The tang of salt imbues the mist –
a calling I cannot resist.
I walk along the rocky shore
held spellbound by the ocean’s roar.
As darkness falls, the fog rolls in
and, from the lighthouse, shapes begin
to stalk within the opaque veils
like illustrations of its tales.
The cloying haze seems to transcend
reality, here at land’s end.
I see the ghosts of tortured souls,
their names inscribed on filmy scrolls.
There stands a lover who lost hope,
there a traitor, wrapped in rope,
a lost ship’s crew, still foundering
and fighting off the storms of spring.
Above it all, the lighthouse stands
illuminating within bands
of light this silent history
of struggles with the mighty sea.
A small breeze starts, a whispering,
a dirge that only oceans sing,
and soon the air is once more clear,
though I can feel the ghosts still near.
I sit upon the rocks and stare
out to the sea and wonder where
the lost souls seen now reside.
They ebb and flow like time and tide.
Categories:
foundering, emotions,
Form: Rhyme
Destruction lays all around,
And my resolve is wearing thin.
The harbinger of death taunts me,
Into a fight I cannot win.
My body's weak and foundering,
And my mind's not thinking clear.
As if a marble statue,
I'm frozen stiff with fear.
Forced onto the battlefield,
Cast amongst the tides of war.
As they throw down the gauntlet,
I feel dread down to my core.
Terror stricken as I am,
I still raise my shield and sword.
This day will test my courage,
And the fate I'm heading toward.
My blood begins to boil,
As I rush into the fray.
I won't go down without a fight,
Determined to find a way.
Through many swings of my sword,
At the countless bodies I meet.
Victory at last is mine,
All foes dead beneath my feet.
With heart still beating loudly,
And blood coursing through my veins.
Though battle weary as I am,
I'm left alone to nurse my pains.
Dropping shield and crimson sword,
Falling on my knees to pray.
So grateful for this triumph,
I'll live to fight another day.
Categories:
foundering, angel, war,
Form: Rhyme
Water
glints, gurgles
sustaining, enlivening, quenching
ocean, clouds, rains, torrents
flowing, filling, foundering
wet, fluid
pivotal, vital
mere
Categories:
foundering, water,
Form: Diamante
At the verge of parched tears arrested in fear
Kim was enveloped by morbid sadness
Enshrined in her prison cell and stiletto in hand
tension rose on the surface buried inside
A cutting edge waiting to act upon visceral gloom
called for incisive bloodletting action
One life one laceration away from cliffhanging lightening
small visceral droplets engulfed a low rising soul
No morning dew on mournful contempt and self-castigation
cast out into casket's nails of grave conclusion
Ready to push one final dagger into her heart she wished
for terminal silence composure and freedom
She stumbled and was once more washed away
into guilt failure anger and endless void
Thunder and fire bolts turned into hail storms
‘Hallowed be thy name and forgive me’
Heavy crystals pelted her skin and frosted her soul
moulded a foundering slip on treacherous slope
Kim fell on her self-imposed dagger in the thawing of time
and woke up in a raindrop and the bubble could burst
Categories:
foundering, death, depression, endurance, hope,
Form: Free verse
I look out on the
wide whole world
and, in the new morning's
Light,
I take measure of all
that
is not yet
Lost.
And
all that is
not yet
Found.
The clouds, now
reveal
to the out-turned ear
a brief frithering
as feathers brush the air
like a cockscomb brushing hair.
The geese pass.
Just ever-so-briefly
in sight, the geese
pass -
out of sight,
out of listen,
out of mind,
out of memory;
their Lost, my Found.
Categories:
foundering, bird, loss, nature, philosophy,
Form: Free verse
Like falling into stillness - like stars that make no sound,
I’m falling into ocean; there’s nothing I can do,
and ever since a person’s birth, there is no solid ground.
Tears have made this ocean, and with all humanity,
I’m foundering while drowning, sinking into sea.
Time, the endless grains of sand, surrounds these depths of blue.
After so much time, who’ll remember you or me?
And at this ocean’s bottom, whatever will be found?
For Kai Michael Neumann's Falling Poetry Contest
Categories:
foundering, analogy,
Form: Rhyme
Ardent galleon cutting foamy high tide
Each sliver born to venture yet farther
Captain and lady, stout crew by their side,
Still hailed by stalled gray frigate in harbor
You’re bailing water again, foundering
Says the unsubtle, frantic semaphore
Wan efforts to stay afloat floundering
Desperate colors, guilt cannot ignore
Ours not the only ship with billowed sails
Sure hands ride in closer proximity
Yet only our craft you insist to hail
Another failure for your litany
Ere, as your crew, began my sailing craft
On fair seas, through inky nights’ frozen rain
How could I surmise, you color me daft,
My apprenticeship owes eternal chains?
Leaks in careworn hull not of our making
A Dramamine rerun, your sophistry
To sail in your wake, sadly mistaken
Your dry dock is not our trajectory
5/9/16
© Thomas W. Quigley
Categories:
foundering, allegory, boat, sea,
Form: Quatrain
To all who thought they had it all.
It is not so much that You saw my need, but, rather, You showed my need to me, then filled it. I stood in riches, yet You created in me a hunger that only You could feed. You reached out for a wretch, foundering in ignorant luxury, never wanting for anything, yet possessing nothing of eternal value. You were compassionate toward one who deserves no mercy. Yet, in my state of unworthiness, You saw value to the degree that You offered a priceless gem in payment of a debt You did not owe. You opened eyes blinded by a sense of self-importance and pride. You are the great Physician and Healer of everything that infects my soul. O Lord, in Your kindness, You touched me before I realized the folly of my life without You. Heavenly Father, all that I am is the result of Your love and mercy. Surely, Your grace is responsible for eliminating the things that made me who I no longer am and I praise Your Holy Name!
Author's Comments:
"This came to me in meditation one day. I was under the mistaken opinion that the world offers so much more than it does...Jake"
Categories:
foundering, religion, me, me,
Form: Pastoral