Short Reprieve Poems

One hundred degrees
With beer a pleasant reprieve
After day in hell...

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Cooling, scented breath
Reprieve from midsummer's warmth
Caresses my skin...

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MONSOON storm deluge
Soothe the desert savage thirst
Life given reprieve...

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Late autumn, slow fall.
Many a tree still leafed – a reprieve,
not a pardon.

2004 Fall...

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To the heathen
Go the spoils,
And the dead
Write poems.
There is no reprieve
From ennui....

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Night Buzz
Loquacious wife snores,
His mind’s reprieve, time to rest;
Silent time to think....

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We face our own doom,
yet we have this grand reprieve...
so no need for gloom!

date: 1/31/23...

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deprived --
main course only!
no chocolate ice cream,
when you sup at the restaurant.
no treat....

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forest deep and dark
filters out the sun and light…
till winter’s reprieve

© Harry J Horsman 2022...

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blue glow on back porch
two cracks and pop then silence
no blood bank tonight...

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Crashing salt trucks 
A brief reprieve from the cold
But not from the other
Unwanted warmth of
A hundred score burning bodies...

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morning birds once more

                 return to serenade my

                                          winter survival




January 11, 2010...

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Winter torments
With skies all gray
And frigid air,
Sleet, drizzle, rain—

But, late at night,
Among warm sheets,
My wife and I
Find spring again....

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Coated in Black Gold

	Migration ends abruptly....	

		Reprieve dubious


Migration is my season word

© May 13 2010 For Raul’s “Tainted Feathers” contest...

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   The snake sidles up to Eve
     from God she soon seeks reprieve

   With us yet, it slithers into Halls of Power
     injects venom ~ brave leaders cower
...

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Softly,
I leave you

Within the falling
rain

And take my leave,
the storms reprieve

Its tears
—to wash the pain

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2017)...

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Break 

what has said has been said
what has been felt still lingers
see the chips and the cracks
too deep to recover
too distant to believe
so there is no reprieve...

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Love when gone sour
Is like a knife plunged 
Deep into your heart
Twisting and hurting
Nights are troubled
Longing for that one
Who is destroying you
Without any reprieve...

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Softly,
  I leave you

Within the falling
   rain

And take my leave,
  the storms reprieve

Its tears,  
—to wash the pain

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2017)...

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Many emotions roll by the sidewalk and leave 
but some, they stay and claim your soul 
like a turbulent halo stirring your crown 
They stick around and anchor/with no reprieve...

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Crying uncontrollably
Hoping for a reprieve
Rarely coherent
Irretrievably broken
Stifling in tears
Trying to keep it together
Makes a token effort
Always lost
Sinks further...

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Death ever faithful
in spite of the glee
Holding our place
in wanton reprieve

We ever the cuckold
of life’s dark affairs
As quiet it waits
— a loyal au pair

(Dreamsleep: June, 2024)
...

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My strength
Is my weakness.
I fall so easily,
Unaware of all my pitfalls.
Then, I cry pitifully for mercy,
And a hand lifts me up again.
Today, I gain reprieve.
God’s love gives me
My strength....

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Inspiring you to write your own,
  my words fell silent
  your heart to roam

Creating space for thoughts to breathe,
  new feelings await
  my loves reprieve

(Villanova Pennsylvania: August, 2016)...

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A dear heart aggrieved may find it hard to offer reprieve
until the heart that yearns for such mercy sinks to the grave. 
The heart consumed by hate 
may mourn hard but it's already too late. 

February 28, 2023...

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