I need the tattered stuff.
It feels like grooves groaning.
Envious of slow thoughts.
I’m rattled.
It bounces like falling down the drain.
Until I looked again and everything turned shy.
At least shy to me.
As the old coat got older.
I like the tattered stuff.
Flipping through all that yesterday.
And still, nothing under my eyelids.
It’s nice as a book with spices.
And medicine.
In the tattered stuff.
In this abandoned place.
Until I unabandoned it.
Their rattled.
Why don't you just quit this nonsense
It's time to give up this very fight
He hung from that cross early morning
Until the bitter chill of the night
Strangers came by to see Him
None offered Him one bit of help
Torn, tattered and beaten
His God came to greet Him
Caressed Him and saved His Son from hell
heart
tattered
wounded soul
hopes all shattered
failed love has a price
such an outrageous toll
a burden to bear when skewed
Before leaping again, think twice
There's a question worthy of asking
Is trusting in love again worth the risk
It will bloom anew if true love is found,
Chance encounter of a new romance
Funny, how it happens that way
suddenly, gray skies turn blue
Sunlight beams golden hues
With a hand to hold
Life seems fulfilled
Heart mended
embraced
Loved
have a box of sadness that I keep upon a shelf
old and tattered from being opened too many times
inside are the fallen tears of my collected sadness
in that box dwells all my pain, sorrow, regret and grief
now, it is Christmastime and I need to open it again
so, I can dwell with the memories for just awhile
I give my heart to you freely,
Knowing it's battered and bruised, worn from love's wars.
Please keep it safe; I don't know how it still beats,
Remember, it's the only one I have, with scars so deep and pain so real.
I'm unsure how I survive these days with my bleeding heart.
Please keep it safe; it's a crime to stab a beating heart with a knife.
I don't understand how you say you love me yet hurt me so,
How you claim to love me but are unkind, leaving me to suffer and know.
I hoped you'd be the one to heal my tattered heart,
But instead, I feel only pain in this already damaged part.
If love is patient and kind, why do I feel such pain?
If you're not here to heal me, why remain? There's no safety in this place.
There on the shelf among all the other books,
Was one, a book that was old and tattered.
By the cover, nothing could be told by the looks,
Inside were written words of a life that was shattered.
Pages were torn,
Some had sentences that were unfinished.
The pages talked about a life of great scorn,
Of a person that was diminished.
On pages written describing such grief,
One would think it would have been the end,
But no, what happened next was beyond belief.
More than a simple mind could comprehend.
The book was not what it seemed,
It was a book of destiny.
Written within the pages were things long dreamed,
Was a Scripture, “All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”
Psalm 139:16
© Deborah Seale 2024
Under the tattered cloak of the past night,
I awoke as a traveler in the shadow of a compassless vessel,
Navigating the black river of an unknown destiny.
And behold, I suddenly got lost
In a chorus of voiceless echoes,
Whose devastating chords
Became the canvas on which the mourning of immeasurable loss is woven,
Where I learned to weave endless tears and carve traces of pain into my soul,
Aware that this symphony of sorrow will always weigh unsaid.
It will perish with me, an echo in the bowels of oblivion,
Passing through my heart like sparks of vibrant glass,
Leaving scars of memories that will never heal.
The path does not turn back, the gates of the past do not reopen,
Only that perpetual yearning,
A lake of solitude where no star reflects,
Where the lonely ones drink only the shattering of dreams.
And yet...
We watch them fall, soft leaves in the wind of silence,
We weep for them like companions sinking into the abyss,
And we reach out our hands to catch their final breaths,
Illusions that seem to fade like stars at dawn.
"Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him."James 1:12 of the King James Bible
Torn midst temptations and
Treated as useless, yet
Tested midst hopeful strength
To rise with faith in God
Triumphantly over
Trials… Now, heart champions
Thanksgiving, grace-enriched.
3rd place, "Tattered, Tearful, Threadbare, Tomb Words" Poetry Writing Contest Sponsored by Constance La France; judged on 3/14/2024
“A tattered soul isn’t always dark; there’s light within, amidst broken wings. Only a hyacinth heart would see the sun when it rains. ” ~
Quote by Poet
I
am like
tattered twigs
on dying trees,
facing freckled skies~
watered with blooming grief,
as tainted roots of life-lines~
keeps carrying emerald scars,
scattered along feathered rain-forests,
where devious dragonflies and cross-eyed~
crickets croon remnants of forgotten times.
There, fluorescent wild-flowers eavesdrop,
mocking tales of my weathered wings.
But will the rain ever see
how the sun in my soul
still spreads rose gold light,
across torn skies,
adorned with
splintered
dreams…
"it’s been torn, and tattered, and broken apart, but keep me vulnerable and broken open, please stay my tender heart" – author, butterflies rising
My heart is tattered; oh were it made of
a cloth like cotton, ragged it would be
because of one who tore from me his love.
Cruel words brought misery to me.
Although my heart at one time had been strong,
his constant tearing at my heart produced
unraveling of it before too long.
Soft words he used on me at first seduced
me, but his words then later would become
as sharp as fabric scissors to my heart.
What beat once like a drum had now grown numb
because in shreds it has been torn apart.
A mending I’m in need of to restore
my heart with the sweet hope it once beat for.
leaves by lawn mower
shattered across open yard
gathering their thoughts
Mulched into the ground
giving some life to old soil
tattered scattered leaves
Tattered like an old love letter
Grasped too often in withered fingers
Folded and unfolded in an effort to remember
A long ago romance and those secret trysts
Beneath bowers of summer flowers
And too soon ended by elders
Shocked and scandalized by a love
They could not fathom and could not endure
Existing in the shadows of unsanctioned socialties.
The words in the letter are faded
But what does that matter to the eyes
Of the aged whose life has been tattered
And torn and then reborn in the image
Of what was patently proper in the minds
Of the neighbors and then sent the carriage
That carried her far from the arms of her lover
And trysts beneath bowers of summer flowers
In the long gone days of her youth.
Darkness abounds in my heartfelt sorrow
where she left me stripped of pride
a battered crippled soul
who aimlessly wanders in darker realms
of blue
I continually drown in tears of anguish
for being such a fool she used
to fill her lonely need
and led me to this room of scattered light
where I dance with shadows in my mind
that haunt me
my pain is captured in my swollen eyes
as I stumble through one bottle after another
of warm whiskey
becoming an image of self-pity
wanting to die
from this curse that came from her cold black eyes
that burned my wormy flesh
now being eaten by maggots of regret
leaving a parched skeleton
crumbling in the grave of my heart
a vanquished soul
whose love was stolen by words believed
from her hungry words of desire
leaving me a torn and tattered lonely drunk
TATTERED
The flag lay in the bloody muddy field
No longer proud, but torn and tattered
And what once was a standard to wield
Disregarded, as if it no longer mattered
The design featured a sword and shield
Abandoned ones, all severely battered
The fate of the defeated was now sealed
But all those left standing, now shattered
The vanquished, in chains, all appealed
Wounded in agony and blood spattered
Now subservient, all their lands to yield
And that King by victory, was flattered
Quilt handmade
Quilt tattered
Tattered edges
Tattered cloth
Cloth that's leftover
Cloth a reminder
Reminder of dresses
Reminder of handmade
Handmade dresses
Handmade with love
Love filled endeavor
Love the covering
Covering well used
Covering to possess
Possess little
Possess much
Much love
Much less things
Things to use
Things to wear out
Out of the heart
Out of skilled hands
Hands that age
Hands that hurt
Hurt from arthritis
Hurt and unable to sew
Sew those dresses
Sew the stitch
Stitch those pieces
Stitch designs
Designs of colors
Designs for quilts
Quilts patches together
Quilts patched with leftovers
Leftover scraps
Leftover cloth
Cloth that made dresses
Cloth of many colors
Colors and patterns
Colors of the rainbow
Rainbow design
Rainbow stitches
Stitches held together
Stitches from hands warm
Warm handmade quilt
Warm quilt tattered
Tattered
Quilt
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