Best Wearily Poems
You have raided my night again,
as the burst of a sudden storm,
sneaking into my loneliness,
at the most unexpected hour,
plunging me into swirls of pain
too deep for expression,
leaving me in utter disorientation.
I now drift aimless with muddled thoughts,
through the dingy avenues of the past,
never once able to sever the chord,
that binds me so tight to those memoirs,
exposing me to torrid heat
with my soul, burning down….
like a piece of smouldering coal.
Sleepless are my nights.
Dreamless are my days.
Like the sundown shadows growing bigger,
with every stride I take,
the farther I move, the closer you follow.
Can I convince you ever again,
I never meant any harm to you.
How wearily have I watched the flies,
lured by the dazzling light,
char into diminutive specks of black,
by the scorching tongues of flame.
Still, why did I let you burn,
in the flame of my accursed passion?
You were like a flower admired from afar,
afraid of even the gentle breeze coming near,
lest it might jolt the delicate frame,
and shake the petals down, sooner than due.
Yet vulnerable turned the moment,
when all of a sudden, it started to rain.
Like a child, eager to play in the puddles,
you ran out into the pouring rain.
All soaked through and through,
You came in…. awhile my gaze,
rested on the filmy fabric,
seductively clinging to your curves.
Then, that wild surge…. beat me down.
And Alas! Under a magnetic pull,
surrendered your fragile self with ease.
At that moment of self-abandonment
looted off all that you held chaste.
Never surmised, you were crying,
when I felt your cheeks, so wet.
Now I know, it was agony,
not ecstasy that I, then, beheld on your sentient face!
You refused to respond to my calls.
Unanswered went all my anxious queries.
Like a hibernating toad,
to some dark underground cave, you slid.
Abruptly, alerted on call,
by an alien sound, far from familiar
I hastened to the casualty ward,
and saw you lying limp,
with drops of blood, still dripping down
from your slashed wrist,
staring at me with an open mouth!
As I watched you lying still
with your eyes refusing to flutter,
I knew my world tottering below,
and my heart, set ablaze,
into a funeral pyre.
This darkness overwhelmes me yet a glow it lights my path
a fire burns inside me to defrost the winters wrath
This weight I bear suppresses hope and brings me to my knees
Yet someone here has heard my moans and calms my raging seas
Time and time again I fall, so wearily I tread
But then appears an outstretched hand, and nothing more is said
she lifted me beyond the precipice of laden fears
embraced me in her tenderness and wiped away my tears
This lonliness that fills the space where joy did once reside
Is lessened by a friendly soul, with whom I can confide
Heavens light sent from above, a stepping stone of hope
Placed along this winding road to help this blind man cope
Nervous, apprehensive, determined most of all
Excitement on hold, a job to be done
His greatest gift, holy, our creation.
I was prepared, clarity in vision.
Betrayed, a body incapable of my goal.
The journey we started forced to an end,
Mind over matter now meaningless sentiment.
Consent hurriedly signed as corridors sped by
Smell and sounds unfamiliar to our plan,
Masked faces, green gowns occupy our space
Determination gives way to trepidation uncontrolled.
Your father takes my hand, soul now stilled
Presence of his strength restoring all calm.
Searing pain, tearing through me, more than I can bare
Again the end goal grows too far,
You are within reach, unable to be touched
The seconds tick by, clock jealous of our need.
Finally the cocoon that was your home releases you,
A screwed up face and manhood presented to me.
Overwhelmed, emotions lightening in speed
You are here, your arrival the greatest event.
An afternoon spent lost in your gaze,
Confirmation perfection on earth exists.
Stars appear in the night sky
Wearily, with reluctance, utata kisses us goodbye.
The phone call arrives,
Urgency the need,
The greatest day turned inside out.
Your life safe I faced my own mortality
Seconds, minutes, hours all pass by
Again and again dark skies give way to light.
Awake! Scared! Fear foremost in my mind.
What happened to my child?
Why do I not feel you near?
Your father’s hand never far from mine
His eyes reflect my fear,
But knowledge gives him ease, relief has found him.
Tests, observations, all stealing time from me
Never a woman’s need for her kin has been so great.
The warmth of your skin a glove to my heart.
A life spared, second chance, saved by God’s grace.
The years pass by, 10 in all,
Sometimes you question my humanity
Forever I reassure you I will never leave.
Your heart, your blood they are part of me,
Entwined are our souls, never to be freed.
You took my life as I gave you yours,
It was You who gave birth to me,
For you created a mother,
A higher being.
Wearily I walk this rutted road
Knowing this life led yet is mine
Due is all ransoms for my soul
To every witness I leave behind
Lift my heart to spare no love
To be a light for shadows cast
I draw my strength from God above
With hope that seeks the will to last
A saddening song swishes subtly in the bitter breeze,
Mad mournful music meets me everywhere I move,
Like a dolorous dirge drumming through the dark;
Wistful winds wearily bring to mind stinging salt drops,
All energy expended in trying to make sense of this forlorn fusion
As a painfully pensive psalm is penned down
in the ragged remnants of war...
10/25/17
Around the corner (20141010)
What’s around the corner?
What’s just beyond our view,
For the soldier and the foreigner,
What’s ahead for me and you?
Two terribly tired turtles
Which wearily weathered wars,
Survived cyclical separations,
Regretfully raised rebellious rascals.
Seemingly securely safe-shelled,
Ironically intently imagining inside
Future failures, follies, fallouts
Won’t waste, wreck, wipe-out their world.
Keeping cool. Keeping calm. Keep continuing!
Blindly burroughing. Blindly blustering, believing
Learning lingers, life lingers, love lingers.
For the soldier and the foreigner,
What’s ahead for me and you?
What’s around the corner?
What’s just beyond our view?
(Please read The Park -- Part One first ...
This is a continuation from Part One, due to space limitations)
Yes, kids at play are bold and wise
with flashing smiles and knowing eyes.
Children tire easily of grown-up prattle;
thoughts turn to cakes, to toys that rattle.
They think that Belles and Bills tell lies.
Tme is a birthday gift or a new surprise:
games to play; a windy day for a kite one flies;
coins that shine; toys that squeak;
a trip to the zoo at the end of the week.
Belles and Bills persist in their story.
Some even mention forgotten glory.
Children go home to eat, to sleep,
as Belles and Bills their vigils keep
then wearily drift back to flats
to listen to the rustling rats,
to sip their beers or gins or rums --
to wait until the morning comes.
They stand and stretch, look all around,
surveying the world to which they're bound.
Then they shuffle away with airs of sadness
at being always on the verge of madness.
They'll see once more the sun's first ray,
the birth in the park of another day.
Eyes are glazed and minds are dazed;
the atmosphere grows dim and hazed.
An eerie echo of an unheard bark
reverberates throughout the park
amid falling leaves and a darkening sky
and the nightly proof of the chilren's lie.
Slate gray streets made even darker by cutting raindrops
Umbrellas popping up everywhere, people seeking shelter
But I stayed put, wanting to get drained with the rain,
then I hear this tinkling voice that says, “Don’t you just love it when it rains?!”
I look at her wearily and her eyes actually gleam with laughter
Oh geez, this lady was my total opposite. I was brooding, she was brimming.
I power-up my go away vibes, but she was like a darned magnet…
Was I the ferromagnetic one, or was she?
She gushed on the metaphor of rain in her life, and I didn’t feel like drowning.
Listening to her amidst the onslaught was so refreshing, making me thirstier…
There we were, two drenched souls, sitting on the pavement, chatting up a storm.
Of all her descriptions of rain, one in particular stood out for me…
Pearl drops strung on silver strands …
She said, “Rain for me would be silver strands streaking an otherwise somber sky…
pearl drops strung on silver strands, broken by the heavens to share with us.
See how precious it is?” Then she continued on with the metaphor for pearls…
Her words felt like windshield wipers to me, and I could see clearly now
By then, the rains had softened, and a lone pearl drop landed on her eyelashes
-that made me look closer at her eyes… her beautiful, wise, yet cloudy eyes…
I have never looked at rain the same way since then.
For Andrea's and Susan's Silver Strands contest
Six months have passed since you walked out on me
Wearily I climb the stairs and try to sleep
My tears freely flow and my lilac pillow is soaked
I have to swap it with the one where your head used to lay
I’m lost without you
I shut my eyes tightly but all I can see is your face
Now I truly know what heartbreak is
The pain is like nothing I have ever known
Like glass shards piercing my heart
I’m lost without you
My life is empty without you by my side
No one to share my fears and wipe away my tears
No one to curl up with and share my love
I want it all to end
I’m lost without you
Feel like I can’t go on
I take comfort in the bottle
Have lost my job, lost my dignity
I have lost everything I once held so dear
I’m lost without you
Friends say it will get better
I will pick up and move on
But when you find ‘the one’
Why settle for anyone else
I’m lost without you
I can’t go on drowning in a river of tears
For me there is no tomorrow
I have no wish to carry on
So this is goodbye
Without you – I’m lost
03~07~15
Contest Tammy Reams – The Pain Of Night - N/A
Lady liberty, hold your flame light high,
Beware the path thy cross, in the wild undiscovered
Wilderness of the U.S.A.
For it is here a fierce native predator,
Stalks the rocky ranges bad lands,
Behold the American mountain lion.
Known as the cougar.
Nature's solitary soldier, walks with
Silences stealth and predatory cunning.
Beneath the thickets underbrush,
The beast does savor, upon his preys weakness,
And relishes the hunt of engagement.
Secretive creature, an apex hunter,
Wearily observing, his natural habitats
Surroundings, this king
Survives by tooth and claw alone.
Once hunted to the brink of extinction,
At the hands of mankind, and greed's bounty.
Nobility's instinctual majesty, has reclaimed
His mighty throne, on the cliff tops high.
The cougar, represents a come backs promise,
We as American's shall leave none of our
Own behind, has recovered and announces
His arrival with a mighty roar.
In the heights forbidden realm, the big horn sheep,
Smacks his antlers against his reveling foe,
It's soundings echo is heard for miles,
Abreast the whitening fallen snow,
But the great feline lord, has now returned,
To his ancestral territory, a shadow flash,
Of golden brown, a royal phantom to
The art of war, clashing with basic instincts
Desire to survive.
Behold the pride stands tall, upon the
Red bands of freedom, nay liberation’s
Symbol soars above the lion's den,
Beneath the night's sky shines with
Old glory's stars hanging in beauty's favor,
We honor him, this the great American lion,
The Cougar.
BY: CHERYL ANNA DUNN
Upon thy pillow,
I wearily hope
for youth’s restful nights
I once loved to spend
in towering dreams.
Images past
behind closed eyes -
romantic plans
and lofty goals.
Naïve thoughts
turn to aged
days of loss,
again
taunting
me.
I've focused on this evening
For near a fortnight now
Each element planned to perfection
Every detail intended to wow
I admit that in the past
My efforts have been wanting
To pack my feelings to a single night
At the very least was daunting
But not this time I was proud to say
I would dazzle her every sense
A night complete with all her favorites
Sparing no expense
With a rose in my teeth, two goblets in hand
and attired in a rented tux
She passed me bye, slumped on the couch
and rambled of how her job sucks
I offered some wine, she said "not tonight
This day has left me too tired
I must review these reports, then get some rest
Or tomorrow I'll surely be fired"
As I watched her wearily climb the stairs
I felt a wave of somber dismay
I extinguished all the candle light
and sent the cellist away.
As I gazed at all my wasted effort
I felt an angry rush
She didn't acknowledge the time I had spent
Just left me alone in the hush
As hours passed I realized
My anger was surely misplaced
I remembered that smile she shows only to me
and all of my pain was erased
I went upstairs to check on my sweet.
and give what support I could
If I could reach inside and relieve her stress
God knows I certainly would
Atop our pedal covered bed
In a state of grace she slept
Clutching the poem I had left on her pillow
still soaked with the tears she had wept
I placed a blanket upon her
and wiped away her tear
then closed my eyes to imagine
How to dazzle my love next year.
Sailing on a ship of dreams, through a deep and starlit night
The wind softly hums a lullaby, as the sails catch the pale moonlight
Indigo waters fade to lighter hues, when we reach the Morpheus shore
Where the anchor is tossed by a somnolent crew, in the place we are to moor.
The ship settles down in a harbor, cradled between two arms of land
As though lulled to sleep within this embrace, the keel leans upon the sand
The tall mast reaches up to the heavens, to nestle amidst the clouds
While waves gently rock the quiet deck, with each dip of its massive bow.
Troupes of fish dance past the stern, silver scales casting prisms of light
While birds on the shore flutter exotic fans, with no thought of taking flight
Time halts to stand on its tiptoes, strained in balance it tilts and shifts
Then the stars wearily blink their eyes closed, and the tide sets the ship adrift.
The anchor is heaved and hoisted, each link draws a series of sighs
While the captain stands quietly before the helm, gazing at the brightening sky
His eyes crinkle up at the corners, emulating the soft rays of the sun
As Awaken brushes the horizon, with strokes of topaz, sapphire, and plum.
A yawn of breath unfurls the sails, with snoring puffs they billow
As tangy brine streams down my face, drops dew beads on my pillow
Floating thoughts of an uncharted course, bound on the seas of night
Sink as the waltz to the seagull’s song, bows into the morning light.
Dedicated to Evans, who gave poetry the voice to sing, and the feet to dance.
Beset by doubts before I rise from bed
Problems prey on my worrisome mind
My ability to reason has been maligned
Cockamamie notions fill me with dread
I see in the mirror, a disgruntled reflection
the haggard expression on my vexed face
I wear a frown that's been plastered in place
Malaise of despair poisons me with infection
On the edge of a mountain, lost in thought
always hungry and thirsty for peace of mind
It's been illusive to me, or have I been blind
Wanting to do what's right, but falling short
My past hovers in stygian clouds overhead
I haven't always made the wisest decisions,
which worries me to the point of derision
My sanity is in question, so lightly I tread
Conscience wallowing, sinking in quicksand
I'm standing at the fork of two raging rivers
My legs are trembling and my lip quivers
Crying for help; someone to take my hand
Would if I could, be a model of perfection
My psyche is shackled by chaotic unrest
Sagacity abandoned me; life is a mental test
I second guess myself with fear of rejection
I climbed back up to that mountain ledge
engrossed by waves crashing beneath me
Contemplating an idea to set my mind free
I wearily move one step closer to the edge
8/27/2017
Awoke with a feeling of deflation
The razzamatazz is over pressie’s given
Then a thought arouses me with a smile
Whilst the men watch the sport on this boxing day
A few cans in reach
We females can hit the sales with parking queues for a mile
Like a rugby match the people snatch and run
So much on offer, it’s all in the fun
You don’t try it you buy it cos it’s less than half price
A bargain is a bargain , wouldn’t usually look twice
You go home laden with things you know you’ll return
Was a bargain yet not quite what you yearn
Wearily you slip off your shoes with a big yawn
Food’s in the kitchen, help yourself, this maid is tooo worn
Been a wonderful day, so different from Christmas
Yet they both need each other to emphasise the past