Swallow Up Poems

Slumber

Now I lay me down to sleep
I'm cast into the Darkest Deep
My fate draws nearer every breath
As I prepare to welcome Death
When I succumb at Her behest
My heart shall cease within my chest
The Shadows swallow up my light
I fade away into the night
With Lifeless eyes she'll welcome me
Into Her arms, hence life must flee
This frail and fragile form of mine
And slumber for eternal time
All sadness cast away and pains
Shall fall from me like broken chains
By Darkness was my life consumed
And there I dwell in shadows gloom

O Death, Where Is Your Sting

If it is the stairway to heaven, i must go.
If it is the way to Hades, I must slight slow.
Think. Ponder about the way to eternity.
Why must I lay there?
when the cross never crossed that path.
I shall go, seeking the Living water.
There I'll sing, " Death is swallow up in victory".
"O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?"





EASTER CONTEST
SPONSORED BY : REGINA MCINTOSH
APRIL 23, 2022

The Era of Terror

The Era of Terror 

The Era of terror is upon us- the world is in turmoil 

The raging plains are complaining 

The need to pray is necessary- 

Tornadoes whirl across the skies 

Hurricanes destroy whatever is in their path 

Tropical storms rally against-mankind 

Earthquakes cracks open the earth and swallow up whatever 

Lies in its way- The skies turn purple in its agony, saying, 

“Let be whatever maybe”- 

The oceans will be violent- in its ecstasy 

Spewing forth the dead and bringing the earth to its knees- 

The world is in an angry vortex so full of vile- 

Sinister lies the sullen smiles 

Sneering at the approach of man 

Closing tighter and tighter until the end- 

Come forth and lie down unheeded- let your defenses rise 

Give vent to what is- needed 

Pray for what is- depleted. 

Conquer up a world of calm 

Take heed to those whose “pose” to come 

Keep a forever -watchful eye 

Take heed ‘o’ those- non-seeing and dumb- 

For- the age of terror is upon us- the world is in turmoil 

The need for praying is necessary- The Era of terror is upon us-

Last Sigh

In my heart always lingers Dad’s last sigh
Never in oblivion could I bury
Such upholds my hope for heavenly high
Leaving me with adieu of victory*.

With his legacy of love and faith’s zest
In my heart always lingers Dad’s last sigh
Testifying God’s blessings of great best
Marked by thanksgiving no one can deny.

His infirmities propped my trust to fly
As I begged for miracle health's fullness…
In my heart always lingers Dad’s last sigh
Since divine will is eternal wellness.

Midst reminiscence of fatherhood bliss
Valuing heritage money can’t buy
So that next generation will not miss…
In my heart always lingers Dad’s last sigh.

*Isaiah 25:8 He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces… 

September 1, 2021
3rd place, "This or That, Vol. 6"  Poetry Writing Contest
Sponsored by Edward Ibeh; judged on 9/8/2021.

Honor Killing

Is this an exception? Isn’t inter-caste marriage a taboo even today in the Indian sub-continent? Being born into two contradicting castes yet mad in love for each other, they knew their kith and kin would let them not live together. They decided to go far away from the inhuman world. They knew they’d be easily tracked were they to travel by bus or train or airplane.  They walked through the hills and vales eating from the plants, drinking from the streams, and resting under trees. Lo! They surrounded them. The villains of love! Torturing them, slaughtering, they threw them in the Holy River who could not swallow up their holy bodies rather floated them in procession.

hands held together
two lovely wedded angels
to eternity

“Since formation in 2014, Telangana has witnessed at least 50 murders related to inter-caste love liaisons and marriages” – Deccan Chronicle, Thursday, June 10, 2021. 

10 June 2021

In Your Mind During Those Moments In Time

as you sit there
absorbing the calming rays of the morning sun
you read
and then realize how chaotic disarray is attempting to make love with harmony
in a world of insanity
while influencing your mind
during those moments in time

you interpret the “informative news”
as a need to amalgamate absurdities
with solutions for serenity
while initially resisting wishes and temptations of conformity
in your mind
during those moments in time

and then  s l o w ly  
you are confused by intellectual absurdities 
losing clarity and sanity
and sometimes becoming a victim of hypocrisy
falling head first into the world’s quicksand of misery
which wants to swallow up your mind
during those moments in time

Morning Thoughts 2020

Morning Thoughts 2020
12/24/2020

Today I sit before dawn is seen,
and the quietness of the morning overwhelms me.

It’s the eve of Christmas,
and I travel back in time to blessings past,
Of those times when God,
has rescued me from the belly of my fish.

Today, another fish, is attempting to swallow up all mankind,
and many, like those of Jonah’s time,
are found crying out unto the lord.

But before icy hearts can melt,
They first have to experience the heat.
Tom

A Smile Up the Road

If I thought I had a chance
         to even think about romance,
 on you, my sweet, well, it never showed

But if you look my way
         on some sad or sunny day 
    you know, I’m just a smile up the road 

If I could just decide
            to swallow up my pride
 and call on you, would my heart explode

I guess I’ll wait and see
             if you ever think of me
    and know, I’m just a smile up the road

If I could but recall
                   a single word at all
  to give me hope, to ease my weary load

When just your slightest grin
            affects the mood I’m in
    I think, you’re just a smile up the road

Testing the Water

Allowing every sense the sensation
absorb it all, at once, even the cost
to gain naught, in spite of observation
mindful of the deceit, dignity lost

Chin in the air, being boastful, always
caring not, seems the fate of everyone
blinded by devious words, twisted ways
never accepting truth, lies are more fun

Allowing every sense to swallow up,
bait perfectly placed before the willing
it becomes hard to resist, a false cup
the gullible need an extra filling 

With an empty straw, void you'll be tasting
facts you are immune to, yes everything


 ___________________
Thoughts from the Heart

~ Be not conformed to the world, but be transformed ~
           Rom. 12:2

Monday February 24th, 2020- Poem of the Day

Be a Slave To God

If I must be a slave, let it be a slave to self-control. Let me be obsessed by perseverance. Let me indulge in discipline and determination. 

If I must be consumed, let me be consumed by love and compassion. Let me be dominated by hope and infatuated with holy, honorable, and righteous thinking.

If I must live, let me live with passion. Let me step out with courage. Let me speak with gentleness, but also with authority and fervor. 

Let me pray with earnest and zeal. Let me breathe in each moment with gratitude and let my light shine with intensity and joy. Let me swallow up each experience as a child does, as I'm seeing it for the first time. 

Let faith and wisdom be my guides. And let God be my rock, my strength, and my salvation!

Truth On Mermaids' Tales

Instilled with Bible stories
Wrought by God-driven gestures
Of faith-anchored victories
Our kids doubt mermaids’ ventures.

Aware of true creation
They know mermaids are men’s tales
Amusing recreation
Showing beings of fish tails.

Having learned Scripture verses
They saw Jonah’s great sea-trip*
Was caused by God Who blesses
Not by mermaids’ wondrous grip.

Thus, in the Lord’s glorious light
They can, while growing, so glow
As merry maids, doing right
And young men of good works’ flow.

*Jonah 1:17 Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

(Quatrain in Jueju syllable counts) 

September 30, 2019
Honorable Mention, "STRAND PICK 2,ANY THEME..." Poetry Contest
Sponsored by Brian Strand; judged on 4/6/2020.

Two Lovers Fresh

TWO LOVERS FRESH....... 

I watch two lovers in fresh embrace 
through my installed double glazing 
they seem too young for such desire 
that all embracing consuming fire.... 
It warms me, innocently gazing 


My border yields a single bloom 
he plucks, with love uncaring 
and offers up springs new born child 
with heart of hope and passions wild 
I watch, arthritis flaring 


Yet scarce the beat of an aged heart 
nor the flash of a dying star 
separates me from he outside 
nor she from my sweet bride.... 
Is yesteryear so very far ? 


For her I mourn most wistfully 
my wife, my friend, my lover. 
Her face I see in spring's first flower 
her voice in winter's final shower.... 
how fortunate to love her 


The radiator clanks and whines 
and pants out breaths of steam. 
It paints the glass with foggy hue 
to swallow up the outside view 
and terminate an old man's dream

Claiming

Claiming

In the gathering darkness
The land opened its mouth wide
To swallow all the wind
You boasted
To swallow up all the ill-gotten gains

Darkness devoured your face
And adopted your greedy soul
Dancing wildly were your limbs in the air
Like a puppet pulled by Satan

Blowing over my ears was the wind 
And your screaming
The higher the roar was
The deeper my sorrow was

It was dignity
 That was thrown into the bottom of the hell

The Necessity

She built a sailing ship from quarried limestone.
Vacancy for about a thousand restless crows.
Year after year "the necessity" steadily progressed.
Twenty-four and SEVEN without yearn for prayer or rest.

She was elegant and beautiful like white virgin gold.
but years of pauper toil always demand a royal toll.
Thinning soul and hunched bones she hungrily attacked.
Through drought, whirlwinds and DEVELISH thunderclaps.

She placed half a carrot atop the limestone mast.
by far the brightest jewel of her black powder past.
Dragging the beating vessel 'neath seagull serenade.
A pinch of salted MEMORIES left melting in the rain.

She slowly crawled aboard... a parrot's diary in hand.
Waiting for black waters to swallow up the burning path.
The necessity was launched with a bleeding of champagne. 
A christening of a new constellation called the death of PAIN.

Slithering Meat

Reptile meat got a foul swallow
The creeping things they eat
emit putrid vapors ...
vocal odors lemmings do follow

Falling off the cliff
into the mouth ...
Bask in the saliva nasty

Get paralyzed stiff — 
a human mouse ... 
Cheesy flavor of a patsy

Snakes eat rats
Big boa sin swallow up
little mice men

Slithering meat 
is an abominable eat

Humans eat the snake
that ate the rat
Viper lip spitting fake
was a lying cat

Ouroboros wail,
head eating the tail 
Gator toes tipping the scale;
safe open   ...   lock failed

The creeping things you eat
will give you weasel daydreams
Gorge on the slithering meat,
digest Bubonic Plague schemes

Snakes eat rats
King cobra sin swallow up
pawn mice men

Humans eat the snake
that has flicker love for the Mickey
Fork lips spitting fake,
Komodo dragon claws blood lickey

Ouroboros wails,
serpent head eating the rodent tails 
Tapering toes charm the faint frails;
jaws open   ...   heart failed

A wicked, pulmonary feed 
is slithering in the high, tall weeds
A taste of paralyzing greed
will molt covetously into evil deeds

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