We are travelers on this wild terrain
Heading timorously towards an unknown goal
Ever tossed by the vicissitudes of life
Fated to partake evenly of smiles and tears
All the paths we tread along
Finally converge on a single spot
At the tomb, we just pause awhile
To resume our journey to lands beyond
From the experience I have with life
I am able to download the great wisdom,
That all what counts is how well we live
And not how long we have been here.
So, mend your life as your conscience directs.
Bridge the gap between words and deeds.
Believe your heart knows what is best
It will show the route you should take
Faith and Hope together brightens life
But love is the magic key opening every heart!
April. 16. 2023
A Wisdom Download Poetry Contest
Sponsor- Unseeking Seeker
I see him walking awkwardly
With faltering baby steps
A wizened shadowy figure
A man over eighty with an arching body
Carrying the carcasses of lost aspirations
He has seen thousands of auburn sunsets
Now timorously inching his way
Friendless, solitary and deserted
May be towards his final sunset,
Beyond which is utter darkness!
I see in him my aged father
A fellow pilgrim heading to a common destination
God speaks to me through his eyes
He has opened the door for me to a living light
I value him so much that I want
To make him feel loved and cared
Before the night darkens and he stumbles and falls
Let me hold his hand for a while
Be with him for some time
To brighten his world for a fleeting moment
Before he falls down dead
Before I am too weary to care
As I suture his wounds and apply a little balm
Over the scalding burns of his mind
If he feels, he is not alone, but with company
Oh sure, my heart will quiver
As an opening blossom of joy!
Jan.9.2023
~ Placed First~
The Way We Look Poetry Contest
Sponsor- Unseeking Seeker
As far as my eyes could see were old stones
Storied lives, some remembered, most forgotten,
Once were flesh and blood, now only dry bones.
I wondered how many of them were misbegotten
Their worth now easily assessed with a few zeroes,
Storied lives, some remembered, most forgotten.
No doubt some were rogues, some honored heroes
Whatever their fortune at death they now have not,
Their worth now easily assessed with a few zeroes.
Each with only one thing in common, a grassy plot
Sweet-smelling flowers placed with due respect,
Whatever their fortune at death, they now have not.
I came here timorously, not knowing what to expect
Would I somehow experience a new appreciation
Sweet-smelling flowers placed with due respect?
Walking among these stones with a rapt hesitation
[As far as my eyes could see were old stones]
Would I somehow experience a new appreciation?
Once were flesh and blood, now only dry bones.
BRONZE MEDAL WINNER
Written June 30, 2022
"Anything You Wish No. 15" Poetry Contest
All Poetry
July 6, 2022
Old beds reinventing themselves
as hammocks for the distilling
of sweat and foam
into an archive of dreams.
Sprung mattress’ sag like spavined camels,
or twist days and nights together
into sheets stuffed with mental laundry.
Some beds have fallen comatose,
they wilt like boneless owls
in slumbering hollows.
Beds keep their history recorded
in the brain-stems of a thousand bodily impressions;
beneath lumpy mattresses horror movies clump,
and pornographic images are laid
timorously to rest.
A young boy jumps up and down on his bed.
One day he jumps very high,
when he lands he is a teenager. By his side
a young girl (both),
not knowing what to do next, until the bed
begins to whisper to them.
Timorously I move alongside
Rendering me anxious and edgy
At Last I have found her
Casually I hugged the body I loved most
Ending weeks of intense tracking.
broken branches
of a tree
fuzzy faces
unclear to me
painfully imprints
genetically strand
imprint illusions
alone being banned
Helplessly hoping
a final breath
timorously taunting
wishing for death
I was afraid.
The morsel of fear laid upon my finger
It laughed at my dismay
It was quick.
Leaping from my hand
To my carnivorous cave
It reminded me of home.
My moms warm garlic
mashed potatoes
Dancing around
Swirling with such soothing grace
It was peaceful, calming
It tasted like a buttery roll
A divine gift from the gods
Which fell gracefully upon my tongue
It timorously tumbled down my throat
Feebly and weak
I conquered it.
Then it sank its sharp fangs into my gullet
Causing my nostrils to flair
And my eyes to water
Its taste was deceiving
Mimicking its appearance
It was evil.
It thrashed around
and slowly finished sliding down my throat
But it was gone.
I rejoiced over the demise of my foe.
I conquered the unconquerable.
Forever young, poised on the leaping edge of time,
the child essence that lives within,
age-creased the outer casing
where, paper thin, the skin grows old
and withers like spent leaves before the wind;
constantly renewed the inner stream of lightning grace,
fresh flowing from the all wise Father's life granting hand,
an exuberant miracle captured
in so small a vessel as the timorously beating human heart.
Thus inspiration comes, lightning quick, alive, forever new,
to prick imagination's wine skin, releasing a spring of creativity,
a birth, a miracle itself, a joint act with God,
the great giver of all gifts.
© September 17, 2015
Faye Lanham Gibson
WHEN THE CAT’S AWAY
The murine stars
Hide timorously as the cat’s yellow eye
Appears early each morning
Trying to catch those tiny
Scurrying distant dwarfs
But they stay hidden until the cat
Settles down to sleep again
THE LEAVING OF LIVERPOOL
Giant ferry berthed in Mersey River :
Tugs take the strain with a shiver,
Ropes creak and we cast off -
She timorously inches away from the wharf.
Bow comes round and leaves the dyke:
Lit buildings spin carousel-like -
Strong currents have us in tow.
Black vortices with bubbles below,
Inkiness of river water stark:
Hear it more than see it in the dark.
Big crewman in black woolly hat
Yelling to another in Serbo-Croat:
Looks like mayhem but they know
How to swing her into the river, so
That ropes, men, machines, move in sync
Floating her out on the ink.
Liverpool fades in red glow;
Stars emerge from hiding low.
On the frowning wave
We are alone in the dark, save
Our own lights cast ghostly
Into nothingness mostly.
Go inside and shut out the night.
In the morning Dublin in sight.
FALL IN THE SNOW
Navigating deserted street , timorously,
Seems ok underfoot, so branch out a little.
No ice, just hard-packed snow.
Sidewalk looks white, innocent, safe.
Left foot treachery, collapse to port side
Like a tree felled at random
Or a ship torpedoed.
Lie still, winded and unsure of breakages
Try to catch breath.
Test leg, - ok. Lone passer-by offers hand
Pulls me to the surface.
Rooted again, step gingerly out once more.
Mine was an awning,
I was not fawning,
crammed into my mind,
the space was just not available,
the flesh was raw and broken,
the nerves jingled every now and then,
sending painful telegrams,
blood frightened me,
as it oozed out timorously,
I did not know quite,
how to get this sewed up and good,
I had to down my hood,
my activities reduced to half,
doctor said it would be allright,
he gave me pills,
spherical and cylinderical,
green,red,and yellow,
I took them in,
felt respite set in,
but awning yawned every now and then,
I limped the leg it was in,
and cursed the day,
I rode the puny kid bike of my son,
to fall down and have this gash,
nature has its own buddy in our body,
chemicals and antibiotics worked,
silently inside,
as I grimaced less,
the skin folded and dried,
blood was banned,
it whitened,
and now covered in a parchy layer,
soon that too fell off like snake skin,
leaving a sewed up and pink patch,
pink darned with sunlight,
to healthy skin color,
as skin matched the other skin,
now I needed to grimace no more,
what was grim,
was back again trim!
Mine was an awning,
I was not fawning,
crammed into my mind,
the space was just not available,
the flesh was raw and broken,
the nerves jingled every now and then,
sending painful telegrams,
blood frightened me,
as it oozed out timorously,
I did not knowquite,
how to get this sewed up and good,
I had to down my hood,
my activities reduced to half,
doctor said it would be allright,
he gave me pills,
spherical and cylinderical,
green,red,and yellow,
I took them in,
felt respite set in,
but awning yawned every now and then,
I limped the leg it was in,
and cursed the day,
I rode the puny kid bike of my son,
to fall down and have this gash,
nature has its own buddy in our body,
chemicals and antibiotics worked,
silently inside,
as I grimaced less,
the skin folded and dried,
blood was banned,
it whitened,
and now covered in a parchy layer,
soon that too fell off like snake skin,
leaving a sewed up and pink patch,
pink darned with sunlight,
to healthy skin color,
as skin matched the other skin,
now I needed to grimace no more,
what was grim,
was back again trim!
i hesitate from getting up from the puddle
i had fallen down in during the rain.
my foot had slipped leaving me covered in soil and water
i imagined going quietly insane.
a gun shot took the life force of a friend today.
i stood shakily in dirty wet shoes.
no one knew yet but the likes of me.
i would be to some the bearer of bad news.
she had been the recipient of his increasing love and
the frequent subject of his airbrush art.
arriving at the scene, i had been essential for the law to question.
i told them i thought it was a matter of the heart.
in a daze, i shivered under my black umbrella
timorously walking wondering who was really to blame.
maybe i should have said something to him the day before.
maybe things would still be the same.
i wanted it to be over -- this grieving,
before i reached home -- away a taunting eternity.
unsure tears co-mingled with the erasing rain, but
more guilt would come after achieving emotional empty.
The shadow hides many pretty things,
but light is the chaser of the ugly darkness
as the desiderable sunlight shines on
persons and Nature alike!
Don't we all have:
a great necessity to seek a light,
however dim it may be...when it is frightfully dark
and roaring thunderstorms move on?
The shadow hides many pretty things
and wouldn't do any good if everyone didn't
suspect the harmful enemy
hiding behind it; the shadow,
unlike the soothing light,
is merciless and ungiving...hindering us
from reaching tomorrow!
No,we shouldn't gaze at it timorously,
but consider it an invisible evil,
which must not grow...
yes, shadows are indistructible...
if weakness overpowers us!
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