rehearsed
Repeated
Sterile
You look searching in my eyes
Yours, sunken, confused,
Pained, with a depth of sadness
I haven’t seen before
I look away.
I meet all the needs you’ve asked of me
I pat you, hug you, pray with you
I look at my brother, the saint
He’s tired, worn, sad
I leave, I’m OUT
I drive
How’d I get here
How long have I been driving
The sky so desperately gray
Muted tones of nothingness
The air feels so heavy
Like a shroud encompassing me
Choking me
The river runs beside me
It rages from the wind
There’s no stopping its power
It’s dark and gloomy and brown
And suits my mood
I try to pray
HOW DO I PRAY
Do I pray for healing,
Health, life, death
Joy, maybe peace
I cry out to you
I DON’T KNOW HOW TO PRAY
I look to the sky and see
The smallest spot of the most beautiful sapphire blue
In a sea of nothing
And I cry
When days turn into memories
and time becomes a journey
of peaceful purpose from my traveled trails
where jagged rocks are formed in the mind from emotional upheaval
and are now covered in pictographs of faces drawn
left as monuments to the memory of life's meaning
I pause when I hear the distant echo of decisions made
that fade away as quietly as they came
leaving me to ponder
on these ripples created that rapidly flow
through the valley of my heart
filled with choices and days which will never be again
I've come to pluck memories from the tree of yesterday
that stands naked in life's meadow
where I was found alone and trembling
covered by the fallen leaves from its tender branches
that stretch across the loneliness of my soul
I sit beneath its dim-lit shade to rest
then awaken in the dawn's soft realm of tomorrow
where I find I'm tired, old, and wrinkled
yet, with each blink of my eye
I see the distance traveled
leaving my soul, a vagabond
drenched in the memories I have shared
as I climb closer to the mountaintop
where death waits
to strip away all that ever was
important or unimportant to me
it's where time will steal my flesh
living me invisible
to the tree of yesterday's that dissolves away
with the cold timeless winds that do not care
as they blow across the standing etched marble
where travelers walk on sacred ground
with heads bowed
wondering about those whose names are carved
while they leave cut flowers
as a way to give purpose to memories
to the days they are yet to travel
5/15/22
My backslidden soul*, you were converted by GOD’s Word
As shown by your divine growth and testimony ’s record,
But you departed away from that great spiritual cord
Broken by worldly financial and material sword.
Turn to God Who rescues by His grace He can afford!
My prodigal soul, you were so blessed greatly
As the Lord provided for you tremendously,
But you neglected sound principles biblically
That caused your moral downfall fatally.
Turn to God Who can restore you fully!
My wayward soul, you were known to be Christ-honoring
As evidenced by your heavenly walk and divine bearing,
But you embraced humanistic doctrines so devouring,
Making you proud, yet continuing in miserable erring.
Turn to God Who can transform you be God-fearing!
My discouraged soul, you were before an example of zealousness
As seen in your conviction for godly standards and uprightness,
But you despised God’s presence and defied His holiness
While taking for granted prayer and Bible’s effectiveness.
Turn to God Who can bring you to His righteousness!
My unfaithful soul, you were then fulfilling the Great Commission
As proven by your mission-minded pursuits, filled with compassion,
But you failed to stay in the ancient landmarks of faith’s action
By compromising with secularism and liberalism’s motion.
Turn to God Who can plant you on His firm foundation!
My wavering soul, you were a guide to them who found real freedom
As told by those who owe to Christ thru you what they’ve become,
But you forgot the real source of genuine authority and wisdom
When you abandoned the only Way to heavenly kingdom. Turn to God Who invites that to Him you humbly come!
My dear soul, you surely need God with His forgiveness and guidance
As He alone can surely lift you up from your critical imbalance,
Beg on Him to uphold you on His church’s scriptural stance
And to behold you with His loving care by His divine glance.
Turn to God Who can pull you for revival’s sustenance!
*Psalm 6:4 Return, O LORD, deliver my soul: oh save me for thy mercies' sake.
May 22, 2018
I can't forget those days when you were mine.
How young we were - not even at our prime!
Had we held on, could love have grown divine?
If only we could turn back the hands of time.
What could have been? I guess we'll never know.
Although I've never been caught in a crime,
a crime it was that day I let you go!
If only we could turn back the hands of time.
While drowning in my memories of you,
I sit in silence while I write this rhyme
and wonder if you think the same thing too -
if only we could turn back the hands of time!
Oct. 9, 2019
You're smiling ...
I'm staring at you
I know you know that I know
That you like me ... that you REALLY like me
Wendy told me, and Linda told her
(After I had Dave ask Debbie to ask Linda)
So it might as well have been you directly ... yeah
I also know that you know that this is my favorite slow-dance
I made sure Dave hinted to Debbie that she tell Linda
'Cause Wendy had said that Linda told her it was YOUR favorite song
Well, your favorite slow-dance song
We have the same favorite fast song, too, "Ain't No Mountain"
But "(They Long To Be) Close To You" is finally playing
And when it started, you spun to find me across the gymnasium
(I was watching - Wendy told me that Linda told her to make sure I watch you)
Then you smiled, and I smiled, and now I KNOW we are true and steady
I KNOW it's time to make my move ...
The lights are low, mirror ball spinning
Sawdust has been spread on the gym floor
I've got my paisley shirt on, apache around my neck
Best bell-bottoms, big-buckle belt and boots
And enough Hai Karate cologne to seduce an elephant
But ... but ... but, my feet aren't moving!!
What's wrong?!?
I've planned this for weeks, and now I'm frozen ...
It's my braces ... Debbie told EVERYone that she cut her lip on them
Now I'm terrified that you might turn me down ... cuz of that
'Cuz last year Linda broke up with Dave just because he GOT braces
She never even kissed him with braces, but broke up with him ...
Just from the FEAR of cutting her lip!
('Course Dave is a power kisser, everybody knows that)
Still, I KNOW you like me ... and you ARE smiling ...
It's now or never, cuz the Carpenter's won't play forever
I feel a hand in my back - Dave, pushing me
Toward you ... across the floor
Braces be DAMNED - I'm making my move!
The night is OURS, Baby
And it's a groovy thing happening!
Yeah ...
"Why do stars ... fall down from the sky ... "
~ 1st Place ~ in the "Now It's Our Turn - DWM" Poetry Contest, Kim Rodrigues, Judge & Sponsor.
Winter with thoughtful wings slips upon
When her voice is too frail to hold life—
Everywhere green, this light she's from;
In gentleness back the forest bites,
As feathery flakes shed through all with white.
Though sun beams on frost's admirable silk
At this true angle on my window sill,
While the glass in me seems to be dying—
When dead leaves lose their beauty's will,
Toned blossoms, out of Winter's ghost, spring.
The innocent criminalized, chased down with pitchforks and torches of fire. Their names dragged through the mire, by the hair, stripped of their humanity.
Meanwhile the guilty cheer with cash and jewels, with measured feet on the demonic beat. The guilty drinking the blood of the kind, like wine.
Headlines say: “God is dead,” “No one’s watching,” “The law is what we say it is.”
Will we be sorrowful for such as these when the armies of God, with Christ at the lead, tread with grapes of wrath?
God’s fruit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control.
Works of the flesh: sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity, idolatry, sorcery, hatred’s, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, …the practice of such things.
Turn! Repent! The suffering will relent for the innocent. The bloodguilty will be paid with unquenchable suffering. Still there is time to turn and repent. See what a good God we have. He truly loves. None of us deserve anything from his hands and yet he offers everything. Why cling to a temporary offering when you can obtain glory?! We are tested and tried. Turn and repent!
*In italics from Galatians 5 of The Holy Bible CSB
When Dad passed I moved home with Mom,
We were roommates at first;
Shopping, lunching, gardening, it was fun,
There were some signs that began, slowly.
A small forgetfulness,
One day, Mom said I cannot write my name;
So, I did the banking,
Soon I was doing all the groceries.
The housework, the cooking, I did it all,
Mom needed full time care;
She was sick and stayed mostly in her bed,
I became the Mom, the daughter gone.
My own life put on hold,
I was her everything and this adult said;
When all hope was gone,
Oh turn off the life support please, please.
_______________________
April 21, 2015
Poetry/Verse/ Oh, Turn It Off
Copyright Protected, ID 04-665-861-21
All Rights Reserved, 2015, Constance La France
Submitted to the Standard contest Screwed III
sponsor, Rob Carmack, Judged
Seventh Place
______________________________________
Written for the contest, The True Meaning Of Being An Adult,
sponsor, FJ Thomas, HM, 05/2015
Spring takes its bow early in Florida’s climate
Winds expire, February debuts in quiet
Dazzling lavender blooms on cherry trees wake first
Sweet aroma o’er the verdant landscape’s dispersed
Summer lures eager tourists to beaches in May
Dipping their toes, they feel the ocean’s salty spray
Torrid heat ushers hurricane season in June
Cautious homeowners await the year’s first typhoon
But for late November, Fall seems nonexistent
Taking to nature trails, hikers’ hours are now spent
Wild boar and turkeys identified by their musk
Gopher tortoises chill in shells, deer await dusk
Locals celebrate yuletide holidays with joy
Brevity of winter - nature’s cruelest ploy
*Written August 22, 2014
We will all die
So we cry loud
And try for thought.
Wrong lane, wrong way.
Death delay, pray.
Cars stray and honk.
Oh, please, cars – clear.
Turns appear soon,
I steer, we cheer.
In a rain
downpour
to keep from
getting wet,
we open
an umbrella
put it
overhead,
but yet........
I wish
to make
a suggestion,
that may
take
a moment
to catch on,
for after
giving this
quite some
thought,
an idea
upon me
did dawn!
There is
another
type of
downpour
for which
this tool
could be
used!
Now
take a second,
and give it
some thought
for this
new use
I doubt
you'll refuse!
If the
downpours
are blessings
from Heaven,
in such
"ABUNDANCE"
that you wish
not to
drown,
you might
want
to consider
trying to
catch
every drop....
"by turning
your
umbrella
upside down!!!"
The very
idea
that the
floodgates
of Heaven
would be
opened
with such
a deluge,
means the
downpour
of blessings
would cover
the earth
WOW!!!....
Now this
would really
be HUGE!!!
So I hope
in your
life
good things
come your
way
that give you
big smiles
and
no frowns,
because
when it does
you'll want
to be
prepared....
"by turning
your
umbrella
upside down!!!"
Cooling morning air
Aspen leaves are golden disks
spark’ling in the sun
for Brian Strand's Images of Fall contest
Winter days are cold and gray while summer’s warm and bright.
Snow covered mountain tops melt away when the time is right.
Pouring rains and hurricanes will stir up now and then.
Storms appear from year to year no less than dear old friends.
Refrain:
All the good and bad and sweet and sad pass by us every one;
all the lows and highs and tear filled eyes and races still not run.
All the gentleness and sweet success and love along the way,
everything we’ve learned every twist and turn
every moment of each day.
Guitar songs and things we long for growing up too fast;
rocket dreams and what it means to let go of the past.
Picking, choosing, winning, losing, walking in the rain;
home run balls and strike-out calls are how we play the game.
Refrain:
All the good and bad and sweet and sad pass by us every one;
all the lows and highs and tear filled eyes and races still not run.
All the gentleness and sweet success and love along the way,
everything we’ve learned every twist and turn
every moment of each day.
Early morning rise and shine the sky is painted bright;
so many hues for me and you to make us feel all right.
‘Till the end of day as sunshine fades and darkness closes in;
we say our prayers to God somewhere wondering
where does this life end.
Refrain:
All the good and bad and sweet and sad pass by us every one;
all the lows and highs and tear filled eyes and races still not run.
All the gentleness and sweet success and love along the way,
everything we’ve learned every twist and turn
every moment of each day.
All the gentleness and sweet success and love along the way,
everything we’ve learned every twist and turn
every moment of each day.
Daybreak in a foreign land
Sights so bright
Drenched in history
The sun sparkling through the morning mist
Vision blurred by squinted eyes
A silhouette draping a wooden bench
The baby sparrow hungrily cries
Walk right past she looks at me
Was she the one from my dream
I stare right back to let her know
Our two eyes lock, there is a gleam
Oh vision bright and beautiful
Come take my hand and walk with me
A journey we both do need
Turn around and comfort me