— Leave Is Sought, Never Usurped—
He'd meant to heed the sermon, yet her air
unwove his reason from its sacred thread;
whilst Love, pronounced as heaven's sovereign prayer,
burnt through his senses till the words lay dead.
Her aureate presence held his gaze enthrall'd;
the chalk hung mute beneath her lifted hand;
each precept solemnly from heaven call'd
fell like white cinders on enchanted sand.
“Stand forth.” Beyond the hallow'd door he came,
ear-grasp'd, whilst all his wayward senses swam;
the bell released him from his chastening shame—
then meek before the threshold: “May I come in, ma’am?”
For love that knows its longing dare not claim,
kneels at the door—and perishes unnamed.
Like wafts of sorrow
Interrupting the day
The Earth is shaking
This can't be THE WAY
How can light deliver darkness
To one who walks in TRUTH
Why would WISDOM
Clothe LOVE in grief since youth
The journey seems...paradoxical
Trying to make peace with chaos
In a constant state of restoration
Building materials taken from all loss
The fight is fading out of matter
The loosh has no energy to take
Fear perishes in the presence
Of what LOVE has never declared...MISTAKE
...all is as it should be
Written by Trudy Schrader on 09-04-2026
We are moved by the poems of a master writer,
And try to write poetry ourselves.
Yet it does not come easily.
Swearing friendship with the soul of the dead,
In the end, we fail to sever ties.
You have profaned the sacred poem,
You have defiled yourself.
Do you not know?
In the end, you are merely a stagnant being rotting together
In the dead water of a well.
To have tried to birth a poem from that very place?
Even the day-fly born there
Perishes together within an unseen furnace.
Only by finally breaking ties with the eternal friend
Can we see the truth of you and me.
"Rather than a bee going wild over the scent of honey,
Become a butterfly!"
It isn’t that I begrudge
you taking what is yours,
for, who am I to judge
what perishes or what endures?
From dust we have sprung
and to it we shall return,
and when our song is sung
its words we will unlearn.
But why so young, so innocent
a flower you chose to pluck?
To me it seems indecent
that such a life be struck.
Perhaps it had displeased you
in a naïve and unsuspecting way.
But with you one cannot argue
that it may only have been child’s play.
Or maybe, quite the reverse,
it pleased you in excess,
and from the whole universe
this flower you chose to bless.
This urge to exhale without restraint
into the hardness of days heightens;
my own center accepting those lapses
when my frail body readily perishes
amidst dreary seasons :
yes, I am weary;
How mournful the thieving of dear life rips,
as I blame the ticks which pluck hours
from rails of courage, from immense grit...
am I simply existing or prevailing?
Yet, precious moments past relieve time's woe,
that a fullness of seasons once held
me beyond earthly limitations...
now, the purpose of existence
eludes my soul ...where uncertainty
becomes part of tested faith.
The gigantic acacia tree would testify
Were it not for savage ravages of rot
That erase feeble living things that die
After decades under sun’s missiles hot.
And the birds that chirruped and flew
About as he trudged over hill and bend
Long went like all weak beings of flight,
And no more can lasting credence lend.
If old baobab trunks had tongues that turn
Methinks they would solid testimony avail,
Of how devoutly he toiled in dews and sun
And never refrained from heaven-sent toils.
But since baobab trunks unspeaking are
And birds such fleeting breaths have they,
Can cold unfeeling stones their version say:
Tell how over them hopped he on his way?
Though villainous eyes those labors saw,
Witnessing their tireless winds and turns;
None would ranks of vile ignominy break
And end this betrayal that achingly burns.
And for want of witness this sobbing soul
Perishes and dissolves like a soaking loaf
Amid bootless heavens’ amnesic lethargy,
As cruel decades to a rude century morph.
A once-beloved language now graces no tongue
an adorable, furry species perishes overnight
A noble civilization sits forsaken 'midst her ruins…
All told, the pause for sorrow
no more than ~
the passing of a fragile hour
The Earth
is Mother
to us all
Let us respect it
and treat
it with dignity
We must cherish
and worship
the Earth
For it is all
that we have
there is no
Substitute- - - - - It
is unique
one of a kind
If it perishes
so will all
of humanity
So rekindle the flame
for Mother Earth
help it survive
I’ve tasted the saliva of the eyes tears;
I’ve entrusted in the blood that flows;
Plummeting from the heart that sighs
O’ well
Well are the purdons that perishes;
Indwelling the eletric sparks;
That physically holds up the socks;
I lay down with mine passions dreams;
While conveying conjugal voices
Kisses of spiritual souls;
While resisting physical sparks and boils
I am encase in the vessel of the devil’s grip
And it’s ever so temperal
01/31/25
Written words by James Edward Lee Sr.2025©
..
A ghastly cadaver drops, for whose noble sake?
To ravish the grandeur of wildlife
In the thud of night; to mangle
Mother Earth's gift and its life's intent
Where each tender beast moves in a flow
Linking a primal, fond tie with nature’s deities…
But the affinity with innocent children, its tribe
Snuffed with one ruthless bang in the forest
When pitiless minds become delirious… heinous
A giraffe, a leopard perishes without knowing
The lithe body quickly turns into a gaunt shadow,
How sudden. Just like that: unable to play with birds
And race with own calf or cubs along an inlet...
O hollow night, O lamp of silence drained
By the vicious game from predators
Lusting after power...just like that
And no one can tell, for whose noble sake?
It is Northen coastal California,
Which boasted the best weather in the USA,
Then came the Global warming, changing the weather all around,
Never so many people suffered from Tornadoes, cyclones, fire, and flooding.
When the scientists proclaimed about the dangers of Global warming,
All the conservative ruling elites thought it was a lunacy of progressives,
Now comes the warning of Atmospheric bomb, and Atmospheric River (AR) rain,
Hunkered up in my room, I watch with fear the monstrous clouds rolling up over my head.
Last year when AR came, the little hills started to slide down,
The age-old trees fell everywhere, power came and went with the rain,
When it comes with an Atmospheric bomb, it is a cyclone with rivers of rain,
The roofs over houses blew up, trees crashed cars and houses all over,
It flooded everywhere, and a few lives got lost in this deluge.
I can live without this watery deluge,
Would love to see past sprinkles observed by natives in awe,
Would love to see birds taking a little shower,
Unfortunately, everyone perishes in this deluge of AB and AR rains.
I dance with the demons of light in the darkness of this world
And I laugh, for I have wasted so much time crying.
I let myself be carried on the arms of a silent wind, born of water and clay
And I slowly die every time I encounter another death in life.
Sparks break through the narrow road of my life,
They are born and then fade like the fate of a man who perishes,
And I, saddened by everything that happens in this world,
Let myself be carried by the sad wave of my tears.
[[X][x][X][X][X][X][X]]
[ ]
Albeit, a riddle and true,
happenstance quietude,
privacy absolute of two,
monarch, and servitude.
( )
(*******~0~*******)
( )
Proximity rather risqué,
her inner horse handler,
usually believed display,
and so all souls said her.
( )
(*******~0~*******)
( )
Soulfully tenet ill a day,
as good friend perishes,
Queen Victoria alas say,
confidant's...cherishes.
[ ]
[[X][x][X][X][X][X][X]]
When life becomes confusing,
my only saviour is my
simple musing.
Twilight shimmers in orange,
red clouds float above,
preparing for blood rain.
Lost to ponder,
I contemplate and wonder
why the symphonic sky
showcases shadows of ghosts
as a
susurration of sighs,
reflect sands of time,
like an unbalanced hourglass.
As words lose
innocent connotations
I find no use for speech.
I drift into my
silent reverie -
but release through poetry.
Wild fires no longer rage,
rain perishes like a drought,
but the smell of ash remains
who knows what winds may come and go
and what they will bring and take.
Motionless mind agrees to a ceasefire,
with my apprehensive heart.
Cumulonimbus clouds clear,
sky is like a fresh sapphire page.
Simple sun shines - scintillating,
illuminating an enchanting rainbow.
Horizons reflect like stained glass windows.
Path clears before me,
as I bask in the brisk breeze.
Refreshing wise winds soothe,
as zephyrs heal tender wounds.
I see smoky mountains up ahead,
but I believe I can conquer them
as pain is no longer my companion.
I seek you in the silence of the night when the moon rises over the sleeping world,
On deserted streets where memories ripple like a delicate mist,
Where every whisper becomes a murmurous carpet of images and dream,
While the heart beats ancestral rhythms, calling you from the abyss.
I lose myself on forgotten paths where quietness blinks from its shadows,
With thoughts of our love, sweet and bitter, a balm in the night,
Rare as the dew on leaves that perishes at the dawn of the first light,
Waiting to soothe your sadness with the verse of a divine song.
Longing lures me, a phantom on your invisible trails,
I search fervently for you, the solace of the restless soul,
In the cold air, with the promise that, should I find you, I will stop time in its tracks,
To weave you a bed of flowers and wake you with the sweet kiss of deep fire.
Days tumble, deceptive shapes, towards you and my quest,
I will wait for you with an open heart, understanding, and inner peace,
With the belief that dreams find shelter in our vibrant reality,
I might ask you, there on the frozen shores of time, "Do we live our love, or do we merely dream it?".
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