Long Jonah Poems

Long Jonah Poems. Below are the most popular long Jonah by PoetrySoup Members. You can search for long Jonah poems by poem length and keyword.


Premium Member In the Belly of the Whale

darkness, like Jonah 
held in the belly of the whale,
the end of a world;
closed-in time in dark spaces -
gives one, a hell of a time to think 

in the belly of the whale 
grew a whole world, 
longer than 3 days and 3 nights,
the construction took finesse 
and dare one say, a gauche fearlessness

to unravel that ball of light
eject it out of her universe 
like a supernova,
like a titian haired prodigy,
far from easy, ostentum

to accumulate the life of it all
extend the regeneration in kind,
of a generational call -
each time an infant cries, 
the occupant in an infant is re-borne;

they say, it will take
3 days and 3 nights -
to destroy it all - 
the end of an unprepared
naive world -

who keeps tabs on the betting 
of it all, the end of a world?
there’s always 2 sides to a game -
the dimensions, levels all endless,
split and perplex;

in your arms today, gone tomorrow,
the love and the purpose stolen,
the end of a world -
the cycle sometimes broken -
yet the perpetuation of life, 

for all its worth -
continues, 

light and dark
some more light,
some more dark,
some sit on the fence 
in the middle, in-between; 

the end of a world?
they say shooting nuclear rockets 
into the Moon’s shadow 
could be a valid reason 
to collect unknown dark matter -

dark matter resides in us all -
why target the Moon and the Sun,
when we have bountiful supplies
within us all, human, here in this world?
all Jonahs, at some point, we are -

inside the belly of the whale

the internal infernal wars 
of us all, 
perhaps she thinks ...
she should cry like Jonah, 
hmmn, not anymore buster, not anymore

she’s had a life time 
to think on it all,
mull it all over - 
more and more
the rise and the fall,

but, she doesn’t cry anymore

the philosophy 
the mathematics 
of the metaphysical 
revolution takes over -
the futile banality of it all;

ostentum 

the occurrences, 
foreshadowing future events
borne from the belly of a whale 
the ostentum, 
goes about freely, now

watched from afar, 

by the love of another,
uneclipsed, 
in her own world

like a child 
watched by a loving mother




Candide Diderot. ‘24


Premium Member Confessions of a Lay Leader

Periodically, I'm called upon to be the lay leader for the Sunday service.
'Tis an honor, but tho' I've done it often, I'm still somewhat nervous!
Seems each time I'm tapped by the Pastor for this vital role,
She selects Scripture with names that off my tongue don't easily roll!

Oh, I can handle announcing hymns and the collection with no angst at all.
The Prayer of Confession and Responsive Call to Worship are an easy call.
I ain't no Billy Graham or John Wesley and ain't schooled in such things,
But I manage to muddle thro' such passages with the message that it brings!

I'm comfortable rattling off simple names like Matthew, John and James,
And Peter, Judas, Thomas, Andrew and Philip, the more common names.
But Lord have mercy!  Spare me names like Akkub, Kelita and Maaseiah,
Shabbethai, Jozabad, Pelaiah, Hodiah, Azariah, Sherebiah and Nehemiah!

I can easily elide over names like Moses, Jesus, Ezra, Adam and Daniel,
And such tags as Jonah, Ruth, Mary, Samson and the Prophet Samuel!
But tongue-twisters like Elimelech, Amminadab and a lady name Peninnah,
Leave me sputtering and blubbering (and I almost forgot a guy called Elkanah!)

Robert L. Hinshaw, CMSgt, USAF, Retired
Form: Rhyme

Anchor My Soul

I try to move the ship but enough water was not in the ditch
The water kept rising and falling and sometimes it feels as if my
Sprit is drowning; there are several avenues around me and all of them lead to the sea and that is where I will get the victory.

You have to fight on dry land as well as in the middle of the sand , my beams are too high and the light in the night sky is  too visible in the middle of the sky are causing collusion when the temperature dies.
You have to map out a new path, when you fly in the dark, fly above or below but never let them know which way you go; and when the day is foggy or the rain clouds appears in the sky take a quick dive and cruise slowly in the behind the radars; stick to your route and if in doubt, elevate your altitude even when there is no shoes.
The gutter snipes are coming to town, robe in jackets
Looking like clown, they wear that familiar hat but they were ushered away and taken to the back and when they search the whole town Jonah could not be found, and so they send someone to search the ship and there he was hiding in the ship’s hole examining his soul. They pull him out at once and throw him over board and he found comfort in the belly of the big black whale for three days until the curse went away.
I have thought long and my spirit began to sing a strange song not a sign of life was there and the people began to fear, no-one knows how the crowd ends up in the yard.
 
They came from abroad to celebrate the return of the mountain Gods but the fortified city had no one in it, except a few pine trees with broken street lamps and a cross buried in the ground and the people were nowhere to be found, and so they went in search of a city that that once exists in paradise and now it is floating on the ice.

Anchor my soul in the city that is full of light, anchor my soul where there is much delight, the place where I can walk freely in the street and talk freely with the people that I meet, I can walk out in the middle of the night and appreciates the sentiments around and listen to the melodious voices resonating from various building across the city Anchor my soul in the city where people never sleep.
Form: Narrative

The Lord Is Near

The Lord is on our side; once again He’ll stem the tide.
Enemy onslaught will subside.  The Lord is on our side.

Our God is here; we’ll survive.  Are you swallowed up alive? 
Have you foes who stalk? connive?  Our God is here; we’ll survive. 

     God saved Noah on the ark. He  healed the Hebrews in the dark. 
     God led Jonah to the shore. He guided Peter to the door. 
     God kept Daniel in the den. He rescued Paul from angry men.
     God spared David in the fray. He  taught disciples how to pray.

At all God’s vict’ries, stand in awe;  on ev’ry front, our God, voila.
Watch Him thwart Satan’s coup d’etat, And praise Him, Jehovah Shammah.

January 17, 2022
Form: Couplet

Premium Member The Prophet Jonah (In All Of Us)

Walk down the old path that many have walked
But I walk down a new path the path that I once balked
Death is the deliverance from sin
Death ends the battle within
I would rather die than submit to Your will
I would rather die than swallow the bitter pill
Don't wallow in your guises and guiles
Don't relent, don't remain in your sin and your trials
Until the day that you die, you will die
Shaking your hand at the storms in the sky
To all the sapient sentients and ye obstinate serpents
Repent, repent, repent, every morning filled with a new sense
We are reluctant to preach even though we are a priesthood
A peculiar one at that, making idols in our minds and of wood
We often walk away from the open door of a Gospel chance
We would rather revert to the old path of least resistance
Instead of the new path, it's not happenstance
That we are guided by the Providential and Chastening Hand
Don't harden your heart, do your part, count it joy
God does not plod, even though we scheme and ploy
Jonah's anger was Jonah's defeat
Get on your feet (feet that are effete) 
Lord help us to pull ourselves up by the bootstraps
So we can walk down streets of gold, our new paths
Form: Couplet


Escape From the Belly of the Beast

When I was a young man, 
I was swallowed by a whale.
Like Jonah I found myself 
in the belly of the beast
and I too called out to God 
from its deep and infinite blackness--
and God released me and
I found myself back in my body 
on the shore, my sorrowful face 
now warmed by the Sun.

For a long, long time 
that whale followed me.
I was never safe, 
not even on dry land, 
for that beast could go 
anywhere, and only the Light, 
that unique and wondrous 
brilliance not of this world 
could clothe my naked soul and 
keep that inhuman beast at bay.


[rec'd n/a in Second Chance Contest, 1-23-20]

Premium Member The Big Fish Spat Him Out

There was a man God called to serve
but he refused to go God's way
going in the opposite direction
this was a price he would soon pay

This man was Jonah a runaway
like so many fleeing the divine presence
going on a ship bound for Tarshish
but God knew who jumped the fence

He saw Jonah had jumped ship
so God brought along a big fish
which swallowed him up into his belly
there for 3 days and nights one big dish

So Jonah prayed earnestly to God
the Lord spoke to the fish so it was sick
it spat him out so Jonah obeyed
preaching righteousness to all to stick

This Jonah is really so like me
the sinfulness rebellion a sick heart
only God could turn him around
but he did give him a new start
Form: Rhyme

Premium Member Jonah's Calling

Jonah's Calling

A vision of Jonah I did not see,
Nor did I hear the Lord speak
(Who pitied the wicked city of Nineveh)
When He said to His servant, Jonah,
“Arise and go to Nineveh for me.”
“Set me free!” Jonah cried and said to himself,
“They are but strangers to me.”
And the Lord heard Jonah’s heart
And turned.

In shame, Jonah ran away
To Tarshish, where he boarded a cargo ship,
Which got caught in a tempest.
And lots were drawn
And Jonah was thrown overboard
And was swallowed by a huge fish
(Jonah prayed, and the Lord hearkened to him)
Which, after three days, vomited him onto dry land.

And the Lord spoke to Jonah a second time,
“Arise and go to Nineveh for me.”
This time Jonah obeyed,
And the Lord’s anger was abated
Because the debaucherous city of Nineveh
Repented.
However, Jonah was jealous
Of the Lord’s compassion for Nineveh
And sulked under the shade of a tree.
“It is so cool under the gourd,” thought Jonah.
“Why should I leave? Where is my love?”

Then, a worm ate the plant,
Causing Jonah to suffer from the heat,
Who then turned and cursed the Lord.
And the Lord spake to Jonah a third time,
“And yet, you did not plant the gourd,
Nor did you tend to it.
You know not whence it lives
And canst not say when it shall die.
Shall I not have compassion for the people of Nineveh
Who cannot tell their left hand from their right?
Dost thou do well to be angry with me?”

And I remembered, written in the Book of Isaiah 1:18,
Of the Lord’s abounding love and patience.
“Come now, and let us reason together,” saith the Lord.
“Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow;
Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”
                                          ***

References:
Book of Jonah (Old Testament)
Isaiah 1:18 (KJV)
Form: Verse

Loss Divine

From the mangled chaos of the lines
Emerge strange forms and all too telling tales
O life satanic and O loss divine

Faces will make then themselves, define
From the compost and the deathly rail
And the mangled chaos of the lines

There is never reason nor a rhyme
As Jonah found when sucked in by a whale
O life satanic and o loss divine

What is living but a life of crime?
Whether trained in Borstal or at Yale
Feel the mangled chaos of the lines

We wander, having leaders well outgrown
Some days it is hell and we just crawl
O life satanic and o loss divine

I believe, in bitterness and gall,
We must hold our spirits as they fall
Dark the mangled chaos of our lives
O love satanic and O loss divine

Mind of the Heart


Sponsored by : Unseeking Seeker
“Feeling, not thinking, Soul with Love linking
~ we attained God consciousness unblinking”.

Mind of the heart

Neither thinking 
nor feeling
~ Void ~

Soul penetrates innermost 
chamber time to time 
takes it on ecstatic 
journeys to unknown 
ocean mines
zips open my armour
blood dripping 
octopus grimacing
crushes, smash 
Heart  
to smithers 

I cry not for God blinks 
mermaid and merman 
whips tails together 
whale songs in distance 
deep dive
Jonah still imprisoned
above an albatross 
altitude altar soars

No mind for thoughts 
tabernacling
only a spacious journey 
across seas silver
star gates I myself 
unlock 
lymph losing colour 
of tailscales tailored
pearlescent 
Are these fingers or 
toes waking 
whispering ?
Not know I

I only know I AM
HEART in obedience
to ONE 

Armour crashes onto
bottomless floor  
no grounding lore
I fall, fall fathomless 
lie quiet beating
breathing 
throbbing exhausted 
exhumed encrypted 
exposed 
 
I AM liquid Love 
sensing coelacanth 
eggs in golden keg
Shiva seeps through 
viking waters cold 
I glide into His
embrace slit 
sea salt fed

Naked doorway veins 
to strange domains
arteries touch Void 
gently become
flickering flames 
dice game dance
mitochondria translucent 
your merman tail 
loses its scales
hair stick to oyster rock
justice jutting 
Neptune silent soothes 
Jonah’s three days 
served staring upward 
to Crystalline Light 
blinding sight 

No thinking no feeling
no thing ~  
I AM HEART divine
no nose, no ears, 
no skin sublime
Vulnerable 
though you, Soul
swam as Sea
Vulture visceral 

Two diamond dragon
drops in Divinity’s 
explosive glare
We melt into His
caressing stare
could not blink
no eyes 
brown or green 
neither lids to
comfort kiss

We attained God
Consciousness 
colourless

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