Across the wandering life’s dynamic domain,
we traverse on the footprints of fate.
The tortuous pathway we pave for us
in the uncertain topography of life
meanders to the formless fortune
where it takes the ordained shape,
We trudge aimless with nebulous ambition
on the fated course of ambiguity,
across the illusive hues of the sunset horizon,
where we get caught in the confining clutch
of the storm clouds of providence
as captive of the toxic milieu.
The night unfolds its fiery face
within the insight struck by thunderstorm,
every heartbeat finds the scars engraved by chance.
The shadows of deceit dance with intent
within the melting conscience clouds,
truth revealed in lies is hidden in the shine of the stars.
The surreptitious dreams we design
dazzle with the stellar glow
with heaven’s secrets coded for one and all.
The whisper of celestial silence articulates destiny
for the mystified travelers following
the tune of the singing stars.
In the wilderness of life’s changing landscape,
the pathway across the tortuous topography
winds through perceived present to formless future,
I traverse following the faint footprints of fate.
Many surging streams in spate I swim in storm
with hopes held close to the heart lest they drown.
Chasing the beguiled butterflies in the verdant valley
the fervent dreams fly through the rainbow arc.
As the spent sun sinks in the tinge of twilight,
from the cryptic crypt of uncertainty I look back,
see the snapshots of convivial contentment,
resplendent in the benevolent glow of God’s grace.
With weary steps I now walk the last mile,
perceive the beginning of the journey’s end.
The sands of my penultimate time slide away fast,
I sense the rolling hourglass is almost empty.
Gloom pervades, an empty stillness hovers,
No sound, except the echo of faint sighs,
Rising from a frail chest.
Popped upon white pillows, a small girl reclines
On her sick bed, incapable of sitting up.
Her body down the waist, is wrapped
In a thick blanket to douse the chills of fever.
Consumption has eaten away her vitality
Her sick lungs gasps for breath
Her face, a white paper- pale and bland
Her golden hair lies disheveled.
A curtain hangs dull, half drawn
Waiting for the final pull.
The lady, her aunt who has been with the child
Through her tortuous journey,
Bends down clasping her frail hand
Unable to face the girl’s blank stare.
A yellowing leaf is about to take its downward spiral.
An unseen guest waits for the final embrace.
The faint stirring of life will soon desert her.
Yet love remains, a whiff of cool breeze,
Fanning her fears away with a gentle clasp.
In a critical moment of suffering and helplessness,
No medicine, but love alone serves as balm.
Each blurred stroke unravels the silence,
Of art that speaks for itself~
Man’s vulnerability and hovering sorrow,
Of a life so enigmatic, cast in gloom’s shroud.
I verse the barren cemented sidewalk
listening to shoes and soles and souls
speak their tired tongues, tortuous
aloneness my name, garden free
solitude my drops of watering
I’m rooted tough against storms
I wave my arms as breezes bring
messages you will not hear
awaiting fertiliser I will not taste
nourishment from glances of the few
still my resilience will aid imbalances
as my core emits survival frequencies
ticks suck my fluid for always He sends
rays of light into my breasted stamen
cracked spaces my choice turf
rejection strengthening spinal stem
away from acclaim I listen clear to
unsung heroes, heroines tempestuous
in concrete fissures of new beginnings
____________________
4th Placement : Standard Contest
Sponsor : Craig Cornish : March 26
The edge of night,
I looked for your light.
The moon not full,
the darkness so cruel.
I looked for stars,
tortured they are.
Angels slumber unaware,
Only in darkness I stare.
Will I find your star tonight,
If I pray, I might, I might.
Warlocks, witches and wizards appear,
as they do this time every year,
exposing craggy faces, screeching sounds,
and sowing blood magic as fear abounds.
Guarding my head with pillowed quilt
hoping my craven face won’t melt!
But I cry out panicked! Horrified!
They pass me by on their frightful ride.
White-hot power rends me paralyzed
and by despair and anguish traumatized.
Terror races through my iced blood
reverberating a tortuous thud.
Ghouls and zombies teeming around
burgeoning in and out around town.
I pray to survive till sun arises
and confront no more horrid surprises.
Halloween is suitably scary.
I am vigilant, and wary.
Once-a-year is enough for me.
I savor being eerie- and freaky-free!!
Many springs came rolling on the wheel of time,
we wafted our entwined hearts on wings of love.
Ardent fervor set sail on the cloud fleet across blue,
Not for long, for the rain storm dissolved the sky.
My yearning slid far with the stream of your eyes,
but surely I knew I’d return possessed, won’t fail
to be with you in the garden of my meadow,
for in the wrap of your arms again I’d love to be.
In the vibrant vale of my cascading heart
your footprints sculpted a turquoise trail.
As I walked with dream on its tortuous trace,
I discerned the remains of my love glimmer
in the mesmeric embrace of the moon dust,
showering on me the sequins of your beauty.
You grew saplings sprouting in moonlit splendor,
verdant leaves took care of the budding roses,
unfurling one by one at the sunburst crimson dawn,
enticed you with the gleaming glow of longing
where you could then find me smiling content,
for I could keep my promise to bloom, the first,
see in the feeble flicker of your eyes my kryptonite.
I am not here just to feed your ego
Or to validate the decisions you have made
You stay stuck and refuse to grow
I’ll start my journey to slow fade
I am going to start acting like you
To hold a mirror to the actions you displayed
You push and pull, stop, then start anew
Forcing me into a steady slow fade
I am not here for your breadcrumbs
My hunger for more cannot be delayed
You run when the connection comes
So now it’s time for my slow fade
I am not feeling you in this void
But rather, as though I’ve been played
You resist all emotions to further avoid
Pushing me into this quiet slow fade
I am not going to chase you anymore
When choosing me causes you to be afraid
You act like loving me is a chore
This is why I choose to slow fade
I am done playing this tortuous game
I stopped caring for this foolish charade
You don’t even pretend to feel the same
This bull**** propels me into the slow fade
I climb high up the tortuous path
Of a ragged hillock and
In pensive solitude I look around
Upon the universe that surround me.
There from on high
I spy so many mysterious wonders
That God endowed this worthy earth,
And blessed all His creations
With wealth, momentous and great.
The waning sun creeps down over the horizon
To gain its well-earned rest.
A reddish dusk tinges the hilltops
As swallows glide serenely below the ridge
In search of a homely sanctuary
To dream the dark night away.
The multicoloured flowers in the valley
That swing in nightly breezes,
And feed the insects bright;
The trees that grow so mighty
Whilst bushes provide haven to so many
Graceful creatures of the wild.
The glorious stars that light the dark
The dazzling sun that ripens crops,
The lakes and seas that ripple
And reflect the mountains high:
Is it not easy to understand
How blessed we all are?
Yet do we ever stop
To thank our dear Lord
And ponder on these gracious gifts?
Across the wandering life’s changing dynamic landscape,
I traversed following the footprints of destiny
the tortuous pathway in the undulating topography,
that winded for me, tracking the trail of racing time
to the amorphous future, taking the ordained shape,
Many streams in spate I had swam with passion
across the waves of somber squall.
With the buds of nascent hope clutched close to heart.
I chased butterflies in the blooming valley of flowers,
with dreams flying through the rainbow archway.
Drifting with the whistling wind in the forest,
the radiant rays from the sunburst sky
seeped in to enwrap me with ecstasy.
Navigating the wasteland at night I found your arms,
I saw love glow on dew in my meadow at dawn.
The spent sun sinks at the edge of the twilight zone,
across the disappearing trail of the time past,
marked by the fading footprints of fulfillment.
Walking the last mile, I’ve reached the point of no return,
the weary footsteps can’t take me back.
From Russia with love
Russia is a strange and great country, not quite in Europe
and not quite Eastern, they react to mayhem but seldom
intimate it; for those who are history less they won
The brutal war of 1940 and 1945 by breaking the back
of the German army and making it possible by Britain
and the USA to take the credit.
Norway has up to know had a warm relationship with
this giant, in the form of a barter system, we gave them
fish and they sent us cars for everyman.
It was not the USA that made car ownership possible, but
Russia flooding the market with cheap cars as foreign
cars were hard to come by.
The cars where called Moscowitch and were fundamental
no heating system and a tortuous suspension, but
for the first time, every man could be
a proud car owner.
For those who remember, it was a dreadful car but
nevertheless, a car.
Lately, to our regret the relationship has suffered, this
Is mainly by American political pressure, and partly
by the Norwegian oil industry that has made her
a wealthy country.
This newfound arrogance is miss-placed and silly
we must treat Russia as the friend she is and not
forget we own her a depth of gratitude.
Why You Should Choose Love When All You Want To Do Is Run. -- Kelsey L.O.
I plunge into the labyrinth of your soul,
dim-lit corridors,
looping, convoluted and tortuous.
I search fervently for your endearing love.
glimpse dim lights that glow like flashes,
waves of a calm mountain spring,
at times trickling and sluggish
often overflowing and surging,
occasionally meandering and gushing.
At your volition
I feel your cataclysmic affection:
In my confusion I know not what I feel:
a relish of pleasure experienced?
or a neurotic obsession of losing you?
Placed 1
My mind hibernates in the void of cavernous complexity,
wakes up in the sensual seasons of mystique living.
The wild psyche forms a sleek and sly unique entity,
as with whisper of intent hiss, dances the reptilian feeling.
Within the deep cold layers many ancient secrets hide,
the sinuous slither of the silent senses can’t find.
Coiled in still shadows of the verdant world outside,
the echo of hostile footsteps is left to fade behind.
A prisoner under the disposable skin of own pedigree,
with an animated grace of fear in introvert isolation,
I see all the frightened faces flee from me,
as I trace my tortuous path in the web of ardent adulation.
In self-adoration, as a symbol of style steeped in serenity,
I see in me a serpentine Narcissus lonely lurk.
Metamorphosed stealthily from an obsessive entity,
it holds the threads of life, waits insulated in the dark.
Listless life entangled in the cobweb of frustration
looks for the escaping pathway of dissociation.
Time for me to listen to the earnest call from within,
the enticing echo of music from the soul’s concert.
I reform the constitution of the mangled mind,
let the strained strings of sensual duress unwind,
discover the covert cavern someone makes for me
within the abode of hope, so long out of sight.
When I’m lost in the tortuous labyrinth of living,
search the senile senses for the escape route,
but find the exit door closed, letting me perceive
the released hidden power, tipping the balance.
I follow the invisible trail of unswerving faith,
feel the fostering resurgence of reassuring fortitude,
for at the end of the tormenting tunnel
I see the light of self-determination finally appear.
I’m suffused with the heavenly hues of godly grace
that inspires the Phoenix concealed within me
to rise from the destressing dust of self-defeat
at the divine dawn of reflective renascence.
wandering in wasteland
of denuded life
desolate
sinuous track
takes me
to the terrain
of nowhere
nebulous
I’m entangled
in enmeshing web
of
enigmatic conundrum
shall I escape
from decay delirium
or not
I can’t decide
ingrained imprint
indelible
of
wheel of time
turning
in destiny domain
twisted out
of tormenting tangle
of tortuous trail
of passive past
steers
with promise
of pride
my fraught mind
out of maze
shows me
the pledged pathway
to fervent fountain
of misty meadow
protected
I break open
there
invisible barrier
you’ve built
of seclusion
around your garden
secret
blooming
furtive flowers
hidden
from me
but
I’ll saunter
there
suffused with
seraphic shine
sanguine
of sunburst dawn
new
I wish
before I walk
the last mile
our paths
will cross
entranced
coalesce
into oneness
someday
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