Red car
Red light
Bomb blast
Dream past
Soulless
Heartless
Crime chime
Pain bane
Preciously gathering each rose petal
Younger sister’s funeral come to an end
The depth of pain unbearable
Wordku: 5-7-5 words
AP: Honorable Mention 2025
Life gives me pancakes with no maple syrup
Bread with no jam
A story with no happy ending
A body with no arm
I feel like God mocks me
Created me just for fun
Cause why give me eyes if I can't see?
Why give me legs if I can't run?
You give me puzzles with incomplete pieces
Send me on quests with no end
You watch silently as I get broken
And go even quieter while I mend
I feel like God mocks me
Gave me a hammer with no nail
Cause you knew this would happen, didn't you?
You must have known that I would fail
Destined to run a race with no finish line
Destined to be a candle without a wick
Destined to watch my life fall apart
And all that I built, brick by brick
I feel like God mocks me
So I won't try anymore
Tired of living a life of near misses
A life of neither nor
Destined to chase shadows
Cursed to befriend pain
When the sun sets tomorrow
I'll write this poem, again
They say you’re at peace—
but I feel the tremble in the dark,
the soft scratching
of something not quite gone.
There is no stillness
where you sleep.
Only silence too heavy,
like breath held too long
by the dead.
I dream of you
and you are never smiling.
Your eyes are glass,
your mouth a locked door.
You reach,
but never touch.
I’ve seen the moon recoil
from your grave.
Felt the cold push back
when I whispered,
“Rest easy.”
BUT YOU DON’T
Your name rings hollow in the wind,
dragging behind it the sound
of unfinished sorrow.
You are a shadow
that never settles.
You walk between the worlds
without light,
without peace.
I can feel it—
you didn’t let go.
And maybe…
neither did I.
You were the baby with wildflower eyes,
he was the storm who softened around you.
Others saw grit in his walk, fire in his voice—
but you, you saw through.
You knew the boy who slept with a hammer,
the one who’d guard your name like gold.
He never said much about feelings or fear,
but you knew the stories his silence told.
He was rough hands, loud laughs,
calloused from life and too many wrong roads.
But you, sweet Shawna, held tight to the light
in places where even he didn’t go.
You loved him through mess, through mistakes and the mud,
through the nights prison was his home.
You still love him now—just quieter, deeper,
in the marrow, the soul, the bone.
When your girls ask about him one quiet day,
you’ll smile and say, “He was real, and he tried.
He had the heart of a lion and the laugh of a boy—
and he lived life his own way.”
So, when you miss him, don’t hold it in,
don’t hide the ache in your chest.
Let it bloom, let it burn, let it remind you—
you loved him the way a sister loves best.
is there not a note or chord or rhyme
i haven't explored or given time,
or some three letter tune, with notes so true
it perfectly explains my state of mind?
its hard finding new rhymes with lonely,
or to make arguments i've been betrayed,
those long nights still haunt me
and time and shame they cost me
behind an unlocked door barricade,
i wish i was a lot kinder,
to the one i had left on the floor,
instead of torturing myself with more questions
about if anyone really does care,
i should have packed up my rags,
put my time in a bag
and paid for a one-way bus fare,
to get me the hell out of there,
i'm sorry for leaving you abandoned,
and yelling at you to believe,
you must suck it all up,
put your pride in a cup,
and swallow your hollow disgrace,
the taste was always sour,
the smile soon would fade,
and back again you'd find yourself
behind another barricade,
That Love — when full — may fade —
As Blossoms do — from June —
Its Petal — pressed upon the Mind —
Its Fragrance — gone too soon —
That Death — is not a Stranger —
But Patient — at the Door —
Who waits — with Kindly Certainty —
We cannot long ignore —
That Hope — though clad in Silver —
Will tarnish — if delayed —
The longest Vigil — wears the Soul —
Whose Prayer — is not repaid —
That Truth — is rarely Gentle —
She cuts — to show the Core —
And leaves us bleeding — yet more Pure —
Than we had been before —
That Self — once lost — is seldom found —
In quite the same attire —
The Ash — remembers being Flame —
But not the former Fire —
why must i hear?
Take my ears.
For i don't wish to hear the voice of fears.
Why must i see?
Take my eyes.
For i don't wish to see the thoughts of thee.
Am i long forgotten now?
Do i not exist in your flurry of rage?
The begotten cries of tears.
And all those petty ways in which you'd ignore my beaten-
Senseless soul.
For i cry too,
You are not the only one,
You are not alone in this place
I wish i could call home.
Its lonesome here,
And yet ignorance is bliss.
I think a lot about the world surrounding me,
As I get older,
The way I’m the bent product of two straight lines of soldier.
The way Atlas holds up the globe on just his shoulder.
The way the paint grips the canvas like a child holding on to his father.
It's strange; the way I think of the leaves,
As I get older.
But now I’m at an age where I’m thinking of adult concepts and eventuality,
I think about tax season — what what I’ll buy with the money,
I think of overseas — try and learn why people can't reach neutrality,
I think of wars, and blood on beaches,
Fake peace and victory speeches,
I think of the kids whos pain only matches the screeches —
Of tires and tares,
On runaway fares,
Paying tolls on roads I long forgot didn’t fall.
My friend got into an accident this fall.
There he sits — Hospital bed,
Wandering eyes to white walls filled with dread,
Legs broken so he can’t even wander the white halls — wishing he wasn’t stuck in bed.
And my mind is over on the side, wishing I could be dead.
I spent years of my life just wondering —
“Is this the older I get?”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
cool moist overcast,
misty mindless doubts run past;
unsettling future.
under lake darkness,
creatures lurk below and sneak;
my mind exhausted.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Why do we love despite pain?
When the rain showers down the earth,
We knew we'll get soaked if we go out,
Yet we still love to run around fully wet -
Then rush and get changed - beside the fire to get warmth.
Isn't it insane? You knew it, yet walk right in -
Then taste the sweet-angst of love,
Where no home could be built,
Nor dream could chart it come true;
Like a dream castle, built in a dreamy dream,
You woke up and gone, left with tinged pain.
Let the the sacrifices we made vanish in vein
Let the blood that was poured burn like the woods on the fireplace and fruits of their generosity be seen like the smoke from the chimney
May the good lord wash away the pain from our hearts but not the scars from our souls so that we might remember work of the precious souls we lost
May the smell of their grief reach the heart of the Almighty like the smoke of the accepted sacrifice
Let the the sacrifices we made not vanish in vein
Let the blood that was poured burn like the woods on the fireplace and fruits of their generosity be seen like the smoke from the chimney
May the good Lord wash away the pain from our hearts but not the scars from our souls
So that we might remember the work of the precious souls we lost
May the smell of their grief reach the heart of the Almighty like the smoke of the accepted burnt sacrifice.
May the chimney remind us of your good work and dispose the pain like the bad smoke.
Do people lie to each other — because —
Truth — is too bright — a Star —
That dazzles — eyes accustomed —
To softer — Shadows — are —
Do people lie — because — they fear —
That naked — Words — might bleed —
Or — Hope — like fragile Porcelain —
Might crack — beneath the need —
Do people lie — to keep — the Peace —
Where Tempests — long — have stirred —
To smooth — the rough — Humanity —
With one — unfaithful Word —
Do people lie — for Love — perhaps —
To guard — another’s Pain —
And — in the tender Falsehood — find —
A mercy — dressed — in Shame —
Yet — Truth — like Morning — patient stands —
Behind — the curtained Sky —
And — one by one — we lift — the Veils —
To see — what cannot — Lie —
In every heart that opens wide,
there burns the flame
The beloved comes and goes,
but desire fans the flame.
They say that loss is grief,
but I have learned its grace:
Each absence is a prayer,
each memory a sacred flame.
Pour wine for what has passed!
The vintage sweetens with time
The years between us glow like embers of the same flame.
Your leaving carved a temple in the hollow of my chest
Where I tend the altar of what was, and bless the flame.
To love is to release
the bird, the season, the perfect word
And celebrate the flight,
the fall, the freedom in the flame.
In parting, we become more than we were in holding on:
The poet learns that loss itself can bear a singing flame.
Specific Types of Pain Poems
Read wonderful pain poetry on the following sub-topics:
chronic, cry, crying, emotion, emotional, him, hurt, hurting, life, love, my heart, physical, rhyme, sad, sadness, separation, sorrow, suffering, trust
and more.
Definition | What is Pain in Poetry?
Poems Related to Pain
ache, agony, anguish, discomfort, distress, grief, hurt, illness, irritation, misery, suffering, torment, torture, twinge, woe, worry, wound