The sun contours the cloud’s edges
Like a sky crack. If the sun be my eye,
Could eye be distracted from the surface heaven?
Some seven wispy islands’ masking bedding,
The frictive crashing plates, dying
And reborn downpours, slitted resting
Clouds, tense breasts and tension bringing.
A salmon fillet stretches gelatinously,
Horizon skin cooked by incidental switches,
Minor cloud bump shuffles that arrest
The sky. It lay there scorching
From the daggered strikes, the speaking
Pikes that shatter crackled clouds.
Their lost remains are seeping out of line,
An army shielded, steel of darker, stealing paints.
Valhalla battle cries boast legends, saints
And mages known only to the sky.
I do not place my words before your praise,
nor wait for your clapping hands to grant them worth.
A deeper pulse compels the lines I raise~
a meaning rising darkling into birth.
I write to breathe, to name what trembles near,
to steady what has wavered in the cage,
to free the truths that lingered bound by fear
and give them voice upon an open page.
Denied acclaim is neither wound nor guide;
your daggered slights effect not my moving hand.
Expression is the compass at my side~
the soul’s own weather shaped so it may stand.
So pen your veiled, daggered slights if you must.
My work seeks life beyond my desk, unbowed and just.
It wasn't the betrayal itself that shattered me,
but the smiles that masked the hatred.
It was the deceit behind the love they wore,
and the realization that every shared laughter
was a facade for the knives they held.
It's not the betrayal itself that shattered me,
but how I let them unravel the secrets of my heart,
offering my vulnerability to their sight.
It really isn't the betrayal that shattered me—
it was the ease with which they daggered my heart,
with no regard for the friendship I once held sacred.
It was the innocence in their eyes,
and the cold truth: my heart was never worth
what I believed it to be.
©Mwila The Poet 2025
his strength i saw when he was near me,
amongst tumbleweeds in mid-June –
up and o’er dusk i was set free,
under the stardust comforting the moon
adrift the glaze of glamourous skies,
singing an aria of a cradlesong tune,
with a melody playing in chestnut eyes,
adrift the reverie of love’s surprise;
roaming the wonder of what might be,
remembering our decree with guarantee
angel eyes devoid goodbyes,
man once too great for my debris-
of all the death daggered in demise,
HE ALWAYS MEANT THE MOST TO ME
_______________________________________
1.18.20
daggered in fear i shall never be
for living by the sword rescued me
living inside a blanket of silk,
not knowing what it feels like
to bleed without scars;
the kind that never fade,
yet
are
beautiful anyways
a life lived with a sword in hand
can never be free from blindness-
there’s a threshold leading to a
place that feeds off temptation,
a revelation-
weapons bring hate,
so why use a gun;
it’s never too late
harmony has won
i never knew how sharp life
could be-
never saw what was right in
front of my third eye
(the one that sees everything)
i shall live without a blade to cut,
exist without glaive of pain,
for i shall know what it feels like to
finally find peace…
the kind that soothes a soul until it is soft again
12.10.19
If You Live By the Sword, Then You Die By the Sword
Silent One
REGRET
As I walked through my memories,
I saw the moon and the sun as they threw
pity at me as if to say,
I warned you!
Tears! Tears!
Those trickles of tears as they
ran down my face, they asked
for help.
Please stop! It hurts so much,
it was as if my heart was being daggered.
Lots and lots of pain enriched
my soul.
Tick Tock! says the clock as it ticked
into my future..please take me
back to inception I pleaded.
Perhaps I can right my wrongs
On the boat of yesterday.
Tick tock! Says the clock
without response as it kept
ticking into
my future..
Left without options I sailed on the
boat with lessons and regrets into
my future.
Silver flashes through ocean swells
sound ripples across the water
strolling the moonlight kissed water
surrender to nights sensual promise
foam breaks, mermaid soars resplendent
cobalt teal diamond skin shimmers
powerful tail propelling her way
phosphorescence trails behind
sea sparkles flitting in her wake
face startles, finely dotted aqua spots
thick lips pout, fierce, predatory
fiery orange and red markings
warrior lines swirling, cheek to neck
swims towards me, I’m awestruck
daggered teeth, transfixed
purple searing eyes, allured
flips mid-air, veers away to plunge deeply
her tail douses me in sea water
I laugh and marvel
savage beauty of the sea
silver flashes through ocean swells
Entered in “Give me your best new poem Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Emile Pinet
Dated 12/10/2019
Placed 8th with thanks
The Forest floor sodden, after thaw.
Widow makers out/in horizontal draw.
Stalactites, waiting
for the mis-trodden,
like web and spider maw.
For miscalculation, error in judgment.
Spinning disc through the tree-blind.
But you've been sent.
To get help, medicine, equipment.
Of a dire kind, in dire need.
They are counting on you.
Become the wind through the trees,
like elemental spirit,
laugh at the faceslaps of daggered L' eaves.
More speed.
THE GHOST BAR
gangrenous chains
rusted and burdensome
lambast the oak plank
etching ethereal gouges
the serpentine length drags
with warlike screams
ghoulish intensity
grabs each bony-disk
with heartlessness
the ice cold floor and
daggered eyes, seem
but a hallucination
to the drunken lot
but the barmaid sees!
she screams
as the breathless apparition
howls with wrathful laughter
she faints, fast and dreadful
the chains coil about his neck
in retribution for his act
yanking him about
the floor gives way like quicksand
and he plummets yet again
to certain death
covered by miles and miles of clanging chain
the barmaid’s brought about by salts
she tells the tale over and over again
until the legend of the ghost bar
becomes famous
detailed in rusty chains and eyes
...one peeks through
10/23/2017
is it normal to sear the soul
to let the dormant hate control
Is it normal to mar the mind
with daggered words dipped in "unkind"
Is it normal to hunt the heart
with gleeful zest to maim a part
Is it normal to lampoon love
make it a joke; give it a shove
Is it normal to deaden dreams
out of some envy laden schemes
Is it normal to negate nice
claim that its fake then take a slice
Is it normal to insult ideals
to devour each in packaged meals
if normal's not in one of these
then read the next lines, if you please...
"business as normal" is just pretend
when hurting's not been brought to end
For acting "normal" when one bleeds
Can never clear the painful deeds
The only way to make amend
is to forget the "normal" trend
So be sincere; apologize
own up to wrong and empathize
then back to "normal" things can go
and better still, I tell you so!
Eileen Manassian
You’re the breeze that l i n g e r s beyond compare,
my GUARDIAN SPIRIT I can reach through deep prayer.
When the dusk draws near I can feel you there,
right under our Oak Tree deep in Town Square.
When you were sick I was lost and unaware,
yet you held up with g r a c e, so sweetly debonair.
Your illness was a disease they found was rare,
such a rare cancer, but the doctors did care.
I remember your dear youth, born in late Spring,
the ANGELS danced and the Hummingbirds did sing.
The town was so excited the church bells did ring!
You fell off our Oak Tree with your arm in a sling,
yet with no caution from that branch you’d still swing.
When you died my heart daggered with a CRIMSON sting,
you showed courage and s t r e n g t h you did bring,
and now I’m left alone with no one or nothing.
For you will always be my angel, my SPIRIT GUIDE,
and no longer should I feel I have to hide-
You bring me h o p e and in you I shall still confide,
yes, a CRIMSON sting on my heart the day you died.
Monorhyme Contest
February 7, 2017
Bars hold back her fleeting touch
where faint feelings meant hope and brought
inspiration when pieces puzzled a daggered heart
Diamonds shone bright on a worthless day
appearing in starlit eyes
if only I could . . .
Turn into that beautiful blue jay
the one that sings an endearing song
and sit outside your window sill
playing a tune for you all day long
You surely would notice
and dance about the day
leaving all your worries in the breeze
where they could simply float away
Out back beyond the old oak trees
growing in the recesses of your view
where the pretty wildflowers sway
I'll be with the Gilia looking out for you
I'd sit out in the garden
and smile up at you
watch you ray of goodness
in everything you do
You surely would notice
and dance about the day
leaving all your worries in the breeze
where they could simply float away
Have you seen it? ..I cry!
A Gwalligup ..with one great green eye!
Laughing from one ...of its many molten mouths
Licking the lips of another …my entrails to devour
Oh the agony …Oh the fright
Waiting, watching this Halloween night
Eternally vigilant …all must be
Ever warned ...that my end-you'll see!
Nothing can stop its grueling mewling yaws
No one is safe from its red daggered velvet purple paws
I am but a human …but human I feel no more
Gone is all grace and hope... right out the door
How can I have peace… knowing that gnarly thing is near?
Taking it’s time ….slowly slurping and burping its way to here!
(Please, forgive me for my horror ...please forgive me for my fright
…really it is nothing more ...than a nightmare... I had last night)
A lunatic dance, frenzied feet
twisting everywhere, going nowhere,
kicking at the cool March air.
No meek manner, no sculpture's
mediocre smile, just a jumbled medley
of clenched teeth and an impassioned,
deer-eyed death stare.
All grace departed, exorcised
and damned with exaggerated
melodrama, from the electric flair
of the writhing madman.
Who can say why the melt down exploded
into comical vile gestures and
daggered words escaping his
unguarded mouth, flying away
like an angry, uncaged bird,
fluttering and sputtering-
spinning in the wind?
Possibly the tall, spiked-haired lady
casting thin blade shadows on the walk,
clicking away in high heels and scarlet
lips with third finger propped up
on her stone-jeweled hand.
She pauses to flick and kill her dropped
cigarette, then kick it to the curb...
along with the crazed madman.
Sorrow
Bleeding tears
Weeping Daggered Wounds
Shattered, Heavy-Hearted , Dejected , Misery
Sadness
Sub Categories
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