In goodwill frame sans garnished aim,
A gift with a portmanteau name,
And given to a friend,
Motive nor any end,
Plane, polite gallantry, no game.
But world, wrapped in motive--
Subjective and dative,
Cause following effect
And fiction feigning fact,
Finds a fawn fawning in front of a dame.
________________________
Happenings | 25.05.2026 | chocolate, gift, humour, world, Limerick
Note: A goodwill gift given by PM Modi on visit to his counterpart of Italy—no more no less but becoming a hot subject of the chatter circuit of social media. This ditty cries out of this excess and still ends up with an excess of alliteration of its own in the end.
I rise from the rubble like Lazarus wearing a noose of night.
The gutter whispers my name through the teeth of tombstones.
Rain baptizes me backward, burying me in yesterday's dirt.
Every prayer I utter comes crawling back begging for mercy.
My soul stinks of survival-perfume for the punished.
Heaven spits when I shine in the slime.
Hope limps behind me, bleeding blessings in the bog.
This hard earth hugs me hard, jealous of my fall.
Under redemption's heel I was born-the gutter remembers my name
You entered my silence like a violin bow dragged with blood through shattered stained glass
I sewed your laughter under my eyelids and lungs, and the light transformed into myriads of fragrant wounds
I coughed wild moon petals for weeks, my mouth full of the echo of your ever-burning footsteps
There is no cure for you, you are the high fever that shapes bones into transparent crystal bells
You are the imperial chandelier fallen right in the middle of the sonata, when the air still trembles with flame and glass
And I lean daily among the shards, gathering your syllables like phosphorescent fish above my heart
I taste them with fear, checking if they still smell of sound, if they still shake the rooftops of my orbit
Every morning I bandage my lungs with sheet music, hoping that silence will flow from me
But the silence breaks anew and your echo returns like a kite torn by a storm
So I clutch your broken glass in my fists, to make it sound like the violin again
I was dragged into retirement with my rear end bumping against cinders
It was the last thing I wanted to do; except maybe die.
But God spoke by giving me ailments that convinced me I had to quit
Winter is a horrible time for me, I have asthma that turns into pneumonia
So quit I did; last year, in June, the day after my birthday.
I have had eight months of retirement now.
Forced retirement due to my health
And I say thank you!
Every single day is a joy
I do not have to drive on the freeway expecting to die every second.
I can cartoon, paint, write poems, sleep all day, stay up all night.
I had never anticipated such joy.
This is a God-given vacation.
I want to say thank you.
My boss called yesterday asking me to come out of retirement.
I laughed until my dentures hit the wall.
I said I'm on a train to meet you,
But you won't be waiting there,
I look around the platform,
I guess you really don't care.
I used to ask for you to be here,
But now I just want your call back,
But I can't find you here,
So I guess it's time to pack.
I drag my suitcase along,
And wonder through the streets,
I swear I heard your laugh in the air,
My heart skipped a beat.
I'm on a train to leave you,
Why weren't you waiting there,
Platforms still empty,
And you still don't care.
Gucci really outdid themselves on this outfit.
I clap way longer than the others.
I stand up and whistle and hoot too.
Someone escorts me out, for I am a spectacle.
But I could not help myself.
The model winks at me as they drag me past her.
You don’t like my structure;
Sit and call me sell out,
as you reap each reward;
Scoffing at discipline,
get up and try coward;
You don’t like my structure,
schedules drive you mad;
Complain yet do nothing;
Sleep whenever you want
with a hand out yawning;
You don’t like my structure
eating what I worked for;
Stop hanging on me then!
I’m done with your comments;
I won’t be dragged again.
Sarcasm now i know some eye brows are
raised to never be up
Right hooked to
schooled was always
out by choice
kept my opinion to my
voice
The lowest for of
Whit mean what in Scotland
see how i misformed the form
i am the dragged a
long long ago's we had
time for me to
Go but you cant
stay out of the
shadows at the back of my
mind how you
one of the others wants its
turn my hand that
played with
Fire everything you have
got to be certain
one of you made the
on shoulders of giants
i stand with running spike
shoo i'm gone
Eyes heavy,
Breath labored,
It's not easy,
Feeling weighted.
Like chains restrain,
The dopamine,
In your brain,
You feel strain.
Hooks in your heart,
Secured with distrust,
It's torn apart,
You feel it bust.
Now what?
Another fight,
Another "you're nice, but",
Where's the light?
Now I fear,
I am another clown,
Painting smiles so clear,
As I'm dragged down.
Hypnotized, the bare soul asleep
None of the howl could summon it
The morning stars fade in its existence
Engraved within two lives
Path lies but studded with shattered glass
A man came with the tears, voiced his pain
Spewing all the disappointments, lost in his escape
Just like a life that I ever had, stabbed
When everything stuck in a maze of shaft
We both have the same sun
But the sun with a miscellaneous face
Randomly it blasts our universe
But mostly it shines for the sake of itself
Roam in the world called wild, we walk with no guiding cane
We just walk, fingering the trail of remain shadows
Perhaps we are the most regardless creature on earth
For we are blind to the fragility of our own
the devil whispered
the name given
to me
so soft,
so deceiving
crawl to me Frank
beg for
my hand
don't you turn
your head
peak your ears
hear my plead
I will do you
no wrong,
I am your
noble steed
Frank,
dont quiver
keep my touch
still
turning my head
into an
unkown direction,
he grabs my soul
as if it were
so light
dragging
my feet,
mud leaking
to brain
dragged to the
dungeon of flames
do I have power
to change such a
chamber?
can I resist
such a whisper?
the flames tempt,
more than any
temptress
voice and grip
slip as I
turn my head
I am exhausted
All these faces haunt my soul
No sleep comes to me
When I killed them they all cried
Now they watch me with those grins
I know I'll be dragged to hell
For Freddie's Tanka Contest
Let me see if you can guess I wrote this one.
Miracle of Miracles, look what the cat dragged in
I suppose you been loafing in that den of sin
Those so called friends of yours are nothing but fools
Yet they prey upon your soul like a bunch of tortured ghouls
I aught to make you pay for all that wasted wine
I aught to throw you out you silly drunken swine
But try as I might I simply can't deny
I'll always love you, though I can't explain why
That's what I saw in the mirror today.
Wish the cat
Would drag it away...
As he dragged me by my hair
From the bedroom to the stairs
With every scream of every step
As the roots pulled from my head
As my blood splattered on the kitchen table
As his fist and my face collide
I wondered how soon before I would die
With every explosion of pain a growing desire
As his anger subsided
Ripped and bruised skin dressed
Presents and flowers around me
As guilt attempts to make better
And though from outside
I hear the call of something different
Something my mother , father, brother and sister all yearn for
In the face of losing all that I love
I turn from my pain and believe in maybe this time
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