Opaline twilight gathers softly at the edge of the evening sky;
I raise the shadow lantern, and its dim glow settles into stillness;
Following its faint path, I discover how quietly the brave heart shines.
The last faint glimmers of yesterday fade
The flooding eve carries dark the remains
And pour upon the page of the great annal-book,
Open layed
The day's discoveries
Losses and victories
And the stark realities man tries evade
To only be to be faced some further day—
Scribed on some further page
Like memories regaled in our old age
That prick truth strange
Friends and enemies interchange
Love spreads wide its wings
Comforting
As we look on fragile things
Dreams and hearts shattered along the way
That seem now where the bitter walks of destiny
Trailing to an end befitting a life story
None may know, but me.
on a hike in albuquerque he was forcibly venturesome with me . I crumpled from faintness at his desirableness : would you ?
(Weekly Magnetic Poetry Challenge • August 24–30, 2026)
Scent and money spent
Will power burning water slip deep in shower
She let's things slide back forth each a ride
She reads my mind finds path grip and collide
Unloaded loud screams wakes souls and found
Pulse and pull hair gripped and growled
She finds her shoes he pays the bill
Recollect and finds sweet debt
It's not at all easy to come to term
with this 'new' old version of me.
I'm dealing with a sadly sagging anatomy
where what-used-to-be is now not-quite-so-firm.
I'm dumbstruck by the person in the mirror.
I have to have 'the' chat again and again
to scatter the chatter from my brain
and help me focus to see things clearer.
At least I'm thankful for what still works
and try to make the best of what I've got,
like that new dress that I just bought.
Still I turn rare compliments into rambling smirks.
So for my bouts of vanity I hope some day I'll be forgiven.
I won't complain about my little aches and pains
and rather hope to do some good with whatever life remains.
There's so much we can do to make the most of time we're given.
AP: 2nd place 2025, Honorable Mention 2026
I'm writing on your heart with a faint ink,
you have to look so close without a blink
to understand you must really think
and when you do, alas, you must then wink,
how from the milk of love you made me drink
with my glass not making a single cling.
There's a rumbling
In my tummy
Think I might grab
Something a little yummy
A donut...no I need salt
Some chips, a pickle to chomp
A banana, that's healthy
...oh no, I gotta go
I was healed, why now
Did I do something wrong
Help me, LOVE
I think I hate food
I just don't get it
Stomach problems, all my days
While others enjoy life
What am I not getting
...oh....fear....there you are
That's stupid...to THINK about food
When I'm free to eat
Ah, a set up from the beginning
To make us retreat
I do not desire what isn't for me
But I will take this journey, just to see
That fear has no hold that LOVE can NOT free
Written by Trudy Schrader on 10-18-2024
A stray lock of hair
in the corner right there
In the parlor, a faint whiff of perfume
The couch messy and wrinkled
piano’s ivories uncovered and tinkled
I know what you’re thinking, dear
but please don’t assume
For these are just clues, all part of a poem
~ detective-style, ala Watson and Holmes
Thoughtful but seldom happy
Feigned by concerns and craving
Reigned by dishonor and shame
Ridden with regret and remorse
Seething with paucity and pain
Battered by unreturned hard work
Helplessness writ large
O poor! sorrow and slight
Are your destiny.
But, be straight and upright
You are not alone
Those calling themselves affluent
Confined in their ivory towers
Depressed, jealous and worried
Riddled with insecurity and mistrust
With chronic illnesses
Counting their days
Are million times unhappy
Like travellers,
We cross this arid land
Aiming at the city of rest.
As we traverse the landscapes
We may, of a truth, sully our feet
With besetting dust of sin
But we must from time to time
Remember Calvary, the place of cleansing
Where mercy flows immeasurably
We go through marketplaces
Let’s be pleased with divine supplies
Lest we are tangled with vanities of life
We faint many a time
But we are resuscitated; we move on
We despair not.
We shall win!
We are soldiers in the warfare
Let’s fight, holding onto the cross
You forgot their faces
you forgot mine too
and all the names of
the people that you knew
the words that once clearly
rolled off your tongue now
just barely pass your shaking lips.
memories once lush are now stolen
and incomplete. you look at me
no sparkle in your eyes that
i can see. no smile and warmth
like there used to be.
strange being a stranger to you
no recognition of the things that
we both have been through.
no warm embrace to guide me
feels like you are no longer beside
me.
i watched it all and the tears burn as they fall
hurts to know ill never hear your voice on
one of our long telephone calls.
with your last breath my heart broke into pieces
like a shattered bathroom mirror
down a long dark abandoned hall.
and the pain i cant keep secret.
i miss you more than i could ever say
i look for you in the night sky
hope ill be there with you someday.
If taken for A Saint
And black they just him paint,
Except The Truest Saint,
Who smiles down cruel taint
And in swipes finds the quaint?
Who won’t oneself repaint
Arranging for White Paint,
Asking for Man’s restraint,
To self with God acquaint…
Watching out for fresh taint
And being renamed A Saint?
A FAINT HEART
By Tapiwa N. Maseko
A faint heart
Never find a fair lady
On my proposal to receive a negative result
I am always ready
I don’t waste my time to ask eh!
When failure has fallen on plan A
I try from plan B up to Z
Probably in the long run, I will find a rose bed
Today I have hit the drum
Maybe tomorrow good chance will come
To be persistent to the same
With no fear or shame
I can’t turn to another
The purpose is to win her as my lover
Maybe she is looking for seriousness
Of my love sickness
I will just cling to my want
Like branches to the stem of the plant
Then eventually she will have no choice
Rather to my proposal to send a positive response
I know no pain
No gain
And giving up never
But forward ever
I don’t admit to failure
Just as simple as saying Amen in response to pastor’s Hallelujah
That’s why I send consecutive futile proposals
Because I know persistence brings success
Beyond the Distant Horizon
David J Walker
Faint
Octobers morning sun
Was more tolerant
of simple sight
The malaise set at peace
The disquisitive gaze
Or at least it might
As the calendars race to
November
Remembering that
December
Comes trembling into
Winters bitter bight
But not yet
Says the clock
Regulating
seconds into
Moments
And minutes into hours
Beneath the pedestal towers
Of times flight
Faint
Octobers morning sun
The day has just begun
And is already gone
Beyond
The distant horizon
There once was a city called Zor
it was home to many a bore
the women fainted
and the men feinted
that was what Zor was famous for
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