“Supplicants, bring forth your offerings”
“Your Majesty, I bring encouragement”
“Your Highness, I bring optimism”
“I, Your Awesomeness, bring unbounded joy”
“Your Honor, I bring dinner from my wife”
“What? Dinner from your wife? What kind of offering is that, knave?”
“Well, it certainly is no sacrifice, sir!”
So many times,
I have rejected your affection.
So many years,
I have turned away.
So many memories,
I have of your heartbroken face.
So many tears,
I have seen you shed.
Yet every time,
You choose to stay.
Yet every year,
You continue to try.
Despite those memories,
You refuse to let me die.
But I never thank you
Because I hate you.
We have enemies with bombs and guns, we have enemies with Bibles under their arms so we must all be united.
We have walked on broken pieces of bottles, shall we be shaken by broken pieces of calabashes and mere glare?
The path has cut our feet before, yet we still rise. The wounds have tried to teach us fear, yet we still stand.
If steel could not break us and glass could not silence us, then shadows dressed as light shall not divide us.
United, we remain unshaken.
They do not ask permission
to burn.
They scatter themselves across the black
like secrets no one could keep,
like laughter that escaped the mouth of the universe
before it knew what it was.
Some are already gone—
their light only a letter
still traveling through the dark,
addressed to no one,
yet opened by everyone
who dares to look up.
They are not lanterns,
not guides,
not even wishes waiting to be claimed.
They are reminders
that distance can still be intimate,
that brilliance can outlive its body,
that silence can roar
if you are patient enough to listen.
And when you stand beneath them,
neck bent,
breath caught,
you realize—
the stars are not above you.
They are inside you,
burning,
refusing to be forgotten.
Silent prayers swallowed by fear
Behind cold walls and guarded gates
Voices crushed beneath heavy boots
Lives erased in whispered hate.
Families torn, dreams confined
Faith hunted like a fading flame
Eyes that plead for freedom’s light
Caught in endless pain.
The world watches, silent, still
As hope flickers, barely alive
But their spirit, though battered
Refuses ever to die.
As an empress of empathy:
Refuse tolerating apathy.
Something's happening,
that's destroying the world...
piece by bloody piece!
If I refuse to die—what can death do?
It waits beyond the orchard gate,
While lilacs lean with scent and hue
And robins sing of love and fate.
I’ve knelt in grasses starred with dew,
Heard twilight’s hush in tender trees,
My breath was shaped by skies of blue,
My thoughts by wind and dreaming seas.
Death may come with its quiet tread,
A hush too vast for song or tear—
But I have kissed the dawn instead,
And held the stars, and felt no fear.
If death should knock, I shall not flee—
But I have lived, and that shall be
A truth no grave can take from me.
Outbreak of tuberculosis
Out and out ridiculousness
Outcomers who refuse inoculations
Outgrowth of a new pandemic
Outlandish selfishness and self-importance
Outrageous and intolerable
Outside of common sense
Outstandingly self-absorbed and neglectful
I refuse to run and hide.
When enemies and knaves come to seize
I have a 'no-fear' DNA that dwells inside.
I'm popping out for everyone to see with no desire to please.
I refuse to lie down.
No matter how many times I slip, trip, or fall
Back up without a frown.
I'm readying myself to answer the call.
I refuse to wave the white flag.
Though the battle may be onerous and rough
Through the thickets, I go like the white stag.
Onward and upward is my only aim 'cause my spirit says I'm enough.
Poems don’t have to rhyme, free verse it isn’t a crime
I can write what I please—don’t call the police.
Must I play the game, rhyme and spill intimate things?
Can I develop leitmotifs without rhyming riffs?
I could claim I’m writing prose - yeah, be one of those.
No one can rhyme all the time.
I can refuse—I’m no Dr F-ing Seuss,
Damn it! ? See? THAT didn’t rhyme.
(sirens in the distance)
.
.
Fun songs for this:
Ain't It Fun by Paramore
It's All Your Fault (with Katie Shore) by Asleep At The Wheel
Don’t refuse the muse, she might not come again,
Though if she does, you’ll know not how or when.
As flighty as they come, here once, but too soon gone,
You must embrace the muse, however long she’s come.
Know the muse might stutter with her wily words,
All many-winged and flying, like the birds,
But what she says you must obey, you must take heed.
Respect the muse and she’ll inspire you at your need.
She comes and goes to open eyes and broaden thought,
Inspiring every artist with the spell she’s wrought.
Her beauty might be missed, though, by the untrained eye;
However hard it works, take notice, lest work die.
With open eyes and only then the muse you’ll see,
Though she might make you chase her, fleeing fleetingly.
If you ignore the muse when she runs through the fire,
She might not ever come again, there to inspire.
Don’t refuse the muse, her stay won’t last too long;
However sweet and good, short is her song.
But when she comes, with open arms welcome her back
And she’ll provide the inspiration you so lack.
projects fear about this that and other
worry takes your good feeling
I refuse to comply
A Sonnet Without A Usage,
Doth not this piercing soul go down
with timeless songs unsung by you?
Besmirched like coal this old clown
feels singed, moreover feeling blue
Fork the mile come to my rescue
deliver joy to me beloved one
Suitor of my core, I love you
more then time more than sun
Nucleus of my dreams come hither
for this old buffoon needs your smile
you know he wishes not to wither
seared but un-scorched he is defiled
Oh Edith love, refuse me not
this old fool still thinks your hot!
not for contest
Oh-oh-oh, never refuse to eat delicious ice cream,
oh-oh-oh, it's giving up on each wonderful dream;
has anyone offered you anything?
Grab your guitar and start to sing!
No-no--no, don't do foolish things;
it may seem nothing to even wrongs!
No-no-no, pay little attention to winks:
they don't mean you'll conquer hearts!
Oh-oh-oh, never refuse to eat delicious ice cream;
oh-oh-oh, it's not a candy bar with less sugar,
life must be sweetened with delightful kisses:
kiss the first you find, don't sound the alarm
too soon, or you'll lose the only chance to own her...
if emotions get stronger, control your moves!
No-no-no, never allow deep feelings shape your ideas,
no-no-no, they'll change before you taste lips of betrayal;
oh-oh-oh, they'll take advantage of your naive foolishness,
oh-oh-oh, clutter your silly head with thoughts of April's fool!
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