I want to take a bath in your soul
Is that so much to ask for.
We love playing in the street
To escape the summer heat
On this day we walk to the park
Feeding chicks who stole our hearts
Suddenly the weather did change
We got caught shoes off in the rain
No need to fret for the animals don’t
Not upset we sing a rainy day song
Splash splash near the duck pond
They take a bath as we carry on
Find a double puddle to splash in
Left foot right foot jump and grin
There’s a rainbow in the sky
And we make great mud pies
A bright day and there’s still sun
Dancing in rain we have much fun
Grandma’s ghost has taken up
knitting rattlesnakes in the drapes.
They hiss when someone lies.
Now, my mother only speaks
in noodle metaphors.
I ask her how she is, and she replies,
al dente, then goes back
to stirring the aquarium water
she'll later take a bath in.
My sister gives birth
to a daughter who levitates
during thunderstorms.
She answers to the name Unclaimed Bag.
In other words, we all gather once a year
to shed what’s left of politeness,
to laminate new rules:
No bleeding at the table.
Far less mirrors in the fruit salad.
All grudges must be gift-wrapped,
left at the door with the shoes,
with the husbands.
And when it’s over,
we nod like diplomats,
swap our favorite spells,
(that is to say recipes), pretend
we don't notice the fresh claw marks
on the floor.
It ends when we remember
our names again, who we are.
Then we leave—
each of us, in a different skin.
I came in from the fields to take a bath.
Taking off my worn clothes I stared aghast.
They were so stained and filthy, torn and worn
That I looked for a way to get new clothes.
Sadly, I was poor without a penny.
I looked and saw the old chains on my feet.
These kept me bound to a cruel master.
I would not be free after my life passed.
I walked by the place where the lamb was killed.
And in quiet desperation I threw
My clothes into the place where its blood spilled.
Quickly, I pulled them out and stared in shock.
They were made new and bleached whiter than snow.
I put them on in surprise and in hope
And found the chains had fallen from my feet.
I danced to the mirror and realized
That the blood of the Lamb made me new born.
Foggy morning
Affect my heart
And feel the cold.
Start my day
I walk a mile
To get warm up.
The sun is up
I take a bath
Ready for work.
Side of the road
I wait for bus
To get to work.
While rain not yet come
You already have umbrella
Atop your head.
I know you have many rain
That you have pass by
You use to take a bath happy.
The rain washes all worries
And cleanse all past behind
Coming home healthy.
The wind peers with rain
Smashing my dirty face with rage
To cleanse this life once again.
He fell asleep in the bath
When he was drunk
Slept so long
His body shrunk
To such a small
Miniscule size
He couldnt be seen
By human eyes.
When he awoke
It was far too late
For him to avoid
His horrible fate.
His wife pulled the plug
Allowing the water to send
Him down the drain
And round the bend.
For a year she was
An abandoned wife
And then she got on
With the rest of her life
There’s a moral to this story
Don’t take a bath take a shower
There’s no chance of falling asleep
And it uses far less power.
Rung out
before you unfurl the rag
It's a muddled mess of colored cotton
It's just a mash in your wet
hands
In that moment it is nothing
crumpled nothing
But
Once unfurled it can again find purpose
be useful
an agent of change
with potential to bring in the light
Alter the view
remove the aged dust
That one rag can change things
Clean the room
Whipe away everything
One little crumpled rag can completely change
a room
and it can most definitely change you
Take a bath
Be a crumpled wet rag
and then
unfurl....see what you can do after the storm
There is an urban legend
surfacing somewhere on the islands
that I am a possessor of a converted
fountain of youth deep inside
my bedroom closet
and every year on my birthday
I would take a bath
into its calming spring waters
enclosing the mystical essence
behind my perpetual childlike appearance
I have no time Melinda argues
You need to take time for you, we tell her.
I am way to busy! She shrieks.
She is on her own last nerve.
We see it.
One aunt says she will watch the two-year-old twins.
A great-grandma offers to take the new baby home for the day.
Grandma wants to do her laundry.
We are all rebuffed.
Melinda is the only one who can do any of that.
She is frazzled, frenzied, and frantic.
We have seen postpartum before.
You really need to take some time for yourself we tell her.
A doctor’s visit might be in the works.
I am too busy! Melinda argues. “I cannot see a doctor!”
We are at a loss.
We cannot force a grown woman to take time for herself.
To relax, take a bath, play soft music.
Sadly, her entire family is suffering now.
Today is the day.
The day to put in records.
The day of extrication.
The day of riddance.
My albums are clean.
Swept them before dawn.
My archives are clean.
I reviewed it down.
The photos she left with me.
My ex girlfriend.
All down to ashes.
I set them ablaze.
The rags and tatters.
She left in my wardrobe.
All I set afire.
I watched them turn black.
The chronicle trash she made.
All I want to forget.
I want to take a bath
Back to the market I'm going.
?@ Tha Formidable Cheru.
#themonk.
I fell upon the darkness and slept upon a scream
The light of day and dire night divided in between
Seeing the light beguiled by night enhanced a morbid dream
Surreal a shadow of thyself below above the green
The wind the whispers of the world rewinding in a wrath
Unsalted by the tastes of time to know thyself unseen
To be the bee who can not see the sea to take a bath
Accompanied with misery and luxuries of sin
Maybe I've crossed and am at loss upon a frightening path
If memories massage the me, thus how shall I begin
An infant in an idol place to share the curse of breath
Living along a war of worlds whose woes I cannot win
Enchanted by the light of night defines the dawn of death
Conceived deceived believed to weave against the undertow
For it is that
permanent plight that ends the height of breath
Forgive me not, tied in a knot, it is my plot to grow
I fell upon a darkness and slept upon a scream
Perchance I give myself the blow to meet the cautious crow
Seeing the light beguiled by night enhanced a morbid dream
An Original Terzanelle
L Milton Hankins
4-28-2022
When life begins to slip away,
I take a bath.
With one last breath,
I hold myself under the water.
In this stillness, I am calm.
The relief of death seems to comfort me.
God granted me a reprieve
From life's mundane daily needs
By sending a family of Chickadees
To take a bath as they please
In the birdbath outside my window
They splashed and splashed in splendor
Far from the still green slender gingko
Former beauty of spring's moments tender
Just a little reprieve in my kitchen
Where so often as I have mentioned
My time spent where no one pitched in
Soaking in beauty of God's which strengthened
WOW! His belly is full and can't BELCH!!
HAHA! He's gone mad and makes a BANG!
OOPS! His wife's Sprite makes a SPLASH!
YEAH! Hear the fireworks, they make a BAM!
OOSH! She throws water balloons that POP!
WHAM! Keep away from a dangerous POW!
POOF! She' makes him disappear with a ZAP!
YEAH! Take a bath filthy pig, don't BABBLE!
OMG! Sing happy Karaoke lyrics, not SLAM!
GARGLE! Hygiene is a must, don't MUMBLE!
WTF?! Don't piss me off, I love to SMASH!
TIC-TAC! Stop that cuckoo clock, ACHOO!
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