"Having received this precious love letter
I'm thrilled that I feel vibrantly better…
Will you guess, my friend, who the sender is?
Cheering now my heart, filling me with bliss???”
“Knowing how your countenance does express
The jubilation no gloom can’t suppress
I may just wonder and with you rejoice
Since to be happy always marks your choice.”
“Oh, I’ll give you clues that can serve as guide
So other options you must set aside…
Now, first… ‘successful’ describes the person
Second, ‘grateful’ for every learned lesson.”
“I’m sure of my answer, as I say: ‘Wow’
Since your letter sender is with us now…
Having written me words of gratitude
Thanking God for teachers' kind servitude."
"So we received same letter; that's so sweet
From our students who will give gracious treat
Greeting us with 'Wonderful Teachers'* Day
The Lord be praised that you directed our way!'"
*1 Corinthians 12:28 And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers...
October 18, 2023
2nd place, "Get into the conversation" Poetry Writing Contest
Sponsored by Eve Roper; judged on 10/20/2023
I burned both ends of my candle
It's been raining for a while, no promise of letting up
I stumble off the pavement with reckless abandon for the weather
This jaded match stick has served it's purpose.
I enjoy the distant shouting
I'm not a fault, I'm primarily a bullet
Trained to kill off any hope of reaching final velocity
And secondarily a death sentence.
Where do I call home?
Selfish, Spoilt and Lazy; the terrible trio
Taking our drinks for granted but memories are left behind
And we're all out of straws.
Take me back 32 centuries
This bathtub is filled over months
Now years; a masterpiece of the highest caliber
Part the red sea with sins.
A panic, a scramble for land,
Swimming in circles, I'm lost at sea
These weights pull me down, I'm sinking further,
It's strangely light outside.
Maybe it is the way I am
And maybe it is the voice
Deeply inside of me
Warning me, instinctively
That the vows of eternity
Must not be mistaken…
I do not wish to be squished
Inside the dreams
Of someone else,
Secondarily real
Like a role created
By any playwright
Who divides the fate
Of each of his characters…
Now it is your call-
Speak your lines!
Those interactions
Are solely directed
From the margins!
On stage you are invisible,
Nothing unnoticed happens,
All movements are calculated,
Purposely make-believe…
I am a fool in the play,
Foolishness just playing
But the joke is partly that role
Which do not apply to real fools
And the jester knows the truth
Far better than the king
Who finds ridicule amusing!
Romeo Della Valle -NYC http://www.romeodellavalle.com
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