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Best Poems Written by Barbara Aquila

Below are the all-time best Barbara Aquila poems as chosen by PoetrySoup members

Details | Barbara Aquila Poem

Snow

The snow is falling white and bright
from a gray sky
covering the graves of sinners and saints
A holy loin cloth
wrapping around a multitude of sins
it hushes away all ill intent
for yet a while
as snow falls in quiet triumph 
to the ground

His hands are frozen
He has no gloves  just a gun
but his aim is unclear
his blood shivers cold
He must obey the frigid air
dissolve into the night
Violence is baited to sleep
caged in the fury of just keeping warm
Whiteness confuses it and growls turn to whimpers

School is dismissed early in the day
so the little boy could not carry out his plan
he learned from TV
The Asian boy who wears a Chinese symbol
on his white shirt
will see his family again today
They will bow to each other thinking
there is safety in this American air 
not knowing the cage is unlocked
the animal only sleeping.

A promise of catharsis lies in the street 
heaving with shallow breathing
beaten but not dead
covering the memory of blood with white

Jewish boys' yamacas covered with snow
safe from the world judgment
they are free to go home
speak Yiddish and light candles

Snow is falling white and bright
from a gray sky
covering the graves of sinners and saints

Details | Barbara Aquila Poem

The Break Up

I was in a bar
dragging the bottom of the sea 
                                     for lost objects
No words he gave me to hold onto
                                     words left unsaid
                                     splintered and worn
                                     unseaworthy
A choice of flight
              a wing spanning time and space
              a raven or a dove
Something was gripping his mind
The sweat of struggle which shows no sign...

I was in a bar with him
Sitting in shadows
Listening to disjointed conversations clamoring
                                       like ravenous birds
                                       dense discord...
                                       He had blue eyes
                                       watercolor blue
We left
He was blue darkness standing in an alley
The wind was blowing and I imagined
it had not the strength to touch him
                                       to finger the strand of hair on his forehead
                                       to ruffle his shirtsleeve
The wind in my soul had not the strength to move him
                                       Like a beggar, I searched his eyes.
I walked away
He stood there, still...
with darkness behind the blue.

Details | Barbara Aquila Poem

Like Gravity

What is the mystery that holds
two people together like gravity
though worlds collide
well thought plans only flash like comets
dreams merely flicker like star

After years and years of daily habit
   alarm clocks, coffee cups, dinner pots
After years and years mending children
   kissing tears, teaching truth, rejecting fear
The harvest years remain in golden fields of time
   with grandchildren and memory
   what if's and what-might-have-been and
   what-was-not

Still
   steadfast and true
   we love each other
Defying
   the world spirit with its self-serving tongue
   we speak another language
   needing not words
   spoken in a glance or a feeling
   spoken in the secret knowledge of each other

Perhaps there is no mystery here
   Human plans fail and hearts break.
   Dreams frustrate reality.
   Feelings diffuse thoughts and confuse commitment.

There is an order to the universe
   Surely
the Creator of worlds beyond worlds 
   can hold us together.
   By knowing Him
   we will truly know each other.
Worlds beyond worlds
Eternal love.

Details | Barbara Aquila Poem

Time

Do I doubt the shiny glass
Which shows the print of time
Around the curve of my mouth and eyes?
Years and years
Of the widespread wings of hope
Folded in the shadows of concern
Caught in the claws of fear
So many years, so many years 
The folding and unfolding of wings...
How do I erase
The memories of past deeds and things
Which have fallen into unpleasant places 
Upon my face?
There lies a timeline
Behind my eyes...

My children wish to hurry it
In a flurry, with a fury
Want to skip and push the wheel around
And around and around
A merry-go-round
To swerve around the curve 
Of the earth's revolution
While I want to drag it
With my heels skidding the ground
To secure it for a moment
To ponder a solution

Yet there was a time I felt like them
Are not these the same eyes
Which first beheld my own mother?
I saw these eyes anew
Each time I birthed another.
There lies a timeline behind...

Grandmother lay in a hospital bed
A cloud of white
Her hair, her thin tired skin
Bed sheets
Mouth drawn in a straight line
Pain behind her pale blue
Remembering her with dark hair
Glistening eyes
But here she lies...
I rave at time as if it were the criminal
Yet I know the truth of this decay
When first weeds and thorns began to spread
The day humanity lost its innocence
The first lamb lay dead
A time like no other
   The anger, the blood, the curse of time
   The broken heart
   The loving promise of the Father

At the foot of the cross
Blood stained the wood
Blood stained time
Left an indelible mark
A day like no other
Jesus Christ
The perfect lamb
Against which time cannot stand.

Details | Barbara Aquila Poem

Light

Into dense darkness
Thick quiet nothingness
Almighty God spoke light

Perhaps angels trumpeted praises with singing
Perhaps a profound silence revered the aura

     Perhaps it was then the radiant vision was born
     The Light of the World
     Sent into the darkness of men's hearts
     The Word becoming flesh
     Flesh crucified

So into a dark world
Almighty God sent a great gleaming star
Beckoning men of open hearts to see
What love lay upon the straw
     Promise faithfully fulfilled
     Life freely given

Nights are still dark
Stars still faithfully glisten
Guiding the hearts of shepherds and kings

Into dense darkness
Thick with the worldly wise and the nothingness of self-conceit
Almighty God has sent
The Light of the World

     Oh come let us worship Him
     Christ the Lord

Details | Barbara Aquila Poem

Fourth of July

Red white blue blurring
Blood stained sidewalks. Children die.
Where do eagles fly?

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Forgiveness

In the secret place of thunder
Before the rain
You speak my name
At the crack of lightening
My soul, set ablaze with restlessness
Awaits the awakening.
What is this thunder rumbling
Down valleys of distant memory?
What is this agitation
Leading to contemplation
Of thoughts and words and ways
I have revealed my heart?
Why does yesteryear seem like yesterday
With the same thunder and the same rain?
I hear Your voice name me as someone not the same...
Needing the rain to kiss my tears
Renewing me
In the secret place of thunder
I release my anger and You see what You have always known
In the place where I cannot hide
No matter what manner of thunder lies within
I hear my name
Like gentle rain whitewashing the porch steps
Which lead to my door.

      by Barbara Aquila

Details | Barbara Aquila Poem

New York City Subway May 24th

It is crowded standing room only.Door slides shut.
I am not able to get very far from it as I
grab the nearest pole. A young man
who has a grotesque face
stands against the door as he is barely in.
Suddenly I hear no noise. 
I am drawn to him.
Every fearful image that terrorizes
one's thoughts is in his face.
Every mother's nightmare threatening
the welfare of her children is in his face.

A face that has the power to evoke tears from a child
or pity from someone. Is there a someone in here?
His skull concave,large,forehead long
screams out entrapment and injustice.
His face has the power to repel.
Everyone looks away. He looks down.
His eyes are popped and move independent of each other.
What does he see?

Our eyes meet.We stare.A split second.
Then I get over it and I smile.
He quickly looks away. Or did he look away before I smiled?
He is like a cave dweller who resists light.
I do not know what to say. People do not speak on a subway.
It is bumpy,disjointed like my thoughts.
Should I say anything at all ?
Does a smile say enough?

Is this moment authentic?
Misinformed DNA, chaotic molecules dictating a life.
Eyes cast to the floor.
The car jerks and jolts us
I say"Hold on there, Buddy."
He smiles slightly and paws the pole.
The train halts.Door slides open.
Cuts the air like a razor
reminding me of the Catholic confessional ,
the nakedness of baring one's soul.

The young man gets off at Soho.
His body young and strong
His hair brown, childishly curly.
He disappears with a limp
into an unforgiving crowd.
I keep thinking that man looks at the outward appearance 
but God looks at the heart
and how we wear our ugliness
on the inside.
Misinformed DNA
Chaotic molecules dictating a life.
Apathetic eyes cast to the floor.

             by Barbara Aquila

Details | Barbara Aquila Poem

An Ordinary Night

For those who had lost hope
He made a star that glistened
Inside a quiet night
He set to flight a flash of wings
Something bright

Weary hearts uplifted
The poor in spirit gifted
With a sight of the king
Inside an ordinary night
An etraordinary sight
All the glory and power of the universe
Inside the palm of a tiny hand

Only those who had lost hope
Could possibly understand

Details | Barbara Aquila Poem

Fertile Soil- Portrait of the Artist Young

There is an empty place inside my soul
It hurts to breathe
A thorn that pricks
I bleed
The weight of my loneliness
crushes the hopes I held in my hands
I have nothing left to hold

My feelings are old and wrinkled and weary
Nothing is new in my life
My moments with you are skeletal, brittle, bare
Silences slice
Thoughts shredded
I cannot speak

I am here with you but you do not see me
Look deeply into my eyes
You will see who I am
Read the spaces between my phrases
You will know
Feel beyond yourself
You will find me here

There is an empty place inside my soul
dark and deep
Fertile soil good for the planting
Needing to be strong
Needing to belong
It cannot depend on you
The truth lives in me
I can hear it struggling to be born