Orbit or forfeit but never collide
You’ll just mess it up like last time
On a beach in St. Augustine, Florida, I thought I wanted you.
Orbit or forfeit but never collide
You’ll just mess it up like last time
I could have sworn I knew you from somewhere, the way your hair aligned with the freckles on your nose like a seashell. So distinct. And rare.
Orbit or forfeit but never collide
You’ll just mess it up like last time
I caught your eye. Visions of prairie wagon dirt clouds plumed in my head. I think it was the sea spray. Maybe. Grains of sand splayed on your forearms like stars. You had a dusty look about you.
Orbit or forfeit but never collide
You’ll just mess it up like last time
You smiled, and flakes of crystallized sea salt broke off your skin like a sparkling chrysalis. You were glowing,
but I averted my eye.
My mantric mind.
Orbit or forfeit but never collide
You’ll just mess it up like last time
She drew the clouds apart
bid me: “Look beyond”
my darkness
exhale a cleansing breath
whisper: “Let it be”
wave an open hand
in silent peace
inhale the unheard cries
of scentless petals
falling
listen to the mantric drone
of honey bees
watch the darkness shift
through thinning veils
ease into the light
that is your own
She drew the clouds apart
so that I might see
my darkness
John G. Lawless
©7/28/2018
Not So Precious Moments
They call
these nameless voices
introduced by
insipient rings
droning on
their piercing voices
shattering the moment.
They insist
on speaking breathlessly
running past the
comma’s
hurdling the
periods
racing toward
some distant goal.
Oblivious to
barking dogs
screaming children
whistling tea kettles
beeping smoke detectors
droningonandonandon
in mantric monotony.
Who imposes
such a penance,
demands such restitution?
What past life indiscretion
could bring about
such karmic contingency?
They call
yet I cannot offer
forgiveness.
Nor will I save the
endangered
kaigiwalligalopolous
by sharing
my credit card info.
Not even if they send me
a picture of
the kaigiwalligalopolous
my contribution saved.
They drone on
as I have set
the receiver down
and walked away.
The dog barks
the kids scream
the kettle whistles
the smoke detector beeps
the pan cakes are really done.
John G. Lawless
© 3/4/2017
Each night,
As sleep eludes me,
I lie
With my feet tangled in sheets
That should be tangled around yours,
And the silence
That deafens
With the lack of your sleeping breath.
As the minutes and hours crawl,
I pray silently
For those 3 words
That will break this spell.
To ease me down
Into the oblivion of blissful rest.
To hear them from your lips
Or fingertips,
Just 3 words, I don't mind which,
'I love you'
Or, 'I miss you.'
Spoken as you used to,
Would be the greatest draught upon my soul.
I will not rush,
Only wait patiently and pray,
That soon these words
Will spill from you again.
After all, the dread
That truly keeps sleep away;
Did I lose you while I wasn't looking?
But for now,
While I lie awake
And count away the hours,
I keep my constant mantric prayer,
And longed for haunting dream,
That soon, as planned, these sheets
Will tangle around your feet,
As the rhythm of your breath
Lulls sweeter dreams to me.
WATERFALL
Spray rising
a continual mist
prism-tinged light ascending an archway
welcoming
artistic etching tool
of nature’s surging alterations.
Purity
of fluid mantric chant
echoes the valley’s secret prayer.
Rejoicing
droplets in communion
ride the roaring tumult to the shore.
John G. Lawless
10/26/2014
submitted to - SOME FORM OF CRYSTALLINE- Poetry Contest
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