Short Embattled Poems

Embattled clusters
black nights in frightened panic
shuddering in fear...

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Beauty changes
the embattled soul
A transmutation
ennobled whole
In darkest throes
to spread its light
Forever bathed
—in pure delight


(Dreamsleep: February, 2023)...

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Embattled here,
entitled there
One flag still flying,
the smoke-filled air

Horizons darken,
as blood runs free
The last man standing
—whose will to be

(Villanova University: March, 2021)...

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hold my shattered heart
tears are pumping out my heart
cries from my spirit
                 ~
now heart soars laughing
happiness embattled bold
so cries my spirit


1/22/22
Written words by James Edward Lee Sr © 2022...

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Let my embattled heart
take refuge
within your fortress walls.
Give it the chance to mellow
in a slow healing process,
shedding the insipid taste
of bitter experiences,
then, let it learn to love again. 

---------------------------------...

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NO  SURRENDER  YET



Here in the snow-ridden  
Embattled days of February

The eyes close and we think of 
Green May’s glory of grass
And butterflied June.

We wait for the last snowflake
To surrender and show 
The white flag for good....

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Alone,
Again.
My thoughts- incessant.
I fight to find
Complete 
In me.

To rest my head
No one upon.
I struggle 
To see
The good 
In me.

I cry 
Blind tears.
The hate 
I’ve stirred, 
Inside of others,
I will never know.

So here 
I stand
Embattled 
Again.

Alone....

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After the riot-
with chairman Wuhan swirling around his head
president Trump, with bible in hand,
strolled from the embattled white house
toward a smoldering church
quoted some apocalyptic verse
then cussed out the press...
For the first time in seventeen years
the cicadas are snickering-...

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In the oven should I stick,
My haunted, harrowed head?
Or should I take my Pen and prick
My Will to Live instead?

Alas! the guilt! And, oh! The shame!
If just the Others knew!
They would place their embattled brains
In also, to broil, too...

*I'm in no way trying to exploit or poke fun at Sylvia; I revere her work...

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I’m retired now.  These days I’ve got it made. 
I sit on my porch and drink lemonade. 
You will never see my nerves get rattled,
Or my disposition become embattled,
No, not even if my conscience tattled.
With these concerns, I am never saddled. 
My personal assistant writes the screamin’s 
Of my staff of personal inner demons....

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Writing to a standard,
embattled in time,
his words both sparse and dire

All targets in sight,
his focus most dear,
new readers to inspire

His argument made,
with phrases reborn,
the verdict theirs to choose

All time on the run,
his will to attack
—with nothing left to lose

(Villanova Pennsylvania: September, 2019)...

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Restlessly lounging  against the foamy seat
I looked upon the clouds in a different light -
Were they as soft as they appeared like my dream?
Nervously, my thoughts wandered if I'll tame her 
And light back the fire  in those  runaway eyes;
Imagining the self as the embattled conqueror.


Feb 12, 2019
Contest: Capture That Emotion...

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The poet paints a picture
With brushstrokes from his pen
Is the scenery embattled?
Will the choir sing again?
His words are breathing characters
Living in the mind
Imagination brings to life the light
Emotions are entwined
He sees the world in poetry
The colors vibrant, sure
With love embracing distant clouds
The poet’s art is pure...

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I thought I’d found love, 
But before me it’s a deep pit
Hollow and dark.

I thought the sun would shine brightly,
And the torrential rains stop pelting my embattled soul, 
But my days have become grey clouds.

I’m grabbed by the stern hands of darkness,
I’m freezing and blind in the dark
And all I do is pray
For light to bring me another day....

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It was a fast 
against truth, in support
of unbidden body
which took the history lesson.

A star is born 
out of midnight accident.
Darkness deems dark
in siege of self-restraint.

An embattled self
seeks a counting. The money
speaks in absence, to clear
the debt of tears.

No longer
the eyes will look at
the marriage of trans-blue veins
in legs of seedless dreams.


Satish Verma...

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Listen to poem:

Unavoidable Mortal Sojourn
David J Walker

We come from a place of 
Faded imaginations 
Drifting in waves
	In past shades of
A different sunlit afternoon

That bakes bronzed skin in
Tones of a next thanksgiving 
We bow our heads in prayer and 
Sinful humiliation 

Expecting a regeneration 
Of our own recondite youth 
An embattled ineffable truth of
An unavoidable mortal sojourn...

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In the Trenches, In Love


Digging deep, entrenched,
barricaded against love's bayonet,
securing the heart,
impregnable, shielded,

but,
love breaches the lines.

The defences crumble,
walls of steel melt away,
shields are lowered, 
minefields disappear,

as,
love overwhelms the night.


Alone now, desolate, exposed,
my embattled heart lies injured,
the fatal blow being dealt by you,

in the trenches, in love....

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I roam through this pathway of life's gravesite
The air is calm upon the rubblestone,
Where buried reveries no longer stray
For those who left a tired, embattled world.

How they lay at rest unknown or unsung
Decreed by time, wait in mercy of God,
And medals pinned on this, this heroes' ground
To sleep with glory, as only they can.



Written 6/3/2019
Pick A Tile, Vol 5 - Verse Contest of Edward Ibeh
~Memorial Day Dedication...

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That roasting night
when honeyed moon hung high
weaving a humming sound
I spoke to clouds.

It happens every night,
when smoke rises to discover the pain
of a falling star.
I start making a god from earth and water.

The colors will come from golden tears
and eaten heart.
From wooden legs and black widows,
from an embattled dream.

The day rises with the mute songs
of unread thoughts.
You reach your otherself
by a back door of hunger.



Satish Verma...

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Harold died leaving six behind,
Whom few close families might mind
By being to them honestly kind.
They'd cross them in streets like the blind!

Harold's son by slight buffoon,
As he does self in pubs cocoon,
His daughters! 'Yes' to men too soon,
At nights waiting to kiss the moon...

Six left by Dad to face the battle,
The Eldest thinks they're all cattle,
Second, that they simply prattle
While The Last is the most rattled...

The truth: They are embattled!...

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The highest pinnacle my heart can measure    	
with words human lips struggle to form			
the answer to the prayer that I treasure			
that this world embattled in evil storm			
could bow before the divine Maker, reformed.	

Turn from our hatreds and wicked way,	
true confession and worship gladly give,		
humbly bow before the Lord and pray,	
let go of strife, our fellowman forgive,		
walk hand in hand and, then, truly live.

Copyright, July 9, 2016
Faye Lanham Gibson...

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Listen to poem:

Jesus, Jesus embrace mine embattled heart;
 Grant my desires part given to me new start;
 Father Father allow my present thoughts;
 rise up 
rise up 
Presently and forever more be uplifting assured;

reach out
 reach up
 I am intertwined and I abide in your love always 
forever more,
stand out
 stand up 

In the love and truth of Jesus
 Hallelujah
 I am yours Always Father God
Always yours Always Amen

10/26/22
Written words by James Edward Lee Sr © 2022...

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