o pray …
should count we all the phrases fought
there is not time with conscious thought
sieved, all those hearts that poets wrought …
and when their breaths come laid to bed
sweet then those dreams are softly bled
souls lost thru time and stained to red …
oh …
how dear praise giv’n midst life … instead.
Copyright © 2025 Gregory Richard Barden
( photographic art of yours truly created copyright-free by the poet with Prism/Lightroom software )
I wish you could love me. You say you want a girl who’s understanding, kind, loving, and will work for your trust. I would do all of that for you, I would work with you to build our relationship, but you don’t even want to try. It’s back and forth with you all the time, one second you care, the next you don’t, but I want so badly to help bring you the peace of mind you’ve been searching for. I know I’m not perfect, but why can’t we try? You said you like me, but you don’t want to date me, and that’s fine, but you can’t sit here and claim to want the kind of girl that I would be for you. Don’t say that I don’t want you, because I want you more than anything, even if you don’t want me.
I have measured the math of a mustard seed,
traced the geometry of origin,
the angles of mercy,
run fingers over the ridges of history
and found Him—
in carbon’s conspiracy,
in gravity’s governance,
in Fibonacci’s stubborn insistence on beauty.
Do you not see—
faith is not blind;
it is sight through the fog,
a reaching…
And now—
see yourself.
The burden you carried like iron mail
slides from your shoulders
as if it was never meant to stay.
Your hands tremble.
Your lips part.
And through the crack in your voice,
You say—
*"I was wrong."*
A new day dawns…
If you're trying to compete with me
Please know that I will let you win
Cause I don't have much energy
I'm old enough to fight this life
My focus at the moment is to protect
The peace I have within me
Doing the things that make my heart and soul happy
Learning courage to never be afraid
To take opportunity when it knocks
Making myself confident enough to face the future
As I wait the time for my sunset to come
Life is too short to waste my time
For the things that don't make any sense at all.
Silence pierced through the thick blanket
Of his thoughts, heretofore plagued
By a quaff of exhaled tobacco,
Spiralling and somersaulting in the air,
Like a fierce missile
Sent on a sinister mission,
Before mercilessly, ricocheting
Against the backdrop of his unassuming ceiling
There he stood
Imagining the gigantic impact
Of a tiny veil of vapor
As it burst forth from his nostrils
In a single file, before spreading it's renegade black wings,
Intimidatingly traversing every corner of the room;
He googled as the vapor ascended in a frenzy,
Like a gush of morning Dew,
Swaddling the orbit,
Before being subdued by a battalion of torrential rain,
Descending from the sky defiantly;
To proclaim the Cacophony and preponderance
Of the generic nature of life.
percussively
I think my way as rhythm
over cloud peaked tops
mountain points like metered dots
and on them stand and pluck, oh see
my breath transcends eternity
introspect
I aim my gewgaw outwardly
to a passing world
and yet it seems I’m not as bold
it searches inward with effect
I am my own play’s architect
meditate
a friend who soothes
who heals at home
I play for me and my ear alone
a remedy of beats I incorporate
in my therapeutic style of late
sanctuary
my sound is that
of a honeyed waterfall
hear breath, it’s grace over boulders call
a harmonising of beauty’s key
be vibrant yet my soliloquy
Written: May 6th 2024
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It's tough to revel in delight, but I grew!
Dreams rouse me, not in an aphonic view.
Nature provides her bounty every day,
I extend my hand and grasp her sway.
I perceive my youthful self in that place,
Her offerings were serendipitous grace.
In her sphere, blooms, and waterfalls,
A supple deer, an oaring raptor, in altar calls.
Each contributes to a feeling of calmness,
She was a fountain of pure suaveness.
Yet wars and famine steal my breath away,
A sight, luring amid a rutted path of ruby clay.
A moody inquiry into the root of my being,
A fleeting time of pure delightful feeling!
Thus, I wound up shooting my future ego,
Lift a glass, not a pistol, in a sky-dip indigo.
I rise again, and the sun surrounds me,
I can predict zodiac signs and lunar spree.
Along with Mars, Venus, and other oddities,
My mind spills, leaving no room for prodigies.
I shot for my destiny with this radical rhetoric,
Pulling me up a path reflected as historic.
A flash of his pistol, a gaze that said, walk,
My handgun babbled in its wandering talk.
"Soliloquy"
flying solo
the lone wolf sound
envelops me
poetically
inside
the Labyrinth
some kind god speaks
(LadyLabyrinth / 2023)
intense . . . to begin with, belayed by hours
hewn soliloquy through obverse platitudes
benign, betrayal among friends, in grounds
of open mouths, a kraken of tongues regale
upon which bar the cocktails finally arrived
when am I in a raging sea
when am I in a towerless keep
you see the armies flanked around him
labelled with exactness
when am I on a mountain ledge
when am I on a broadsheet
a dozen more of liberty
a number for the free
when am I by solitude
when am I by genocide
walking through my lonely streets
I ask
when am I by me
Desperation clings to the branch
Wrestling with a frightened leaf
Begging a howling wind for more
Wondering why one leaf would fight
The wind abates, she sits alone
Desperation clings to the branch
Weeping in the hoar frost darkness
Beneath a cold, uncaring moon
Where had the color gone, the songs
the nesting birds, chirping crickets
Desperation clings to the branch
In Fall’s silenced soliloquy
An inexperienced drummer
A rattling of untrained sticks
Counting coup on Winter’s coming
Desperation clings to the branch
Every day and night
I sit within my tower.
The sun scorching with all its might
Waiting to melt me and drag me lower.
The dream to escape my confinement
Avoiding the Sun’s wrath to make me trip.
I still have to fulfil the requirements
To break free of the haters’ grip.
You stood before me,
Smile o’ so bright,
The plate of mush you gave me,
I've always feasted at night.
A reached my hand out,
Wishing for just one word,
Yet you whisked away,
Leaving me o' so hurt.
The metal bars I rest within,
The 'love' you so called,
Yet it feels o' so cold,
Even with my burning heart.
Next time you come my way,
I beg you to stay,
As the 'friend' you so called,
I bid you again,
Farewell.
[ELSA TONG - SERI JUBLI INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL MALAYSIA]
I am always around you
No matter where you go
Day after day, it never felt boring looking at you
You have strongly attracted me
just like gravity
Slowly and gently you shine on me
Warming up every part of me
Making me lively
Without you,
I am but a frozen, dead planet
[TIONG JIA HENG - SERI JUBLI INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL]
I am a fish
A fish who has a wish
The wish was to fly
To find my beloved in the sky
I would even die,
just to see
Up the sky lived a bird
A bird who loved the fish
Which is truly absurd
They know it is a love with no peace nor ending
But they do not want to give up each other
Because of love
[NG KHAI JUNN - SERI JUBLI INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL MALAYSIA]
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