Lantern Poems

Lights on the river VII

Bell bodies float lit
red globe lanterns trailing their
tentacle tassels

The Last Lantern

1404 Poetry Contest //Sponsored by: Brian Strand 
( 2nd Place )

Written: August 14, 2025


lantern quivers dusk,
shadows twist like whispered secrets--
fireflies thread the sky.
                .     .
      .    | 

The lantern inside

 
There’s a light beneath my voice Not made of flame, nor bound by choice, It flickers soft in silence deep And guards the dreams I long to keep.
 
A whisper forged of ancient fire Unseen by sight, but strong in choir, Each breath I take, it burns anew— A vow to always walk with

Paul Revere

18th April 1775 on the strong big-boned mare
'Brown Beauty' may have been her name
borrowed from John Larkin a very good horse
of Narragansett Pacer fame
a copper-bottomed silversmith
Son of Liberty Patriot and Boston-born
riding with Prescott and Dawes toward Lexington
then Concord minutemen in advance to warn
of the British Army's actions
was intercepted in Lincoln but doing his bit
the man

Lantern of Steadfast Stand

L-ife
E-mbraces
A-wakened

S-incerity,
A-s
L-ove
G-uards
A-ll
D-estinies
O-penly.

©bfa062025
Monocrostic (Birthday of Lea B. Salgado)

Moon: The Lit Lantern

Some time just before the sunset,
When the butterflies were gone,
The moon was on its way,
There was no eclipse, but it felt that way

When there was  darkness all around,
A beam entered in their life,
Turning the time around,
With 11:11, no longer on the clock

Beneath the sun's glaze, we often turn blind eye,
While seeing the perspective through

A Lantern Made of Suicide Notes: Suicide by Metaphors

I. The Hour of Approach

The poem I was writing refused to end—  
it kept writing me.  
Blood didn't ink these lines—  
the ink bled me.  
Each stanza a hidden-hematoma  
across the white of nothingness.

Somewhere, midnight faltered,  
and I was no longer alone.

II. Visitation: Sylvia Plath

Sivvy came barefoot, 
bees orbiting

Waiting For You

Waiting For You

in the sputtering lantern light
I stand waiting for you
I button my coat as the dense gray fog
rolls in off the ocean
a sparrow, shivering in the chill air
sits on the sidewalk
perhaps it is nearing its end
only time will tell
I may still be here to see
It.

Lantern Of Light: Collab w Christina Bowring

Sparks aflame my sanctuary 
Flickering, roaming glints 
Over valleys of bygone years 
So long kept in shadows

Traversing the bleakest darkness 
Where heat of love evades 
As the cool of Prussian blue night 
Forms a silky silent shroud

Unravelling threads of sorrow's blinding 
Guiding me from night to day 
And through the hush, a glow emerges 
Soft

The sky lantern

Curious hands took delicated folded sky lantern,  
"Be careful you don't tear or rip me," it said.  
"Cause I'm the one that gives wings to your hope.  
I'll embrace the sky's beauty more and make it glow,  
With my charming warm light, I'll flow.  
I can banish anxiety and mesmerize

The Lantern Carrier

He walks at dusk,
a lantern swinging from his hand,
light blooming in quiet pulses—
a heartbeat made of fire.

The path behind him forgets his steps,
but ahead, shadows scatter
like secrets too afraid of being known.

“Where do you go?” they ask.
“To the end of the night,” he says.
“Beyond the last fear,
beyond the hush of doubt.”

But the night is long,
and

The Lantern at USF Neurology traumatic brain injury and me

Divided under the cities 
streams mapping decisive 
endings while toiling about 
the beginning boldness 
reaching for braising 
characters galloping 
amidst a certain angst 
we’ve devoured nothingness 
and opened the sky 
with truth thrashing 
tempers meaningful tools 
craving an emptiness 
above the continuous 
Bayshore a quiet offering 
pelicans landings sinking 
yet surrounding the 
jaded light house

It Takes Two to Tango - and Lantern Dance

          Brazil and China dance

         Xi and da Silva romance
  
                ~ U.S. in a trance

Jack-Lantern Boys

I thought I could hear, that deviant sound
of eerie boots, disobedient ground
Wearing disguises
Sharing surprises
Jack-Lantern, miscreant, boys are around

Jack-o-lantern

There once was a pumpkin so bright,
Its grin shone like a spooky night light.
It sat on the porch,
With a wicked, wild torch,
And scared all the kids with delight!

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