A lie rarely dies with the one who told it.
It lingers,
finding a home in the next person
who dares to believe.
Promises made too easily
leave strangers paying debts
they never agreed to carry.
The next honest voice
must answer for someone else's silence.
I've seen trust change its face.
It doesn't disappear
it just learns to stand farther back,
arms folded,
waiting for proof instead of hope.
People who were once gentle
begin to speak like they're expecting the worst.
Not because bitterness is who they are,
but because disappointment kept introducing itself
under different names.
The wounds no one can see
are often the ones that speak the loudest.
You hear them instead
in the pause before they answer,
in the way every promise is questioned,
in how they leave before hope asks them to stay.
Eventually,
anger starts sounding like wisdom,
and silence feels safer
than believing one more beautiful lie.
I took a look into my eyes as I reminisce on this journey called life
In my reminiscing, I was lost from the physical world but was live in my thoughts
Just like waves, I was shocked by my findings, just as the hologram, the world is full of fake people
The taste for a better life kills the angel within, now it's here and all that's left are demons, how sad and bitter
What's trust? It's but a plate of potage, bought with my rights
In this ring of life, I've been beaten down but refuse to stay down, I want to be angry at the world but it's not the way
The anger boils hot in me, yet I smile as I walk through my thoughts,
The bitterness of my soul is likened to that of the hulk, but I chose not to be a destroyer
What's the way I ask, but the look in my eyes says nothing, the chaos in my head creates a secret order
The venom from the bite of the viper which I picked out of kindness try to corrupt me, but all mustn't suffer for the sin of one
As the drums of war beats and the chants of my brothers uplifts my moral, I preach love because it's the only way.
Hope is a complex emotion
There is such a thing as too much hope
Which drowns you in unrealistic dreams
Fed by the unfulfilled imaginations of your heart.
It lifts you up, but the fall is that much worse.
It sets your soul on fire, but it only leaves ashes behind.
You hope too much and your body starts devouring itself from the inside out, leaving a skeleton of desires and broken promises behind.
But you need hope to live, to put one foot in front of the other, to feel the love and the pain, to anchor your existence to this planet, grow old and turn to dust.
You need hope to free your soul and let it wander in the unknown when you cease to be.
Hope is what you're always looking for and narrowly miss on.
Hope is for everyone else, but you.
Hope is an illusion, which you need to let go.
Hope dies when it meets you so don't let it come too close.
Flashbulb moment in the black
Everyone frozen in a truth attack
You learn who justifies means from ends
You learn your enemies and your friends.
You look for an anchor in a bible psalm
But there's chaos in your brain from blast of this bomb
A moment that divides the right from the wrong
A moment not imagined in ancient song.
(chorus)
Flashbulb night, a sudden flame,
You looked at the light: never be the same.
You had assumptions, you thought you knew
Now you realize you didn't have a clue
A whole class of behavior you can't explain
Its time to jump off that runaway train.
The masks are off, disillusion starts
You’re so lonely now, when the curtain parts.
A fracture line through your heart
The rift widens, you must restart.
For one man it was a murder of a friend
For some a hero exposed, or a vicious trend
They began to question all they were taught
Forced on a new path, because truth they sought.
I have been deceived all this while,
By all the angels cloaked in a dear disguise.
'Follow the way of light, my child, ' they all cooed,
For they knew too well I was never shrewd.
Off I went, probing for those lights,
Something to put an end to my wakeful nights.
But manipulation, oh my dear,
Sounds sweeter when it is feared.
I never found those lights, I never did indeed,
In the cruel footpaths of naivety and those angels' deeds.
All I ever found was a world so shadowy,
Lit up with lights that glow darkly.
she shows her battle scars and all i feel is numbness,
he flaunts his maidens and i overlook the dumbness.
she cries woes of heartbreak and i cannot feel pity,
he weeps waterfalls of failure and i fake some integrity.
she hurts me the most when she berates her busy nature,
he wounds me the deepest when he complains of his drained stature
for when all you've lived is a life of monotony
you start wishing suddenly for a lobotomy.
I wander where the afternoons
were so warm and golden
and wonder why
pleasant woods and beautiful lakes desert me
leaving just trees and water
I wander where the orange sunset
painted the purple sky
and wonder why
The awe at the light show leaves my heart
I become colorblind to nature's art.
I go inside to where the parlor
was full of happy crowds
and wonder why
The chill of loneliness comes over me
in this silent room I can't wait to flee.
I wander where I held your hand
We thought the future was so grand
and I wonder why
So little went as we had planned
the road went to a savage land.
I wander where values
were accepted, and known
and wonder why
Stone became water, and water stone
If they see a good man, they can't leave him alone
I sat all afternoon
by an exuberant stream of rushing flow
And I wondered why
I lost the fun; I lost the glow—
like laughter fading after the show.
Maybe you need to feel the loss to grow.
In Shallow Hours, graves are dug
By words morose,
Their hollow powers seem mundane,
But are much worse.
Being Lonely in a crowded room,
With empty words
Muttered by survivors;
Whose frosty breath in time,
With second hand,
Will still ones heart with breach of mind
From gestures grand;
So gentle souls as we,
Will speak no more about it.
This too shall pass as melancholy.
Whispered mischief of the gods;
The poisoned fruit of folly.
As seasons run their course;
Whose touch so coarse,
Flow unrefined.
A baking of our Maker's choice,
Upon which we have dined.
Too many courses chose
Again, the Blackened Rose.
Life without salience
For such as those.
Naked She,
No longer seductress,
Temptress to youth
Our lives attempt atone.
Experienced eyes, now show revealed;
A Harlot to the bone.
What drug could so impair?
What game be more unfair?
What beauty in beholder's eye,
Less rare?
False Gods flail.
Chariot wheels on ipad screens
In most minute detail.
Now kiss your new God
Soft upon His cheek
And in a moment, through Alexa,
He may speak.
How can you say that your dreams,
Weaved into an atrocious scarf,
Is not the one you fathomed,
But at least keeps you warm?
Why do you feel so lonely,
Never could feel that emotion before,
When dusk falls, streetlights shimmer,
And music starts to play?
Where do you go to hide,
From glares and unsolicited advices,
That keep hitting you like missiles,
But never take your heartbeat away?
Why does sobbing and gasping,
Awaken a quiescent part of your mind,
Stirring up a turmoil
That shakes you up from every other slumber?
Why do you feel crushed,
When people make excuses, valid or otherwise,
To realise, you only have yourself at the end of the day?
Leave me alone. Leave me to doom.
Blame the stars. Blame the skies and the moon.
And she is always THE ONE,
Until you meet the next one.
May you meet her soon.
The catcher in the rye
I go and drop the ball
I lay it down and cry
I’m sleeping in the stall
Cause everyone is phony
Your company is lonely
Your animals are bony
Your everything is only
I’m underneath the bridge
Below the overpass
I’m locked inside the fridge
I’m sleeping in the grass
Cause everyone is faking
Every excuse for bailing
Your painted skin is flaking
Success story is failing
You’re spinning all around
Mascara masquerade
You’re walking without sound
A conga line charade
You’re hands and feet are bound
You’re tied into the ground
And nailed into the wall
I’ve lost sight of the ball
I’ve lost sight of the band
And buried in the sand
They’re telling me it’s fine
They’re calling me insane
They think I’ve lost my mind
They’re calling me Cobain
They’re telling me to smile
They tell me not to cry
And maybe stay a while
The catcher in the rye
on a silent night,
the shadows surge.
seeking the light,
on life's eerie verge.
nothing’s more kinder
to my fading heart,
than the sore reminder
of my pervading art.
in my restless void,
dreams will emerge.
things once enjoyed,
now just an urge.
all paths lead to here,
to these moments of dire.
nothing is real i fear,
so i’ll dance in the fire.
My concept of existence,
Was like scenes from a distance;
Green, lush, many floral-filled,
By which anyone gets thrilled...!
When twigs and dry trunks appeared,
When turns and twists made me feared,
When skin and flesh, like clothes, smeared,
I knew life, often, is geared...!
I aim at something, but hunt,
Everything that I confront;
Strife ends like a filmy stunt,
Sadly, I bear every brunt...!
12 January 2023
another fruitless day
alas, a buck unearned
uninvolved in the fray
nary a lesson learned
o time, where hast thou gone
where's the spring of my life
whence lovers embraced none
daily struggling in the strife
where, the hours in their haste
have transpired unbeknown
o, the chatter, what a waste
mindly doings of my own
seeking every worldly pleasure
as fleeting as they did turn
wasted o, that divine treasure
youth, begone, not to return
now as I become senile
my soul still youthful and bold
wishes it had seen the Nile,
the Seine, overseas lovers untold
an old man full of remorses
little wisdom, hardly lore
still battling the wild horses
fighter, warrior evermore
for when i stared at the roses
sadly saw with great dismay
how quickly life decomposes
how short is the month of may
then i failed to recognize
that time waits for no man
old age hasn't made me wise
perhaps. when i pass it can
Smash this glass
her fantasy
so magically
is captured
for all time
who transfixes me
in idolatry
this love
within my rhyme.
A thousand miles
I’d traverse
just to taste
your skin
but then I would
be afraid my dear
that I’d never
come back again.
From the thrills
the wonder
the spills
the thunder
your heaven
would ignite
so then I’d lose
a million hours
loving every night.
Smash this glass
this fantasy
that makes me think
you’re near
thus away
my happy day
spent in
this dream I fear.
When we think we know, sure we are to fall
And trip and flip and drop the ball
Our knowledge nature writes off as a myth
And ado over what’s at best small.
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.