("And Dream of Sheep", 2018, original encaustic)
Time stretched out to fill decades
Within just the blink of an eye
Time stretched out to fulfill lifetimes
Who am I now?
Who was I then?
Alone I rummage around in memories
And in dreams my loneliness
Is crowded out with so many others
Each distinct, often unknown
And I a view absorb it all
An old man living in isolation
Yet each night filled to overflowing
With others
I know my time is numbered
Yet each night I get a glimpse
Of what really is
Just a long strange continuum of lives
Lived in love, inescapably in love.
(6/13/26)
In its entirety
Safe keeping's vision
General's, shepherd's in close range
Pressed round horizon!
"Retreat!" The call goes out.
Each, 'at ease', 'lolling'
Inescapably overwhelmed.
Ere caves holed up in.
Beware complacency!
Skyline we all share.
Time's; in what fateful looms up.
Less for can prepare!
What is the ultimate goal,
To be happy or healthy
Sexy, powerful or wealthy?
What about something beyond
Conception or expression,
Something beyond
What you can have
Or ever, even hold?
We all know what the ultimate goal is
Because it is our true nature.
And yet obliviously we stumble on
Forward ever forward
Into an ever progressing
Idealized progressive future
That bears no resemblance
To our true nature.
What is our true nature?
The something
That is a nothing,
Ineffable and yet known
Inescapably
Within our bones,
Within all our bones.
A something that is a nothing, that is us.
(11/4/25)
I hold back the action
Admirable though it would be
Frozen mammoth restrained
Introspectively
Or a beetle in amber
Polite and decorative
Without a reaction, Thermo-
dynamically
Fear is involved
Other causes urge forward
Contributing thrust
Abandonedly
Thus it is peace becomes us
In this country of marvels;
Motivations in balance
Inescapably
You got me flowers last week,
The petals started to wilt and fall yesterday,
–So I carefully glued them back on.
Despite my best efforts, they continued to die.
No amount of love and care can keep them alive,
From the time they first sprout to the time they bloom,
Their fate is predetermined.
You got me flowers last month,
I watched them shrivel away,
But I still can not bring myself to throw them out.
Their petals cover the middle of the diner table;
Like a sad circle reminding me that what once was is no longer, and will never be again.
You got me flowers last year,
I had to get rid of them,
They decomposed completely by the ninth month and second day.
You asked me if I would like a new bouquet,
All I could think about was how that first petal fell,
How do we continue to get each other flowers knowing they are inescapably going to die after such a tragic short life?
Why do flowers still grow;
In the face of death?
Each of our actions, whether good or evil,
Inescapably
Sharpens the double-edged sword of
Divine justice
That
Is going to be used on judgment day
For
To determine the fate of our soul!
© Demetrios Trifiatis
12 September 2021
The sermons priests preach
Through speech,
The child instructors teach
With speech,
The business men their partners reach
Via speech,
The saving shouts at a child in pond with leech
And requests to recreate on a beach
In speech
All powerfully elevate speech,
Distinguishing this sensible sounds from a moved jaw.
But certainly not for the Law
We sometimes breach
With offensive speech:
The sick jokes we crack
That betray the morals we lack
And the seedy lies we tell
In voices louder than bell…
Man approbation receives for speech, ‘The Best’
The same man inescapably lampooned for the Immodest.
A speech-producing child
Is worth a carnival and thanks;
No frequenting by its parents their banks
For dumb issues, not a matter financially mild.
September’s almost coming to its end.
The shining green that clothed the trees in June
Has darkened as the shorter days impend;
Their battered leaves will presently be strewn
Beneath the boughs, which tremble in the chill
That rushes in where winds till now waxed warm,
With Summer's swelter weakening until
We sense the Equinox's looming storm.
Because for all its beauties and its joys
No Summer can persist resisting change—
When held too long, what first creates, destroys;
And only then is born what’s rich and strange.
For Autumn heralds Winter, which will bring
The frosts which in their turn give way to Spring.
October 2, 2019
Previous title: "Summer's End"
Revised October 15, 2019:
The second quatrain originally went--
Beneath the boughs, which tremble in the chill
That rushes in where winds till now blew hot.
The days fly – they inevitably will—
Still, that is inescapably our lot.
But the second sentence seemed to me to be too weak and even bordering on the trite, so I rewrote it as above. Apologies to all who've read it to date!
Inescapably
Lost in your love
Only you own my heart
Vexed, devoted to you
Eternally
Yearning to taste your lips
One minute seems a lifetime
Until I hold you again
Three Word Acrostic Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Bobby May
9/30/19
Childhood memories
Brief - impactful moments in our lives
Profound neurological occurrences
Strongly anchored in our subconscious mind
Like an iceberg in the deep blue ocean
Immersed are the feelings frozen down below
Precipitating thoughts, emotions, and behaviors
Tragic and beautiful – inescapably manifesting as the whole
We revisit – we reflect
Moments are embellish or minimized
At times it’s hard to discern the reality
From the story we've created, a blatant lie
Our vessel carries the drink of our knowledge
Like our palettes preferred cup of tea
Perceptually we see what we want
Dogmatically we confirm what we believe
Nature has provided a framework
Nurture guides and confirms our beliefs
We see through a glass half empty
A preoccupied mind steals our life like a thief
Time provides clarity from a distance
It's easier to see our habitual patterns from afar
The identity we’ve chose to live with
Couldn’t be further from the person we are
The memories from our youth are profound and precious
They are the foundation for our thoughts and beliefs
They are the substrates for our conscious identity
They are our palettes preferred cup of tea
When but a child the world seems set in stone.
Too soon this cozy surety fades and dies;
And verities, like passing clouds, are flown,
Confusing right with wrong and truth with lies:
The ground’s no longer firm beneath our feet.
What once was bedrock now is shifting sand,
While warring interests jostle and compete
And nothing seems to turn out as we planned.
Yet know, my love, that even though all life
May be uncertain, nothing else be fixed,
Amidst confusion, doubtfulness, and strife
One thing is always pristine, pure, unmixed:
While much is inescapably unsure,
My love for you shall steadfastly endure.
The voices are getting louder, but the pain is gonna end.
I don't wanna be a burden to my one and only friend.
The blood is getting darker, my visions so unclear.
I tried to tell the doctor she said: "It's just a phase, my dear".
As I lie here I murmur I love you in my final breath.
You were always there for me, now your like the rest.
The voices are but a whisper as I inescapably start to fade.
At least I can say I made the pain of this life go away.
Your eyes, blue,
They said everything, asked everything
Loved everything
Soft, they were so soft
You were not ashamed
I was an outcast, inescapably
Filled with anxiety and pain
Yet you offered me your warm hand
Without the pressure of fitting in it perfectly
It was not profound,
It did not leave me senseless and sleepless
But I still remember the peace of our silence
The music, swelling seas and sways
And your breath,
Fresh, energizing, cool
A calm breeze wafting mint
10.28.13
Told we were safer to stay a home...
The rising water in evening gloam,
Told us how wrong we were to believe...
Picked up our pets and prepared to leave.
The sadness that comes from leaving homes
Adjusters called, and insurance loans...
Devastated fam'lies in great grief...
Praying heartily for God's relief
Rely on hope and faith to revive,
With faith we pray will keep us alive.
The rain keeps falling in large inches
Our fate inescapably cinches
That we must all faithfully abide,
And know that our Lord will be our guide
Through this great storm that is Texas size,
That God will indeed help us surmise,
Almighty is watching over us
As politicians deign to discuss
The shelters for us will be decreed,
By the severity of our need.
America please pray for us all.
We are placing our lives in God's call.
© Connie Marcum Wong
Come, lay thy kisses on my body
A sacred tribute be thy sweat
Exalt my each and every chord
Oh spike, deep thrusted in my being
Will be my torment but a hoist
Oh, sweetened poison without cure
You kneel me inescapably
Slave-made from cold and prided king
I search for you without a speck of judgement
Ferocious hidden hunger is desire
I burn, just feeling lacking thoughts
You abet me and still remain apart
And in my blinded thirst you have no face
See just the us that could've been
Am left with crying bleeded heart
Lorn bleakly by the like's dearth
My prayer goes for complete oblivion
Will wash away thy smell and haunt
No fire burns in touch deprived flesh
Come, wait thus for our spell to end.
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