Darkness devours my miserly despondent room.
Wide windows covered shutting all luminous light
A taciturn thief that stole even the stars.
I sigh, a sudden suffering, it steals my sorrow from my eyes.
“The Darkened Sky Stole My Tears.”
She had left for good, no reason given.
Sorrowful soreness cling to my weary heart.
I feel a dreadful dirge hurting inside my breast,
My humble heart dances a worthless wake.
And still no sign of a flash of light in the dark.
My heart beats an echo of an illogic rhythm.
A mournful lullaby comes and goes in my head.
I curse the hush of darkened air, desperate echoes.
The mournful dirge suddenly flickers light
Through louvers and then I find my dreadful tears.
Placed 1
your skin …
cornflow’r in the moonlite
through louvers that
slice you to tender shards
of opalescence
arranged like piano keys on
Egyptian percale
the sea of sheets we so
often drown in …
“oh baby” -
the way you say those words -
soft candle puffs
as if turning flame to wisps
coyly chasing my name from
where I thought it safe
to its utter peril upon your lips
and its baptism by the
kiss that slays …
my rapture is no longer my own
it exists only in chaos
at the source of the divine -
the wellspring
that indescribable place of
wilding wonder …
and yet …
at this moment of contentment and
joy and security -
where we are timeless and true
where every hour is midnight …
a tear leaps from my chin to its doom
unnoticed by you with
my back strategically to the moon …
because I know with certainty
(though I don’t know HOW)
that someday I’ll be alone -
someday I’ll be drenched by the same moon
remembering this very moment
remembering that I knew
that solitude would be my fate …
that I would one day ache
for the gentle, whisp’ry way
you said …
“oh baby”.
Copyright © Gregory Richard Barden, January 24, 2024
He reassured with a kiss
And sorted out
The Details
Persian Cat and the
Humming bird
Watches the flowers
Swaying in the garden.
Sweet nectars shall
Awaking her to be natural
Once again, but now they
stand together in awe!
Adagio Crescendo was introduced to
Fugue Crescendo at a time when her
name was Fugue Verse. They meet
In a little town named Bridge and began
corresponding and became engaged.
They became Cantar and Cantrix , there
In Bridge. Louvers Lyrics united them in
A contractual concept. They joined the
very popular concept orchestra "Genre"
and sang background- ooh-ahs and foreground
Hooks prechoral and choral. Meeting Choral
Made me happy. Where nights and mornings
Lovers are we. Cantrix, I love you. Cantar I love you to. Some might this is an overture with concerns to boredum. Look to the one you love and say we will endure. Mr Adlib do your thing
make it right. Sweet get this man to sing: Cantrix you
know this is a lovers night.Got me saying: and I ain't playing Mister Counter Bass do your thing. Alto please bring me
to my knees, love get me all Kissy Phaced.
He reassured with a kiss
And sorted out
The Details
Adagio Crescendo was introduced to
Fugue Crescendo at a time when her
name was Fugue Verse. They meet
In a little town named Bridge and began
corresponding and became engaged.
They became Cantar and Cantrix , there
In Bridge. Louvers Lyrics united them in
A contractual concept. They joined the
very popular concept orchestra "Genre"
and sang background- ooh-ahs and foreground
Hooks prechoral and choral. Meeting Choral
Made me happy. Where nights and mornings
Lovers are we. Cantrix, I love you. Cantar I love you to. Some might this is an overture with concerns to boredum. Look to the one you love and say we will endure. Mr Adlib do your thing
make it right. Sweet get this man to sing: Cantrix you
know this is a lovers night.Got me saying: and I ain't playing Mister Counter Bass do your thing. Alto please bring me
to my knees, love get me all Kissy Phaced.
A spherical fish lenses larger
And smaller with each turn that's swum.
Size defying, the fish upon a plant stand
Towers over a cubically curled cat.
The cat sleeps inside a cardboard box
Among dank fern era smells.
Eye lids arise slantwise
Like through louvers of a shade.
The eyes close once again
As though in slow motion ecstasy.
Whiskers twitch and paws, taking turns,
Knead dreamscape, Siberian turf.
It is a lazy happiness, the cat has,
Swaying nothing but a tail's end.
Centered, the cat has no need
To find a fourth flap out.
But the bulgy eyed fish is held
By the weight of water and of glass. (7/16/22)
Leaves fell,
wind blew,
dark winter's night,
the fragile air
saturated with dew.
She knew
a certainty that bound
a knot in her stomach.
He won't come tonight.
Was it worth the wait,
wailing for her lover
like a boat ready for sailing
only to find a stormy sea?
Had she not closed all doors?
Closed louvers and secured
every blessed window
of her lonely soul?
Now she could but dream
of him she scared away,
Now her garden was empty,
the musk of the rose gone forever.
"Time is the thief you cannot banish."
Phyllis McGinley, Writer, 1905 - 1978
The end of my time will come in winter.
Or so I’ve been told.
The wind blows and rattles
the loose louvers of my windows.
Occasional thunder rumbles,
and rain floods my garden.
How quiet is the house today,
despite the crackles of burning wood.
I remember the past which exists no more.
The present is now solitude.
All is deadly silence,
a moment of peace.
So I sit alone and ponder.
Like a clock, life is ticking
towards my destiny.
I know too well about life.
It is not the here that is important,
but the eternal after.
And I am prepared for the journey.
Let winter do its infinite worst.
I fear it not.
10 November 2020
Placed 1
Writing Challenge - Quote Inspired - Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Constance La France
There’s a fluttering in my attic;
something’s alive up there.
The cat is getting frantic
and I dread going up the stairs.
I hope that it’s a bird,
rather than a bat;
unless I have misheard,
oh, I’d better get a hat.
I recall my sister’s hair,
when a bat flew into it;
it truly was a horrid affair,
she threw an awful fit.
I hope it’s not a vulture,
no, the louvers aren’t that big.
I hope it’s just a sparrow,
if it is, I’ll dance a jig.
There’s a fluttering in my attic,
some creature has moved in.
I hope it’s an easy rescue;
a challenge I can win.