Long Terrell Poems
Long Terrell Poems. Below are the most popular long Terrell by PoetrySoup Members. You can search for long Terrell poems by poem length and keyword.
To all the poets near and far
Alive and well or beyond the stars,
I bid you peace, I bid you rest,
I bid you all the very best.
Life and death may er’ contain
All the fruits of love and rain,
Showered down upon you all:
Promethean poets, great and small.
Long before we learned to write
But felt inside that burning light,
To share all thoughts, hopes, sadness, dreams
Propitious poets bear it all it seems.
From long ago and far away
And right up through this very day,
Countless came and left their mark
And we too, shall make a lasting spark.
Perhaps a mere morsel, a line or two
That lands upon a mind imbued,
With someone who like you or me
Finds sublimity in words like these.
Though words are not real things we touch
Like rivers, rocks, seashells and such,
But point the way back deep inside
Where memories last and love abides.
But I for one am smaller yet
Then everyone I’ve ever met,
Who picked up paper, pen or quill
And found their calling in the still
Of quiet nights and early morns
Waiting for ideas unborn,
From spirits sweet and dewdrops soft
I bid you all good thoughts aloft.
© Terrell Martin, 02/21/2025
The heartbeat of the cosmos
like the ticking of the clock,
the pounding of a pulsar
and sounds that never stop.
A waterfall, a bouncing ball
a bird upon a limb,
whose chirping sounds, we find profound
like Icarus in the wind.
And ocean waves that roll away
and break on distant shores,
the cry of whales, the sigh of sails
or knocking on a door.
The swirls and twirls of galaxies
and tornadoes through the skies,
hurricanes and volcano flames
that rise and come alive.
Like the moon that’s bound to its earthly crown
and the gift of falling rain,
a Mystery moves this universe
and the blood inside our veins…
the pulsing of our own heartbeat
no less than that of stars,
connecting us to love and trust
no matter just
how far.
© Terrell Martin, 02/18/2025
The old Grim Reaper, everlasting gate keeper
Lies waiting like a cannibal ‘round the bend,
For every kind of soul turning this life frigid cold
On the other side of memories, family and friends.
While praying to our gods and hoping against all odds
To feel, touch and smell the scent of rose,
Beyond this life full of wrong and right
Until the cock begins to crow.
While withering away, day by deciduous day
In the glory and beauty of it all,
‘Till ending in wonder of our dreams, triumphs and blunders
New babies cry, birds fly, and tides rise and fall.
Inescapable to the end, dire enemy or best friend
Now seeking for the solace of Divine,
Love, strength and grace to help us dance and face
The bittersweet soulful journey beyond time.
© Terrell Martin, (First poem composed this year: 01/05/2025)
Projects surround me like fences ‘round my head,
Telling me to get more done and to follow where I’m led.
There’s grass to cut and seeds to sew,
People to meet and places to go.
A model ship lay waiting for glue and paint
While the kitchen faucet has a non-stop leak.
I’m too far behind on my reading list
As books on the shelves cry out and hiss:
“Read me, read me and forget those chores.”
As more projects lie waiting at the old front door.
Take out the trash and clean the cans
And pay those bills before they wreck your plans.
Call friends and family you haven’t heard in a while
And do your best to try and make them smile.
All the while you’re barely holding on
To the last vestige of feeling whole and strong.
Praying for time just to write a new poem
To yourself, and others, feeling forlorn.
Something to lift you up out of the blues
And away from the projects that suffocate you.
Knowing life is a matter of choices we make
For better or worse, our triumphs, mistakes.
As for me all the projects that come and will go,
Writing is lighting like rain is to snow.
© Terrell Martin 01/08/2025
Too many days I’ve watched you from afar
And carried you like feathers all around
More lovely than the light from distant stars
And soft as flower petals scattered ‘round.
And saw you as someone who just might be
Still looking for more love somewhere inside
The mirror image of someone like me
To lift you up and spread your wings to fly.
And free you from your dismal prison cage
Where time was torture of the fiendish kind
Until you saw the light of love one day
In the eyes of another soul like mine.
No longer must we walk this earth alone
With you, dear love I know I’m always home.
© Terrell Martin, 02/25/2025
I watched a caterpillar climb a tree
Wondering why in the world not me,
Taking it as a fortuitous sign
While seeing that poor critter climb.
Holding my breath with squinted eyes
Thinking to myself, how very wise
We humans are by strange design
While seeing that poor critter climb.
Minute by minute in our eternal now
His journey and mine combined somehow,
Over the branches and through the vines
While seeing that poor critter climb.
Under summer skies and wandering winds
Waiting to see where his journey ends,
When butterfly wings suddenly spread
And that critter flies before my eyes, instead.
© Terrell Martin, 02/09/2025
Someone near and dear to me
Has a child with Downs Syndrome,
Who, more often than not
Is beyond difficult to control.
The little boy is six years old
But acts as if he’s two,
He can’t speak at all, just yells a lot
Throwing wild tantrums until he’s blue.
He likes throwing things around
As if everything’s a toy,
And has difficulty distinguishing
Between bad behavior and pure, ecstatic joy.
(And his mother is a nervous wreck,
always picking up after the boy).
His fingers are his eyes at times
As textures are his friends,
If he doesn’t like the way it feels
He won’t go there again.
And he likes to lay down on the ground
Balling up like a boulder,
Until someone comes to pick him up
While he gives them his cold shoulder.
It’s difficult to fully describe
All the nuances of this child,
The range of his emotions
From anger and sadness to his beautiful, blissful smile.
(And his mother is a nervous wreck,
walking many lonely miles).
They wonder about his future
And those around him always near,
And wonder how much happiness
Will follow him through the years.
Will he learn to play an instrument
Or dance and sing a song,
Is it possible he will marry someday
Will true love come along?
Will he find friends who will love him
And treat him sweet and kind,
Or only those who will shun him
And close him off like blinds.
(And his mother is a nervous wreck,
And losing her own mind.
His mother is a nervous wreck
And loves him
All the time).
© Terrell Martin, 02/26/2025
I Never Really Knew My Dad (A Memorial Day Tribute)
I never really knew my dad
As well as I wish I might;
He was a sailor in World War II
In the great Pacific fight.
He survived the war but died before
I ever got to ask;
About all the battles and hellish days
He carried in his past.
I thought I knew him well enough
As a child still having dreams;
But I never thought enough to ask
How he fought and what he’d seen.
Quiet in composure
A father for all times;
Had he not survived and married my mother
These words would not be mine.
Had he not survived Pearl Harbor,
Kwajalein or Guadalcanal,
Had his ship been sunk at Midway
I wouldn’t be here now.
To share these thoughts of thankfulness
For what he and others did;
Risking their lives, futures, fortunes and love
Giving all they had to give.
And when it all was over
And he finally came back home;
He never shared those memories
Save for some late night groans.
I once heard when he was sleeping
Then waking up in tears;
I never really knew my dad
And all his war-time fears.
But here I am because of him
And the woman he loved true;
Because of them a family
And these thoughts I give to you…
Never was a better man
Than he who raised me up;
And never spoke of what he saw
Or drank from his life’s cup.
Never will I have the chance
To ask him once again;
What happened on the battlefields
To you and all your friends?
Did you hear the screams of shattered dreams
And final, goodbye breaths;
Did you march in the parade of victory
Or lie under the stars and rest?
I’ll never get the chance to ask
At least not in this life;
But pray I will when the next rolls ‘round
And we both walk in the light…
With our mother, sisters and brothers
Family all with fallen friends;
I never really knew my dad
But surely will someday, again.
©Terrell Martin, Memorial Day, 2019
I don’t know how I lived so long
without poetry by my side
to uphold enfold and console me
as time went passing by
how did I miss the gentle kiss
of rhythms all around
the sound of rivers rushing
and rolling tides with waves unbound
the chirping birds whose secret words
were music nonetheless
even though I did not sense
the Whole-iness of being blessed
nor did I see the unity
between poetry and the stars
always missing the meaning
of whom and what we truly are
the miracle of miracles
why anything is here at all
was supremely overwhelming
for a man like me so small
nor did I hear the Sound of the Spheres
Homer’s Odyssey or Tennyson’s Light Brigade
was never too clear with Shelly and Shakespear
and the mystical magic they made
while metaphors and similes
enjambment and free verse
were all just mumbo-jumbo
to me one giant curse
but slowly and imperceptively
I felt a change within
as words became more meaningful
and a strange new kind of friend
and it took a while to learn to smile
on a haiku in the woods
but time’s been kind and let me find
rhythm and peace inside
my poetry and manhood
© Terrell Martin, 02/26/2025
I don’t know where resilience comes from
But it seems to be in short supply -
There was a time when “true grit” meant something
But for too many that idea died.
Complaining and playing the blame game
Seems to be the new status quo -
“It’s not my fault my life’s a mess,
It’s his or her fault you know!”
Or its just dumb luck and I lost out
On every opportunity -
Poor, poor, pitiful me,
Blame it all on my community.
Or better yet it's those on the left
I mean really, the “Extreme” far right -
Yes, there to blame for screwing my game
Along with my entire life.
Don’t you see what they’ve done to me
Those evil political goons?
They’ve strapped a suicide vest on me
Blowing my dreams up into sky blue.
They told me I could win every time
I competed or took a math test -
“Everyone deserves to win because
Everyone is trying their best.”
You know little Johnny got a ribbon
And I should get one too,
It's just not fair he’s better than me
Boo-who, boo-who, boo-who!
So, it’s not my fault I’m lost in life
And can’t even find my bearings -
It’s not my fault I’m so depressed
I lash out and resort to swearing.
At all of you and this whole world too
Filled with nothing but misery and pain -
With a glass half empty instead of half full
And nothing to venture or gain.
I can’t help it if I can’t tie my shoes
Or go out and look for a job -
I tried that one time
And nearly got robbed.
Because the game is rigged against me
And has been from the start -
Every time I try to excel
I get palpitations in my heart.
Therefore, I’ll just go out and complain today
About how I hate winter and spring -
Because birds and bees will soon return
But somebody clipped my wings.
© Terrell Martin, 03/13/2025