My friend is the ocean, waters that glide,
Rustling my footsteps and tousling my hair;
Many the times that we walked side by side,
A spark and forever, joined as a pair.
Always a cloud there lay over its play,
Dappled the sunlight that fell on my face;
Heaving, its waters had something to say;
Twilight with meteors it took for the place.
Rising from breakers, said spirit to me,
“Sunlight and storms must both in the sea lie;
These are my words,” sad the heart of the sea,
“Know that I love you, and by me, shall die.”
What is the darkness that’s in the sea’s soul?
What can it counter, and what not annul?
Years lay over,
tilt to shed tears,
from eaves of leaves
that sway, stay and,
stray away to far beyond.
Lay, lady, lay.
Come allay your fears
and I'll let your colors shine,
if you'll stay with me, for awhile.
Lest, I lay to rest,
a wreath for you,
for the good times we shared
long gone.
The years drift away,
way out wide on the tide.
Marooned as lullabies
of lilting longing shadows,
echoing woe, and go, betides,
way out beyond the breakers,
beyond the lay of years.
The ring of fresh colored flowers,
you once wore around your neck,
now lies forlornly lain,
as a garland of petals,
dropped from a ring of flowers
onto the ground.
Onto the layers of years,
spread out on a mound of tears,
never to grow old,
beyond the lay of years.
Haunting fingers lay over me
By my hips and my chest
The smile that I cannot forget
A smile that I cannot help but tell myself it was your true self
A smile I can only see as wicked
As I hear her speak of such grace you can hold in your kiss
Your lips are something I can only see in the state they were when you did it
The smile you gave me is something I don't think I can unsee or describe
Your teeth that graze over my neck but don't suck away my blood
I wish you would want to hurt me
Maybe then I wouldn't know I could hurt you
Your lips that can be so mesmerizing as they speak sweet words that you don't mean
I wish you wouldn't keep speaking because maybe then i wouldn't have a reason to kill you
Maybe then I wouldn't have a reason to regret that
You know just how to make me useless
I'm at my stop over,
waiting on my next flight
I've been in my pain all the way over
And I have to wait on to continue through the night
My cheek is swollen,
Feels like I was stung
My whole jaw can't open
Having a hard time just to roll my tongue
And this is just a light stop
Over across the many years I've to live
While the one thing that never seems to stop
Is the constant worry of the life I'll have to live
Cause I can't plan too much
Cause my tomorrow isn't given
All I can do as a soldier is march
To keep going at war with my fears and worries till we even
For I need to get to the other side a victor
Walking head high even though the joints,
can't carry my win with me for life without Factor
Has had me beaten to the ground, losing my hope points
The PO£T
Mother said of all the mid-summer flowers she loved best,
The common garden dahlia was clearly her favorite.
Every Spring she carefully hand-placed the sturdy tubers,
Tenderly caring for each one, watched it bravely shoot up,
Growing, until large luscious red, orange, and purple blooms
Burst forth like the golden globular sun they resembled.
Some have noticed strolling through a garden of dahlias
Is very much like sorting through large boxes of buttons, *
All sizes, shapes, and colors waiting to be selected.
Mother saved the bulbs of her favorites from year to year
Carefully wintered them over in the damp root cellar,
Watching for earliest signs of tender green shoots sprouting.
Mother told us after she became seriously ill,
To make sure a quilt of dahlias lay over her grave.
When she left us at the end of that torturous July
For her bier we had a blanket assembled from her beds
Of the species of daisies, zinnias, chrysanthemums
And, as she requested, several pure-white dahlias.
*idea from "dahlias" on Internet
FIRST PLACE WINNER
Written March 11, 2021
For "Flower-Flowers (Imagery) Contest
by Constance La France
Each line contains 14 syllables
As the end comes to all
It couldn't be anyone but you lying next to me
And while the world caves in, so to does my chest
Our palms drenched in sweat, hastily locked together;
Our shaky hands
The panic is coming on strong now;
I can see it in your eyes
Glistening like stained glass
I see the waves begin to crash down
Until the end, I'll lay over you
Until the waves cause my back to crumble
And I fall apart
As I always do
It whispers that you were once here.
It must have been grand in its day
keeping things in and others at bay-
Giving you a sense of{false} security
a boundary never to be breached
a sense of permanence and importance
a cold-crooked line echoing the decades-
I see you flitting amidst the spaces
between the brush and battered stone
Isn't it dreadful to traipse this earth alone-
Your fractured wall and broken home
left to the crows and forest gnomes
who weave soft emerald wreathes
to lay over the bones of memory-
That Old Tree Was Loved
That old tree had weathered many storms past
Veteran of countless intense brush fires
Giant limbs still grew strong and very fast
Yet this summer, one can see where it tires.
Broken limb , dangling about thirty feet up
Huge hole burnt in deep by last big burn
Dried out looking for water from drought's cup
If it dies this year , so it was its turn.
Child of nine swung from its lofty branches
Climbing so very high for a huge thrill
Tree was life and we daring to take chances
To see farther, what lay over the next hill.
A picture of old and ancient life now gone.
Remembering, this heart again feels so alone!
Robert J. Lindley, 07-28-2015
Note- Yes this old tree existed on the farm .
As a young child I marveled at its size and beauty.
When I turned 45 years old I went back to see if it was still there.
Only a huge stump remained.
For me as a child it was the greatest toy in world.........
white is the new snow
it colours land with pureness
fresh and crisp to touch
Pristine snow lay over the fields clothing it in white crystals
soft piles of deep drifts abound the hedges
the simple beauty of the snowdrops poking up their heads
as the land warms, white daffodils wave their trumpets like wands
followed by the hawthorn which coats the valley in white
the blossom on the various fruit tree a delightful sight
beautiful highly scented elderberry flowers shower the trees
stately white lilies greet the bride as she draws nigh the alter
virginal blossoms
adorn and scent the arbour
a delightful sight
01/02/2014
contest Something in White
The sky overhead a delft blue, solid and true
lay over a lake glacial of a pristine hue.
In its reflection a bounty of yellow broom
joining earth and heaven, a marvelous venue.
A forest of staunch evergreens stand like statues
protecting mans homestead from the wind's avenue,
all strands of the wide Universe upon God’s loom
celebrating the beauty of natures virtue.
Ringed about by mountainous alpine retinues
reaching upward, toward heaven, so one may construe
that each of us waits in His earthly ante-room
praying our hearts are not too filled with rue.
E xquisite weather
S harp, clear day_emotions untether
C louds sparse_float lightly away
A ppealing desires to let's go_ forever stay
P lay over the hill very far_ let's stray
E thereal weather_blessed fall day
~ Written for-the blind ... . ~
Those-whom cannot read ... .
It has a musical sound-track ... .
Voice lay-over ... .
Want to present-it in-a-brail version ... .
Push-a-button, have-each-page, be-played ...
for-all-those-to-hear, see.
It is a letter to-God/book of thank-you ... .
Written in what I would hope ... .
would-be considered ... poetic form ... .
Want to see us-all-win,
couldn't be anything more beautiful ... .
To see new-eyes shine-you-see ... .
As they-run in wonder-and-freedom-joy ... .
Hope that it brings you this.
This would be a trophy we could all present to the Lord as well if-it-were ... .
Bless you friend.
Peace be what you-claim ... !
What you share, give for another ... .
In all-ways ... and-always ... .
~ Love ~ James ~
I never felt so embarrassed my dear
It’s not like they were checking my ear
He gave me a gown with ties in the back
Is that what they mean by saying no to crack
He said please lay over on your side
I saw his big hands, that’s when I cried
He said there are no lumps that I can find
I said your breaking my behind
He said we’ll go through with a camera when I’m done
I said I hope it’s not a hand held one
He asked can you hold on I’m almost through
To keep from flying that’s what I’ll do
I can’t believe you are in so much pain
It’s because your nurse forgot the novocaine
He said shame on you screaming like that
I said you’re either criminally insane or a democrat
He said the test is complete and you are all clear
I said thank you doctor, see you next year.
Feelings some less defying and unexplained
Death takes order without complain
Over pastures falls blood rain
Pleads to surrender seize and refrain
Graves spread out over plains
World of grief bound and chained
Humanity differs until the stronger remains
Watching powerless as the world is strained
Bodies of the defeated lay lifeless and drained
Blankets lay over them soaked and blood stained
Leaving now the mourning from the down pour of blood rain
Freddy the Fly was
disembarking at ,
long last...
And if you noticed
his face, perchance.
.the very thought of
six hundred tears
falling happenstance
He'd booked a lay- over
in the Alleghany swarmps
Cause someone told him
A few "Crock and Colas"
"Will put some nice sharp
shoes where you need them
But
First thing Freddy does see...a hungry croc headed for he!
freddy was all over him; much too fast for the croc to see.
At the given signal
However, this was a dream. a 'Crock", for sure.
six hundred
Sub Categories
Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.