Overlaps Poems | Examples

Paradoxical zen poetry

Leaves a fall in rain
And pile one on another,
Rain as if beats rain.
                ….
Two hands do when clap,
Silence overlaps with one,
Peaceful in the lap.
                ….
Parents give a face 
And body to the faceless,
To soul still where’s face?
                ….   
We parted long ere,
Eons have passed ever since,
We’re still together,

And not a moment
Separated us ever,
Not a stray instant.

All day long sans let,
Facing are we each other,              
Yet, we’ve never met.
_____________ 
Haiku |19.02.2025| irony, poetry, spiritual

Note: ‘Rain as if beat rain’ sounds quite paradoxical. But on deep thinking it is not. Two hands can clap. One hand in the lap, peace overlaps. One’s pre-birth face, and others. But this is how Zen Buddhists (the word Zen derived from Sanskrit Dhyan) used to express their mystical experience in riddles called koan (from Kena Upanishad). Later on, these were derived as poetic expressions that reached perfection as haiku.

The Lantern Bearers

My fellow pilgrims on life’s path,
I greet you here today
To share a tale of gratitude
For help along our way.

Our best route is the straightest path,
And narrow from the gate.
But most of us went crashing through
As though we couldn’t wait
To see the things in store for us,
The sights that life would bring,
Not knowing that the track is steep
And dangers wait to sting.

A plethora of vistas wait
For those with eyes to see
But fog can sometimes block our view
As daylight starts to flee.
It’s in these dark and tricky parts
Where angels come to play,
With lanterns born above their gaze
To light the hidden way.

And when we pass beyond their light,
Another’s overlaps,
Until we’ve reached the sun again
And crossed the risky gaps.
These angels are but humble souls;
A neighbor down the road
Who walks their path with righteous steps,
And shoulders others’ load.

God bless these lantern bearers!
Without them I’d be lost
And never find my way back home
Despite the distance crossed.

Presumptuous Prayers

         Pending next droplet, drip mirror spherical 
         Rolls speedily down leaf spine, drops sluggish
         Earth splatter tsunami sends ants hysterical 
         Stunned dusk undergrowth inherits lush nourish
         Urge pink ibis mini flamingoes fossick forage

         Monstera nod, almond gaps dim heliotrope
         Panther threads trunks, slinky seeker of prey
         Teeming technicolor butterfly kaleidoscope 
         Ulysses sheen self propelled pages paraded 
         Overtly elated to give and receive nil sage

         Umbrella edges bend, rotund umbra worms 
         Squirm in church of curving purple steeples
         Polished olive flags flap, dancefloor foliage

         Rune scribes in immaculate symbiotic terms
         Accord overlaps then parts, calm sequence 
         Your forest of frolic pays hedonism homage
         Excused from the mantra of hot fate frighten
         Rain redeems rotted logs in soft moss christen

      
         Scintillating hinterland halcyon happy village




                 Twenty Second of October
                  Two Sides to every Story

Parturition

when we enter this world
we face severe distress

our skull overlaps crushing us
we squeeze through our body, fighting to breathe
and after all the struggle ,we cry

not laugh nor talk,but cry
since the beginning this life showed us pain
and it continues to until death takes form

so we continue to fight through
till the very end
just like we did
when we took our first breath

This Extra Layer

the skin says it all
it's disorder
white sheet - dirty spot
irritation of inconvenient tissues
discomfort from peeling off rough things
the sweet scent that drives away
or icy sound of unwanted voices
what overlaps everything
this extra layer
another mountain to climb
I preferred the blindness of phones
just your beta voice for my alpha voice
I don't expect the resurrection of smiles
I don't think I'll ever hear these verbs again
now my scapular is made of bones
and if everyone is packing their bags
it's because paradise comes one day

Every Inch of You

Turning to face reality
a mirror tells no lie,
with no way to hide it
how can one even try

The image of myself 
not one of perfection, 
and still I can see you
in that gray reflection 

Every inch of yourself 
was not meant to be seen,
the wise woman knows
what is hidden in between

Every inch it overlaps 
what matters most to me, 
holds more importance 
than what a mirror can see

Inner beauty and passion 
the heart and the brain, 
never facing rejection 
though feeling the pain 

The blind leave the scars
though cuts cannot deflate, 
nor jokes that may crush
will not hold any weight 

So if when alone one day 
you still find yourself blue,
promise you'll remember 
I love every inch of you.

Once In a While

the picturesque
so
    transitory,
yet so
        timeless..
doodles 
           of the eye
           liquid light
that
      illuminates
      the gloom
      of the
             everyday:
chance
           happenings
            unbidden
yet..
     so worthwhile!
incidents
that become 
              an allegory
that overlaps
                   then
                   separates
to become
gestures
          upon the canvass
          of
          memory

My Hero

A Powerful Tree I know
Outstanding in All its Growth
Great and Mighty Fortress
Overlaps and Grinds

Weighs Upon Greater Gazes
Surrender To No One
Shines Upon All My Troubles
Stands Firm on Sinking Grounds
Washes All the Past, and 
Present Worries

What a Hero! 
What a Friend!
This person I will Call
Is my One And Only Dad!

Waiting

The  clock ticks, I wait.
I am not ticking time,
Time ticks me up. 

“Time is the king of men”
As I stop at a clot of time, 
Growing lost in the present,
As I wait to hear the doctor, my doctor. 
Doctor, over the time — overlaps. 

I wait for the doctor. 
Today, doctor ticks the time. 

I don’t know what will he tell? 
A news will break, 
Will he tell? 
YOU ARE BEYOND,
IT’S TOO LATE. 

Will I then, tick the time?

Wing Shadows

Wings shadowing below...

                Ever following yet never quite meeting,

               Gliding smoothly over lakes and valleys,

            Distorted and misshapen by crevices and rock;

    Yet, beginning at once, as each stroke simultaneously blends.
 
               Like eternity this powerful flight,

         As we strive to shadow the ones who soar before us.

     Never quite with them, yet close enough to mirror their efforts.
 
            Distorted at times by life’s inconsistencies.

          We find ourselves stretching and releasing as they.

                     As we rise ever higher,

           Wings overlap wings and time overlaps time.

   Transformed,we become the wings for the shadows that follow.

Thumbing

I learned to type the proper way
Instead of hunt and peck,
Most often on a manual.
(Electric was high tech.)

But nowadays when texting
I’m pathetic as one comes
For I seem to be incapable
Of writing with my thumbs.

So every message I compose
My pointer finger taps, 
The right one only, I should add – 
No tangled overlaps.

I marvel when observing
All the mainly younger folk
As they thumb their words so quickly
While I, turtle-like, do poke.

Rubberband Land

The rubber band land,  short and long,
   thick and thin elastic stretch pull along;
it's pulled, it's pushed, poked and often touched,
it gives, it takes, it's prod and plucked,
   flicked back and forth, twisted and torqued,
   stroked and brushed;
it rolls, it folds, it overlaps,
it slips, it slides, it even bends back;
   used, abused, misused and used again,
   it continues to forgive, renew and bend;
then one day, unseen and brave
the elasticity begins to slowly slip away.
   Hard as it tries
   it's stretched beyond its ply
it elongates and begins to show its cracks,
it lacks the will and desire to slip back;
   the strand inched out beyond its original limb
   having given all its giving;
nothing left to retrieve
no final last reprieve;
   no more give, all taken
   that final straw now breaking.
The band now laid to waste
with a search for another to take its place
   but for some there is no counterpart
   their existence is a singularity of art
like the land upon the earth
once flowed lush and green from birth
   erased by the human seed
   and his all consuming greed.

Spread

spread out
your work and play
every year
every week
every second
every day

don’t worry
about voids 
and overlaps
for they and you 
will pass
anyway

The Shadow of You

Now that you have passed,
the days are mostly a crescent memory,
eclipsed by the night illuminating
what daylight darkens. 

And me...
sitting upon the edge of my bed,

I look down, 
down in consternation...
down to where the stars fall, 
down to where heaven overlaps emptiness,

slipping through the floorboards
like ribbons of gravity that can
not escape my insolvent darkness;

the thought that you, 
you in your celestial light of death,
you no longer will tender my embrace. 

I am afraid that now
if I saw you
I could no longer wrap
my arms around you,

arms that have been clutched
as they have all of these nights
around the shadow of you 
upon the frame of my heart...

that they could no longer open,
 
and with love being just moments away
I would die within my own dream.




(March 27 2016)

People

Crowded rooms
filled up doorways,
everybody attempting to rescue
their own personal space - 
yet somehow
each overlaps
floods the neighbouring aura
and ignites a spark
of life force
that will grow, enrich
and educate
the mind
inside
the body...
 
Copyright Deon J.H. Burger 2014

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