Best Vanishing Poems
In my portrait of life the
palette began in pigments
of blue, red and yellow,
but with each stroke,
my horizons slowly dissolved into
mustard, muddy brown
and burnt orange.
Not everything you portray
upon a canvas is mutually accepted,
so my soul remained subjective
and my heart abstract.
As I collect dust upon my shoulders,
I wish I was a painting never painted.
Visibility has turned into a veil,
resulting in stubborn invisibility,
so everything is an illusion
lingering in a black hole absorbing
the conspicuous.
I know I will regret not expressing one day
but bitter roots remain rooted deep into the earth.
I don't want to hide
but protect what breeds inside.
I'm afraid someone may look deeper
into this façade where time forgets the truth.
My hands resemble a box of nothingness,
as hues fade from indigo into charcoal,
with pastels infusing with the darkness.
My heart is an ocean
beneath a motionless surface.
Not everyone can view the world
like Van Gogh's eyes,
where the longer you stare
the more you become aware.
In blind visions a 'driftwood' mind wanders
between mental blankness and
the angst of actuality,
all that survives is blackness.
If fate was fair
then we would all view and be viewed
in soft pastels of peach,
sapphire and lilac.
The harder I attempt to find myself,
I lose more than I thought I would gain.
At the end upon the edge
in the last exhale all that is left
will be the silence after an echo.
Categories:
vanishing, analogy, metaphor,
Form:
Free verse
Sam Ebenezer
a sad ol' geezer
was lamenting his shrinkage of late:
my worthless ding-a-ling
is a bell without ring
my manhood in diminishing state
From whence I salute
is thin as a flute
and soft to the touch as cashmere
I search with persistence
it offers resistance
on nature's call to appear
On heeding that call
no waterfall
a few errant droplets at best
where once from the middle
I gushed, now I piddle
and half of my load veers west
Both feet on the urn
pushing forth from astern
I chant 'emerge hocus-pocus'
with my punctured esteem
watch the pitiful stream
dwindle to drops as Limp loses focus
Our wee-membered friend
wished his size to amend
the stiffness rerouted from his joints
have it rise to occasion
and stand to attention
consulted ol' Doc for his viewpoint:
My snake is dead
no flesh; just head
lies comatose and useless
my garden hose
once warmed my toes
now wrinkled, dry and juiceless
The senile old doctor
by name Alfred Proctor
had most of his wit in absentia
his breath smelt cheesy
Ebenezer felt queasy
Doc clearly suffered from senile dementia
Doc's hand took a dip
to just 'neath his ribs
as Ebenezer voiced his concern
Doc smiled all the while
said: your hopes are futile
there's no cure for your vanishing organ
I lost my virility
before my senility
long mourned my lost pride-and-joy
put my plight to rest
on realizing I'm blessed
to have in hand my own built-in toy
**************************************
Categories:
vanishing, funny, lost, lost,
Form:
Rhyme
They thundered across the fertile plains,
Those hardened hooves, those tangled manes,
But now the Buffalo can't be found.
They thundered across the fertile plains.
The long grass has vanished from the ground
Where cities and highways now abound.
They thundered across the fertile plains,
Those hardened hooves, those tangled manes.
Categories:
vanishing, animal, western,
Form:
Triolet
Nested in the cat’s cradle
Paraded in a child’s fable
I have no voice, don’t let me die
No longer shall I live a lie
I have no soul nor thoughts to save
Unbeknownst to me is
this life beyond the grave?
A designer dainty as she
silky essence she creeps upon so free
and with sheer elegance
unveils a painted lady in a trance
Wake me before the dream ends
In this a lie I can’t depend
Ochre paint splat on walls
Tinted forewings so not to fall
Hindwings I hold up in pain
Fragile chitin, scales, and veins
Bleeding strokes of mango chutney
Opera gloves cobalt blue, cloak impunity
Wake me up! Before I drop
Still asleep, a standing prop
And when I open my eyes
I’ll have wings like butterflies
The bitter truth sounds insane
Blends of electronic elements
Mesh makes perfect sense distasteful
Nestled neatly prim and graceful
Kept in the dark where it’s unfair
Wake me lest I vanish in thin air
In my dream a translucent permanence
I stand alone and have woken an evanescence
Categories:
vanishing, art,
Form:
Ekphrasis
I Was The Sun, You The Vanishing Frost
I will listen to you but will you talk
of sorrow's night, you took that leaving walk
sun-burnt memories all that remains
and tragedy of Love's saddest bloodstains.
I can beg but I know the cause is lost!
I was the Sun, you the vanishing Frost!
I shall pray, your life was later set straight
gone the jealousy that gave you your hate
now ash born, book of lies you believed
healed now, heart's wounds once so aggrieved!
I can beg but I know the cause is lost!
I was the Sun, you the vanishing frost!
I will send, Forgiveness and Love your way
ask the same as I bow my head to pray
your release from the demons in your mind
begging you again, please reply in kind!
I can beg but I know the cause is lost!
I was the Sun, you the vanishing frost!
I was the Sun, you the vanishing frost!
I was the Sun, you the vanishing frost!
Robert J. Lindley,
Sept 17th, 1979
Rhyme, ( Where The Wildest Shining Flower No Longer Glows)
Note: Found this poem this afternoon. Written on the back of an empty envelope stuck in the middle of the second old poetry journal I am now editing.
I have decided not to edit a word of it, as it represents a heartbroken time in
my life forty years ago. I hope you may enjoy it as a poetic piece and see that
even in true abject despair, one can write to show others that life goes on
and life can and does later reward its blessings to those that survive its
horrendous and massively deep gut wrenching blows!
Posting now, least I forget this one and it never again sees light of day.
Categories:
vanishing, deep, destiny, farewell, loss,
Form:
Rhyme
Defying oblivion-propelled anguish
our eyes linger at family pictures
beholding life cycle's vibrant features
now vanishing, causing hearts to languish…
There’s Dad of boyish grin; Mom with glad smile
juxtaposed along their grandparents’ glow
exposing vitality’s lessened flow
yet, cheering us to preserve good old style…
Though fading from their brilliant hues and tints
home photographs still capture our strong bond
we as members cling to … now ~~~ till beyond
by God’s grace, blessing ceaseless love* imprints.
*Jude 1:21 Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
February 27, 2021
2nd place, "Vanishing" Poetry Contest
Sponsored by Carolyn Devonshire; judged on 3/1/2021.
Categories:
vanishing, blessing, christian, family, god,
Form:
Enclosed Rhyme
Memories flutter like Post-It notes,
with scribbles faint and worn.
Reminders fade in the winds they’ve made,
my pages are tattered and torn.
Notes twist and swirl, then dip and curl,
in a wild and frantic breeze.
A cyclone spins where thoughts have been,
scattering all my memories.
Papers alight and suddenly take flight,
spinning frantically far and near.
But the harder I try, the stronger they fly,
increasingly more unclear.
I feel bold and reach to hold—
but my notes slip further away.
And piece by piece, I lose my peace,
as my library fades to gray.
The scattered scraps come fluttering back,
then flicker, furl, and flee.
A swift retreat, my memories fleet,
I’m not who I used to be.
An unraveling mind, fading line by line,
my life in vanishing ink.
Clinging to time and what’s left of my mind,
my sanity is on the brink.
But the yellow storm still rages on,
the cruel winds blow with might,
And time will steal all that was real,
‘til there’s nothing left but night.
-Edward
Categories:
vanishing, anxiety, imagery, memory, mental
Form:
Rhyme
I wished you could feel the same feeling, but it was not reciprocal.
Your heart belong to another. I understood. You cannot say to your
heart whom to love. It was heartbreaking, but it was overcame.
I wished you all the best. Although, I don't know if someday I will find
someone who loves me, I will start by loving myself first.
Categories:
vanishing, dream, love,
Form:
Free verse
I wish most would
what a beautiful world
we would have
still
I want one back
the poet
Categories:
vanishing, brother, death of a
Form:
Free verse
(African populations are being killed off by war,
famine, disease, and neglect...when will we try to help them?)
Time,
stretching out, encompasses curtains,
on distant savannas, of shimmering heat.
And animals vanish:
ibex and antelope; elephant; grouse.
Here once, now going or gone.
Time vanishes now.
Moldering greenery, mute,
moves mainly in wind --
pliant life, submitting to breezes,
passive in sun. Rooted in spots
not chosen or won.
Plants may not vanish;
they prosper.
We do not prosper.
We vanish, as animal;
some go hardly noticed.
A dirge, as animals vanish:
we vanish unnoticed.
Categories:
vanishing, angst, life, loss, natural
Form:
Free verse
Endangered species
Plunging to oblivion
Extinction awaits
Categories:
vanishing, animals, nature
Form:
Haiku
A disenchanted lover
paints joy with a frugal brush.
And hidden in the shadows,
love eludes understanding.
Smiles cannot camouflage fears
that accompany spilled tears.
And navigating blindly,
trust pursues fantasy dreams.
In a cocoon of sadness,
hope starts to metamorphose.
And wishes, spin silken threads
into a dream catcher's web.
Seemingly caught in mid-flight,
dreams arrive on broken wings.
And yet, rejuvenate hearts,
transforming them from within.
Love is free, to ride the wind
to the heart of life's flower.
And sip the nectar of truth
stealthily concealed within.
Categories:
vanishing, angst, break up, emotions,
Form:
Blank verse
two lines converge mirage meets ~ unrequited love on a one way street
Categories:
vanishing, absence, allusion, love hurts,
Form:
Monoku
Nine wild mustangs canter across the prairie
Old West symbols of animals on free range
Known to them is only one adversary
-- Pounding hooves fade into history’s pages
Magnificent specie appears unwary
Victim of habitat infringement and change
Government roundups so unnecessary
Protection not offered, to the contrary
Mustangs captured and sold for slaughter’s exchange
Deaths of entire herds appear arbitrary
-- Pounding hooves fade into history’s pages
*February 26, 2019
Categories:
vanishing, horse,
Form:
Roundel
Ted once had a full head of hair
Now sadly his pate is quite bare
He wears a hair piece
In vibrant cerise
His toupee sure makes people stare!
Wife Betty lost her once trim waist
In corsets her waist is now placed
Much to her chagrin
She’s no longer thin
The aging process must be faced!
88558 checked with HMS
"Vanishing" old or new for a prize Poetry Contest
Sponsored by Carolyn Devonshire
02/26/21
Categories:
vanishing, age, humorous,
Form:
Limerick