Flying over the front lines
with the French Escadrille Lafayette
a brown and barren belt below
a strip of murdered nature and yet
during the warm months of spring and summer
seeds in the shattered ground would grow
delicate vibrant crimson flowers
in row after row after row
and in those poppy fields
that's how we remember them
all the fallen soldiers
those unforgotten gallant men
tho' Waterloo was won in a day
in a mad minute this battle was waged
while larks sang overhead in the month of May
four weeks and more it raged
before they beat the Hun had them on the run
it soon became apparent to the allied commanders
it's a long way from the playing fields of Eton
to the poppy fields of Flanders
Years of struggles and despair
Bullied endless
Beaten down
Name calling beyond my real name
Fights unbearable
Early school days
Always picked on
Life having ups and down
Hard swings
Criticism always
No matter what
Discouragement through negativity
Like a pen with no ink
A pencil with no point
Felt like a nobody
Serving no purpose
What people wanted to believe
The wonder years
The wonder how I preserved
The answer being Heaven above
My adult years being my perspective
Reflecting back to those days that were
The approach
Words spoken becomes a listen
The past made me stronger into the future
Picture frame perfect
The storms encountered
Today I pursue
Devoted observations surrounding proceed
Wisdom has shown me the way
I live by every day.
Sunrises against cobalt gray skies
Delivering blush tones where once was night
Striation of gold mixed in the horizon
Colors surely unforgotten
God thank you for allowing me
To see this unique sunrise sent from thee
I have never seen those colors rise before
Will I ever see them again?
God thank you for life's blessings
You send such beauty to me each day
Help me to look for it in all of nature
And in my fellow human beings
I will never be ready even though you signal your leaving
I foolishly keep the bright days since so much yet needs sharing
of long partings after our intense then rare meetings
of wild childhood stories and unfathomable blur future waiting
nowhere we could ever imagine even truly existing.
The beauty of the freely crystalized future has then come true
with your unchanging care and simple soul in skillful gesture of true blue.
You know I love you so much even in my silence
I know you’re now gone, but forever unforgotten,
Wishing you were here, silently cheer our encounters often
even if I know much of your pain and sometimes helplessness stands
in the face of bitter destiny, we all struggle to walk away, to just be gone.
But we can’t lie that time to bodily part will come anon, perhaps this afternoon breeze
just in time to forget our worries, but to thankfully remember our sweet memories
of how much I love you…
And I will always do
in the deep ocean of true blue.
(28 October 2022)
Am asleep
Yet awake
In someone's dream
Am silent
Yet speaking
In someone's mind
Am far away
Yet closer
In someone's heart
Am lost
But found
In someone's work
Am at peace
Yet fighting
In someone's world
Am idle
Yet working
In someone's thought
Am dead
Yet alive
In someone's memories
Atlas it was worth fighting
Fighting for something
It was worth dying
Dead but unforgotten.
I'll walk alone these fields again
Which once I strode with you,
Midst whispered songs on sighing winds
Give voice to the joys we knew...
I'll ponder the thousand yesterdays
Where once our hearts had played,
'Pon twilit meads of the long ago
Where Love's sweet toll was paid.
A tender, bitter tear I'll weep
For the passing our dream,
And for the eyes which once embraced me
With their deep-souled wistful gleam...
===================
I dread the night
I fear its might
I fear the time most
When the wolf came against my walls
Shattering it in vain
Leaving behind a souvenir of a broken heart in a broken body
I fear also the howling and what preceded it
Its fierce look,
long dripping fangs that clipped my tongue to my lips
I mourned my unheard wailing
A ghost I was
I dread the sight
of the remaining me
A bruised,shattered, and unripe harvest
So, I stand in the rain
With the hope of washing
away the stain
It was gone all in a few seconds
The bruises healed in a few weeks
But the memory
Oh the memory,
a watermark Imprinted on my broken soul,
Sealed in my mind
A graffiti written with my blood
in its hall of fame
A constant reminder
of my lost dignity
I dread the night
I fear its might
Cuz in it awaits the nightmare of the midnight wolf
Left unbroken as music plays, of unforgotten sounds;
beauty in its voiceless and stillness with poetic form.
Gentle and slow, keeping the world from fading, nor no bounds.
While dreams grow bonding souls and laughter grows divinely warm.
12/18/2019
It was taken from; Sweetness in Love 12/17/2019
https://www.poetrysoup.com/poem/sweetness_in_love_1209650
Poetry Contest: Arbitrium Divisa 5
Sponsored by: Gregory R Barden
I was the lucky one
The apple of his eye
He chose me to walk with him
The memories will never die
Two brothers older, two sisters younger
And I the middle one
Although he is with me no more
I'm still my father's son
Woodstock,Athlone,Mitchell's Plain...
We toured mostly by foot and sometimes by train
Where ever we went he was known by his name
Wish I could re-live those days again
District six was always close to his heart
This was the place the walk would always start
As we walked he would stop and point and say
"That's where 'so and so' used to stay"
But dad why is it only an empty field today?
"My son,its because 'so and so' was forced to move away"
So I guess that's why we went around so many places
To see his friends and family...scattered familiar faces.
Take me back to yesterday's summer night
Walking on the beach,
Sand between our toes
Hair blowing in the breeze.
When ripples in the sea
slowly cleansed the sand,
Tickling our toes,
Washing away our footsteps.
On the edge where ocean meets land,
Shoulder to shoulder we sat,
Listening to calm splashing waves,
Our tanned skin soaking wet.
As skies twinkled in the horizon,
reflecting against the rushing tide.
It seemed as they have arrived
to be placed inside your eyes.
Gazing at the sun sink into the sea,
Fireflies flickered as embers kept us warm.
Affectionately we embraced nature's silence
with only the sound of our heartbeats.
Too frail are these feet now to stroll along those shores,
but you remain harboured within my heart.
Together we've seen many waves kiss dry sands,
But unlike unfaithful tides,you still hydrate my soul.
We yearn to end it that way,
to be taken back to yesterday's summer night,
but are content building sandcastles,
along current coastlines.
A Collaboration with Silent One.
Thankyou S.O. for this opportunity.It was great collaborating
with you.
Take me there to yesterday's Summer night.
Walking on the beach,
sand between our toes,
hair blowing in the breeze.
When ripples in the sea,
slowly cleansed the sand,
tickling our toes,
washing away our footsteps.
On the edge where ocean meets land,
shoulder to shoulder we sat,
listening to calm splashing waves,
our tanned skin soaking wet.
As stars twinkled in the horizons,
reflecting against the rushing tide.
It seemed as they had arrived
to be placed inside your eyes.
Gazing at the sun sink into the sea,
fireflies flickered as embers kept us warm.
Affectionately we embraced nature's silence,
with only the sound of our hearts beating.
Too frail are these feet to stroll along those shores.
but you remain harboured within my heart.
Together we've seen many waves kiss dry sands,
but unlike unfaithful tides, you still hydrate my soul.
We yearn to end it that way,
to be taken back to yesterday's summer night,
but are content building sandcastles,
along current coastlines.
15 August 2018
Silent One collaboration with Charmaine Chircop
Shattered by the reams of the unforgotten, forever to wander in the night of the helpless.
picking up then dropping the only light in they're eyes,
the moments spent dreaming,
was obviously a disquise.
There were thirteen of us,
but now there's only twelve
Our brother Jay
will never be forgotten by us
His time on this earth is over,
I pray that he used it well
Our brother Jay was an exceptional lawyer,
be he died like a very foolish man
He fell asleep one late evening
with a lit cigarette in his hand
Him not being with us now,
is like one hand missing a glove
It's like a part of your heart is gone,
a piece of you that's missing some love
He was such a kind, jovial man,
helped anybody as often as he can
It didn't matter what your lot in life was,
Jay would help you just because
you were a fellow human being,
someone in dire need
That was all he needed to know,
that was all the proof you had to show
Our brother Jay was an extraordinary lawyer,
he lived like a loyal, courageous man
He would always remain by your side,
when everyone else turned tail and ran
Truly we miss him dearly,
as time keeps moving right along
We will never ever forget him;
his loving memory remain in our hearts,
even though he is now gone
Dedicated to the loving memory of my beloved brother John
Unforgotten Beaches
The ball bounced across the smooth
polished tile
past the sleeping cat that adorns the
door
Out across luxurious green lawns
Past the sole yellow balloon
that lingers near the sad painted clown
propped against abandoned arcades
Rolling feverishly down the decaying
boardwalk
Where the children’s laughter now falls silent
and the memories made are carried out to sea
And the ball slows many moments too soon
and lays to rest in the unstirred sand
Where thousands once walked with pockets
of change
And women’s bodies bronzed evenly under
the hot summer sun
The imprints they made washed away
in the rain
I write this poem
For those who believe
That they were forgotten
You won't forgotten
You were the one
The poet remembered
You were the person
That I choose
To write you a love poem
Filled with heart felt words
Loving thoughts
Best wishes
You are not forgotten
You are beautiful
Loved,special and unique
You are the one
That reads my poems
Share my joy
Know my sorrow
You cannot be forgotten
You are the one I see
You are the one I hear
You are the one that will
Never be forgotten
Happy Valentines Day.
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