My sibling sister and friend without spite
or rivalry, I loved beyond compare;
Athena-like and lovely as the night,
your soul, a brilliant flame that burned with flair,
gave light to me and soothed my manic fears;
maternal saint and healer, you alone
have cared for me these dark, life-threatening years:
you rose as I declined—who might have known?
What genius I was you chose to forswear;
I still loved you more and not any less,
for I recalled childhood moments we shared,
of former times that gave us happiness.
Always loyal and by your side, I remained:
your brother, steadfast, sure, and wholly trained.
“Did my heart love till now? forswear it, sight! For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night.”
“If Love be rough with you, be rough with Love, prick Love for pricking, and you beat Love down.”
~Romeo and Juliet
Play by William Shakespeare
instantly i recognize love my soul mate seductive strong
from across the room i feel him as he tries to touch me with the passion in his eyes that sweet lovers high for which we long to be lifted body and soul above the ground into brilliant star light yet we still shine clinging to the elusive hope that we'll never ever come back down
My long-patched magician's suit
has been mothballed,
the trick pockets,
hidden springs and secret linings
no longer fool or bedazzle.
A white rabbit died in my top hat
the hat, I returned to Amazon
marked 'unused',
the stale rabbit droppings within it
failed to convince.
Age has revealed a wizened wizard,
a creature unmasked.
Should I now take up a similar profession,
one just as duplicitous and talismanic,
yet much less obvious,
forswear with a feigned confidence
that this new self be none other,
than a bona fide poet?
I brushed water colors with thoughts of Adam's Eve
and the fallen one who was disguised to deceive
this naked nymph, who strikes a nubile pose
offering a ripened apple and a crimson rose
Both face and body, painted innocently pure
her femininity was unquestionably demure
but with forbidden fruit bitten, it was all lost
From Eden's paradise she and Adam were tossed.
Uprooted as a tree, she forfeited divine favor
The evil reptile's lie succeeded to enslave her
Woe to the male offspring she was created to bear
One killed by the hand of the other, his plight forswear
To them, closed forever was the garden's gate
The finality of death then became mankind's fate
A wrong path was chosen when she'd been warned
gave way to mortality that all of us have mourned
You told me a lie
You said that you were gay
Found out you were lying
Now I’m feeling betrayed
Said you were a fem
And that you loved only women
Now you want to explore
That haughty trans woman
I’m hurting inside
Cause I loved the woman in you
Now you say it doesn’t matter
Cause it’s what they told you to do
Said you were fem
You felt it inside
Now a man in a dress
Has taken your pride
I’m hurting
Yes I’m hurting
I’m hurting inside
Cause I luv the woman in you
Your identity
Never meant much to me
It’s the character I loved
Your personality
It was the values that you held
The truths you held dear
You cared for humanity
You fought for the truth
It’s lies you forswear
That drew me, drew me closer to you
Said you were a fem
And that you loved only women
Now you want to explore
That haughty trans woman
He will always be a man
Whatever drugs he takes
His attempt to fool himself
Until he awakes
You told me a lie
You said that you were gay
Found out you were lying
Now I’m feeling betrayed
Feeling outnumbered
So I’ll be on my way
In days of yore a lady's heart was won
Through chivalry and deeds of derring-do.
If swain proved false, she'd bid the knave be gone,
Adjust her cap and look for someone new.
By age fifteen a maid was in her prime,
Her window for a spouse a narrow slit.
She could not pule and pine for love sublime,
And oft as not would take what she could get.
When knight set out to win his lady fair,
Through joust or other mortal combat act,
He knew that love for him she would forswear
Lest he prevailed with manly parts intact.
Today true love is not so much a chore,
And less dramatic than in days of yore.
“Did my heart love till now? forswear it, sight! For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night.”
William Shakespeare, Romeo & Juliet
Charisma
When he flashed that smile, with dimples and perfect chin,
the ladies’ knees grew weak and Romeos couldn’t win.
Not just the smile, but the North star twinkle in his eyes…
and the wink, not a blink, but a smoothness that electrifies.
He carries himself with grace, polite, yet bold and witty.
Around this charisma-dynamo, the opposite sex feels pretty.
He has his pick of every girl, in college, to his friends’ chagrin,
but the new girl, with Juliet-charisma, he’d have to kneel to win.
2/3/2023
Writing Challenge - C Words
Sponsor: Constance La France
Be cursed anew, ye demon!
This well bred one, forswear.
Ugly, who maketh ugly.
Vile maketh vile.
Have you seen the fungus gnat?
Its effect, none can bear?
Its like there hung! To harm dear's
Smile; orchid's smile.
the hardest thing for parents who care
~ criticism to forswear
For Immortality
David J Walker
I’d rather you think that
You think know
Then really know
The real me
Nothing here to see
Or hear
Nor fear
Nor forswear
I’d rather you think you think
You care
It’s easier for me
to be me
nowhere
O sacred Muse, how you inspire me so
to write lines of a greater madness,
to sing of ethereal heights they never know!
From deep inside my soul, where ravings grow,
you transport me to pinnacles of gladness,
O sacred Muse (and then inspire me so!).
And so I go, from that which I best know
to wilder things like ecstatic happiness,
to sing of ethereal heights they never know.
Then write I songs of a more manic glow,
and forswear ditties of forlorn sadness,
O sacred Muse (when you inspire me so!).
For all know that gay lines do better flow,
and make a more pleasing sound of sweetness
to enhance ethereal heights they never know.
So, now, for this mad swan do God's breath blow
stronger with thy gifts, thou fairest goddess,
O sacred Muse:—for you inspire me so,
and sing of ethereal heights I well know!
Our normal joys of life- now, ostracize;
shared, loving hugs, we're told to disavow.
Fond gatherings of friends and family
in cozy, close-knit groups- we abdicate.
No theaters open to view films or plays;
these gratifying pastimes- forsake now.
Just meeting with a friend for lunch to chat-
a thought we discontinue- disregard.
When leaving home for our essential needs,
near others, we surrender standing close;
discard the need to inhale full, fresh air-
while covered nose and mouth recycle breath.
So much we took for granted- now reject:
ditch strolling at the malls or galleries-
relinquish ceremonies of all types-
disclaim all sports events, rehabs, and gyms.
Our normal lives, we can't renounce too long-
or else we will forswear all hope itself.
We pray these missing blessings we regain-
no longer need to terminate our joys.
June 15, 2020
Contest: Thesaurus - Abandon or Abandoned
Sponsor: Dear Heart
Rules: Must use synonyms for the word "abandon"
or "abandoned," and they are italicized.
ensnared I submitted to prayer
impaired, tho I shared
unfair to the slayer
I had my faith
That allows me grace
In placed I played solitaire with the soothsayer
My choice, my voice…
Get thee behind me Satan
You naysayer, purveyor I shall not entertain your questionnaire;
For whether on my knees, laying down or standing (I forswear )
I shall ALWAYS be in PRAYER
10/23/19
Written by James Edward Lee Sr.
She strumpets all into the nights until
around her head the build-up's like fetid, gross cheese;
her lewdness makes the earth and sun stand still:
Lord! What miracle it'd be were she just a tease!
Her grinning face I loathe and never miss;
to greet her with a large and phallic pecker
delights her—but I swear to God on this:
that I felt then the extreme need to deck her
at the knowledge of her one-hundred lovers!?
Deceived by her (that wily Lolita!),
I curse then forswear her and flee for cover
vowing henceforth to shun that Medusa.
So with luck and some serendipity,
I abscond her wiles with no STD!
Can't make me love you less than vapor’s cloud spins pillowed nest,
Or star condemns implosion that brings elements to life!
Should your love find a treasured home in someone else's chest,
Will nature shrug off color if, at last, you're not my wife?
A rainbow’s curving beauty signals flooding won’t return,
And how much more do seasons offer hope that comes in Spring,
All blossoming in seed’s rebirth! It’s wrong that lovers yearn
For seasons change? Though flowers fade, may vines yet find a string.
My poem’s not a fragile path or breadcrumbs on the ground,
That worms devour or leaves obscure, its music’s waves move air
That carries birdsong, rhyme as well. I pray its Truth’s not drowned!
Oh, let all magic conjured up, serve faith, that none forswear!
Though boundaries restrain us all, let metered verse contest
The limits poets buy into, imaginations soar
Through dark fields, photons race to plumb! Let no muse be depressed
By wagging tongue or sullied rhyme, man’s future’s just one door!
Brian Johnston
25th of April in 2019
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