etiquette as habits dictate
employs will power for restraint
laudable but may alter fate
if our feint becomes our soul’s taint
I watched a movie become my life
So much people can't understand
Crisis after crisis so far from bland
Just seeking understanding, not strife
There are only few places I can be me
I am the only one to walk this step
As I move forward with street smart pep
These steps are mine, to stay or to flee
Everyone experiences their own things
Many of mine different, it is what it is
No need for questions or a challenging quiz
Healing and closure is what persistence brings
I fight, I believe, I pray with faith and hope
Through all that happens day to day
Whether I rest or whether I run away,
Peaceful places wait on the mountain slope
Heidi Sands
10/2/26
(C)opyright
Time is a fond melody, a dance
Time is a kiss, a romance~ a breath
shared held out to eternity
Time is a wish – a nurtured wait
never letting the desired answer
stray far from ones appealing heart
Clocks and seasons mean little to Time
sort of like, pies without their fillings
Time is experience, and not measuring --
Some live long, have few regrets~ and as
few victories – Time wasted.
There’s a quiet heart upon the wall
that breaks the day in equal parts,
blind to the heavy tears that fall,
and careless of our weary hearts.
It treats a life like one quick breath,
counting the hours, cold and gray—
a gear that grinds away our breath,
where every second slips away.
And yet... time bends when passion burns,
and minutes stretch to touch the sky;
a single look, where longing turns,
can make a decade pass us by.
For all those weeks spent on routine
fade out like smoke in morning air,
while depth reclaims what life can mean,
and stays with us when we are there.
A clock measures duration, but depth counts time.
The Quiet Sovereign
by Christopher Haywood
2 October 2026
A thunderous speech can fill the space,
And shake the rafters, loud and proud,
Directing every turned-up face,
To sway the court and move the crowd.
It claims the air, it claims the hall,
With ringing words that heavily fall—
A passing wave that fills it all,
Then fades into a hollow sigh.
Yet when the bluster breaks away,
And heavy stillness settles in,
A deeper presence comes to stay,
Beneath the quiet, past the din.
For noise can rule the physical space,
And capture every wandering eye,
But silence meets you face to face,
Where no conviction fits a lie.
The loud voice commands the room;
The clear silence commands the mind.
COCOONED AND COMING
Caterpillaring,
I’m cocooning oppression:
Liberty soon soars:-
A canine’s heaven is a simple thing
A good walk or game of tug
Most definitely a warm lap
Or soft couch to curl up on
It’s all the things we humans provide
In love
Given so freely not just out of the goodness
Of our hearts, but as an offering
To the goodness in theirs
It makes you wonder sometimes
About heaven for us
Are we giving now
What it takes to receive it now
And if not now, when?
(10/2/26)
A leaf lands sideways.
The water rearranges
its borrowed clouds.
A crow lifts
from the fence.
Cloud shadows travel
across the open field.
Milkweed releases
its white fleet.
Meanwhile,
below notice,
below thought,
below the names
I give things,
something in me
remains still.
Water carries
a second evening,
equally silent.
And the silence
asks nothing.
By dusk,
the first star appears.
No message.
No instruction~
only a brightness
waiting
where it was
before I noticed.
Let us explore substratum of existence,
walking backwards till we can do so no more,
to which end by shedding ego’s resistance,
we discover we’ve not moved and there’s no door,
within dreams our mind conjured, mere wisps of smoke,
manifest by fire of desires which we stoke,
vaporising in the void of cessation,
where we alone are, prior to creation.
music of the spheres in heart shaped
joy replete always feels complete
which when is in our mind landscaped
no longer follows God’s bliss beat
never is an absolute
just as always is
making a promise using the word never
is a foolish thing to do
how many hearts have been broken by someone
saying they would never leave the one they loved
war, divorce, and disease can deliver grievous blows
to those who are told
the inevitable lie
of never
Too much negativity can lead astray --
what you see is more of what you
will get; what you hear are the echoes
that your heart will send back – what you pray are
the angels you will attract...the God
type who will lead them. Entertain in your mind
deceit, greed, war and violence, greater fire and smoke
will suck the air from your experienced everyday environment.
Speak vehemence, vengeance, and the Lord of retribution
will contrive your footsteps and flying – the deity
of heavens and hells will imprint new
such drama landscapes, battles of your dawns and nights.
One manifests, forms and reforms fears and desires his
deluded heart and soul mistakenly empower. Clean
one’s self, and both heaven and hell
will be at last an immaculate harmony of peace and shared
love. Heaven on earth. No Second Coming till then.
IN AND OF GOD’S NURTURING
The birds have their nest;
Likewise, the bees have their hive:-
We have the scriptures:
Let us nest and hive ourselves
In guiding deliverance:-
With hatched scriptured words,
Let’s be stung with their wisdom,
And divine guidance:
In the sweetness of God’s love,
Healing grace nested and hived:-
We're reflections
of an infinitely
reflecting mirror
Our seemingly finite
projections cast shadows
both near & far
Know that you are
everything that is
& will be
Everything you see
is a part of me
and likewise
Eyes seeing
the same lie
that cover proof
of the whole
Individual bodies
with different souls
exploring timelines
& wormholes
You're a divine tool
not just worm food
even if you do
return to dust
You are stardust
composed on this
material plane
Ethereal really
but still being
weighed down by
your physical pain
Transcend the game
& take your place
amongst the stars
above the clouds that
bring rain
You came for more
than locked doors
to rooms you're
supposed to roam
Remember this is
your house
but not your home
indefinitely
Enjoy this melody
but tune into your
heavenly vibe
a bit more
See what's in store
once you fully
open your mind
That's a door they
can't keep closed
when you decide you
want to see what's inside
space-time is a cage where battles we wage ~
we transcend when we cease to take umbrage
Introspection Categories
Definition | What is Introspection in Poetry?
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Related Poetry Forms
contemplation, reflection, soul searching, scrutiny, meditation, rumination, egoism, self absorption, deep thought, self examination, brooding, introversion, heart searching, self observation, self questioning,