They sang to stars, to flowers pale with dew,
To hearts that bled beneath the waning moon;
Yet every song they wove from sorrow grew,
Each note a dirge, each rhyme a fading tune.
The world too heavy, pressing on their soul's,
A crown of thorns their tender temples bore;
Love fled like whispers, leaving them to hold,
And silence reigned where song had dwelt before.
Oh, cruel muse, who blessed them with your fire,
Yet cursed their fragile hearts with too much pain,
You led them, blind, to cliffs of dark desire,
And cast them down in seas of endless rain.
In lonely nights, they felt the stars grow cold,
No voice to soothe the ache of barren skies,
The ink that spilled their griefs a tale retold
Of lives unlit, consumed by unseen love.
Yet still their words endure, though they are gone,
A burning flame no tempest can erase.
Through death, they live—each verse, a tender dawn,
Each line a kiss of beauty's fleeting grace.
Why did they fall? Perhaps to teach us this:
A poet's soul must brave the abyssal deep,
To find the truth in love’s elusive kiss,
And wake the world from its eternal sleep.
Sleep lifted its gossamer veil from my eyes this morn
before dawn's roseate beams of light had been born.
Silence reigned as the world around me still slept.
I watched a cat in the garden as it stealthily crept.
Towards prey it encroached, on a songbird trilling.
To let nature take its course today, I was not willing.
I opened the window to chase the stalking feline away,
and heard the distant chiming of bells holding sway.
Sunlight peered through clouds with a glow of inflection,
and the songbirds I'd saved, sang a melody of perfection.
"Ring, bells of hope." I whispered as night was breached.
"Ring out to empty hearts that faith has never reached."
If only the sonorous sounds of the bells could be heard,
would mankind accept the truth of God's written word?
Would the warring of nations then come to and ending,
and peace among races of men never again need mending?
I listened and prayed for all men to join in a brotherhood.
"Ring aloud so all may feel the need for love as they should."
Blaring horns and loud voices intruded upon my tranquility.
I closed the window from the world's clamorous hostility.
As the last remnants of night gave way to dawn's arrival
glittering stars left mirrored reflections of aureate light
along where the welcoming sand meets the ocean's tide
Morning skies glowed as if glitter had fallen from clouds
and the wind had blown stardust above an amber shore
Flecks that would shine like gold when the sun rose higher
Silence reigned as mist rolled out. No gulls had taken flight
in search of breakfast waiting just beneath ripples on the lake
Beautiful, frivolous queen bided her time.
The castle stood tall and strong.
Silence reigned. No one dared to speak.
Below the enemy had gathered ready for a fight.
A little soldier thought he was just a pawn
in the hands of the King. Someone sent him a message.
He moved forwards towards the enemy.
The queen frowned and moved sideways
towards the edge of the defence.
Consternation rose up. Was it a wise move?
Everyone looked at her regalia,
her splendid crown, her painted face
with verdant leaves and eyelashes glittering.
Immediately the bishop intervened.
Some soldiers fell, the battle fierce.
Time passed and the black knight took his position,
near his lovely queen he stood,
for he had to protect her from all ails.
Alas that left the King on his own.
Another knight and bishop intervened.
But the opponent king was astute and steadfast.
One move and a high cry was uttered.
Checkmate. And all the little pieces
fell in disarray upon the chequered board.
A charm of finches flew in circles
disappearing entirely into surreal mist
that now camouflaged the field.
It seethed around rows of trees
until all was invisible:
Silence reigned,
supernatural eerie feeling
took over my thoughts.
Fog's gradual encroachment
over hills and cliffs:
Swirling unearthly atmosphere.
I felt distressed.
My heart beat erratically,
hours of inexplicable mystery
shadows vanished as mist thickened.
I trembled with an unnamed fear.
The finches flew to safer gardens.
Screeching gulls took their place.
Across bay fog horns sounded,
as confounded boats lost direction.
Echoes resounded throughout paranormal night.
Breaking dawn witnessed sea change.
Soon I awakened from my stupor.
Like curtain rising mist dissipated,
leaving memories of that uneasy time.
Pixabay image by: ArtTower
Silence reigned….for the moment.
Nothing stirred in the garden.
No owl screeched.
No bird flew.
And inky darkness seemed to spread.
Even the moon
hid itself in shame.
A light breeze rose suddenly freezing all.
It rushed through the trees, wailing.
Still the man-God stood tall.
Existential angst wrinkled his face.
He felt anxiety, distress, foreboding.
The sins of humanity were on his shoulders.
Suddenly his weakness took the upper hand,
And he fell down to the ground.
Stressful sweat erupted on his forehead
And on his hands.
As was his habit he prayed.
And prayed. Yet the sweat continued
And turned to blood.
There were no friends to help him.
He was alone
And his last recognition was a kiss
From the lips of a traitor.
Do you betray the son of man with a kiss?
,
I wandered round the lonely graveyard.
The few mourners did not bother to look at me.
I ought to know the paths so well
Ah there it was, unembellished as I had left it.
Silence reigned everywhere, except for some bugs
I began to wonder what I was doing there.
Then a small group of mourners appeared.
Four bored men carried a coffin, plain as can be.
The burial took very little time to carry out.
A priest mumbled a few prayers and all left.
Except for a woman all dressed in ebony black.
She shed no tears nor mumbled any prayer.
And then she left without one glace at me.
There on the slab someone left a picture frame.
Curiosity got the better of me and soon I saw
It was a picture of me. The slab opened
And I just entered my place inside and all was calm.
Fiction, just a ghost story
He was reclining cold and motionless
Silence reigned as it signalled a torment
I prostrated and remained quiet, wordless
My mother's elegy evoked lament.
As the days passed, he started deforming
Lifeless body lay hardened but mounted,
To the neighbours gathered, went informing
Of the subtlety of very life, bewitched.
Kinsfolk followed you till crematorium
With prayers of praise in warm condolence
Soul shall find solace with honorarium
Through your religious deeds in governance
As the bodily disappearance calls,
Just flash of fiery ignition that brawls.
©?????Khachab Dorji????
Crepuscular cumbersome clouds above,
Curdled and coal-black, heavy with cold rain.
Silence reigned below like a brooding dove.
Peace lost seem it would not be found again
To the discomfort of old ones in pain,
With all the chill of winter, they complain.
City fraught with fear, although no wind blew,
Incessant rain starts, with no respite found
Birds made their quick escape, away they flew
To safer places where covers abound
In cosy nooks, far from loud booming sound
Of thunder and bright flash that hearts so wound.
Raining without respite for eight long hours,
Felt as if all life, had left normal time.
Wind surging enough to show its powers,
Nature decreed all had made a bad crime,
Men feared their city was not worth a dime.
As cold rain increased mingling all with slime.
Morning came, relief winds blew clouds away,
Men rose to clean the slime without delay.
Grandpa Henry Valentine stood tall
He wore Ben Franklyn style spectacles
In his presence, silence reigned supreme
My father was first of nine offspring
I am the third of nine siblings
Sixth of the ninth month is my birth day
Father was apple of Grandpa's eyes
My father's sister had nine offspring
Gramps died in fifty nine; I was nine.
*
5/14/21
Entry for, Michelle Faulkner's, "A Time For Nine" poetry contest
Used: Howmanysyllables.com
I used to see them everyday. A pair of doves, very much in love. They flirted, flitted and floated together. Every sunrise and sunset winging and singing together, they were meant to be. That day, the male dove playfully chased his love. And she happily cooed. In front of my eyes, the male dove sat on the wire, while she flew nearby. Next moment, he was electrocuted. As he fell down, she rushed to his side, but there was nothing she could do. Her loving mate was dead. She stood near his body for a long, long time. Noon came and went, then evening fell. The red-orange sun shone brightly before saying goodbye. I watched as she too said hers. Flying back to her nest, she sat unmoving. Silence reigned.
twilight pink sky glows
scarlet sol ready to set ~
dove mourns in silence
04.03.2021
For Malabika's "Moments of reflections" contest
Serene majestic silence reigned
Much like in a grandiose cathedral
Trees rose tall their autumn leaves
Fluttering colors to the breeze
Eyes closed soaking in warm rays
Face blissfully offered to the sun
In one breath the world stood perfect
How I wished to capture the moment
Enshrine and treasure it forever
One sigh and it would be gone
One cloud and the illusion shattered
AP: 1st place 2025, 3rd place 2020
Submitted on March 31, 2020 for contest STRAND CHOICE W sponsored by BRIAN STRAND - RANKED 2ND
Will you marry me?...enamored the deep gaze.
Twenty years ago , I mesmerised into your maze.
Razzled dazzled life, beleaguered in myriad phase.
Pristine peace I found, hugged in your embrace.
Those quarrels and niggles, grudge, grin of grumble.
Those laurels and giggles, touch within was humble.
Annoy of careless throws, those wet towels on bed.
I waited for your rose,... that 'wow' you never said.
In silence reigned Love, so majestic like kings.
I grew strong in your arms, you flew high on my wings.
You're still the one...tentacled together.
You're still the one...pinnacled forever.
The Trust of our old treasure...
Our love ?...How do we measure?
15th September 2018.
Still The One Poetry Contest
Sponsored by Michelle Faulkner
(Couplet form)
A year has passed since windows draped in gloom
Since heartache's cure impossible to prove
A year since silence reigned within his room
Since hands upon the clock have ceased to move
Two years have passed - when morning bells are rung
Harmonies do not carry to his ear
Two years in muted night, no dawn's begun
Light too far from his eyes, his grief too near
Three years have passed - new leaves now fill the wood
They have brought him flowers from the fields
His raw suffering, still misunderstood
Beneath ice of loss, unbloomed spring yields
Time unmeasured by years and hours spent
Exists as indefinite bereavement.
7/21/18
Shivering lightning
quills of silver
Signed their names
on skies of grey,
A story written many
times
In many a different
way,
On ships of old,
Saint Elmo’s fire
Danced silently
around the mast
So many dancing
glowing ghosts
Created a celestial
cast.
The winds blew cold,
then died away
Into their
insignificance,
As Autumn leaves
tossed everywhere
Until the last notes
of their dance,
Then suddenly pure
silence reigned
As trees stood still
in morning mist,
Adorned in dew drop
necklaces
Those diamonds that
the dawn had kissed.
In a glade between
the forests
Where the firefly’s
gently played,
In the shade of
early twilight
Glowed the patterns
that they made,
As the shadows
danced so softly
Through the dying
sunset’s calms
There was a deep
sense of seclusion
In Mother Natures
outstretched arms…
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