“Holding on is believing that there's only a past; letting go is knowing that there's another future.” Author unknown.
Make no bones about it. I shall never want you,
Don't waste your love on someone worthless like me.
All is lost like a fat candle lit in bright sunlight,
Wasted as a dewdrop falling in the sea;
It's as pointless as a cold snowflake
Settling on freezing Mount Everest.
I'm deaf and dumb to your spirit,
Perhaps I'm stone blind or have a rock instead of a heart.
Don't blame yourself; my soul is ravished by tempests past
That rage was like a tornado inside me.
I try to dredge the ancient hates.
That left me stubborn and blind,
Swept by the hurricanes of old loves,
An anger whirling like a rushing wind,
I weave a shade dark and benighted
To smother all that's bad.
Alas, the end result is that I cannot love.
I'm just indifferent. Do I make myself clear?
Placed 1
A step too far, brings right of passage to a ledge
Fluttering at cliff walls, pushing life’s brittle edge
A sheer instinctive thrust, with no trust to pledge
Now or never moment, undermines fear’s wedge
A chick leaps off, flailing frail wings fail to fledge
Featherweight of hope meets a ten-pound sledge
Crashing straight down, no safety net to dredge
Next guy flaps like mad, landing softly in a hedge
I'll show you everything I love,
Everything that has built me up.
I'll show you all my safeties
And all the things that have held me.
I know you will keep them
With the most delicate respect.
And anything that is hidden
I will dredge up from the trench
Because we cannot understand each other
Until we've seen each other's wounds.
I want you to know where I come from.
I want you to know the molds that have formed me.
I'll shoot myself with Cupid's d#mn bow.
I know you'll care for the aftermath.
You shot yourself with it first,
And we are each other's disinfectant.
Thank you.
I love you.
I cannot believe my luck.
at last the traffic comes to a halt...
a quarter moon peeps between hilltops
while a lingering ache stings my flesh in hours moist with mid-dusk 's need
for quiet reverie:
I unzip my clothes ready to surrender to the mist and coal of stillness;
all the grains from fluid limbs crawling upon my toes; tingling and penetrating the parts numbed by dredge of toil...
and dying a bit to inhabit this silence,
my being morphs from the brute of noise to a fey of nothingness...you know,
that shedding kind of skin in gradual push- pull of my cocoon, changing the life movement where transformation becomes open, alive...
just then, I crown this moment a fractal
change , like a winged monarch loosening
old shape...a ritual born from my desire
to cross over a streak of limits:
like so, by washing the blisters of a truant day,
there are only two streams waking
my feminine energy...
one is serenity, the other-- symbiosis.
The Empty Man
Saddled with the darkened years
Fogged with broken thoughts
Chasing crooked spirits
Drenched in ethereal fire
Deadened to raging emotions
Sentenced to a deafened silence
Dreading the coming phase
Of fleeting victory and bleeding hearts
Thus, seeping the dredge
Of frothing suffering
He strides along
With the brevity of thoughts
Floating to a hollow future
I was walking along the beach,
aware of sight and sound.
The landscape had much to teach,
from the sky to the ground.
The sand shifted under my feet,
fine grains, soft and dry.
The kind that make a comfy seat,
as you watch the day pass by.
I stood where the dunes came to an end,
curling my toes in the sand.
In the breeze seagrass would sway and bend.
I watched butterflies flutter and land.
Moving down toward the water´s edge,
where the waves were seeking the shore.
The tide working as a dredge,
pulling and pushing the ocean floor.
Leaving a trail as I walked along,
proving that I was once here.
But in a short time, all will be gone,
as they magically disappear.
On the cliff at the Worm’s Head
High above the horns of the bay
I see the surfers ride great waves
With horses’ manes
That ever fail, but never end
In the strong Atlantic surge
In the estuary at Dartmouth
Where the oyster boats dredge
Turning and drifting in slow shadow dance
Great nets of shells are hauled up
And poured out on to the decks
As I plunge upriver
Tacking along the wending Dart
With bent-puzzle oaks on either side
I hear a sudden hush descend
Upon a lonely river hythe
As time and air, smooth and still
Forever glide, like Mayflies
On cold, clear water
In the seaway by the port
With its unmistakable algal aroma
Of the British seashore
I hear the heavy horn of a freighter
That plies its path
And never sinks, yet ever diminishes
Beyond the waves
And far from the pier of the seaside town
Where sandpipers probe
In spiral casts
I hear the penthal call of the curlew
Like silver flourishes on a black cloud
That never moves, but holds dominion
In the cold morning air.
What a curtain Bisbee has
That keeps Mexico subdued
And influences the lands
From which the Sierra was hewn.
What purple folds keep Oaxaca
As a fortress in the sky
Breaking only in Panama
To let a vessel dredge by.
No courier have I on hand
Except the initial breezes that blow
So a whisper I channel into it:
Give to Colombia my hello.
I hope whoever is reading these words,
May they read into your life in some way
Let us go and walk down by the river's edge
Clear our minds of the negative dredges.
First, reach deep, deeper down inside,
Analyze you it's negative vibes
So, turn this negative that is attached to you
Make them positive vibes, so see it through.
Believe in yourself and life today,
Be a kind person, but never walk away
Be this change needed in life
Go forth, rise, and place your mark.
Your mindset sets the stage, so start.
Stop, deep breath, exhale—no stress,
Let us go and walk down by the river's edge
Clear our minds and settle our dredge.
No pressure, closed eyes,
Deep breaths, 'Look Inside.'
Has old Mark Rutter, been spun to the gutter?
Have reason begun now to be seen? Is he sad
for
The bad? Are the Dutch now glad?
Is the national scene; more serene? Will
They send him some clogs? Or let loose
The dogs? I guess it renains to be seen?
Maybe he'll turn to the dykes? Dredge the
Sludge quite contrite? Or rise like green
Scum to obsene heights? On the u n held
Mandate of dreams? It all seems so stupid
I despair of these cupids.? Who are demons
In disguise or so it seems, to have been ?
In ‘50s India, an era of forbidden pre-marital love,
Where such love would give scorn to family’s name space,
Some teens would stare, and smile at each other with love,
In the crowded venues of festivals and fairs to ignite their love.
In hushed whispers and stolen glances,
Lovers entwined in secret romances,
Each word inscribed on paper's white,
A hidden script, concealed from sight.
Messages of love, with trembling hand,
Passed in shadows, where secrets withstand,
Hidden in folds, away from prying eyes,
A fragile connection, a tender guise.
Oh, the risks they took, those hearts aflame,
For love, forbidden, carries a heavy blame.
The penalty loomed, like a sword's sharp edge,
Yet love's fire burned, refusing to be dredge.
In lovers' hearts, a silent flame would grow,
Through adversity's path, they would bestow,
Sometimes tragic, a tale of woe,
Yet rarely, a blissful glow.
For amidst the darkness, a few found light,
A love story blessed, with stars aligned right.
But many a heartbreak, tears concealed,
Dreams shattered; love's wounds revealed.
“To die … will be an awfully big adventure.”
- J.M. Barrie
~
grown gray, had I, with stiffened bones
the pains and aches that old age owns
yet I could still dredge up that vow …
(the one I’d made long years from now)
to cheat the reaper’s blade … somehow
I swore that I should not then roam -
that second star, far-flung from home
and yet, the hope that wrote my chart
(from hopes mere flesh did not impart)
that quest - to save my childish heart
so, twice to starboard, sextant free
I set course through a dream or three
to leave that mortal world behind …
(and mortals, quite the dearest kind)
for Neverland … deep in my mind …
for … Neverland!
Copyright © Gregory Richard Barden, January 18, 2023
Serenading you with my sincerity
assembling praises in your name
your one glance falls in place
a thousand emotions it resurrects.
Dawn is the new dusk
you pretend and wave it off
but the beauty in it
like an elephant without a tusk.
I wander to find peace
to render apologies apiece
my state of mind eloquent of a mirage
and I stay true to this farce
reality sickens me to the core
bringing redundant conversations to the fore.
Dredging up new barriers
setting up new boundaries.
Parsing life stuck at this juncture
now I run slower
and a lot less hunger
our differences like embers
time smouldered them
now settled beneath the ashes forever
still flickering by power of faith
memories waiting for someone to remember.
As children we revelled in nature’s playground
Lying in cool grass watching clouds sail by
Sharing with playmates ‘treasures’ we’d found
Caterpillars, beetles - a dead dragonfly
Jars of black tadpoles sprouting from frogs’ eggs
Gathered near cattails - a muddy pond’s edge
Safe in a matchbox - a daddy longlegs
We pine for these days as memory we dredge
So keep them in mind - those halcyon days
Whenever our cares prove too much to bear
When life becomes an impossible maze
Try to escape to a peaceful ‘somewhere’
Remember the lessons from nature you drew
They’ll always there to help pull you through
KINDNESS
Fold two hands together
And express a dash of sorrow
Marinate it overnight
And work on it tomorrow
Chop one grudge in tiny pieces
Add several cups of love
Dredge with a large sized smile
Mix with the ingredients above
Dissolve the hate within you
By doing a good deed
Cut in and help your friend
If he should be in need
Stir in laughter, love and kindness
From the heart it has to come
Toss with genuine forgiveness
And give your neighbor some
The amount of people served
Will depend on you
It can serve the whole wide world
If you really want it to
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