Gypsum drags in the inwards
Welcoming solace in embrace
My mouth parched
Still searching
For the warm dew
Of gentle thighs
Empirical knowledge
Heralds the familiar refrain
Engulfment echoes
in what follows
Failing intently the pressing
Of conviction
Thoughts bare fruit here
Heavy from ponder
Never falling to be heard
Where senses take leave
To hoard in greed
Sabbaticals of feral kisses
We will dine tonight
On ourselves
Me, Myself and I
Stuffing further what's left
Into this comfy cocoon where
Time consumes our lingering
Transforming purpose
Yet, not transformed
Leaving the solvency
Of existence to hold breath
My chrysalis weaves itself
From dreams caught adrift
Binding barren pages
Yearning for their author
A Soul bereft of form
Metamorphosis in progress
Waiting.....
An eternity and still.....
Bound tightly to await
For Serendipity to unfurl
Her gifted Genesis
To touch my Soul
Winter’s frost with freeze does creep
Question, do I go in a car to flee?
or do I bend a yielded knee
The season heralds itself with glee
Maybe, I will stay or to go with a timely migration
This like nature’s birds that flock in a V formation
I start to pack all of most of my things that I do need,
this as if a squirrel is packing seeds
The time to choose is now
There are only but a few leaves left on the trees
The chill wind is in the new air breeze;
flakes freeze then slowly recede
I go, and whizz in my car at highway speeds
Flight tickets are in my hands;
the itinerary is set for the DR, Philippines,
and or maybe the country of Thailand
There, I put on a colorful short trunk
Pineapple juice with lemon and lime mixed;
Refreshingly squeezed into a glass then sipped
After this, I dash to take a relaxing sea swim dip
Glad, I did make my decision fast;
for sabbaticals in time do never, never last
the fiber optic cables are swollen with grief
blood clots the airwaves
faces beyond despair stare from half a world away
newsprint is smudged with the tears it’s reporting
the world’s absurdity
nature’s cruelty
man’s depravity
all in high-resolution overdoses of reality
there are too many claims on my sympathy
too much need for the morphine of apathy
to preserve my faith in humanity
I have to ration my pity
stop my ears
turn away from the carnage
lest my heart grow cold faster than the bodies
so I exchange the funereal for the farcical
take sabbaticals from the news
and seek refuge in the world of Pixar
Three truant scholars spending our sabbaticals
in crisp Colorado, we all re-read Walden,
dared to drink from streams so icy clear
the fish seemed suspended in mid-air.
Our flimsy nylon shelters shielded us
from what weather there was to worry on,
as summer slipped to autumn
and autumn waned winterward.
Four full years past we trekked those trails
through stands of timber frequented by fox,
by birds, by deer -- and by growling grizzlies.
We walked well-wooded hillsides
of mixed conifers and broadleaf.
In deep drafts we breathed the earthy air.
Now, when my son hugs his honey bear,
red-jacketed, black-button eyed,
I see the hellish maw, the bloodied claw,
of the darkish-brown raging beast
that tore off my arm and maimed
two sages, amid the yellow quaking aspen
where, yet, that gory grizzly ages.
Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.