Your foibles,
the characteristically odd ways
of your individual life appearance,
its mannerisms
your behavioral peculiarities,
and picadilloes,
will all fall away by and by.
What eventually will be left
is this alien species that bears your name.
You have died a thousand times already,
every feature of your character
has been replaced or modified
many times.
Your physicality
rinsed and recycled through
an ever-turning time machine.
Even now, the way you walk, and talk
is at the mercy and behest of a universal tide
and its shifting dunes.
The dead confirm the dead,
what never lived must pass away,
it was all a game of death
that soon will lead to the everlasting,
but not yet,
all is a work in progress,
until then
the Universe of All That Is
experiences itself as
you,
you playing hide and seek
with what you truly are.
CONTEST: Put your best foot forward. JUDGED 4/14/24
Mother is ninety now, frail, and asleep much too often.
This may be her last year; she wants to go home and be with God,
but does not want to leave me. Go Mom, I'll be there by and by.
My days grow short
My eyes grow weak
Been a slave most of my life
The thought of Freedom
My knowledge in wisdom
Blisters on my feet when I try the plantation retreat
Beaten and clothes always torn
Forced into intimacy woes
Working the plantation fields under the hot sun
It’s a wonder I am still living among
Lord, look down and guide me
Heaven is wise
Plantation owners don’t want me to pray
This is every day
I chant silently in praying words
My voice to you Lord needs to be heard
Praying out with a hopeful thought
How long and when will I be free?
Every day Death runs through my mind
Beat me until I no longer can be beaten
My soul will live forever
I could be buried in unknown graves
I want to see everlasting light
Being a slave seeing no more plight
Freedom Freedom Freedom for all time
Being like a Tomorrow’s sunrise
A slave no more
A New life to explore
The horizon in the distance
Closer I want
Freedom, I want to see
Given praise too Thee
Yet, I will continue to pray
One day
I shall be free
I run on a super busy beach,
high up the summer Sun misbehaves;
By and by pause to build sand castles,
nearby is ice cream but I smell waves;
Carefree I just play through every hour,
Aye!! Seaweed stuck all over my skin;
Fatefully fall asleep with a pail;
Sea daze leaves a blistered burn again.
the way you walk, and talk
is at the mercy of tides and shifting dunes
the foibles,
the characteristically odd ways
of your individual life
its mannerisms and behavioral peculiarities
will fall away by and by
and what will be left
is this perfect alien species
formed by your every dazzle and daze
a translucency
all shall recognize as themselves
COOL BREEZE THROUGH MY
WET HAIR CAUGHT SMALL BALLS OF SWEET SEA SALT
ATTEMPTING TO BETRAY MY EYE'S
THE SUNSET WAS
BLINDING MY VISION WITH
ITS CAPTIVATING BEARTIFULL
PINKISH COLOR
WAS VISIONARY
OF AN OASIS OF NO MAN'S LAND
WHERE WAS I?
THE SUNSET AT THEE BEACH
I THEN AWOKE FROM A DREAM.
IT LASTED A MOMENT
I EMBARKED MY NIGHTMARE THEREFOR
SOUNDS HEARD INSTEAD OF VISIONARY
I WAS AWAKE ALIVE AND TRYING TO PROGRESS
MY FOOTPRINTS BEHIND I LEFT
AS I REALISED ITS MORE LIKE BEAR PAW
PRINTS AHEAD OF ME I'M FOLLOWING
7/8/19 KEN BRADLEY''BEAR'' .R.I.P. LOVE YOU
Blue skies
No fluffy clouds
Fond sighs
Mellow not loud
By and by
Such mystic sighs
A sure cry
Leaps high from high
Rhymes brief
Sheer paradox
Old grief
Out-of-the-box
Line by line
Words now encrypt
Feelings brine
Thoughts to decrypt
Sense feel
Unplug the gaps
Work bills
Query mind map
Cry floods cry
Mind magnet stretch
High seeds sigh
Sly words to match
Plant seeds
Let ideas bloom
Feed need
Urge and surge groom
Dark night
Shadows verge here
No light
Insidious spheres
Dance deep daze
Waltz between sneeze
In foul craze
Sour scented squeeze
Haze comes
Ugly taste stalls
Straight sums
Flair flavours gall
Leon Enriquez
16 May 2017
Singapore
My Grandmother would often sing, “By and By and we will understand after while”
But that was always my Grandmother’s Faith style
Yet my Grandmother would sing that very song in Church, but she herself knew the words and the church did utter a voice when my Grandmother sang that song
By and By
Live being every try
Struggles that sometimes will make you cry
But your eyes up and look high
The answer comes from thy
It’s the growing understanding phase
Through the understanding, you will witness the amaze
Heaven is testing one’s Faith
Having courage to believe
The valley below
Living is about and the accomplishments will be slow
Wisdom in years as one will continue to grow
Understanding with looking for a purpose
Reasoning with analyzing
When one looks back at their youth, understanding becomes the learning process
Living and growing with no time for recess
But I would often ask my Grandmother what did the By and By mean?
She simply sang in explanation, “By and By, you will understand after while”
If you want to understand, “By and By in continue to learn as you live”
By and By is worth striving
Understanding is worth having
Wisdom that becomes everlasting.
Dark is the night
In faith's lost light
Deep is the daze
In this dark maze
Sleep brings no rest
In crazy fest
Empty the feel
In lusty thrills
Gone far away
Surreal end play
Lost in lost tense
Heavy lost sense
Drifting with tides
Of crested pride
Sorry sad sights
In loss of light
Pride peoples form
In murky norms
Too late this brief
Of gloomy grief
The way is blocked
By empty stock
Endless the moans
Of dying groans
Strange voices hurl
As madness swirls
No escape then
From where and when
Even death shuns
Our failing grunts
Time now for time
Mad echoes chime
Love cannot reach
Where nightmares beach
By and by now
Hope fades somehow
Nothing to feel
But empty deals
Leon Enriquez
30 May 2016
Singapore
A burned blue flame
one can only try to tame
wild to rise and quick to die
By and by,
A deep green sea
soft, a warm glass of tea
quiet to end and quick to die
By and by,
A dark star sky to claim
never set to any frame
restless to start and quick to die
By and by,
A true bright tree
gather around to see
breeze to fly and quick to die
By and by.
By and By
Author Dana Redricks
By and by I look
Toward the sky and think
About the seasons as they
Go by, Just like the
Seasons we all have our
Turn to say goodbye.
We were never meant to
Stay, and just like the
Season we all have our
Reasons in this world. With
Each passing day we have
A mission to fulfill; it
Is our destiny, some of
May never know our purpose
In life, but each of
Us was put here for
A reason, and in due
Time and in due season
I hope to learn my
Reason because it is good
To have a purpose.
BY AND BY PIE IN THE SKY
recollections are yet to be stilled
post obstacle Utopia is unfulfilled
faithful we jump, attempt to forget
expecting to coast into safety nets
in another time or a different place
we continue to misuse our mistakes
endeavouring to dance star tracks
we cannot let go, unleash or relax
forgive and forget the ultimate test
not trust or invest in outcomes quest
by and by the moon always outshines
pie in the sky power to impress aligns
concluding, deaths drummer begins to drum
perceiving we finally see dreams direct sum
© Kim van Breda—March 2014
Day by day
I watch them as they pass by
Growing shorter with each sunset
The sun rises with daytime fading
Before my eyes the lights gone to soon
Night by night
I notice them quickly come upon me
Announcing the end of another day
Thru the darkness all is still and quiet
It feels like life has stopped
In the nightime hours
Time by time
Take a moment to take a breath
Where has the time gone, where has it went
When I can't get it back
I must take the time ahead well I still can
Inch by inch
I attempt to get this or that done
Yet I'm not moving forward
If anything I'm going backwards
I try to find a place, I can be in
One by one
I lose track of all of it
In such a hurry to get it all done
I then forget what I need most
I am becoming a stranger to myself
Part by part
I have mis-taken for important things
I write out what I want, think I need
I list how things should be
My life is written, even if it's not right
Piece by piece
I see myself going the wrong way
My thoughts and feelings are
Are not the true ones
By and by
the years have
went.
Ages fading into
the golden sun set
over time
gone through
and past us.
As leaves die
every fall
so
has our love.
By and by
the years are
behind us now.
Chances taken
chances missed
by and by
our love has
grown cold.
By and by
we now will
just wait out
those fading
years.
Beyond the far off valley and over the highest hill,
Is where you’ll find this place where time has seemed to have stood still.
There stands a little cabin, and a jolly, jolly little guy,
All alone in this forgotten place called the Sweet By and By.
A sign upon his old squeaky gate, which reads,
Enter in with only the kindest of thoughts and the noblest of deeds.
My curiosity won and I had to go in,
And let me tell you friends this was the happiest I have ever been.
His face lit up the room like a thousand watt light,
And you could see the love in his eyes what a glorious sight.
We talked and we talked and we laughed quite a lot,
I had to remember how to get back to this wonderous spot.
Well time passed so quickly and I had to say adieu,
And I left feeling better and thought I would share it with you.
Sub Categories
Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.