Tearstained Poems | Examples

Echoes of Poets

The poets ease a troubled soul –
their lyrics echo in the heart
that yearns for soothing silence –
a sombre melody that shadows part.

Echoes drift 
where silence clings

We mourn the scribes as truth
has given way to ego, pride.
The echo found in coded pyre
alongside ashes piled in their stride.

Echoes drift 
where silence clings

Their tearstained pages worn folios,
yet still we sing the songs of yore
to glean some semblance of an art;
a wisdom that has gone before.

Echoes drift
where silence clings

Echoes drift
where silence clings 

Optional Refrain:
Yet still we sing the songs of yore
to glean some semblance of an art.
We yearn for soothing silence;
a sombre melody that shadows part.

Echoes drift 
where silence clings

Echoes drift 
where silence clings

Words Are Most Beautiful

Between love’s first glance and passion’s kiss,
Words fill the void, the space.
Impatient note transferred in class;
a clumsy, tearstained sonnet wrote
when ‘I love you’ seemed not enough;
the witnessed promises we made;
then whispered amatory kept.
The indescribable described.

Foolish Dreams

I have the most foolish Dreams
In my dreams, I wake to sunlight pouring in streams.
In my dreams, I am unburdened by fear, failure or disease.
In my dreams, the sky is blue and the air is clean.
In my dreams, I only see individuals never a multitude
In my dreams, I bridge the gap between companionship and solitude
In my dreams, I walk with my head held high
There is no self doubt nor reason to hide tears I have cried
In my dreams, the nights are longer 
There are no boogie men so I have peaceful slumbers
In my dreams, I have friends and feel no heartache
In my dreams, I never let go I give all it takes
In my dreams, I'm not afraid to laugh or feel
In my dreams, I'm surrounded by peace, it is truly surreal
In my dreams, I am all that I am and that is enough
In my dreams, I know what it is to love and be loved
Every night I go to sleep and dream of things I won't ever admit I seek
And every morn I rise to a wet pillow and tearstained cheeks
Truly I have the most foolish Dreams
My mind is endlessly breaking my heart making me wish for the wrong things

It Has Been a While

it has been a while since i was here
i have been blocked from every side of every angle in every way
i still take pictures of the waterfront for therapy and contentment
yet and still i am lonely and cannot find the cure

it has been a while since you were here
you decided to leave the norm that you knew and write a new story
you leaned more towards the unknown and the unfamiliar
yet and still here you are knocking on my door with tearstained knuckles

it has been a while since we were both here
together we discovered keys long buried in the instantaneous inflation of time
in our personal journeys we learned that we are better together than apart
at the fork in the road of life, we smile as we begin another guessing game

Kiss

Kiss

Lips can be deceitful
Whether they whisper in your ear 
Or trace your cheek
When lips pressed tight 
Together
Come back bloody
Or worse, cold
When salty tears
That are not your own fall on your cheek
When a kiss can say everything
Or nothing at all
A thousand kisses can never be enough
I’ll take your bloody kisses
And tearstained cheek
Don’t say anything love,
Lips can be deceitful,
But they can’t lie.

Harmony

“Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.”
                                      ~ William Wordsworth

What a peaceful sense of harmony I would feel
if the greatest moments in my dreams were real.
Those tender times together when we made love
are the thoughts I care about being reminiscent of.

I wake as dawn's luminance gently touches my face
and find I'm all alone. Of him, there's not a trace.
Again, I am conflicted, and my eyes seek in askance,
Am I to live in discontent without another romance?

I write of love to assuage the sorrow in my heart
but my pen and ink create tearstained works of art.
I've many pages of Sonnets written in lyrical rhyme,
Intimate lines of us when life was a melodic time.

One day love may find me again, outside of a dream.
A man whose eyes look at me and set mine agleam.
Whose touch makes me shiver, taking my breath away.
There will be harmony between us, we'll lovingly convey.


February 27, 2023
Writing Challenge ~ H Words Contest
Sponsored by Constance La France

Heavenly Dipped Maternal Hands of Infinitely Divine Reassurance

walking alone with my memories and a tearstained heart
watching the water and thinking about Her
there is nobody here and the chill and the quiet is a perfect combination
the makeshift Christmas tree on the sand makes me laugh for short spell
wishes and regrets then creep up on me and steal me again
i am on spaghetti legs but remain Bountifully Blessed
the water senses my level of unbalance and doctors me back straight
i walk along and reminisce about the company that now dwells in heaven
the skies are blue and the sun is elated
despite the wind being unforgiving, i feel its guaranteed embrace
so many songs pop into my head
i am a snaggletoothed little boy again, impatient and full of energy
i hear you now firmly telling me to go and unpack
now i hear no voices
now i am forever wounded due to my choices
nevertheless i have maternal healing hands that are Heavenly Dipped and Infinitely Divine to reassure me
my walk becomes more confidently erect
my heart beats with pride and valor, pumping the tearstains away

Winter's Tears

Aching, trembling like the dewdrop as it slides, wistful, across a petal… down a tearstained cheek – our ancestor’s heart’s quake  ~ quote by author

Wrinkled now, thoughts carved out - all in the past
like the graying hairs left, heaven's forecast
reminding his dreams that their time has passed
autumn leaves, falling softly in contrast
stirring winter's icy cold, all aghast
darkest shadows breaking through to holdfast
weakened by the years, heartfelt tears, harassed
changes in hues of life's sorrows, at last
death welcomes those who heaven surely asked






MonoMixoRhyme Cash Prize Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Hilo Poet
December 6, 2022

For My Children

You’re all in charge of authoring a story
Of love and humor, suspense and glory
You’re writing starts with your very first thought
And doesn’t end til your life is naught.

Know, My Dears, these books; your own
There are no cowriters; authors unknown
Flip those pages and make your quills dance
Miss no opportunities, take a chance

If somewhere in those thick tomes of yours
You have questions “whys and what fors?”
Do not ponder and then overthink
For there’s no such thing as permanent ink

There will be some tearstained pages
Most likely in your middle ages
There will be words you’d like to forget
Or phrases in which you may regret

But when it reaches the golden stage
The best of the story in a later page
Grab a pencil and throw some sparks	
And don’t be afraid of eraser marks

Then once it’s written and you do find
There was a time of hurt when life’s unkind
Go ahead and toss out awful chapters
Because Momma loves Happily Ever Afters

Ariel

My tearstained stuffed bunny is my dearest companion,
    My confidant.
I whisper my fears,
    My snotty, sobbed aches,
Into her ears 
And let them disappear
Into the dark of my bedroom.
I’m a wreck,
But what’s new?
I’ve spent half the month weeping-
It’s kind of funny.
I mean,
Up until this s***** month,
I’d become convinced 
That I’d finally turned a new leaf.
What a stupid cliche.
There are no leaves to turn in my life.
It’s spring and all the leaves 
Are still f****** dead. 
I’m almost finished with another journal
And I don’t feel any more sane,
    Or composed.
I’ve had four major panic attacks in as many weeks:
If I didn’t know better,
I’d think perhaps 
I was going the same way as the leaves.
But of course 
I’ve never been that d*** lucky.
The leaves are dead and rotting
And I’m just alive and falling to pieces.
I have more tears to spill
Than friends to spill to.
My closest friend is a f****** stuffed bunny
And she’s the best listener
I’ve ever encountered.

Small Concerns

New leader of the free world,
Riots both silent and raucous,
Flames spitting out from trashcans 
And barrel drums,
Demonizing the tearstained faces
Of children and mothers, men emasculated
By their failure to provide, 
Dreamers of fairy tales.
And it’s a lovely thought—
That things would be different with another elect.
Always greener, the grass,
Though before us lies a vast plain of sienna,
A box of matches,
Beyond us a whole universe, laughing (I should think)
The point we call Sun dwarfing us by more than a million to one,
Itself dwarfed by trillions of others.

The Pillow of You

I slept with your vision
in dreams last night,
'till glaring incision
of realities daylight
pierced my lonely eyes.

I awoke with a cold
sweat on my brow,
my pillow I hold
and wish that somehow
its' softness was you.

My temperatures' rising
of vain hopeful wish,
thru long days fantasizing
for the grace of your kiss
O could 'ere dreams come true!

Now the night it comes falling
on my lonely head,
once again I go crawling
to my tearstained bed
and the pillow of you.

Pain's Tomorrow

Pain’s Tomorrow


Why dost the hand of love surround my throat
hold hostage by each breath - lost passions hope -
imprison me within hot blooded moat
tethered agony - heartaches tearstained rope?

Couldst not the gods if they held such powers
release from bondage love’s extinguished flame
allow the blessing of times healing hours
erase the hollowed emptiness of shame?

For love has stolen love - left me wand’ring
within the emptiness of mem’ry’s dreams,
victims - guilt shared – complicit squandering
soft truth beneath the lies of lustful schemes.

Yet they reach beyond the pale of sorrow
lover’s - hope in search of pains tomorrow.



8/1/2016

submitted to – All I could do was surrender – Shakespearian Sonnet – Poetry Contest
sponsor – Becca Teagan

Last Words

That dead night,
Tearstained face.
Knuckles white,
Warm embrace.

Then I said,
"Why do you cry?"
And you said,
"Take care, goodbye!"

Grey sky,
Colourless,
Black and white,
Speechless.

When I said,
"Don't cry!"
You said,
I'll miss you, goodbye!"

Those last words,
Hung in the air.
Feeling dizzy,
Ahead, I stare.

When I said,
"Don't lie!"
You said,
"I'm serious, goodbye!"

Those last words,
Shot loud bangs.
And left me,
Downright blank.

When I said,
"Don't go!"
You said,
"Can't do so!"

My mind,
Bursting with,
Flashbacks,
Echoes.

When I said,
"Stay! Try!"
You said,
"Sorry, goodbye!"

A Grey World

I've given out my happiness,
Never given a reason to,
from those who are prodigies,
yet they still sole are blue.

Some days are evil,
Dressed in black and grey,
Taking out the anger,
On those who have rotten away.

No longer can I stand for this,
A world so destructive,
So little smiles to forget,
We are so unproductive.

We sit with our tearstained faces,
The color all washed away,
our sadness never leaves us,
All we can do is delay.

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