On
the
threshold
of twilight,
firefly lamps ignite,
Bewitched children covet the charming, floating gold orbs
abandoning play to chase tiny elfin creatures, capturing joy in glass jar globes.
Blooming phosphorescent glow spills magical light, charming effulgence for hanging wisteria pergola. Perfumed purple clusters scent
sunset duskiness. Fragrance, lamps, and a cozy sanctum form playtime perfection till little eyes grow sleep heavy, fairyland abandoned for soft eiderdown quilts. Firefly lanterns grow still and dull, their flawless light extinguished.
August 5, 2026
Stars or Fireflies Fibonacci Poetry Contest
Hiya Sharma, Sponsor
winter’s snow
is pillow-soft eiderdown . . . .
fields pristinely gleam
Pillow
Eiderdown
Feather filled futon
Cuddly cozy comfort
Silky smoothly sumptuous
A lovely lavish luxurious lair
Im hairline
lost in the scent of you
delirious shared moments
yet under your eiderdown
lies a self centred heart
eagerly searching the next victim
I don't want to feel your pain
Id rather be a stream
that flats past your jaded chase
yet somehow prolonging my fear
you ve changed
Pearlescent specks were sprinkles in a sky
that would have been dark but for the white
of those ivory flakes I saw
twirling so tranquilly down.
Swirls of serenity -
those pearls of the night
filled me sweetly
with delight
before
bed.
When
I woke,
I looked out
my window to
see what night had brought.
While I had been buried
in dreams gone unremembered,
dull barren land of December
lay enfolded pristinely beneath
a beautiful argent eiderdown quilt.
The fledging thrush appreciate
their Mothers rung
Fresh worms
Fleet less they aspire
to fly
Secure in nest
an eiderdown of feathers
they hang onto
every tweet
mindful their day will come
Deciduous 9-9-24
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Deciduous
Artic flares beat upon my dark cocoon
I come in silence to hide from the dark
To bind my wounds with sunlit afternoons
Wrapping my pain with loneliness, so stark,
In isolation like a sinful moon
Spinning silken petals, a newborn ark
Whiplashed by regret’s compulsive rune
And bear the weight of fear - forever marked.
From a single thread my world hangs upside down,
A maze of anguish, labyrinth of tears,
Fluttering in restless desolation,
When a song of grace like softest eiderdown
Peels away each petal from nascent spheres
To fall away from a new creation.
Halcyon – 10-6-23
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Halcyon
Across the still and placid lake
Halcyon drifts
In misty cloaks of tranquility
Stitched with twilight patches of contentment,
Bits of unbound moonlight
Bow
In courtly minuets
On adagio waves
Then lightly skim the face of the shore
With twilight fragments
Of fading mauve
As velvet vespers of soft chimes
Calm the ghostly wraiths of torrid afternoons
With dusky balms,
To slowly stumble into mantles of lavender’s eiderdown
Wrapped in shawls of gently rocking barcaroles
As doves and nightingales
Sing remnants of dawn and dusk
Into lyric seams of rounded swells
Capturing serenity in the cloth of fading light
Shedding calm shadows on untroubled waters.
Humbling foliage, sprinkled in a bed
A quiltlike pattern, reflecting heaven’s eiderdown,
In notes, like a musician playing out the ballad
Restoring hope in pieces - in precious leaves,
Stems resolving to color the heart in reprieve
Heterogeneous knowledge in the awing power of leaves and stems,
Plants who live to silence every darkness – hushing
Even the pain and fear, awakening inspirations so rich and dear
In the middle of the night
When everything is still
I awoke to hear a tapping noise
On the window sill
Tap, Tap, Tap
And tapping once again
I cowered under my eiderdown,
Hoping it was the sound of rain.
My imagination
Was running riot
Who expects visitors
In the middle of the night?
Can it be the Grim Reaper?
Checking up on me
Who could hear my heavy breathing?
And visited me to see
If it was time for the collection
Of another soul
Perhaps his nightly selection
Needed to reach a goal.
I was cold
Shivering and shaking
I wanted to be bold
But that was too big an undertaking,
Help me, please,
Where did that word come from,
Please don't tease
I'm not feeling fit and strong
I'm getting weaker
And this night goes on and on.
Praying that Grim Reaper
He has got tired of waiting and gone.
My heart has stopped pounding,
My breathing is steady
I feel warmer
And my eyes feel heavy.
Where am I?
I'm lying cosily in bed,
Oh, thank goodness
I must have dreamt that I was dead.
I'd rock you in the crook of my arm until you fell asleep
And read to you a fairy tale about lambs and goats and sheep
And when you stepped off into dream I'd place you on a bed
Of eiderdown, and cover you and kiss you on the head
A kiss so tender you wouldn't know I'd even placed it there
And when you woke perfume from orchids would fill the bedroom air
Then I would sit down at your feet, guitar and scores in hand
And play for you sweet melodies until you slept again
Dogwood leaves in shades of rust and Merlot
quiver in the first glow of morning light
A squirrel dances with it’s own shadow
under a veil of Oak leaves in mid flight
Trees dance with the magic of a Twelfth Night
Crisp air fills with sounds of Autumn birdsong
blue sky and stillness sunlit days prolong
Suddenly leaves are whirling, raining down
an orange afternoon sings a torch song
Still meadow rests in rustic eiderdown.
Write a DIZAIN poem on the theme of NATURE:
Sponsored by Sotto Poet.
Written October 26th 2022
Checked with SyllableCounter.com
First Place
I haven't had a smile in a long time
Autumn took my heart and its chime
Serenade gone with its sublime
I see its golden leaves go forth in rhyme
Autumn took my heart and its chime
And stole my sunshine to come in the spring
I see its golden leaves go forth in rhyme
Leaving tree limbs bare as Robins Sing
And stole my sunshine to come in the spring
Good-bye, good-bye faintly smiling
Leaving tree limbs bare as Robins Sing
Scarlet eiderdown layering autumns ring
Good-bye, good-bye faintly smiling
Serenade gone with its sublime
Scarlet eiderdown layering autumns ring
I haven't had a smile in a long time
9/8/2022
Stars wrapped in eiderdown sky
between cloud ruffles peering,
scintillatingly displayed celestial ornaments
on which craving souls suspend heart wishes,
yearning satisfaction
as ardently as star worlds shine.
Copyright, May 8, 2022
Bite Size Poem No. 43
Winter bends low to blow gusty breaths, cold,
out of his northern lair beyond the warm
of summer’s enfolding. Capricious, bold
he plans his escapades of icy storm.
Clutching for a covering, nature gasps,
trembling in a landscape grown terrible;
ice-brittle moisture ricochets and rasps
on soft skin with rough strokes unbearable.
Firesides signal soft, cozy indoor dreams
of warm nests stitched in quilted eiderdown;
we bequeath outdoors to winter’s dark schemes
to clothe the green world in dismal brown gown.
Three months to hibernate; he will retreat
before a stronger sun and winds grown sweet.
Copyright, November 18, 2019
Fall Sonnets Poetry Contest
Emile Pinet, Sponsor
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