I wish I could do whatever I please
No one is happy to stay on their knees
In service to others or bowing in prayer
My pride is disgusted when it must forebear
If everyone allowed these thoughts dominance
We, humanity, wouldn't stand a chance
Categories:
forebear, poems,
Form: Rhyme
Of course, it’s all unbearable.
Life was always meant to be only bearable in parts,
fragmentally joyful, disjointedly awful.
A hot and cold cup of blood for the human soul.
Life! What do we know of it,
how on earth do we cope?
We simply must trust
the beauty of the unbearable.
If you hate a Mahler symphony, or rap music,
then learn to be infinitely patient, be stoic.
If you like happy music, tune it out, get sad
listening to all things sad,
in time,
it will not feel so bad.
Life is short, so drag it out.
The unbearable length
of those long periods
between heaven and hell will serve you well.
Of course,
no one gets through it unscathed,
but if you know
how to bear the unbearable,
forebear and embrace,
then you may just avoid
becoming a cynical poet.
Categories:
forebear, poetry,
Form: Free verse
The highest crime is silence from all the whispers and snares.
He bore a cross to witness for all our sins forebear..
Shackled to the stake as they gleamed with evil glares.
Knowing how this feels from victim shamers of men.
We take it back to Adam in which Eve bore the greatest sin.
Women are inferior making all of the mistakes.
As men get away with everything they take, and take and take.
If I dare offend you perhaps you can stone me too.
You can tape my mouth shut with a bit of elmers glue.
The world is full of sadists with no compassion at heart.
If you think I’m wrong; we shall now depart.
Jesus bore the cross for us, and I can feel the nails.
For the abuse is far too much for me to even tell.
Until you walk a mile in my fragile shoes.
I think you might think twice before using elmers glue.
Categories:
forebear, abuse,
Form: Rhyme
From infancy he loved me with paternal care.
Always encouraging; as a child, he was my world.
The man I am privileged to claim as my forebear.
How I adored my father, for I was a Daddy's girl.
Ever in my thoughts; his legacy is often declared,
Remembering the incredible bond we had shared,
Sadness fills my heart. I wish he had been spared.
Devoted was he, to always doing what was right,
And now I honor him with these words I write...
You live in my heart, Dad, as a star shining bright.
May 24, 2021
A Tribute To Father's Day
Sponsor: L Milton Hankins
Categories:
forebear, father daughter,
Form: Acrostic
In the mind of earth’s creator,
towering, tall, majestic walls,
symbol of celestial city,
established on foundation sure.
On the promise of his maker,
Abram’s faith beheld its beauty.
City with a firm foundation,
made by God’s almighty hand.
After God deluged the nations,
steeped in sin, ripe in rebellion,
Noah’s sons and their descendants,
in their travels found a vast plain.
Come let us erect a city,
made of bricks secured by asphalt.
Spread out in the land of Shinar,
with a tower reaching heaven.
But the Lord seeing their motives,
devised a scheme their plans to thwart.
He swooped down, confused their language,
scattering them east, west, north, south.
Babel’s tower stands symbolic,
of man’s pride and perverse scheming,
in his quest for independence,
from his God and sole sustainer.
Zion city, earthly forebear,
of the city with foundation.
Fashioned as the habitation,
Soon to be my eternal home.
Categories:
forebear, christian, god, heaven, religion,
Form: Free verse
Sometimes words escape from me,
Each a sacred tear
Embodied in the world
Of all that’s true.
And sometimes
I must so forebear
For all that I may fear
Would slow evaporate
And you would only know me
By the air of my past reason.
For I am gone.
I have lost my wings,
Lost my words,
Lost my life,
And gained
A glimpse of God.
Categories:
forebear, allah, blessing, celebration, feelings,
Form: Free verse
AWAKE!
Forebear I beg if I am found obtuse
Not turning from the indigent I see
Should I aver egregious a view
They be ascribed a sloth delirium
My comments here may seem not delicate
Yet if I choose travail to consecrate
Would you in intercession mediate
Bring those in need restored awakening
Categories:
forebear, humanity,
Form: Free verse
Aware, armchair
Cross hair, forebear.
Compare Despair,
Frontiere-Frontier,
~
Beware, forbear
My prayer.
Childcare, Bus fare
Healthcare, Home-care
~
My prayer
Mankind not kind
Not there, not here
Compare Despair,
~
Frontiere-Frontier,
Beware, forbear
My prayer.
8/30/19
Written words by James Edward Lee Sr.© 2019
Categories:
forebear, analogy, caregiving, devotion, god,
Form: Footle
Catwalks
Crowd gawks
Wont style
Forced smile
Strike pose
Fake nose
Weird strut
Flat butt
Scant curves
Unnerves
Small-hipped
Lunch skipped
Stick-thin
Chagrin
Faux tan
Pecan
Plucked brow
Used plough?
Long lash
Bleached 'tache
Plump lips
Veiled nips
Waxed mound
Astound
Forebear
Despair
Sweet girls
Morph churls
Sly pout
Grim trout
Taut thighs
All lies
Make hot
Post-shot
Airbrushed
Not hushed
Mere gaud
Defraud
Model?
Twaddle!
- - - - - - - - - -
25 November 2017
For the "Footle Form - Sequenced or Stand-Alone" contest, sponsored by Brian Strand.
Categories:
forebear, america, beauty, culture, humorous,
Form: Footle
Paint and Plaster
So what, in essence, is this thing called paint?
A coloured liquid which, applied to plaster,
will fuse and forge a thing securer, faster,
and far more comely than before. How quaint!
Attaching thought to walls is not restraint,
not loss. It dries, and then the thought feels vaster!
And plaster’s porous, not like alabaster,
and so it’s fixed. The link twixt tint and taint!
It’s nice to think that Piccolomini fought
back tears of pride, the frescoes having stirred
sublime emotions: positively purred
to see his forebear honoured in this sort.
Alas, too soon he was, himself, interred.
And thus our high ambitions come to nought.
Categories:
forebear,
Form: Sonnet
What is in a name? If you were an arid desert rose in bloom
A flourishing garden would be transformed in my womb
Weaving greenery of verdant emerald green whom
Embraced by Love’s profound budding existence will groom
Fashion Buds not of the desert or garden in bloom,
but joint forebear seeds bound on its own perfume
1/16/2017
Categories:
forebear, birth, identity,
Form: Monorhyme
People come to stare at animals there.
With no time to spare, they rush everywhere.
Moms and babies share as she gives them care.
Elephants declare their presence with flare.
Critters with long hair jump to trees midair.
Dangers anywhere, zoo signs say, “Beware.”
Alligators pair; together ensnare.
Flamingo welfare wades near unaware.
Black ravens declare their cries for warfare.
Orangutan’s flair all pose debonair.
Snakes slither and scare; many of them rare.
Giraffe heads in air stretched eating a pear.
Cutest baby bear stayed at zoo’s day-care.
Dark starts aftercare; search for disrepair.
Hunger fills the air; beast cries everywhere.
Zoo keepers’ aware help creatures forbear.
A mare with a scare had a wound repair.
Grounded in despair once freedom’s coheir.
Bald Eagle’s wing tear made life so unfair.
When problems ensnare, zookeepers say prayer.
Everyone is there beneath the sun’s glare.
Bound to a wheelchair, broke or billionaire.
People come to share; animals forebear.
1/7/2017
Categories:
forebear, animal, care, life, urban,
Form: Monorhyme
Relieved, lawless foxes in the jungle
The lawful lions have vacated
Freedom at stake, shattered
struggle
Some aree cast away, some
migrated
How wee are we before these ones
Harmful contrition and sympathy
Must be walking their gentle minds
How oppressed are pressed without
pity
Rarely rare to see but rarely as
kinds
How wee are we before these ones
Then when they came here anew
Things were new and harmonious
Then these depraved minds were
few
Then life was lively, never as tedious
How wee are we before these ones
Then 'man of means' means
morality
Then there was respect for chiefs
Now 'man of means' means
amorality
Now there is respect for thieves
How wee are we before these ones
Now let's forbear like our forebear
Now I reserve my comments here...
Categories:
forebear, angst
Form: Blank verse
Why do they come to call
Those men who lack in passion
Why do they bother at all
If their blazing fire be rationed
So piercing so radiant
The fumbling for words
An intimate clumsy rhythm
Lyrics sweet melody unheard
Captivate my heart with exaggerated life
Like a summer wind playing in my hair
Sunlight dancing in your eyes ever bright
Monotony oh mediocrity please forebear
Love me with extravagance
Not dreary sunless hues
Fill your praise with eloquence
My famished femininity perused
Must I plead for security
If I fall to worship at your sight
Do not evoke my immunity
The mystery of me begs to ignite
Embrace my pain
Soothe my soul
Your longings I'll claim
No thing shall I withhold
Bid me not my heart surrender
If by time my countenance shall fall
For a lie is still a lie though delivered tender
While dreams denied the living a nightmare to all
Categories:
forebear, love,
Form: Quatrain
Uncle Jack
Was in the army
We have the photographs
To prove it
Although the S badge
Attached to the band
Around his peaked hat
Suggests blood and fire
Rather than guns and ammo
I should have realised
Unlike our common forebear
Scottish Montrose
None of my recent lineage
Would be brave enough
To kill
Uncle Jack
Did have two brothers
That he lost
In the great war
Careless
Senseless
Hopeless
Brotherless
So he
Joined the army
Grew flowers
And collected
Willow
Pattern
China
Categories:
forebear, peace,
Form: Blank verse
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