From lies in books they set us free
Encyclopedias are redacted
And Satie’s fourth Gymnopedie
Flooded with likes from the attracted
I’m living in the brave new world
It works far freakier than Huxley’s
I’m bought and sold and I download
I get the codes to use them aptly
I’m quite a modern chap these days
No more a fossil left in lurch
Daedalus AI builds new maze
Keeps every Theseus in search
Where is that famous silver thread?
But I just passed the exit gate
I heard the Minotaur is dead
The ambulance arrived too late..
The whole
Is a radiant beauty
There is nothing else to do here
But look at this enchanting maze.
Feeling lost and tensed
Being tired of everything
And obsessed with many things
What to do, don't know?
Just lost in myself, neither anyone nor everyone
Just finding myself in the world around me.
Worried about many things but the actual
worry isn't about finding myself,
Soo is about when?
Lost in myself but still can't find myself
The child inside me has gone far away
Given his shelter to an adult man,
responsibilities and realities......
Juggling high to be in the race of life
without quitting or looking back.
This word isn't so easy for living so
"Let me test myself,
Let me know the worth of my time and responsibilities"
It is not just about finding myself,
So is about what I have to become....
Oneday i will findout myself
But till then,
"Let the hunt go on"
"Let the hustle go on"
"Let me test myself"
"Let me find my path to find myself".
The destiny I am moving towards isn't easy,
Feeling scared to move alone
Hope to find myself soon
Accompany myself with me on the way to my destiny
The day I would find myself will be the beginning of my successful life.
By Phan Tan Hai
The city streets rise in layered mazes—
once, you forgot the way home;
I sat a hundred years like a mountain,
watching the rain drag itself across the town.
Storms would not cease across the sky;
clouds returned, blurred with my longing for you;
sun and rain slipped into my sleep,
so that day grew as cold as night.
Leaves fell, carrying autumn into summer;
I pretended I had never known you,
to live again like in childhood days,
like the day we first met and asked each other’s names.
Your laughter felt strangely familiar—
an echo from a former life in my soul,
like the sound of a shattered mirror long ago,
white hair still dreaming it was green.
My steps moved on, still hesitant;
you pretended to call me by the wrong name;
sleep still carried its old fragrance,
and the moon’s blue glow lingered in my eyes.
A maze of fog is destiny
or so it seems to me
Writhing away the hours
engaged indolently
Roar of machine and men
meet, meet, meet-and-deal
Win-win-win-win-win ~
whither consensus, divinity
Living under a cloud that shuts out sunshine
Memories never put to rest, they haunt you
Lost in a maze of your own making
You fail to figure the way out
Never seeming to find that open door
AP: Honorable Mention 2026
Indulging in space-time awhile,
to enter trance, donning a form,
letting the ego take control,
hypnotised, we wear a fake smile,
blown like a leaf in life’s fierce storm,
making do with fate’s offered dole.
As living light, we see it all,
the highs, the lows, the smiles, the fears,
learning in our body-mind urn,
wishing we could again stand tall,
that after ego disappears,
we reclaim love’s benign bliss burn.
In staid silence the truth is known,
of light of Self, within full blown.
In a coiling maze
mortars fume.
Crimson cadavers
dye the verdant soil.
Poison spears plunge
craters into young flesh.
Scattered moans rise
into the sorrowing air
of deafened canons
and carbon.
No succour or welcome
for the maimed.
Only ghosts
of peace.
The taking of this steroid pack
keeps me on a routine. Kicks
my butt to eat, write - see that pun.
Little by little, relieved of pain
that was so agonizing, not just
in the leg but in the mind, as well.
Today, we just might take a trip,
not the kind where I fall..no, no, no!
Weave in and out of a corn maze.
I haven’t been able to take my grand,
the youngest of the bunch, to do too much,
so with God’s blessing this would be nice.
Here’s hoping! I’ll be coping! Righting
wrongs of yesterday. We used to go
to do so much. Hard when at a jolting stop.
So write, I will; and write I do. Hope with me
for this thrill. I’m praying for a good day.
Lots to do on the land; landing on my feet.
WHAT I LOVE-WHAT I HATE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PART I
love fiery sunsets bleeding amber and rose--
mountains, valleys, seas, and heaven softly meet
above horizon, molten coin dips and glows
world wades into warm, slumber--gentle and sweet.
you stood beside me, your hand embracing mine
daylight bled, transforming into liquid wine
clouds caught fire, gradually turned to ash—
dusk descended—our silence spoke what words can't match
&&&&&&&
PART II
chaos erodes the labyrinth of my mind,
a fierce ravenous beast that gnaws at the planned.
I hate its claws—untamed, malicious, unkind—
destroying the flawless blueprints in my hand.
I crave the calm, tranquil hum of ordered grace,
a steady rhythm amidst earth's frantic pace,
calculated steps, the path both clear and known,
cadence deeply set, authentically grown.
I am surrounded by
Numberless wells,
At every step that I can,
Take, but up to the well,
I am to fell down,
Into depth of the well,
And from where I will,
Return is not sure,
If I come back, there is,
Another well, if I take,
A step, I will fell down,
In the depth of another,
Well, I am set in the maze,
Of life by the existence,
I lay , Frozen in my own creation - The Maze
It is gawked at by passerbys
Only to laugh and scrutinize.
They undermine the hold of them on me
Not one willing to stay and untangle the poisoned ivy parasitically preying
They comment at my state
And hand me empty maps
Telling me how simple it is to evade
Damned if I attempt to escape
I resign to my demise
Damned if I pray for a saviour
I attempt to sew my own tears
If only I was defined
If only I had refined
If only I hadn't mind
If only I'd been blind
Would the tangled vines remain intertwined?
If I tear through will I survive?
Or is it easier to stay docile?
I'm the prisoner of my own mind
Put on death row subjected to a perpetual decline,
Was it my fate to become like this?
Or was it a fault of mine?
I fear I don't have enough time to decide
For I'm next in line
My maze is a startling delusion,
confounding explanation.
Somewhere a goal, a dream,
a meaning
motivates me through,
a dynamic labyrinth of my own making.
Every choice opens another passage,
creates a new array of choices.
A long and convoluted passage,
distracted by lies and torturous
anger.
Pride leads me away,
a rat to his cheese.
Easier ways pave comfortable,
even pleasurable excursions.
Rarely, leaving an opening to meaning,
but often winding away
in ever-expanding walls and halls
of hollow treasures and moldering fame.
Desperation pulls me
To rise above the choices.
To meditate within the dreams.
To rest and trust in reality
Walls and halls now become highways.
Blue skies illuminate the lies.
Like street lights leading to the truth.
As I search the reassess of my mind
looking for something I left behind.
Doors are locked they won't let me in
What do they hide was it a sin?
I can not see as its dark as night
My inner fears I have to fight.
By only going forward will I go back
Do I give up or do I attack?
Life is a maze that you must walk through
I MUST WALK MY OWN MAZE AND SO MUST YOU...
Here I am
finally able to observe the maze from the outside
And continue to run into dead ends
Frantic, crazed in the beginning
But no I have found the exit
I am just a rat
But how am I able to be aware that I am
Does a fool know he's a fool, I think not
What options does a rat have
How can knowledge be power
I have the knowledge
It takes me where the walls let me go
Everything is constructed, predicted
The only thing I can control is my mind
Is my mind just another maze
Maze
Sub Categories
Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.