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Best Poems Written by James Burns

Below are the all-time best James Burns poems as chosen by PoetrySoup members

Details | James Burns Poem

She Calls Me Home

She Calls Me Home…

At days long end
Left on troubles shore
When I just know
I can't take anymore
When the last light
Of hope is gone

She calls me home
She calls me home

When my thoughts
Are racing round
And I can't find
A friend in this town
When every door
Has turned out wrong

She calls me home
She calls me home

She calls me home
To her embrace
Wipes the tears
From my tortured face

Calms my soul
Til the demons are gone
And with her sweet voice
She calls me home

When the dark
Won't give up light
When the wrong
Outscores the right
When the noise
Outdoes the song

She calls me home
She calls me home

When the clouds
Won't seem to break
And the sky
Just seems to ache
And the sun's
Completely gone

She calls me home
She calls me home

She calls me home
To her embrace
Wipes the tears
From my tortured face

Calms my soul
Til the demons are gone
And with her sweet voice
She calls me home

Details | James Burns Poem

My Torment

A fleeting still small voice tries to warn me
A sudden overwhelming desire to run
The tell tale taste of metallic flakes
Means my nightmare has begun

Everything around takes on a ghostly pallor
A landscape of anguish and corrosion
A moment of silence before the violence
The flash of light, the brilliant explosion

The sound of the Sun fills my ears
Fear, my throat, though none escapes me
And paralyzed I clench my eyes
As my tormentor prepares to rape me

And it's endeavor is absolute
Consumption is its ultimate goal
It exists to chase me so it can erase me
Whilst feasting on my soul

And then that familiar salty smell 
The sudden rush of warmth so stings
Engaging me relentlessly
In vile unspeakable things

Over and over and over again
My limbs stretched and wrought
As it's teeth tear my bones bare
It's mind defiles my thoughts

And still wounds beget wounds beget wounds
As in the mouth of madness I suffer
And with every injury he just seems to be
Rougher and rougher and rougher

Then just as suddenly as it began it ceases
And for a moment I am clearer
And then the true horror of it all
Is revealed in a darkly lit mirror

There in front of me stands my destroyer
Face flush with it's fill of my pain
And I find that it's eyes and mine
My God, they’re one in the same

Details | James Burns Poem

The Luckiest Man

The Luckiest Man


I have found that not everyone is as strong
As the skies are wide and the days are long

But in life I have found there is this one
Whose bounty makes me feel as warm as the sun

And from the moment that she first caught my eye
I knew I’d be with her til’ the day that I die

That I would love and cherish her all the day through
And do all those little things we men are supposed to do

And spend my days lost in utter bliss
That I had this beautiful woman to kiss

And there’s one true fact ‘bout her being my girl
That makes me the luckiest man in the world

Details | James Burns Poem

And Then

And Then…

My work finished
     I glanced back at the clock
Ah… The Witching Hour
     Hung heavy on the next tock
My thoughts raced back
     To childhood days
          To scary stories
               Round campfires haze
                    To daunting dares
                         In dark woods maze
               And then… It caught my eye

A phantom shape
     That just moments before
Had been shadows tossed
     Twixt the walls and floor
And I admit
     Twas’ dimly lit
          Random shapes
               In chances knit
                    Poorly viewed
                         From where I sit
               And then… I saw it move

Just then I thought
     Tis’ time to trust and pray
And steady my hearts resolve
     Should this be the reckoning day
And then I swear
     The room grew cold
          Events purpose
               Moved to unfold
                    My chest I clutched
                         My soul to hold
               And then… I heard it speak

“Time is at hand”
     And those words comforted it seemed
And my God in a timeless moment
     I became one with all I’d dreamed
Tis’ certain this
     Event of page
          Will visit all
               Upon life’s stage
                    Fully quenching
                         Life’s burning rage
               And then…

Details | James Burns Poem

Faces Along the Way

Life is but a winding road
Filled with faces along the way
Coming in and out of your life
Coloring your every day

Yet most spend just a moment
A fleeting glimpse before your eyes
They giveth not and taketh not
And cause you barely a rise

And some stay just a moment
Earning a thought upon your mind
Triggers for countless memories
These are the most common kind

And fewer still stay even longer
And commune with you a while
Leaving behind dearest memoirs
Of sweet tears or a special smile

And rarer still those faces grand
Building mansions in your soul
These are the faces of a lifetime
Whose virtue you do extol

And know that you simply are
A feature filled soiree
A portrait in collage 
Of the faces along the way

Details | James Burns Poem

A Prayer For My Wife

A Prayer for my Wife


Now I’ll tell you all the details if I can keep from sheddin’ a tear
Last night when it got late and really quiet around here 

I got down on my knees, crossed my heart and began to pray
And in the darkness between me and God, here’s what I had to say

I love her so much Lord and I just don’t know what I’d do
I’m afraid that she won’t make it, that’s why I’m coming to you

Here with my heart open, at your mercy down on my knees
I’m begging’ you with every heartbeat, Oh Lord hear my pleas

I don’t know what your plans are or what you have in store
And I know I don’t deserve her and that she deserves much more

And don’t misunderstand Lord, I don’t assume any obligation
For your bounty in our life has exceeded all our expectations

But please allow her to live and me to be a part of that life
And I swear I’ll make this beautiful woman proud to be my wife

And if it’s not in your plans Lord then I pray that you take me instead
Cause’ I can’t live without my love, I’d be better off dead

And no excuses for my past Lord, but I’ll do better than I’ve done
I ask you only this, my lord, in the name of your Son.

I wiped my tears as I said my amen’s and prepared myself to stand
Stepped up next to your bed and began to caress your pretty hand

I stared off into space as all the memories came flooding in
Reliving each and every moment, over and over again

And as the first rays of sunshine, streamed in past the curtain
I felt an overwhelming peace calm my mind and ease the hurtin’

I felt compelled to kiss you so I pressed my lips to your face
And it seemed the room was filled in the beauty of God’s living grace

And you slowly opened your eyes and smiled for me to see
And I knew the Lord my God had given my sweet wife back to me

Details | James Burns Poem

The "senses" Since

I remember the look
In those big brown eyes
As you’d smile and laugh
And leave me hypnotized

I remember the touch
Of your hands so soft
How you’d hug and comfort me
And shake the cold off

I remember the taste
Of your sweet lips on mine
Enthralled in a kiss
For hours at a time

I remember the sound
Of your voice so warm
You’d just whisper gently
And quiet the raging storm

I remember the smell
That enchanted my nose
The scent of your body
Bathed in absolute rose

Yes, I remember you dear
And all the love we grew
And I have spent a lifetime
Making “sense” of you

Details | James Burns Poem

Mystic Tinklings

Mystic Tinklings


Mystic tinklings
	Ancient echoes from the past
Fleeting inklings
	Glimmer just beyond your grasp

Phantom footfalls
	When you know that you’re alone
Echoed choircalls
	Of a long forgotten song

Shadows slipway
	From the corners of your eye
Darkened hallways
	Hints of time passed by

Brief reflections
	Of things you did not see
Vast collections
	Of the things that used to be

Details | James Burns Poem

The Psychostasia

The Psychostasia
(The Egyptian Funerary Rite)

For seventy days I’ve been prepared
With oils and unguents ever so rare
And with linen bandages to and fro
Wound and wrapped from head to toe

And on this journey I’m prepared to start
By enduring the “Weighing of the Heart”
With Toth’s oversight we’ll see whether
My heart weighs true against Truth’s feather

Should it fall short the beast will devour
My soul to oblivion in my final hour
Yet should it measure straight and true
The Pylon opened I’ll be ushered through

And then I shall fall unto my knees
And pray that Osirus hears my pleas
That he acknowledge and clear my tears
And accept my soul for a thousand years

And cleanse said soul of all its scars
And make me one with the canopy of stars
And bless my children and my wife
That they may join me in the afterlife

Details | James Burns Poem

Buildin' Birds

Buildin’ Birds…

Your hands dart and weave
In, out, up.. then hover
Swoop right… then left

As simply as sight 
Of a birds dreamy flight
Floating to perch proud on rocky cleft

Subtle magic’s paint
Concept, thought to Action
Life wrought from death

As eloquently as the Master 
Reaches out from the hereafter 
And grants the unborn gift of breath

Chaos now cornered
Seeks out surge, hands direct
And collar by will

And just as Angels acting
So precise, measured, and exacting
Leave scarce a ripple on waters still

Trumpet Grande Crescendo 
Labors love ushered in 
A diamond from primal smolder

A new winged gift to grace us
Snatched still in pristine stasis
To soar in the eye of the beholder



(Narrative)
I wrote this poem after peeping through the doorway of my wife Nancy’s workspace as she 
crafted her beautiful bird sculptures. I was utterly amazed at the delicate movements she so 
gracefully employed to wring creations that seemed to capture a split second of nature so 
completely as to cause the beholder the illusion that she had somehow stopped time. 
Literally, a hummingbird caught between the beats of its wing for one to marvel at.  Of all 
Nancy’s creative endeavors I still rank her “Buildin’ Birds” as her paramount artistic 
endeavor.