Every stagnant day is a violent exhaustion,
coercing a broken frame to hallucinate its repair.
Within, my chest is a blackened crater.
Last embers burned out long ago.
No smoke.
No lingering warmth.
Now, only grey ash remains
where my beating heart should rest.
I spend every ounce of fading strength
just to pass as a lesser shade.
I am petrified.
Should I stop acting?
The void would swallow me whole.
Yet no one bears witness.
No one hears the rapture of my collapse
behind the polite greeting,
the quiet smile.
Am I just a spectre at their boundary gates,
bare hands wrapping the bars
while they gather by the light?
The threshold is an uncrossable chasm,
carved directly into my bones.
To want what they take for granted,
to not reach out,
to leave empty palms resting in the leaden air,
is a quiet, sterile agony.
The weight
is slowly,
inevitably,
walking me to my tomb.
Mithila’s Descent
Mithila walks, sleepless,
Across the hills of grief.
The burning fire of memory trails her...
A shadow of mist,
Uncrossable,
Like an uncertain, fleeing cloud.
Time ignites in envy’s blaze.
She floats on sweat water,
Her sixteen-year youth
Nurtured in fatigue.
Bones,
Muscles,
Tremble in the humid air...
Mortality’s edge sharpens
Around her fragile form.
The endangered time of mortality
around Mithila.
Lost in illusion,
She journeys alone—
A swan without a companion,
Adrift in the wreckage
Of ruined nostalgic desire.
Puberty crossed without lust,
Her memories, treasures locked,
Clutched like kin.
Adversity hangs the balance of life.
Tonight, Mithila stands alone in the dusk...
A desolate figure,
Adapting to realms unknown:
A realm of quicksand in the dark.
Drowning,
She dies to survive.
And at last,
Mithila bloomed to be eternal!
( The 21 years college girl was recently found hanged inside the flat, as told victimised by a wealthy, powerful businessman in Bangladesh)
A Dog's Life
Living in the present
is the only life to live
because uncrossable boundaries
exist between knowing what’s happening
and what is going to happen,
and an obsession with the future
can influence one’s perspective of reality
and change one’s behavioural patterns
so as to indulge in wishful thinking
while striving for impossible results.
Life is a roller-coaster ride
of uphill fights and downhill slides.
***
That seemingly uncrossable chasm
Between youth and as old age
Is all too easily bridged
As tomorrows become yesterdays
The blue hills are always there
Always on the edge
Below the sand dune
Clouds
Above
The blue hills are always there
Waiting to be climbed
Crossed
Conquered
They seek to challenge
One's compassion
They are there
Uncrossable yet destined to
Be crossed
Following
The elephantine footsteps
Of Hannibal.
You can reach the blue hills
If you keep
Moving towards them
Step by step by step
Your march
Your parade
Your pilgrimage
Will reach these mystic hills
Climb the summit
Beyond is the world
And beyond the world are the blue hills
The blue hills are always there
Waiting to be climbed
There will always be more hills
Always
Always
Always
You can conquer one
Then the next
The next
Next
They will continue coming
Do not fight the mountain
The hills will always win
What is our choice is
Whether we acknowledge
That the hills are eternal
And stop because we cannot win this fight
Or
Keep walking
Climb every mountain
Because the next one will always be there
See every view
Embrace each wind
And fall in love with the eternal sky
Above the blue hills
if i was to let you see
and take that leap of faith
if i was to ever drop
these thick black curtains of mine
the reveal, right before you
would you still love me?
if you were to throw them open
and you saw my blackened soul
if you were to grasp the things beyond
these feelings, locked away for eons
the golden key right in your hand
would you still love me?
if our love has lasted through the years
and never faltered once
if our strength were to fail now
these fates of ours, red strings intertwined
the scissor blades glinting above
would you still love me?
if you saw beyond my walls, then,
and if you didn’t leave me here
or if i said i could change, for you
this uncrossable distance, would it waver?
would you cross it for me?
would you still love me?
Would You Still Love Me Poetry Contest
Sponsored by Edward Ibeh
Posted and written on 12/23/18
life itself is an ocean
full of whales and sharks
sometimes swimming, sometimes sailing
sometimes surviving in an ark
don't be scared John Henry
just avoid the guns and knives
stay away from jealous men
and don't look at their wives
don't be afraid Hattie May
of the word woman and what it means
dignity and shame are both
worldly things that we give a name
plots and lies pollute the mind
and may cause death and doom
but they can only harm you
if you give them enough room
be cautious Terrence Avery
but not with fright and fear
success and failure are both measures
but they do not define your years
fear not Fenita Diane
for not all of life is loss and regret
and though there be tears and agony
joy and gladness awaits us yet
just wait Felisha Louisa
for we do not know the distance
between gut's and glory
having to risk, needing to save, wanting to win
are tools to fight our fears
bravery, faith and failure
inspire us, each in it's own way
but trying is the only way
to conquer our day and days
our oceans aren't uncrossable
if we make our fears behave
A man stands
His appearance uncertain
All I recall
Is a stone wall
Water and land
Expanse
Surely there could be a way across
Certainly, the broken dreams of his forefathers, they could
Must
Come to fruition
Shifting and watching, he stands.
At the forefront of Hell's maw,
a simple moat of water.
Uncrossable, all have tried.
It is understood.
The man who stands
turns away. He does not know.
And could not know.
For he has been told.
Deliberate tribulations and immediate gratifications are all part of my self-fulfilling prophecy, which I hide behind these airy, open doors...I suffer from self-induced misery and damp delusions. I watch the sabotage of my goals and dreams by those imaginary creatures which I consistently blame... And when I watch the water rise across the banks of this now uncrossable river, I notice the match still smoldering in my hand. The only thing that remains are the ashes that were once bridges, and the faint smell of gas, that still permeates my clothes and reminds me of things I try desperately to forget...
I am gone, I wish it was’nt a fact,
Paradise is reality, world was an act,
My will to come back is true,
Hard to search here, a friend like you,
My return is forbidden, so won’t be possible,
Gates are closed, limits uncrossable,
I remember the moments we spent together,
Made our difficulties light as a feather,
Dear friend, this is my will,
I am not there, but I am still,
Your strength to lead my funeral is brave,
Pull down the hearse and offer my grave,
Please make green my coffin through tears,
Please prove to be one who cares,
My bones will vanish, my blood will drain,
A time will come we’ll meet again,
Death is mandatory for sure,
Purely inevitable with no cure,
Be blessed and take care my friend,
We were pals, will stay till the end.
Remember shutting that impossible-to-close door?
Well, the planks have been torn down
That door has been open once more...
And my effort to feel good in life,
Second choice...rebound.
I said I'd wait for you, my love.
What more must I do to be believable?
I am replacing my hurting with random stuff
And my effort to smile...unachievable.
No matter how enjoyable I seem
No matter how much fake laughter escapes my throat.
I think of what I wanted with you...and unrealistic dream.
An isolated castle with an uncrossable moat.
I had real feelings for you.
Didn't they show?
Truth hurts: You and I can never be.
My age...three years too high
Your age...three years too low.
I am faced as of now to leave once more.
I am unhappy and unkempt as I was before.
I trusted my instinct and I have to take responsibility.
My choices were not of a mature manner, my love.
But no matter what I am always going to be here...
you will see.
I am no ANGEL sent from Heaven above
But I can be your HERO when you are in severe need.
I will always, always love you
But as for this, my love...
This is...the Grand Finale.
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