Cowering Poems | Examples

Litany of Borrowed Sorrows

The sorrows we borrow,
the sorrows we keep—
are debts of the dead,
replayed in our sleep.

Blood writes the tally,
blood writes it in red;
tomorrow collects
what yesterday bled.

The sun drags its shadow.
The sun drags its shroud—
darkness advancing
cowering aloud.

Dry eyes at dawn.
Ashes inbred;
a prayer in the dust,
a prayer for the dead.

The sun flares faintly,
a wound in the sky.
The clouds part briefly,
yet cold will not die.

What was served yesterday
lies rotting today;
a banquet of abstinence,
a plate of decay.

Tears must be borrowed.
Tears must be sown;
the covenant is endless,
the debt as ever has grown.

I am summoned.
I am again sworn—
to gather the blood,
to nourish the thorn,
to water dead flowers,
for sorrow's reborn.

PEOPLE OF PROCESS

There he sits
In a cell of choice
Paying the price
For shattered voice

She stands on a stage
Belting out words of hope
Inside, cowering in a corner
With a frayed rope

They hold their signs
Gather in crowds
Shouting powerless views
To attempt a break down
...of numbers

Isolated in countries
Without a proper home
Everyone comes in
But leaves them, alone

Humanity straddles the knife
Begging for a peaceful life
Finding division and descension
While prophesying ascension

Those who follow LOVE
Have no beginning or end
Flowing through process
Even when...

        again and again

Written by Trudy Schrader on 06-17-2025

Mindstorms

As i sit and watch the storm, 
my mind racing with thoughts and fear, 
dark clouds gather overhead. 
Darkness only broken by lightning
slashing across the sky, 
I sit cowering in my chair, 
fear taking hold of my whole body as it starts to rain. 
As I watch the rain float gracefully to the ground.  
Everything starts to make sense. 
The lightning now seems to dance together as it lights up the sky, 
the thunder is now a soothing roll. 
my fear gradually fading, 
i hold my hand out into the rain. 
I watch the raindrops fall, 
they don’t seem scared, 
their whole life they are alone. 
They land on my outstretched hand, making their own paths across it, 
finding each other,
their whole life destined to be together,
two souls now intertwining, 
two hearts beat as one as they roll off together across my palm, 
suddenly i don’t seem so scared, 
as i sit and watch the storm.

Promise of the cemetery

I’m walking beside a garden of stone stilled angels
Their eyes are unmoving 
But their soul is cowering

I’m cut between the heat of the earth,
The burning sun and the salty sky
I can’t choose the dirt in where I will lie
But I can choose the way that I will die

There's a towering night overhead
With its sword filled with promise to topple me
I’m poised ready for the journey ahead
My legs churning
Heart burning
Away at my flesh

I’m running with the staining salt air dying my sweat
There are rows of roses left out to forget
I’m watching the rocks crumble
The angels ascend
I’m standing alone at the cemeteries end

There is promise brewing in the sea salt sky
Telling the future not where I will die
But where I will lay
When the time comes to say
Goodbye

I’m breaking apart in pieces of stone
That topple and make up my brand-new home
It’s carved with a smile
It took me a while
To realize that this is where I belong.

In the Meantime

I’m waiting. Watching you, watching me.
I wonder, what you’ll tell the jury
When they’re deciding your fate?
Will you even make it to trial?
I see you cowering in some dark corner
After the dirty thoughts have fled from your wild mind 
Sucking on your fate, fetal style 
Now that you’ve done the deed.
My scent still fresh on your lizard scales
Excitement gives way to terror 
When you remember all of your mistakes 
Of trace evidence 
Pointing its bony finger, right at you!
Oh, but the ecstasy! Finality of it all!
You did it! You really did it!

Fate strikes upfront or with backender

The serpent rears up
with fangs bared, 
upfront and center.
The scorpion's sting
is poised to strike
with a coiled, curled, 
cowering, concealed, 
backender sting in its tail.
A life flips on a coin toss:
heads for a destiny,
tails for a lingering uncertainty,
when fate strikes upfront,
or with a backender.

No more

No more

Cowering behind the door, my son and I
Praying the brutal fury would subside.
In his little face, desperate not to cry,
I saw the truth and could no longer hide

The man I married had turned out to be
A man possessed by temper, uncontrolled 
His coercive ways, though aimed at me
Had exposed my boy to terrors untold

When his feelings rose in a jealous rage
His violence came blistering to the fore
He’d smash and shatter in violent rampage
I knew I must stand up and  say… 
		no more

So I packed up all our things that day
We had to leave,I was no longer blind
Now we feel safe, we’re many miles away
And all of the fear is left far behind

Shaking

I have a cup in my hand. 
Spilling it.
Then I pour some into my hands. 
Laughing. 
So I get more. 
Sipping coffee from my palms. 
Beautiful. 

The journal. 
Pages.
Folded up, turning into paper airplanes. 
A journal is like…
When my car sputters in the winter, 
But it starts up anyway.
Crying. 
It’s cold. 
Pulling out of the driveway, carefully.

I used to carry my flashlight. 
Sweeping the light around. 
These days?
I don’t know where light comes from. 
Just sparkles. 
And reflections in empty trash cans.
I threw away my phone. 
I didn’t think they would actually take it. 
But the garbage truck comes at 6:00 am every morning. 

Earthquakes seem very long.
So I think I imagined it. 
Cowering for three hours. 
Until I get anxious and want a cup of coffee. 
I pour a cup of coffee. 
But the shaking makes me drop it again.

terrified husband

Crunch of her shoes fascinated the hallway
House had been empty way too long
Husband waited, expecting her to open the door
Masked, dressed in black, intruder entered bedroom

Husband reached for his glasses
They were cowering under the bed
Stranger walked over to the bed and leered at him
He had no way of knowing who or what this was about

Wife entered muted bedroom, giggling like a running toilet
Confused and terrified, husband covered his head to dream

My Creed

My Creed

 I live - a child -
Wrapped in feast days of divine whimsy
When the world outlines itself
In blue zircon sparkle
A child of the season 
When glittering petals of snowflowers
Rest on barren branches
Casting shadows of bursting light
Into tumult
Where defeated darkness whines
In an ebony gloom,
Cowering
In the amber blush of an evergreen dawn.

Taking a holly branch in my hands
I choose to walk through the shortest days,
Into the longest midnights,
Embracing the fire of the Spirit –
Guardian of precious light
From all consuming blackness –
To stand watch at the apex of midnight bells
To celebrate
Heaving darkness back into its sneering leers
To walk in an eternal festival of the celestial.

I choose to embrace jubilee
Source of golden radiance
To make merry in an eternal gala
And join rejoicing joy
Infecting every fleeting crumb of time
Dancing with triumphant jubilation,
Ambassador to consecrated oblation,
Reaching
Always reaching to receive celebration
From eternity.

Five Ku

autumn ambles slowly
shuffling through fallen leaves
dodging Winter’s kiss

crumpled pumpkins frown
sparrows await a sunrise
a barn cat stretches

seagulls battle gusts
crabs wander an empty beach
icy froth glistens

as wolves sniff the wind
cowering beneath its howl
a cold hunger waits

a lone snowy owl
shakes the frost from its feathers
in frigid silence

Duping the Demons

I often wake up tired
Too much cerebral housecleaning
Dusting, filing, musing
Feeding the demons
They are less likely to act up
If they are nurtured
Recognized for what they are
I no longer fear them
But they must be kept
Cowering in the dark
Waiting for me
To tuck them in

of feral thought

I wander through a minefield
Of feral thought
Ever alert
For the slightest hint
Of hidden prey
Trembling thoughts
Shamed in their youth
Cowering
Beneath dried roots
A shadow
Out of sync with the sun
Daring to peek elsewhere
A flower leaning into the wind
Refusing to yield
A defiant tumble weed
Standing its ground
Stealthily, I tease them
Into an awareness
Of now
Invite them to share
With me
Their secrets
Not in an attempt
To domesticate them
But to learn to cherish
Their tenacity and strength
Their belief in themselves
Offer to share them
Without exposing their whereabouts
To honor the sanctity of their choice.

Dauntless

Quote: 'Put on the dauntless spirit of resolution' (King John, act 5, scene 1, lines 48–53) - William Shakespeare

Mutterings of awful shame 
(a child’s bones)
vie for supremacy;
yet here you are, cowering incessantly.
You hide in a game of thrones.

Fie!
Put on the dauntless spirit of resolution, Sir!
Show courage in a worthy hopeless cause,
my Blade Runner, my  bread-and-butter.

Show your true flag.
Ah yes, truth will not cover in glory;
that is the power of propaganda.
Begone, John Lackland;
they don’t like your story.

Magna Carta.
Charter of the law.

Gotcha.

Queen Of Sinkholes

Frazzle dazzled Summer escapades,
a wave of madness hoists a red flag;
Fuchsia allows my brain to defrag,
sunsets melt hues into softer shades;

I can now turn down those hot coals
that my emotions have been tossed on;
Acting impulsive is frowned upon,
or be seen as the Queen of Sinkholes;

Do not panic drifting out to sea 
you are still able to swim freestyle;
Poisonous thoughts regurgitate bile 
starting dry heaves almost instantly;

Into your stomach they creep upset,
it can feel like a merciless sting;
No need to entertain cowering 
before what’s only a baseless threat;

Sinking without a life preserver,
it’s not needed if your mind is strong;
Repeat like a mantra that plainsong,
tumult will become caricature.

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