Inflicting Poems | Examples

Tears of the Dragon

Like a dragon, my armor consists of scales.
My frozen, unfeeling, reptilian heart 
is harder than a bed of corroded nails.
I'm invincible to any sword or dart.
You will never hear my moans or plaintive wails,
even if inside I would be torn apart. 
As decades are stacked on top of many years,
you still won't see this dragon shedding tears.

Do you think inside lives a human being,
and that remnants of a broken heart remain?
Or is it just a monster that you're seeing,
never feeling, but always inflicting, pain?
Would tears for the imprisoned beast be freeing,
falling down in a teeming, torrential rain?
Do the tears of the dragon remain inside,
or do they crash as you watch the ocean tide?

I'm Done Chasing

I give you space then I notice I'm back in your face
Things are not the same and I'm the one left to chase
I realize how silly I must look when I plead and beg 
There is no way to take back the words that I said
I'm not getting no where so I'm done chasing
I'm the one made the mistake but you can't face me
This is a silly little game that is played by most
Someone wanting you back is a reason to boast
I bet I'm making you happy while inflicting self pain
By my chasing after you humiliation is what I gain
You know my emotions and have the upper hand
Expressing myself didn't get you back as planned
It boosted your confidence as you turned me down
You rejected me causing my heart to hit the ground
At one point in my life I thought you were amazing
But I'm not that thrilled over you to keep on chasing

His Reflection

"You are just like your father."
These words ring in my head constantly,
Haunting me as I stare into the mirror.

I cannot bring myself to love the reflection I see—
The image of the man who excels only
At inflicting pain.

I ask myself: Am I bound to the same fate as him?
To hurt the ones I love? To drive everyone away
With my own foolish attitude?

I long for a world where I can look into that reflective glass surface
And say that I am just like my father with confidence,
Not with dread.

Chaucerian Acrostic

Can anyone accuse you of pretence?
Are you inflicting pain for pain’s own sake?
So little can be said in your defence –
Unless you have some argument to make,
Apart from spitting venom like a snake.
Less culpable than you are snakes, I swear:
They do their damage, blithely unaware.

You knew precisely when, and where, and whence –
Or if you’d rather, planned the steps to take,
Fomenting consciously this pestilence –
You find my words too grand? You’ve got brain-ache?
Okay, let’s say you knew which bough to shake.
Unmitigated mayhem, deep despair
Results in calm. Today, there’s nothing there.

Considered as a love, it was immense.
Regarded as a person, you’re a fake.
Unusually, passionate, intense? 
Exactly. So much bitterer the break.
Love blinded me. The thing was my mistake.
The fault was yours, of course. But, to be fair,
You’re not a psychopath. You just don’t care.

Thrust In The Center Of The Storm

Thrust in the center of the storm,
all I could see was you;
Brewing at the zenith of your strength,
so hard to get through.
But I dared rising up
and chose to let you go,
before ruining my life
 and lead me to an absolute fiasco.

You’ve embraced more 
yourself and your vices,
Always coming home intoxicated
All you’ve were void promises               
Inflicting sufferings, bruises…
I couldn’t endure anymore. 
So exhausted!

Thrust in the center of the storm,
all I could see was you;
Cyclone’s eye was at your throne
thrusting me so harshly to,
But I was fervor enough
to ask resilience from up above;
Survived by His grace,
I've moved on easily lifting my face.
Having found a peaceful life
I’ll rebuke my license as your wife
Your daughter and I will be together
I can be both her mother and father.

THE ECHO RETURNS NOT

Silent is the echo as pride shouts
   selfishness causing pouts...
      self-conceit triumphs over jealousy bouts 
         self-glory reigns with discontentment clouts
            self-reliance wavers upon attacking doubts
               self-pity maneuvers toward false humility-routes…

The echo returns not indeed...
   as self-sufficiency does arrogantly succeed
      self-exaltation declares me-I-my-mine creed
         self-inflicting pain midst guilt continues to breed
            self-denial actually hoists covetousness and greed
               self-love matters most, not recognizing God with His deed.

A New Years Wish for East the Beast and the West Unblessed

  Whether whiskey or water
    What should it matter

  The point is we oughta
    be toasting each other

  Though the East is a Beast
    and the West is unblessed …

  May we this year refrain
    from inflicting such pain 

  Turn to gentler pursuits
    find for war substitutes

The Wrong Landlord

On one’s ability, nothing wrong to confide
needless gratification, glory hunting is wide
chances of victory from a one-man army divide.

Resilience that is bloated will be swallowed by the tide
seeking attention is their life, on a horse it rides
to condescend and to look down also riding side by side.

High-level difficulty to follow a guide
adopting modesty and quiet, the desire had lied
even in the smallest hole, self-importance won’t hide.

Everything seems beneath, so nothing to abide
the house caught a self-inflicting fire, and its residents died
the same report is of the properties whose landlords are pride.

They Will Hear

They are lights of candles put off
Their screams and laughs are silenced
They are deep roots pulled off
Inflicting pain and tears, they are licensed

They can no longer harm the living
But their memories are too much to bear
Sleepless nights due to overthinking
Once a dream, now turning to a nightmare

One may feel despair 
losing all hopes, like cards on hand
felt like no one you could share
prejudiced that no one can understand 

but found in an old scripture
it was written, a promise of hope
it was not our design as creature
a good reason for us not to mope

to a future not very distant for now
all who lie beneath the tombstones will rise
don't be bedazzled, don't ask how
all will be resurrected and revitalized

all of the dead will be able to hear
Jehovah's words and bring them to life
It will all be a Grand Reunion 
Children to parents, Husband to Wife

the warps of time

time slips through our fingers
most unapologetically
ignoring our pathetic pleas

cycles of sunrise followed by nightfall
seem endless yet each day not resembling the next
at least not always, maybe never

but there comes a day for us all
when time stops, stands still
inflicting a wretched pain

it seems like the end
but it's not really
we somehow carry on

till once again time
slips through our fingers
this time almost apologetic



AP: Honorable Mention 2025

The Storms of Life

In every life, a storm arises
along with sad and glad surprises.
Whether or not of our making,
storms can stress our souls to breaking.

Storms can arise from our inside,
caused by the hurts we hoard and hide,
or they may break forth on the outside,
inflicting pain as if to chide.

In a small boat, one stormy night
fast slept our Lord, the source of light.
Skilled sailors rowed with all their might
As hope failed in their futile fight.

And as the boat with water filled
the sailors knew they would be killed.
They roused their Lord with voices shrill
and He bade hearts and storm, “Be still.” 

The storms of life can make you jitter
toss you around in frenzied flitter.
You choose to be brave or bitter
or let the storms make you glitter. 
  
When storms arise, where can you turn,
as fear’s fierce winds your feelings churn.
Jesus the Lord who stilled the storm
can bring peace, your life reform.

Open Poetry 9 - Not Worthy of Life

An outcome more preferable than becoming a slave.
Peace beyond dreaming on the way to my grave.
Accused and found guilty, I was not remanded.
Inflicting retributive punishment is what I was handed.

The noose hung before me, my future to die.
Onlookers glaring in silence, then an insidious cry.
Relentless struggle to take in air, my voice so rasp. 
Agonizing, laborious striving to inhale, I gasp.

Monotonous effort, to force my body to breathe.
All energy spent, a body not worthy of life, I seethe. 
Too weak to continue, as hopeless as it seems, 
To end this misery, was only in my dreams.

A calm settled as images of my bygone years showed. 
The irony of death giving me life was blissfully bestowed. 
All pain diminished, as visions of heaven came to me. 
The  brightest light was all my vision allowed me to see.

This Shadowed Place

My heart lay barely beating, drowning in a marinade
of salted tears that fell from my reddened eyes.
Blood dripped down my chin from biting my swollen lips
as if they were wounded like a heart pierced by words 
that were hurled as if they were whetted daggers. 
Whose fingertips drew the target upon my lashed back?
The attack ripped my flesh, inflicting pain without pause. 
My cries were echoing in refrain, pleading for the cause.

No response was given as I cringed and groaned
in this shadowed place, this empty void.
In fetal position on the floor, I flinched each time
I heard knuckles wrapping upon my weathered door.
Sluggish was my mind, as if waking from a nap,
wishing I could snap out of Alice's realm where I can't tell
if I'm under a spell or walking in a hellish nightmare
of reality where I wax and wane like sunlight and moonbeams.
Many things that surround me are not always as they seem.

Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Putin
needs a swift ****-bootin'!
Stop inflicting so much pain
on the brave people of Ukraine!

PLEA FOR PEACE

Beasts! Killers!
Soulless beings, devoid of empathy,
Ruthless in your actions,
Inflicting pain without remorse.

What sins have the innocent committed?
Caught in the crossfire of your wars,
Agents of destruction,
Where is your humanity?

You, architects of suffering,
Where is the dialogue,
In your resort to violence,
Claiming innocent lives?

Do you sleep soundly,
Knowing the devastation you wreak,
Children orphaned, hospitals bombed,
What darkness lurks in your mind?

You are unworthy of this world,
Your actions speak of pure evil,
Funding wars, justifying atrocities,
No excuse for the slaughter of innocence.

Why have we descended into this abyss?
As the world watches in silence,
We cannot betray with our silence,
Hear the cries of the children,

In Gaza, DRC, Ukraine, Sudan,
Syria, and beyond,
Let their tears move you to change,
For they too deserve peace and joy.

Do not hoard the beauty of the world,
Let it be for all,
As you once were a child,
So too are they, deserving of love.

Do not be selfish,
Let the children live in peace,
For their innocence is our hope,
And their laughter, our salvation.

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