2025 Poetry Marathon Mile 7'
The water inundates the houses and the towns.
Washing all the beauty to an ugliness of brown.
Homes are ruined, with memories loss, by heavy drowning-floods.
Nasty and distasteful times, swallowed, up in muds.
Yet, in all the tragedy, a bond of brotherhood is there.
A loving, sacrificial braveness permeates soaked air.
People stretch to take great risks in saving human lives.
And those within the jaws of death get chances to survive.
The love connection’s present wherever else one goes,
committed faith and caring in a world within the throes.
Heat, fires, droughts and earthquakes won’t destroy “the human bond.”
In all life’s throes of "ugly,” this bond grows ever strong.
When we behold a person save another from death's grasp,
they take upon themselves a risk that no one else can ask.
Such greater love had only ONE to offer up His life.
The beauty of this move to save is divine sacrifice.
The world is bleeding; anyone can see.
Red with blood it is indeed.
Oh, when from pain will we all be free?
A sickness infects the bourgeoisie
while we suffer from callous leaders’ greed.
The world is bleeding; anyone can see.
You can’t disguise wealth’s stench with sweet potpourri
when slaves to poverty are mired in their need.
Oh, when from pain will we all be free?
Hunger and disease are the sad reality.
It only seems corruption is what’s guaranteed.
The world is bleeding; anyone can see.
Oh, the misery from which so many cannot flee.
Many try to just get by yet can’t succeed.
Oh, when from pain will we all be free?
No man can offer up a good Plan B.
Only God one day will intercede.
The world is bleeding; anyone can see.
Oh, when from pain will we all be free?
Here Death strode and left its trace
Where laid its hand to mark the place
Bade stony pages stand in waiting
To offer up in silent greeting
Final words for those distressed
Written out on granite stones
Under which in Deaths caress
Lie sedentary bones
Whose dreaming now is not besot
In earthly tasks nor woes begot
For Death to those in quiet repose
Bequeathed lifes last refrain
And eyes and lips forever closed
For evermore abstain
Yet with a dreamers certainty
Now ponder for eternity
The meaning spake in timeless odes
Upon which Deaths surcease bestowed
The clock towers loom, a haunting chime,
A wish to rewind, to conquer time.
To rewrite pages stained with pain,
To wash away the hurtful rain.
If I could grasp that fleeting hour,
Before my actions turned love sour,
I'd cradle you in my gentle embrace,
And hold you in that sacred space.
More than a whisper, more than a dream,
I'd drown you in a love supreme,
And offer up, without a fight,
My bloody beating heart.
No longer fleeing, lost and blind,
From the devotion I would find
Within your soul, a burning pyre,
Fueled by an unyielding fire.
But time, a river, onward flows,
And in its current, no one knows,
If love, once broken, can repair,
And stand the test of time beyond the end.
Would our affections, stay strong and true,
Survive the ages, me and you?
Or drift away on desert winds,
Like scattered dust, where longing ends,
Like ancient sands, that is stuck in a fading trace,
Of love's lost echo in this place?
There’s nothing underneath my feet but lots of empty air.
I should have looked before I leaped, but I don’t really care.
I have no net or parachute, a devil on a dare.
And even at this altitude I see you everywhere.
I’m falling…
I’m falling…
I’m falling for you.
I look up to see my shoes. I’m rushing toward the ground.
Out of all control, I cruise and yell a joyful sound.
Accelerating, speed on speed. Down! I’m falling down!
And in the midst of it I see your love is all around.
I’m falling…
I’m falling…
I’m falling for you.
Shooting stars and meteorites, they’ve got nothing on me.
Dropping at the speed of light and doing brilliantly.
Rocketships and U.F.O.’s all move to let me pass.
I’m going where they cannot go and moving way too fast.
The wind is whistling by my ears. I offer up a prayer.
But I’m not feeling any fear, at least that I’m aware.
Caught up in your gravity I’ve happiness to spare.
‘Cause looking all around I see your love is everywhere.
I’m falling…
I’m falling…
I’m falling for you.
Today I’m grateful for my family…
and to them I offer up this toast….
What we have in life is nice
but it is who we have
that matters most.
Come to the field of forgiveness
when you are feeling low.
If negativity nags at you,
you need to let it all go.
Let go of your bitterness.
Bluebells will beckon to you.
These meadow empaths feel your pain.
Your soul they will renew.
Lie down near lovely flowered spaces.
Take a whiff of the fragrance of
lilac, lavender and larkspur.
Breathe the pure scent of love.
Lay down anger and hatred.
Hostility you must release
if you want to know in life
happiness and peace.
Kneel beside white lilies and
offer up a heartfelt prayer.
Touch the petals of roses red.
Feel the good Lord’s care.
Compassion toward those who hurt you
in your heart you will sow
when you visit the field of forgiveness
where the greatest miracles grow.
Thank you for your faith
in the country you so love
that you’d offer up your life
in a cataclysmic strife.
Thank you for your courage,
although you shook inside.
You did all that was required,
no matter what the price.
The noise of guns and mortar
convulsed the fetid air.
You saw beloved comrades
lie bleeding at your side.
You suffered pain and conflict
when you had to kill another,
against what you’d been taught,
to love, not hate, your brother.
We call you strong and brave
and admire your fortitude,
but the toll that it has taken
is in your mind and soul.
To kill for love of country
and the freedoms we possess
takes strength we can’t imagine,
and thanks are not enough!
The world is savage, punishing and hard.
We experience more than we can bear.
While not a one of us comes out unscarred,
it isn't even anything like fair.
We long for a bit of recognition
for precious things we offer up and share.
We all rate. Life's not a competition.
There is little reason we must compare.
We all need empathy, we try so hard.
When the world plunges us into despair,
and the life given us we would discard,
we must find someone on the earth to care.
A lake presided o'er by mystic elves,
this world is but a mirror of ourselves.
Oozing with elegance
oh, gemstones carved by God*
offer love and hope to
optimize wellness while
opening blessings' gates
over gloomy blight, midst
October vibrant days
*1 Peter 2:5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
October 20, 2024
4th place, "October Symbols - Pleiades Style" Poetry Writing Contest
Sponsored by Andrea Dietrich; judged on 11/2/2024
AUTUMN LEAVES
Leaves, all as unfulfilled summer hopes, finally fall
As they do, in their own kind of golden splendour
With Autumn offering them welcoming sympathy
They know with much regret, their time has come
To lay silently among many others of a similar fate
But glad they have fulfilled such a crucial function
Looking back up at the tree’s black bare branches
Certain that new progeny will emerge next Spring
With no way now left for them to offer up advice
Yet assured that Nature has the keys to pass it on
The secret, to capture and transform the sunlight
First you take the girl
up on the southern Downs -
on a day with light wind
and bright sunshine.
Then you unpack things
from your bulging back pack -
with emphasis on those
Picnic goodies.
Next you ask for help
stretching the fabric out
to fit the sticks inside -
looking in her eyes.
While she holds the tail
you touch her hand with yours
as you tie up the string
ready for the air.
You give her the reel
and offer up the kite
to the heavens where her
presence transports you.
Place your hand over hers
and show her how to let
the string free the kite to fly.
When she turns, kiss her.
It's very simple.
© Griffonner 2024
A nurturing environment where mama and loved ones
Always offer up arms and open doors unto everyone
Mama N them
Always has
Open arms and open doors
Hallelujah
8/7/24
Written words by James Edward Lee Sr. 2024©
I wake up in the morning
She is there tempting me
Let’s dance, she sings
Lay your eye on me
You’ll be mine
I wish she wasn’t so jealous
I forget how to be with others
I forgot when it wasn’t us
She wants to tango together
Every chance, nonstop
I have things to do, I say
Do me instead, she tweets
Don’t go off doing other maids
Don’t cheat on me, she weeps
Never leave me, we say
I want a divorce, I toy
She won’t sign the papers
She’ll offer up her sister coy
A menage de trois improper
I’m no good at cutting ties
Let’s say our time is beguiled
Your spirit torn asunder
And me in my dull domicile
I could block your number
I may take you to court
But, I can’t separate
Me from me as if I could
Perhaps I’ll cleave my mate
But, she’s my limb bound
The only one who knows me
How to leave a lover pining
Ignore the ringing phone
Drown out the knocking
But, she fills the hours gone
My jealous addiction
Crack open the door
Though I shouldn’t answer
Take in her perfume sour
Rip the divorce papers
Let’s be exclusive
It won’t be forever
When I’m gone you’ll wander
A new heart to plunder
Let go of me, my lover
And I’ll let go of you
Easter, and the mystery
unfolds in the hearts
of chocolate rabbits.
Some still believe,
in the capacity of eggs to
resurrect joy,
or they race within chicken runs,
to celebrate a pre-diabetic date,
while other's only offer up
painted shells.
The mystery will continue,
just as long
as we play these games,
of hide and seek.
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