Long At once Poems
Long At once Poems. Below are the most popular long At once by PoetrySoup Members. You can search for long At once poems by poem length and keyword.
@the_poetry_parlor12 & @words_by_nikkki
Life…
A dream, a wonder, a place to be.
It makes me happy.
Gives me strength to pursue,
To dream,
To love.
Life…
A never ending chore.
Never satisfactory, but still we chase the high.
An endless pursuit in an abyss.
Family, friends, food, they make me happy, tally…
So much to look forward to,
So much to do
Hopeful, Joyful.
Can’t seem to get enough of it.
Family, friends – so much expectations,
But I have nothing left to give.
Food?
What is food but just a need to survive?
There’s so much to do,
With no desire to do anything.
Soft rain on the roof while I’m safe in bed,
A dog’s head on my lap, no words said,
Sunflowers turning their faces to chase the sky,
The deep breath I take when I remember why I try.
Soft rain on my cheeks from the clouds in my eyes.
Locking eyes with everything and I question if it is better to exist as a non-human.
Everything’s feels too loud,
Too bright,
Too much for me.
The deep breath I take when I remember I still have more to endure.
A quiet ember I thought had gone out.
Still flickering, still warm against my hands.
Morning will come, and with it, light I don’t have to chase —
Light that finds me, soft and certain.
Family, friends, food — maybe not answers, but anchors.
And me… learning that rest is also a kind of strength,
That “enough” can be a breath, a step, a single sunflower turning.
I don’t have to feel it all at once.
I just have to be here for the next gentle thing.
And that, for today, is hope.
My light has gone out,
Out of fuel,
Out of wax to burn,
Too windy, too cold for my ashes to re-spark.
And that’s okay.
After all a coin has to have two sides.
Some are meant to be lighten the world while the others are meant to be the darkness that gives it meaning.
The eggs had been colored
and scattered about
The baskets were hidden
the children to shout…
“Was he here Mom, was he here”
they yell from upstairs
“Come down and find out”
she says—nary a care
Their little feet rush
taking two steps at once
Wide eyes dart all over
playing their hunch
Living and dining rooms
they tear with a fever
No corner is safe
from the incursion of either
“I found it, I found it"
the bigger one said
The smaller one saddened
their heart filled with dread
“The Bunny forgot
there's no candy this year”
From across the big room
the first start of a tear
“The Bunny never forgets”
their mother cried out
"You have to look harder
both inside and out”
As the front door was opened
the little one chimed ...
“Mom, he didn’t forget
— it was here all the time”
(To My Grandchildren: Easter 2017)
Generally cheerful institutions
school and hospital, The Constitution,
roadways with their yellow stitch lines.
Order on the mountainside, in the city,
the veneer is thin, the people thrifty,
the freedom to associate unlimited.
Smoke the cigarette, sound the subwoofer,
I woof and bay like every other dog, proof
one cannot escape the planet, life's foolproof.
Magic's secret- rabbit, lion- the inner
animus emerges from the hat. One eats magicians,
the other's skewered for dinner.
Thus, happy and sad at once, death a solace
and a fearsome fright. As the dashed lines pass,
confidently, and when necessary, I drive fast.
An afternoon, one hundred years of solitude
for our silver maple. Microscopic magnitudes:
the snake's skin, the fly's wing, the man's mood.
There are seven despicable sins each one
of us willingly or unwillingly commits daily;
I disclaim six, but I willl claim one openly:
it's the irrepressible anger raging inside.
There was a big trauma in my early childhood:
that memory was stored, but cannot be retrieved;
I blame dad for the love he didn't give to his child...
remembering hurts indefinitely, forgetting is hard.
For years, I carried this secret so ashamed to reveal,
mother saw the depth and dimension of everything;
she lifted all the weight I was incapable of carrying,
but my cry wanted to escape and break off the seal.
If I am guilty of this sin, God will not punish me for it;
His sympathy for the ones who weep is forgiveness,
but those inflicting pain won't escape His judgment.
Lord, end at once this anger that brings on illness.
Written on 1/24/2016
Waiting around, heart’s failing, to death I’m resigned
Lying in a bed, someone wake me, going out of my mind
I sense sharks swimming below, angels are flying on a high
Staring into my taped shut eyelids, tis hard work wanting to die
Machines keep me breathing, pumping air throughout each lung
Different tubes stave off urges, sponge moistening my tongue
Buzzers bleep, my family whispers ‘we love you’ I can hear
Overcome in sheer emotion, trickling out one final tear
A soft breeze caresses my face, then appears hazy light
Warmth wrapping itself around me, boy this feels just right
Whatever you are, I give myself freely, I’m in utero once again
My umbilical tube forms a tunnel, eternally looping without an end
Crossing through the multiverse, trillions of portals swirling around
They can feel my presence, it’s so beautiful, only love abounds
Each portal either an ancestor, or a descendant yet to come
A welcoming of open doors, I will enter them all at once
Consciousness pervades everything, I’m part of the sum
Death cannot stop an equation, to continue on and become
There never was a beginning, just another cycle, here’s a clue
Birth’s a conduit to infinite hosts, perpetuating through me and you
By
David Kavanagh
"Oh, hi!"
"Uh, huh?"
"Sorry did I wake you?"
"No this is my resting tree face."
"Oh thank goodness. Did they tell you I was coming?"
"No one tells me anything. Will you please stop doing circles around my trunk?"
"Sorry, I'm a skipping stone. It's kind of my thing."
"Is disobeying Newtonian laws of physics also your thing?"
"You sound like my mom."
"Why are you here?"
"I need to interview a dying tree for my school project. I picked you!"
"You go to school?"
"Pebbles Academy, can you believe it? They said it was based on my application essay. Do you wanna know the title?"
"No--"
"Stuck Between a Rock and Unrealistic Expectations of my Family."
"Title's too long."
"Can we start?"
"Start what?"
"The interview."
"I guess. I do have a nail appointment at 5."
"Oh."
"I'm just kidding! I can't move to make an appointment and I don't have nails. Fire away."
"What do you admire most?"
"Flexibility. I used to be flexible. Not so much anymore."
"Hm. Fascinating. What's you biggest fear?"
"The sound of a chainsaw. And department store vans filled with furniture."
"Favorite movie quote?"
(Austrian accent) "I'll be bark!"
"If you were stuck on a deserted island what 3 things would you bring with you?"
"A copy of Pyramid of Success by John Wooden, a copy of the The Wooden Bible, and a DVD of Castaway. I'll figure out how to watch it later."
"What is you biggest regret?"
"I never took a chance in life. I'm just too grounded."
"My last question: in 5 words or less, what advice would you give to a young sapling?"
"Leave it to beaver. Honestly beavers do most of the work around here."
"Thanks again, old tree."
"Anytime, skipping rock."
With that the rock skipped away and into a floating stream.
Left in the quiet, the trees branches swayed in the breeze.
The old tree sighed, a slow groaning creak.
"Anyone else need help finishing assignments?"
At once fawn and fauna crept out of the grassy shadows,
With tiny notebooks and miniscule writing utensils they slunk.
They crept to the edge of the old trees roots,
as many had waited for this moment their entire lives.
There at once looms a lethal disease
Across the globe begins to breeze
Taking its toll on the old and young
Flings the whole world into unease
Danger impending, little chance to duck
Everyone ruffled, nervous, and in shock
Afraid of others, chary to mingle
Damning this pouring pestilent ill luck
Panicked public storm the stores
Grabbing disinfectants in scores
Masks are scarce, so is alcohol
Unmasked la-di-das behave like boors
Some authorities use all their might
To appease people’s pains and plight
Some tell big lies to their people
And are too dark to light the night
On the up-and-up, working nonstop
Medical staff always on the hop
Risking their lives, wasting their limbs
To save thousands in rescue op
It was the plague in the days of yore
That mercilessly killed of rich and poor
Now Covid 19 seems to reign supreme
In scaring man maybe even more
Yet this too shall pass thanks to the mettle
Of all the scientists who will not settle
Until they ascertain the proper cure
And take off man’s side, this biting nettle
But worries won’t cease. Only, they change
They’re so diverse and broad in range
Global, national, personal, or what?
Momentous, petty, or even strange!
Frantically, I walk on a lane of vile secrets,
past glared dazes from hooded eyes
marking me as obsession’s target where a quest
to nail me taunts my fear : with endless
shrieks echoing , “ I will follow you, “ … a voice
raspy as brittle tones imposes its eerie
presence. And I quiver in coiled form,
Helpless, while the breath of uncertainty
wipes the restful assurance of most nights:
In a click of time, life smells danger
knowing not if those taloned hands would
clutch me in the darkness or light.
All at once, I watch myself drenched
In the cloud of foreboding , torturing
my lucid hours now haunted by one
incensed predator. Until I confront this
ghastly shadow laden with karmic
sins, wolves of yesterday assaulting my every
breath's intake…that I come face to face
with this damned nemesis in guileful pursuit
and the nemesis which haunts my spirit …is me.
Written for Silent One: STALKER 11/13/2017
I no longer have a working relationship with time,
We are having a break from each other,
I hope we can avoid a permanent split,
And the way forward is amicable,
I will try not to smash too many clocks.
It is hard not to feel let down by time.
Like when all the clocks in the house stopped at once,
Or the times my alarm was mysteriously turned off,
And I am sure time played a part in so many disrupted travel plans,
Including my being late for job interviews.
When I was young time promised me the world,
Now time just passes me bye without a second thought,
And the hours and minutes are spoken for before I get them,
Only seconds are now given for me to make choices that,
Determine failure or success.
As for daily commutes,
I have no time to talk about those.
I just feel all the trust is gone,
Time seems to be deserting me,
Making up with time seems more of a chore each day.
Still we have travelled this far together,
A little while longer won't do any harm,
Retirement is just around the corner,
And I might be able to find forgiveness in my heart,
So I can once again cherish what time has given me,
Before I clock off.
Ignored wounds
do not bleed at once,
but when touched for cure
they ache longer than they should,
reminding us how silence gathers dust
inside the body.
It is not that love is feared,
only that sometimes
its arrival feels unnecessary
like an extra flame
in a room already warm.
Still, a newborn’s breath
teaches another language of affection,
a fragile trust resting
in the hollow of two palms.
Love moves gently,
care bends like grass in wind,
affection lingers in corners
where no one thought to look.
And the hands--
they rise as sky,
they fold as umbrella,
they open as shelter.
One gesture,
a thousand meanings,
all carrying us
a little further away from hurt.