What purpose guides my path?
This world is cruel, and often I wish I had never arrived upon this planet.
Do not mistake my sentiment for ignorance or a loss of gratitude; I am happy to have received the gift of life.
Yet, I yearn for something more profound, something like love.
But every time I seek it, I find myself utterly lost.
Someone once whispered to me that love...
...will be my downfall.
Devil’s metal eyes can sense a vandal,
you’ll need substance to make me melt.
There’s a limit to what I can handle,
my emotions aren’t made of element 79.
Seen as solid and built to shoulder it all,
even a magnetic draw fades with tarnish.
Viewing me as trivial was your downfall,
strength not respected leads to a welt.
Hot heads lose in the heat of a brawl.
mother nature's family
now in a calamity
loss destruction truly shows
we hear, but little we see
news personnel keep on tee
while behind scenes one big show
nature from the start is doomed
great creator is entombed
natures a rat race in tow
too late to fix our mistakes
who we follow -truly fakes
ancestors' tears linger so
mistakes meant to be a guide
while pollution haunts the tides
what' s the reprocution though
to face the crimes and find grace
bring nature in full embrace
asking forgiveness from woes
Foibles, we all have them,
Longing to hide them at all costs.
Aware they will inevitably cast our downfall.
Weaknesses don’t fail to come with consequences:
Entangled webs in spite of best intentions,
Distorted outcome when it comes to dreams.
Puppets dangling on puppeteer strings
Every motion somewhat off kilter:
Organized chaos behind the illusion,
Psychodrama when daring to scrutinize too close.
Lifesize regrets: the cliff to be avoided.
Eye on the prize, doing our best.
AP: 2nd place 2026
My biggest weakness is my desire for obsession
My want to be fully engulfed in my aeipathy for another person
To give them all of me
And more, all I want to be
To gladly abandon any other potential
To blind myself
To neglect anything else that needs my attention
To forsake my goals and any progress I've made toward them
For the sake of being consumed by the feeling of being in love
To hold tight to someone long after they are gone.
To fixate on an idea
I do this to my detriment
I remain stagnant in a moment long past
And feel it still, as real as it once had been
My disposition to sacrifice the current moment is my undoing
I abandon the things that need tending to
I die to all future moments
I could easily live the rest of life as a court jester
Playing the role of Romeo on the stage of my own mind
Fewer, fewer still
Use pens for painting wonders
We paint lies instead
Decay gnaws at a country church.
It's homeless; it's lost its congregation.
Molting stones crumble, eroding away.
Mice nibble at the altar.
Winds twine through cracks.
Rain and dew drip through.
Roof slates slip down.
Each year it's more decrepit.
As nature slowly moves in.
Edges made to endure,
fracture, collapsing into rubble.
Plinths and buttresses
forsake their faith.
Agnostic shadows creep in.
As nature resumes,
its inscrutable ways.
Bells corrode into silence.
Tongues stilled in the throat of dome.
Hymns survive only as echoes in
whistling drafts through splintered rafters.
The pews sag like tired suspenders,
long unbent in prayer.
Rain scrawls psalms on walls,
scripted in mildew and moss.
Stained glass panels drop down
into the rubbish and weeds.
Crossbeams become bird-nest perches,
for swallows and doves, now the choir.
This homeless house of God laments
in the nettles, thorns and briers.
Seeking nature’s absolution
for its forsaken ruin.
A scar upon the land.
A desolate homeless being.
A blot on the earth.
Ruin gnaws a country church,
its eroding stones ever molting.
Mice nibble; winds whiplash,
roof slates slide slowly over
each decrepit year.
Edges made not to crumble,
return to rubble.
Plinths and buttresses
fade in their faith,
agnostic shadows stretch.
Bats and owls
sweep away as they shelter.
Masonry moves
its mysterious ways.
This downcast day
fleet House Martins,
seek out ways to slip through
every vacant widow,
in this rumbling
cloud-walled sky.
Allure downfall
Embodiment of temptation
Seeped into my bloodstream making your way into my heart
Ache behind the art
Tender in the dark , killer with a kiss
Softer than scars louder than silence
Moon fire
Promise are slippery things
Watching her laugh with him feels like a final goodbye
I thought giving her space was all she needed
My girl
I watch her slip away
I should be the one
The one who makes her laugh
The one who fills all ing holes
The one who handcuffs her and growls in her ear
" MINE"
She shot me but she's still my girl
Craved Liar on my chest still my little Assassin
She ing stabbed me and I would give her a knife and let her do it all over again
I just want my girl
human ignorance
leads destruction of nature
hurting its beauty
What in the world are we doing?
Who are we trying to beat?
It seems like we live our lives running,
as if we are losing our seats.
We never stop building up towers.
We never stop spinning around.
We never stop piling up into piles
everything that we’ve torn down.
Is it that we are pursuing
happiness, like the old phrase?
Or are we chasing the concept of such
blindly straight into the grave?
Somebody please in all honesty
look me right square in the eyes
and tell me the lifestyle we base it all on
won’t ultimately lead to demise.
It’s happened throughout all of history,
each nation eventually falls.
So, history repeats and we all lose our seats...
chasing happiness into the wall.
Nations, people, all,
No spirituality,
We're like empires fall.
Your lips will be my Downfall,
I think I lose a bit of my soul when you kiss me slow,
Hug me tighter as I draw my last breath,
Because your touch will be the end of me.
By Stretch C. Daniels
You were greedy and it was your downfall.
You went to Las Vegas and you lost it all.
You lost seventy thousand dollars in one day.
Your wife took the children and went away.
When you gambled, you thought you could win several hundred grand.
You lost your family and all of the money and now you're a broken man.
If you hadn't been greedy, everything would've been alright.
You wouldn't have lost everything and your future would've been bright.
When you lost the money and your family, you started to cry.
You begged God to end your life because you wanted to die.
In just one day, you lost the entire seventy grand that you and your wife earned.
Nothing good ever comes from greed and it was a painful lesson that you learned.
Swimming in the pool, we enjoy the sun.
Playing boule, we all have fun.
Everybody loves their food, life is good
Every best friend in one neighborhood
One of few days in some Summertimes.
I love this town with almost no crimes.
Suddenly my phone loudly rings
I start to fly almost like I had wings.
I wonder why my mother calls
She is with my dad at Yosemite Falls
Over the hills, she says they hiked across
And out of nowhere, my dad slipped on pasta sauce
He fell down the hill and broke his leg
Oh thank you god he is not dead!
He was brought to hospital by helicopter
My mother cries and I tried to stop her
All my friends still swimming in the garden
On the TV some highlights of James Harden
Within seconds, my dad is ruined
A beautiful evening with a screwed up end.
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