Sitting attentively on a rickety park bench
My thoughts as deep as an ocean trench
People scurrying aimlessly with their daily lives
In time they’ll fade too, into the archives
I notice a young family, a dog and a cat
After they draw a last breath, what awaits after that?
Billions departed throughout the lineage of man
Bygone times, forgotten lives; been quite the span.
What is the meaning of life in this place?
Why have some never shared a loving embrace?
How many souls have meandered here?
Each with their own struggles to persevere
Who makes it to heaven and who does not?
Will some scorch in hellfire in flames molten hot?
Are we amid a spiritual war for our soul?
The weight of such questions takes its toll
I hope that together, we make it in the end
To a realm without fear, where we joyfully ascend
The righteous, the tainted, and all in between
In a land of eternal peace, pure and serene
Upon the wings of time, we intertwined our spirits,
Seeking the harmony of eternity, a gentle ocean of song.
A kiss unfurled the creed of ancient silences,
And in a waltz, we joined, with suffering sealing a holy pact.
An invisible thread, a weave from bygone times,
Bound us in the mystery of a world long forgotten and lost.
In depths of mine, your smile blossoms like a feast,
Under a newborn sky, where light was bestowed upon us, undefeated.
Your hands sketched paths across the skin of my unsuspecting hopes,
Your gaze, sparkling like stars in the night, a longing that never fades.
You were my peace in the tumult of the day, I lived every quivering moment,
And upon your brow, I left, with a prayer, a thought that clings to hearts.
In you, perhaps love has melted away, but in me, it blooms anew,
In absence and silence, its deep grave has been dug.
Yet I bear it like an unconquered emblem woven in purple,
And even unthought by you, you are an altar in my soul.
Earth Poem
By Daisy Reilly
Life keeps on turning
With or without me
To the sound of a carasol
A distant memory
Of love that once blessed me
Through the window of my soul
Remedy of bygone times
In sweetness of motherhood
Child in my arms
A spoonful of honey
In the wild dell of a tree
Lights up our smiles and sets our mind free
Once again upon a sunny day
Mother Earth of love
Leads us by the hand
Singing and dancing to the tune of her wonderland
Where a little red robin
Sings from her nest
A song of peace for the very best;
And the magpie has flown
Back to the throne
To his black and white palace of temple stone.
Family Plot
David J Walker
Grandfathers
Grandmothers
Sisters and brothers
Fathers and mothers
Lay beneath the covers of
Grasses and flowers
In parks platted for the souls
Of bygone times
The roles once played between the
Clocks eternal chimes now
Call to the stones growing at the head
Naming names
Telling the tales
Of the dead hours
Decorated in drying flowers
For the dying mourners
Of annual visits
Don’t fidget
mother whispers softly
As I mention her in my prayers
She marks another birthday
by planting a flowering annual in a pot,
a forget-me-not for her forgetful mind.
Nowadays she primes herself
using visuals to clarify memories.
If at dawn, a pale moon lingers long enough
to marry a rising sun, she will dance alone,
a slow crazy dance, up in her high tower,
from there she can look across the rooftops
imagining routes and paths taken
the dwellings and bygone times, the loves,
that bloomed and wilted in that city
where she lived out her story.
Wide boulevards and dank back alleys
are stitched into a lacework of recollections;
some structures no longer there
return as landscapes printed on tissue paper.
She sees herself as a girl, a younger woman,
never as she is now.
If a bloom wilts before the years end,
she will sit by her upper window
looking for the morning sun to ignite
the pale moon of her eyes.
Then only does she dance -
her slow potted flower dance.
Gentle spring breezes softly sweep across my mind
Bring rare moments sublime I could not lately find,
Waft unexpected by the chamber of my now,
Making me ask myself why strange winds care, and how
Spirits of bygone times and places come anew
Bearing forgotten long-past pleasantries with you,
My love, my dearest, now gone to another place
How much I long to relive, to touch your sweet face.
Incidents I could not remember way back when
Or where, picked up in the passing sigh just then,
Like surf, quickly as the warm breezes sweep away
My sandcastles, startles collapse my fragile clay
Without lingering the breezes came and went, while
Happily, I relished the mem’ries with a smile.
SECOND PLACE WINNER
Written April 19, 2021
For "Your Best Sonnet So Far This Year" Contest
Sponsored by John Hamilton
14 - twelve-syllable lines check in PS Syllable Counter
I dream of simpler days
Of chivalry and blooming skirts
Of Innocence
When poetry flowed from the heart
And the love felt there was true
When joy was real…
Take my hand and lead me into the past,
Your past
Let me dream with you
walk in your memories
re-live your experiences
Hand in hand,
Show me the very sun, that lights up your sky
That voice, that smile, that twinkle in your eye
I know that look … Ascending into better bygone times
I love that look, I am ready
Teach me your wisdom
Tell me your tales, advise me
Let me walk that mile with you in your shoes
Let me bask in the glory of Your Life’s Legacy
-'poetry as legacy' poetry contest-
Bricks of pain heaved on feeble frame
Hell’s ring tone in fragile ears
Exits incomparable in life’s little memory
A goddess gone, the pillar of a heart’s strength.
Lured above reason by fables,
By mean mortals of and kings of calumny
“They said, and the tattlers said”
to the end of a structure so rare.
This trust is tested,
As hope crumbles
Among dark rumors by strange marauders,
A heart nurtured for stranger’s gains
An Oprah’s regret found in Ruth.
All entreaties as weak words they fall,
And so must I let the bird fly to her nest,
Into hideouts carved by her lust and greed,
Seeking a heaven in hell’s lies.
A foretelling powers of bygone times
Pronounced this exit by lightning's speed.
Goodbye to true parleys of the heart,
An End to the dream by imputed fables.
A shaking of wind, a tossing of sea
A tornado of earth’s fires
A true test of oaths and love
Goodbye to what men call love.
now and forever know.
Eros is a stranger to agape
This lockdown has me locked out of your heart
Though closer than a thought, we're miles apart
The shroud of silence settles tightly in
My words die on my lips before they start
Outside a monster howls in constant rage
Inside we beat our hands on walled-in cage
Our dreams illusive, bleed now on the floor
The truth exacts from us an awful wage
The days and nights are dressed in apathy
Deranged, we long to find some normalcy
Yet time looks on and jeers our fearful state
For well it knows we crave some company
Our words, our dreams, our love has all but died
The masks we wore, this quarantine let slide
I look at you and don't know who you are
The loveless look you give can't be denied
And so we bide our time in house arrest
The bygone times remembered as the best
One day we'll leave and face the world outside
With knowledge that our love has failed the test
Eileen Manassian
Trying to retrieve a time in our past,
is like trying to slow the flow of a river
with nothing but your hands;
it's an impossible task.
For many of my generation,
our yesterdays seemed less hectic;
with a stronger sense of morals
and fewer social problems.
But time tends to mask negative thoughts
while highlighting favorable recollections;
filtered through an emotional sieve.
What was true of those good old days
is that they were viewed through the eyes of youth.
And we tend to dig up the treasured gems
we buried in our past;
and enthusiastically restore their shine in our minds.
But they are less a representation of an era;
and more a personal interpretation of our experiences.
The allure of revisiting bygone times
is akin to buying a cup of cold lemon aid
from the local stand set up by the neighborhood kids;
somewhat tart and yet refreshing,
with a sweet aftertaste.
As water rushes the river rock,
smoothing out the rough, sharp edges,
she dangles sun soaked legs from the dock,
while admiring the mountain ledges.
Smoothing out the rough, sharp edges,
borrowing innocence from bygone times,
while admiring the mountain ledges,
she toe taps her harmonic rhymes.
Borrowing innocence from bygone times,
she dangles sun soaked legs from the dock.
She toe taps her harmonic rhymes,
as water rushes the river rock.
She wanders the halls in a world of her own
lost in an era of bygone times
with faltering steps, to the day room she goes
softly humming the tune of a lullaby.
Time rewinds, she sways 'neath his youthful gaze
his deep voice whispers into her ear
her lined face shines, frail arms raise to embrace
dancing to the music only she can hear.
Written on 9/30/2015
Memories
Memories drift through the mind,
Like echoes of half forgotten songs.
Flickering images of faces,
Dance like autumn leaves.
Fleeting glimpses of bygone times,
When life was young and new.
Joy and sorrow, pain and loss,
Of loves not quite forgotten.
Faces dimmed by passing time,
Getting harder to recall.
Age clouds those images now,
Once so bright and sharp.
But they will linger there,
Until I fade away.
Your arms locked around me with caution
The rhythm of the dance ... love
it has all the ingredients
All the momens I will share with you
You take me to places I have never been
When the wind whispering in the trees
it is your words I hear
A life together that can withstand both heat and cold
Teach us the ability to forgive
and humility even to be forgiven
Invisible threads, scents and memories of bygone times
All longings that humans have carried for generations
Stay with me to the morning and hold me closer
Inexorably longing for love
towards dawn and sunrise
15.12.2014
A-L Andresen :)
Copyright © All Rights Reserved
Walking amongst the shadows
In the heart of the night
A fall rain, in summer heat
Caresses thoughts of bygone times
In the heart of the night
It’s a full moon, shining upon my face
I walk into the mists of rain
I become a mask, so you see not the pain
I whisper to anyone close
This is the last chance to dance
In the heart of the night
If you were here, hug me tight
The dawn is approaching
And a life time of waiting
City streets wet with rain
In the heart of the night
In the south, of Belles so nice
I am reminded of you
In the heart of the night
New Orleans is full of light
I have waited so long
For love to knock me down
Changing seasons bring me the blues
In the cool fall rains
I dream of you
In the heart of the night
Inspired by a Canadian band, feel free to guess!!!
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