As moths, man draws near to light --
Sun bathing by day, moon bathing
By night – they both can burn, you
Know – days, more apt the skin,
As for nights, brave play a potentially kindling
Part -- Love, the oldest inflaming protagonist~
And the theater, a highly, combustible human
Heart….
O fall, let this lore of love be the last...
as your tight, chaotic grip holds me hostage.
Don't count against me my downfalls,
but the endeavors that have stitched the fabric of my days.
Still, this mask of anguish shapes its heavy cry,
wrapped tightly against the core of myself—
absent of mercy, mocking that pure moment in time
that allows us mortals to be human.
Yet, neither dusk nor dawn can delude me.
They try to imprison me, and hate may fill me with sorrow,
but the flame carried within shall never be dismissed—
a hunger not easily satisfied, refusing to die.
Discarded, a silent alchemy works in the dark.
I am the fire the shadows could not smother;
I turn the leaf, rewriting every page,
rising far above the ashes of my pain.
Last standing—strong,
amidst the dust and foliage of farewell!
Note: AI-image generated to visually reflect my poem's themes. Written for the "Leaves of Life" poetry contest sponsored by poet Hiya Sharma.
Written: September 21, 2026, Week's Poetry Challenge: The Last Word
I walk through silence, flame.
I breathe through sorrow, flame.
I trudge through sludge, flame.
I rise through ruin, flame.
I woo the void, flame.
I stall the scourge, flame.
I stipple the sky, flame.
I indite my hymnody, flame.
I christen the dawn, flame.
I herald horizons, flame.
I nictate through night, flame.
I transmogrify fear, flame.
I outshine the shadows, flame.
I outpace the silence, flame.
I outfly the distance, flame.
I end in endless, flame.
Asks a moon mate
if I still feel that subtle
flame beneath my heart
when she seeks to reach for me
I smile at her fleeting warmth
and move ahead
What can you offer someone who has seen all?
I ponder.
I won’t flatter you with words,
for they’ll fail me.
Neither will I dare offer you anything,
For nothing you lack
I won’t make you grand promises,
for they’re all but spoken words.
But maybe,
maybe,
I’ll offer you my heart,
for you to feel how scorching
and pristine my desires are.
For that,
is real, I promise:
an immolating flame
that leaves nothing ruined.
Love is based upon changes we experience in our lives
Only to realise that it our memories remain to ponders
Vulnerability exists between the sparks and the flames
Each day we thrive to hold onto the memories we held
For us to believe in love power is to look for that spark
Leaving it behind what was consumed to be renewed
A spark will ignite a flame though that flame consume
Must be willing to burn in the embers of what will be
Everyday it has to be it own spark igniting a new flame
All candles tall and short,
Whether stout or very slim,
Do but always impart
Light, which is never ever dim.
Watch the roses grow,
They don’t mind the thorns.
Seen the lotus glow,
Ne’er the slush it scorns.
So too must we shine,
In our own little way,
For in God’s own time
Our actions will repay.
Ne’er be disheartened,
If your contributions seem small.
As burdens are lightened,
By the sincere efforts of all!
Copyright © by Crystal David John
Hue’d flame,
has orange glow,
creates molten ambience,
on a rippling pulse deep sigh spot,
two heartthrobs dissolve, ah!
“Light source,”
with red weave spell,
beaming hugs, kisses, passion,
in intimate charmed close quarter,
where blue moon pledge we seal
From dust to dust
Earthly body must return
For eternal life
The soul must learn
Do no harm
Much love to emphasise
No fear just calm
The soul will rise
Discover all that is arcane
When we pass from here to there
The pinnacle eternal flame
Before we leave wisdom to share
The universe began by a spark, which ignited that fire
From there the flames spread widely in all directions
From the very start that spark knew as long the flame
Burned it will continue castings new life giving flames
Within everything burns 2 flames one that forever tame
The other burns a wild flame thats is so uncontrollable
That creates it's own spark creating it's own life destiny
In the embers of that fire new sparks await new flames
After all that’s happened
I never sat down to think.
I always wanted to push forward
and never looked back.
Who wants to sit down with pain?
Especially when all it does is hurt you.
It showed me parts of me I don’t like
and I try not to blame you.
Some days I curse you under my breath.
I daydream about if things had worked?
Then I get nightmares about doing that.
I try to think past the what ifs and
Accept what happened between us.
If I had the power to either forget you,
Or make you love me like I love you.
I’d choose to forget you.
Gasoline doesn’t control a dying flame.
You cut me deeply where the wound
Still feels the sear of your burning knife
As it thrusts right into my back,
With smoke burning my throat as it escapes
Despite all the pain, I don’t hold onto it.
Where would there be room for love,
If I choose to keep hating you?
Maybe we could’ve been friends,
If things didn’t turn out this way.
I can’t say I’m glad or upset that
We met under these circumstances.
All I have to say is, thank you
And I wish you good luck with
Everything.
I am the storm that you chase
The blond tornado with stilettos red
You like my figure and pretty face
I could care less if you were dead
What is it about denim denial
That gives you such a ruby rush
Not equally yolked we fight wild
This is no ordinary lavender love
Lightening in my eyes doesn’t surprise
Reacting to teal thunder in your voice
We fuss and fight until one of us cries
Ending this seems the logical choice
But like a moth to golden flame
As a magnet I’m attracted by power
I have when I say your name
And the gifts for me you shower
I’m the one that got away in heart
Yet still stews in your mahogany mind
When we kiss there’s a silver spark
That no where else I can fuchsia find
I saw you seated by the flame,
You outshone in frame and name.
This hand for faint a line I blame,
That has not painted you too well.
I searched you in the jostling crowd.
Your being when I saw set my core aloud.
Such face as yours is not behind the Cloud
As nature still has painted you too well.
Lest I give you o’erwhelming praise,
The doubting Thomas would think me crazed.
They would not credit what my poor tongue says,
Yet well they know my tongue is not a useless Swell.
Written: May 25, 2026, for a contest sponsored by Silent One
2nd place contest winner
*************************
Quote: "Don’t grieve. Anything you lose comes round in another form.” — By Rumi ( With my honest wishes of a long and healthy life— Very Happy Birthday.
The moon still glows—an alabaster flame,
memory’s mirror, never the same.
Spume drifts, shimmering and bright,
not shadowy, but limpid light.
You watch sunsets and softly muse—
Do you fade, or do you fuse?
Their shades shroud loss and gain,
a peculiar parity of pleasure and pain.
Lessons grasped don’t be acrimonious,
regrets mollified primarily harmonious.
Time’s conundrum teaches clear—
Delicate days are a deep fear.
To your tender time, you’d tell and attire,
Beware quixotry, yet seize the desire.
Do not anathemize your fall—
Failure’s anodyne heals all.
Though tristful shadows at times prowl,
still you liaise with joy, still you howl.
Twilight or dawn, the soul’s refrain—
amaranthine light will remain.
Life’s eternal flame glows bright
As past and present concludes to futures light
The centre of the flame burns deep
Everlasting times towards us will creep
The flame, a symbol of peace and love
Rises high into the sky above
Its tips climbing to heaven gate
Bringing with it the desire not to be late
As life goes on and we sit and wonder still
What is our destiny, our forever will
As our flame burns brightly with age
And we star on our worlds centre stage
It takes us through to the end of time
As it burns forever in eternal prime
Life like the flame life will never cease to end
Someone else will carry it forward, it will forever transcend
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