LINGERING
LINGERING
Photographs linger in my mind—
faded snapshots of a backyard,
the swing creaking in the breeze,
the taste of lemonade,
the warmth of sun-soaked afternoons.
I chase those moments,
but they dissolve like mist,
leaving only the chill of absence,
the ache of what was,
and what will never be again.
©2025 Sara Etgen-Baker
...
Continue reading...
Categories:
lingering(a), 12th grade, memory, nostalgia,
Form: Free verse
Lingering leaves of gold frolic in the autumn wind
"Lingering leaves of gold
frolic in the autumn wind,"
Swept up by bygone breezes,
already collapsing
before they begin,
As disillusionment clouds an overtired soul—
Misplaced and irretrievable
To a society that ravenously
disembowels empathy,
Twists and mangles trust
until it becomes unrecognizably disfigured,
Leaving the carcass to be plucked by bone-thin vultures,
Fed by culture’s apathetic, parasitic narcissism,
Under the boiling, pre-winter sun.
...
Continue reading...
Categories:
lingering(a), angst, autumn, imagery, loneliness,
Form: Free verse
Lingering leaves Frolic
"Lingering leaves of gold
frolic in the autumn wind"
and I am lost in a swirling,
...
Continue reading...
Categories:
lingering(a), nature,
Form: Free verse
Lingering Love
She never did say, I could just tell
Fear of the unknown, held her without bail
A heartbeat so proud, subdued without sound
Longing to speak..she walked away from a man
For love and all its treachery
In silence unheard...
...
Continue reading...
Categories:
lingering(a), fear, feelings, longing, love,
Form: Free verse
Lingering Dusk - Thomas Kinkade
mountains white
bathed in the light
of sunset bright
dusk lingers
sun's fingers
are joy bringers
humble homes
with tent-like domes
shine like chromes
nestled here
...
Continue reading...
Categories:
lingering(a), appreciation, art, nature, winter,
Form: Ekphrasis
A Lingering Dream
Someday to write
the greatest poem
The most powerful words
forever to hear
Someday to write
the moment solemn
Where time will stop counting
— and prescience endears
(Dreamsleep: March, 2025)
...
Continue reading...
Categories:
lingering(a), poetry,
Form: Rhyme
The Lingering
follow the poolside shadows
Venus of Delphi
daughter of bitter waves
peek through the peephole
of my glaucous thorax
open your byzantine eyes and
spurn your locomotor ataxia
one glance at our vitreous hands
– a sight for blind sore eyes
one brush of our riveted lips
– gone astray in malformations
one ponderous confession later
– immaterial as a shadow of the lash
let the weeping
...
Continue reading...
Categories:
lingering(a), imagery, surreal,
Form: Free verse
Lingering in the Rain
my muse
my unspoken words
our antithetical stories
your charm
your goodbye before the dawn
i traced the lines of our fate
never aligned
the red string woven around
which seems too weak
your presence lingers around me
like a shadow
rain poured down before
before we became alive
before I let it out
before I could hold on
before you screamed it out
I watched you being washed away
...
Continue reading...
Categories:
lingering(a), betrayal,
Form: Free verse
Lingering Fumes
An empty packet of Gauloises,
black coffee, a croque monsieur.
An aromatic café
breakfast in the Montmartre.
Later I switch to Camels,
a bumpy ride to seek out a friend
in the sixth arrondissement,
that night I left my Dunhill lighter
on her bedstand.
The cigarette lighter
had value,
I had haggled for it in Malacca,
eventually a young Hindu guy
reluctantly parted with it
as if selling his
...
Continue reading...
Categories:
lingering(a), poetry,
Form: Free verse
Lingering emotions
Lingering emotions, restless thoughts,
Old memories haunting yet soft.
Fleeting time grasped in moments,
Echoes swirl of reckless promises.
Lingering emotions, empty stares,
Hollow heart , and soft regret
Staring at the ceiling there I sat ,
Hinting a regret of what could've been said
Lingering emotions, bittersweet disguise
Those deceiving eyes breathtaking lies
Every glance a hint ,a dare,yet
I am left
...
Continue reading...
Categories:
lingering(a), 11th grade,
Form: Free verse
Lingering Questions
Can I die from a broken heart?
If I smile through the agony
Will it tear me apart?
Or will I somehow be ok?
If I drag myself out of bed
Clear the poisonous thoughts
Out of my fragile head
Will I somehow be ok?
Can I die from a broken heart?
Should I lay here and never leave
Or rise and focus on a
...
Continue reading...
Categories:
lingering(a), angst, betrayal, dark, deep,
Form: Rhyme
Lingering Embers of an Abandoned Campsite
I'm drawing the sun on an empty ceiling
But I still bring the clouds in my own way
You wanted a goddamn college essay
But there was nothing else to say
She's the tortured soul in all of us
Stare with sympathy until your eyes begin to rust
Carve a smile into unsuspecting jaws
...
Continue reading...
Categories:
lingering(a), allegory,
Form: Free verse
Under the vast, star-studded veil of the unknown, the lingering mystery whispers gentle secrets
Under the vast, star-studded veil of the unknown, the lingering mystery whispers gentle secrets,
People traverse invisible battles, shrouded in night’s silent sighs,
Each day we encounter wounded spirits, as fragile as morning dew,
Hiding their sorrow behind masks of smiles,
Like the moon concealed by fleeting clouds.
Their hearts, like delicate glass, locked in fortresses of silence,
Adorned with "No
...
Continue reading...
Categories:
lingering(a), fantasy,
Form: Free verse
Lingering Dusk
While I dillydally in my spring garden
I smell the lavender before noticing the buds
Dusk in a symphony of lavender hues
Summer can wait; so can my coronation
Lavender’s blue, dilly dilly,
Lavender's green
When you are King, dilly dilly,
I shall be Queen
Who told you so, dilly dilly,
Who told you so?
'Twas my own heart, dilly dilly,
That told me so
I
...
Continue reading...
Categories:
lingering(a), allegory, analogy, flower, nostalgia,
Form: Free verse
Lingering Love
Words were lessened, hardly ever spoke
If you've let me hear you in the night sky, darling I would have stayed woke
Send me your thoughts, deliver them to my heart,
So you can hear from me when we are apart
If you see the darkness, in the abyss
Please let me be your light,
I could bring all happiness
...
Continue reading...
Categories:
lingering(a), 10th grade, deep, desire,
Form: Free verse
Related Poems