Young at heart…
Torn apart by the death cart…
Depart from me,
Ludicrous liberty
End me to begin you…
Mend me to forgive you…
Your sins are covered with mercy
From within, I heard from Your joyous glee
Compassionate is Your spirit to me, oh Lord of Accord
I’m aboard your ship of serenity
Free me for an eternity and beyond
I’m fond of our Bond of grace graciously
Red roses in hand,
A lad gives on his way—
First flower blooms bright.
I was seven, barefoot in the hallway,
nose pressed to the brass knob of the guest room—
she’d left the key out,
but I wanted to see through,
the way you want to see the belly of a piano,
strings naked, all hammer and throat.
The maid caught me,
her voice full of linen snaps and starch—
What are you doing, Miss?
I lied. Said I was looking for the cat.
There was no cat.
Only the shimmer of her hair under her cap,
and the broken goldfish bowl of my curiosity,
spilled on the carpet of my chest.
That night the sky turned dark like a locked door.
I thought about the keyhole,
how it had looked back at me.
How secrets sit still like fish
in the murk of people’s lives,
waiting for someone small and stupid
to come tap the glass.
And I,
with my hollow hands and soft mouth,
wanted only to know
what lived behind things.
i was too afraid to touch you—from fear I would burst into flames
Over 50% of high school marchers
cannot identify the 'river'
and think it's the 'Carribean Sea'
Why pay the kids to march, Mr. Soros
their meaningless chants bore us
Pay them instead to take geography classes
so they don't appear be such dumb asses
Roof top summer time
The excellently exceptional
Mischief mallee throwing ice from
Hallway windows at passers-by
Sunshine all the time sun gaze
Am I blind? Summer CRAZE!!
Hey! Whatever daze. Cops came
Kept the sweat on! Just Youthful
Phase HAZEY HAZIER HAZIEST
HAZE!! Summer hot simmering
Sultry sustaining with what we
Were one under the sun fun funnier
Funniest Deli meat DONE!! THOSE
DAZE! The hot heavy heat has won
This day we're done done done!
HEY! Whatever daze!! Whatever DAZE!!
Yesterday when I was in youthful prime
Questioning nothing the whole world was mine
Without fear, I met each and every day
Wish it were possible to stay that way.
Decades have sped by and now in old age
Memories abound with me they engage
As my eyesight grows dim recall is bright
Love burns with passion it did not take flight.
Alone but not lonely each day must face
Youthful echoes I willingly embrace
Each hour my mind wanders to far-off years
I smile remembering no time for tears.
The light of joyful youth that shown,
Oh! Days of youth!
Where have you flown?!
A light that lit my heart ablaze,
Youthful joys of younger days!
What light was that? Upon that face?
In that, another time and place?
Oh time, what sore catastrophe,
Like clouds of gloom descend on me?
But what my eyes beheld, then caught...
A Youthful glow: a snapshot brought,
My older days, such memory.
My world was young, hopeful and free.
Shine on hope, like days of old,
Within my heart, again behold.
Relish all those youthful years,
Innocence of spirit and mind.
Untarnished by forgotten tears,
Discarded and left behind.
Seek out all those moments fair,
Place them all on hallowed ground.
Nurture all with tender care,
Then sprinkle them all around.
Be careful of the path you choose,
And beware of that twisted road.
One direction and you'll lose,
The other dons a lightened load.
Wisdom comes from tested time,
But hindsight's twenty-twenty.
Learn before your numbers climb,
And reap a life of plenty.
As time flies to the end of a man's days, he tries to go back to his younger self and cherish his youthful memories, wishing he could turn back the hands of time.
January 19, 2023
Quote This Poetry Contest
Sponsored By: Rick Parise
A youthful dream is an old man's endeavor
Fading weaking health and wellness
an old man's youthful body full of vigor it dreams.
1/16/2023
Quote this Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Rick Parise
Find sunshine in their youthful morning-song.
The prayer within a child’s heart soon to bless.
Transported on angelic wings so strong.
Today, the young are victims of much wrong.
Children's laughter is a pure-felt happiness.
Find sunshine in their youthful morning-song.
Each day with rapid pace youth moves along
desiring of a future with success.
Transported on angelic wings so strong.
They grow so fast that quickly childhood’s gone
as parents reminisce when times were best.
Find sunshine in their youthful morning-song.
All parents hope their child surmounts the throng
and pray their offspring overcomes the rest.
Transported on angelic wings so strong.
One day to these a new life will belong.
As parents may they pass this vital test…
Find sunshine in their youthful morning-song.
Transported on angelic wings so strong.
I thought I was young
Fifty-five then fifty six
Pass here sixty years
I would rather enjoy youth
Instead I'm counting my years
"Recently scenes of early life have stolen into my mind, like breezes blown..."
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Memories, like softly blowing breeze,
whisper of moments that tell my past,
appear as shadows among the trees.
They pretend the summer days will last;
yet prefer the dusk with dappled light,
as night begins its ebon contrast.
Moments we glimpsed with a younger sight,
as if those days we would always know--
when sky was blue, clouds buttermilk white.
But time went by, wouldn't even slow.
Those days stored carefully in my mind,
as I try to recall youthful glow.
When nostalgic, they are ours to find,
those long-ago days we left behind.
October 3, 2022
for Writing Challenge-Past Memories-"T" Forms Poetry Contest
by Constance La France
Terza Rima Form
I
Epistle to Timothy, the Second written by Paul
Two: twenty-two, for two ways to hear him, too
"So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love,
[A]nd peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart"
II
If 2,000 years ago, Paul advised I flee erstwhile passion
Could he still be right for that many years?
When I have managed a pure body (in college and post-divorce)
I have had peace, health, loneliness, and spiritual insight (powers?)
III
Thank you Holy Spirit that I cannot preach my life's lies
If I can't obey it, I won't preach it (unless first to confess to Timothies)
But how will a youth "flee youthful passions," soul cogitates?
At 60 would I qualify for youthful passions (or is it "Fallen Nature"?)
IV
Paul is loved and hated; I don't always understand his epistles
Even when I joke that I may mix up my epistles and apostles
Paul did say (I do repent in exposing) : A woman must be quiet in Church
But not in this chapter, Hosanna! A pure heart is a lie, Jeremy* said.
NOTE: Jeremy is used for Prophet Jeremiah (Chapter 17:9): "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can understand it."
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