Decimated Poems | Examples

Pilgrimage

I sit, this morn, on the bed of
A dried-up rivulet,
Head-bent and full of compunction.
It’s clam-quiet except for the impatient
Squawks above which prompt my heartbeat.
I raise my head, heavy with grief.
Climbers and weevils align in a silent choir,
Singing with precision the lines of a forgotten
Mirth.
It’s 5 o’clock in the morning — a time when
Cockcrows are loud enough to wake the dead.
I cringe and slink as I traipse about in the dead woods,
Among the cadavers of river plants, decimated,
Deserted, and vitiated through seasons’ flagrant ebb.
I see shadows that sing with their mouths tightly shut.
Like them all, I, too, am lonesome, and I draw about me
The dry waves of parched waters.
On my lips is a certain prayer — a revised edition of the
Paternoster.
Return, waters, return from the underrocks, I pray thee.
My sorrows are old and fragile.
Hoots and cries and stridulations beseech me.
I have picked my way among paths that
Cuddle the feet in sympathy and soothe
The souls that hide from the earnestness of
Sunrise.
Wash my dry naked feet, O waters,
And grease my palms so cracked from
Endless chafing.

Zen mode

truth though known by clear sight
is not as yet assimilated
slow, slower and slower yet we become
until each illusion is decimated

within this body vessel we adorn
divine magnetism is as yet at play
benign bliss burns slowly exhumes ego
that we shine like a rainbow on a clear day

The Israel-Gaza War

On October the 7th, the precarious peace

of  the disputed ancient lands began to cease.

The enraged avengers brought the Al-Aqsa flood

that deluged the Re'im music festival with blood.

 

Then very swiftly came the lopsided response

that decimated women and children at once.

The zionists' war machine sweeps the Gazan land,

rendering its closely compacted earth to flatland.

 

The Mosques, churches, schools, and hospitals are all gone.

Scores wail uncontrollably aloud as they mourn.

Having no point of refuge, refugees take flight

as they seek for bombshelters with no hopes in sight.

 

Hamas belligerents their explosive arrows throw

at overwhelmed defenses of an ageold foe.

Zionists with torrential explosives respond

with offensive operations within and beyond.

 

Oh that the Gaza strip might tranquility know!

Oh that the blood in the West bank would cease to flow!

Oh that Israel would flourish and as a nation grow!

Oh that the warring factions would the seed of peace sow!

Oh that the two warring factions would merry and dance!

Oh that the two state solution was given a chance!

The human condition

Within the lucid dream, we believed as true,
the villainous character we had assumed
but though it was acting, our actions we rue,
because we are now by it’s darkness consumed.
We have become the demon we created,
which we see now needs to be decimated,
so ego death seems to be the only way,
to reclaim inner light, by ceasing to sway.

if our eye be single

Our third eye glistens, as we watch
bliss magnetism rise, notch by notch,
until each cell of feeble form 
imbibes these currents, cool and warm,
dancing on our spine’s vertebrae,
the tease divine, playing hopscotch,
God applauding the way we pray.

Poised attention animated,
we become light, as is fated,
doing nothing, save being still,
wonderstruck as voids within fill,
ego cravings, decimated.

Toroidal heart emits love’s scent,
paving way for our soul’s ascent.

Anniversary

afterward ...
red oleander
still blooming

NOTE: Following the atomic explosion over Hiroshima [08/06/1945], many survivors feared that nothing would grow on the decimated earth. By the time spring of 1946 arrived, the citizens of Hiroshima were surprised to find the landscape dotted with the blooming red petals of the oleander. The oleander flower, called the kyochikuto in Japanese, dispelled worries that the destroyed city had lost all its fertility and inspired the population with hope that Hiroshima would soon recover from the tragic bombing. ~ Dan Listwa, Columbia University

First published in Puddock 08/06/2024

Full Tilt

        Dry mouth,
   shallow breathing;
In your dessert mirage
I thought I saw a waterfall;
            Dizzy,
I’m completely decimated;
   It is too hot to care;
   Please wet my lips,
          full tilt.

In between rain drops

In between rain drops of nimbostratus skies,
he sheds salty tears at our ocean's demise..
Sharks with their peculiar odd strides,
dead sea lions and whales wash in on oily tides..
Deep in the jungle where the lions abide, he
hears the baby elephants cries. Alone, now
orphaned from dawn til dusk, their mother's
slaughtered to sell the tusks..
Acres of forests rich in oaks and pines logged,
decimated for the needs of mankind..
This gracious gift given at his command to allow
humans to be guardians over seas and land.
God entrusted us with our planet earth, not to
dominate nature on land and surf..
Our planet, exploited, depleted, hurting.
God is sadly disappointed and that is for certain.

Cinco De Mayo

In 1862, Mexicans were elated
As the French army was decimated
Today is Cinco de Mayo
Tacos—free Pico de gallo!
The Battle of Puebla is celebrated

Emperor Maximillian was fooled
by the Mexicans he thought he ruled
Carlota the Queen, insane
Died in France from her pain
After a firing squad had ensued



Note: The Chapultepec Castle:
Maximilian and Carlota´s Love Story

The Open Road

  Hittin’ the ‘open road’ was all the fashion
    Became America’s passion

  Decimated by endless repairs – 'under construction'
    not to mention protestors’ abduction

Ode to a Beaver

Ode to a Beaver

I watch the beaver gnaw the tree
And see its place in history.
Cursed with a luxurious pelt
Sought after by European furriers.

That led to the slaughter of the species
From which a nation was conceived.
Like a virus invasion out of control,
Its numbers decimated and habitat destroyed.

We humans can be a cruel lot,
Killing for pleasure and exploitation.
I regret the harm inflicted
Upon these creatures of creation.

As I ponder my journey’s end,
At the swamp of its making,
Joy swells my heart to see
By the lodge, kits swimming.

Discombobulation

Life has become an amorphous mass,
Sans shape, sans structure.
And my mind is in total discombobulation.
I feel I am like a scrap yard.
My world has lost its tint and throb.
Defeated and decimated,
I long for an about-turn,
To reach back from whence I started
To get out of this quagmire
To restore all that slipped through my fingers,
 In the tangled labyrinthine paths of life!

How I wish to curl unobtrusive,
Into the womb that bore me once,
To be reborn once more as my old self
To enjoy the peace and bliss, now alien!

As trees bared by the winter blasts,
Stay in wait for the spring to arrive,
I await a new life, fresh and new.
Before that, I must rip loose, 
And peel away the covert mask
Sticking tight to my concealed face
Though it may cause me to bleed.
Exhale the soot of hatred,
Polluting my larynx and lungs,

The time is up for me to leave the stage.
But before I make the final bow
I should fit into a new cast,
And become a man again!!

A NATION ONCE AGAIN

Through the eyes of an eagle
I view this land.
Forty shades of green
from soft Irish rain
that removes the stain
of numerous battles.

I soar over Sliabh League
in Dun na nGall then
swoop above Glenveigh
where the sons of Tuan
king of the stags
now roam free.

I circle ancient forts
where Gaelic kings 
were crowned.
No longer found in a land
decimated by retreating foes
then long enslaved by England.

Still the spirit of Eire is strong.
Drinking poteen until dawn
we celebrate the harvest
with dance and song at Samhain
along with the Tuatha De Danann.
Extolling the mighty Fionn Mac Cumhail.

Surviving all those who were cruel,
famine, seafaring foes and British rule.
Irish laughter rings loud. 
As a people we are proud. 
One day soon our green land 
will be reclaimed 
to be a nation once again.

The Drugstore

I stole a garden hid it from flames,
to try and keep just one thing alive;
Collateral carnage of war games,
a single bloom of evolution won't thrive;

Detonation of everything but peace,
so careless is the nature of war;
Decimated there's nothing to seize 
save P.T.S.D flooding the drugstore.

Benign Bliss Burn

As witness consciousness, we hush heart’s blush
Thoughts rested, attention animated
In time stretched calm, placid, peaceful and plush
From mundane existence, insulated
With cravings of lower mind vacated
Treading gently, renouncing pathways stern
We feel presence by love impregnated 
Engulfed in bliss mists, we willingly burn

Humming a melody, as does the thrush 
We play out our ordained role, as fated
Every heartbeat heightens, with love our crush
Each emote now as by truth dictated
Demons of our past, thus decimated 
Benign love friction causes nodes to churn
How long for this moment, soul has waited
Engulfed in bliss mists, we willingly burn

Polarities dance, the mingle and brush
Nodes within are, by spirit rotated
Feeling a sublime elixir onrush
No wonder heart is always elated
Surging joy that cannot be translated 
Magnetism cascades in mind-body urn
Each breath prayerfully celebrated
Engulfed in bliss mists, we willingly burn

Gently thus, by grace initiated
Twice born, we live on, truth of Self discern 
Transformed by light, soul’s illuminated
Engulfed in bliss mists, we willingly burn

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