" Don't walk behind me; I may not lead.
Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow.
Just walk beside me and be my friend." - Albert Camus
Beyond the Telegraph Toad
The telegraph road circled through the foothills,
arising towards the majestic mountain high
It’s been a long and twisting passage soon forgotten,
with the pavement abruptly dead ending,
just below the timberline
The dawning blue sky’s heavens look so much closer now
Just a step away from standing within reach
The birds uplifted on the telegraph wire rest atop me;
perched overhead on the final material traces
disregarded by a dubious world
My awakening soul is ascending
beyond the distant alpine horizon
At the threshold of a trackless pathway,
climbing up above the clouds
It’s exhilarating to look back and know
there is no turning back around
I’ve never been higher
and can never get back down
What unknown frontier lies in wait before me now?
Just on the other side of the impossible dream?
The last step forward to find the next step beyond the bounds
There is not that much that changes,
when we just repeat the same old song
The atmosphere’s thin air leaves me gasping for wings
Like dust and ashes free to soar with the tempest breeze
If only time would sever these loathsome ties that bind
The ones that enchain the weight of this load unto me
While understanding the pace to a long journey’s rhythm
The only barometer you have to trust is in your heart
Adaptation is at the core of freedom's survival
But it feels almost like running away
I have felt the fear of falling with nothing left to lose
I’ve climbed as far as flesh and bones can reach
I've come this far always feeling subtly afraid
It has been a great distance back from the beginning;
knowing I must take these last steps alone.
Understanding it was love that brought me here
Naturally tugs at the spirit in my soul encouraging me on
I'll keep searching for the shining light of guidance
Listening for a voice that softly beckons me home...
At 20, tragedy stuck my life when my best friend I had grown up with from just down the block, perished in a head on crash. We lived together in college at the time and we were all headed to the beach for the Memorial Day weekend. Another friend had just purchased a vintage used 2 seat sports car and at the last minute I could not go because 3 did not fit. (6’4” 200 at the time) I was disappointed and felt abandoned by my best friend as I watched them drive away, down the gravel road for the last time. Then came the knock at the door by the state police at 1 am inquiring about next of kin, a moment that changed my life forever.
When we snow skied together as teens, we always talked about climbing the mountain we were on.
It took another 12 years, some practice, training and a 6 month mountaineering class to find so much more than closure…
Your thoughts are sincerely appreciated...thank you for reading.
Seems like a dream
Has over taken us now
Tossed in this turmoil
I'm not quite sure how
We've all become numbers
In this nameless place
Have pity on the whole human race
We've spent years of our future
Trying to run from the past
Relying on memories
That never did last
With so many questions
Who can we ask
Where are the morals that we used to have
Whatever happened to the morals in life
We opened the window
They flew into the night
Can anyone tell me how we'll ever get by
Without the morals that once held us so tight
The fewer the heartbeats
The shorter the time
The deeper the cavern
The harder the climb
The more that we look for
The less that we find
Of the morals that we left behind
Whatever happened to the morals in life
We opened the window
They flew into the night
Can anyone tell me how we'll ever survive
Without the morals that we once had in life
................................
Under my rainbow
The stars shimmer bright,
And blanket the earth
With an emerald light,
The birds sing their songs
Into the softest of sighs,
And they linger as long
As they want in our skies.
Here, our morning sings wonders
That dance through the trees,
To enchant every dew drop
Touched by the soft breeze.
Clear through to the mountains,
All capped with their white,
That shine like a beacon
Through our whispering night.
Under my rainbow,
The colors that shine
Will blaze a fierce wonder
To fire your mind.
The Orchids all bloom,
And they're never the same.
And the stars up above,
They call you by name.
There are no teardrops, my boy,
Unless they're teardrops of joy.
There is never a frown
To linger around.
There is never a someone
You can't call your friend.
There is never a heart
So broken
It cannot mend.
Every Hollyhock petal
At play in the breeze
Will nod as you walk through
Our Poppletoff Trees.
Every Raspberry Rose
On our Emerald Isle
Oh, they'll fire and bloom
To your wonderful smile.
Each Cornflower Willow
Will whisper your way,
Sprinkling stardust in
All of their play.
Under my rainbow,
When we sleep, when we dream,
We see worlds and wonders
No other has seen.
There is never a rush,
There is never a when,
Though the twilight may blush
Time and again.
Though the firefly lingers
With each tender hello,
And the mountain tops glisten
With their new fallen snow.
To inspire your Muse,
And then set her free.
She'll show you those wonders
That few ever see!
Here is my solitude,
Where there's rest for my soul,
Under a rainbow
That few ever know.
Copyright © 2012 Richard D. Remler
.......................................................
"You see things; and you say, "Why?"
But I dream things that never were;
and I say, "Why not?"
-George Bernard Shaw
.......................................................
A misplaced Oxford Comma
Lead to perilous trauma
She drifted into an Oggsford Coma
Then turned into an awful aroma
The Ceremony held in 1980
Resurrected in 1 A.D
In the lumbering town of Hudson's Bay
Majorie chose to stay
Never feeling so free
She sat within a tree
Enjoying all she could see
The girl decided never to flee
Established in 1995
This dream came Alive
A tree home called heaven
Would stand until 1997
Slim used to be a Jackline Skinner
Lumberjack was more of a winner
Quickly forgot all about Walden Pond
Long before a new light dawned
"The wind that blows
Is all that anybody knows"
Even goes for pros
Or vacant minded 'hoes'
Just patiently listen to those
Who know where a dick goes
Don't make needless foes
Leave that for the 'pros'
Slim stood uttering horrible slurs
At the request of a woman in expensive furs
Majorie stood on bended knee
Pleading for them to leave her tree
As she reached the bottom of the ladder
Silence was breached by a clatter
All the rats began to scatter
Knowing exactly what was the matter
The lumberjack had missed his mark
Added slightly too much ark
Caused the Oak to prematurely tumble
Left Slim's body to instantly crumble
I'm always falling for girls who are arrows shot through the hearts of prodigal sons.
You've been in my head for days.
I've been clinging to your later
Like a shipwrecked sailor
Clings to the shattered bow
As the ocean tries to swallow him whole.
You swallowed me whole,
And you barely even opened your mouth;
Just wide enough for me to taste honey
And see stars that have been three nights creating haloes around my drunken head.
But you'll only hold my hand in the shadows;
You'll only ask me how I am if you know the answer will be
I'm fine
not
I've got you under my skin
But you're under it, girl.
You're seven layers deep,
And suddenly you're rushing through my bloodstream
And filling my body with a five-dime dream
That is only of your face.
Everyone knows that web of red veins
All lead back to the heart.
So I'm putting up fences
But leaving gaps between the posts
So when you’ve circulated my system
and I can feel you tingling electricity in every one of my cells
It’ll look like the bars I’ve put up were to keep you out
But really the space between was to let you in.
I’ll be shining a light so bright that maybe you’ll grow powdered wings
and flutter towards me like a moth who can’t ignore the flame for even one more second.
You’re more like a butterfly though.
When I look at you I see every colour;
I see grace and beauty, and in your voice I hear a melody so sweet it makes me wonder
whether you’re a girl,
Or if maybe you’re a songbird.
Maybe you build a new nest every night
From twigs and feathers and broken hearts.
You showed me a cutting of your old boyfriend’s hair
That you keep in your wallet
Because you dream of recreating him.
I thought if I knew how I’d make an army of this boy for you,
I’d carve his face from limestone
And give him blossoms for eyes
But I’d give him my lips,
So that when you kissed him I’d taste you.
And it’s not like I’d make you,
But inside my head we’re every day making each other laugh;
We’re every day running through dappled fields,
Calling each other’s names,
Smelling each other’s hair.
It’s the sweetest thing.
That’s all I really want to say
Is that you make me smile and dream,
And sometimes I’m looking at your face
For just a bit longer than you’re looking at mine,
And in the half-light I think,
Isn’t she beautiful.
I feel like I'm chasing
The shadow of
a whisper of
a lost memory of
a thought
of a forgotten dream
of the faintest glimmer
of hope
I feel like I'm chasing
The shadow of
a whisper of
a lost memory of
a thought
of a forgotten dream
of the faintest glimmer
of hope
In the hustle and bustle of a metropolitan city, I searched you down. Stalked, hunted and fished you out. Out of the 7 billion people, I found you, and that was all which mattered. You. Your hair still soft and ruffled with care, you lips still pink without usage, or so I hoped, your eyes, sparkling as always behind your thin framed silver glasses. You, with your bold look, walking across the streets like you own them. You, with you heavy and slow steps walking to your destination with a purpose to conquer. You.
And in that unknown city, so far away from the root of our existence, with mindless honks of drivers and a play of lights everywhere, I found somebody that I used to know. A face not forgotten, yet changed, eyes which haunted reappeared and a voice which lingered rung in my ears. I found you.
I would purposely bump into you, pretending to be in a hurry, pretending to not recognize the only face embedded in my soul, drop my valuables, say something like my identification card, give you a quick smile and a sorry and run off and disappear into the wave of the crowd.
You would just stare at the card. Be reminded of a life so distant, possibly a life forgotten, probably forcefully. Be reminded of how a girl, crazy and wild, young in her years, had come and gone from your life. Be reminded of the question you always used to ask yourself "what happened?"
I would hide to see your face grow white. You had just seen a ghost. A ghost of your past, who you had forcefully left behind. Now, after decades of separation, years spent not even giving it a second thought, years spent away, you were reminded again. The fire was lit again. The fire which made you pick up the card, stare at the number and automatically dial it up. I would say "hello", at which you would cut the call still unsure of what you would say. Scanning, devising a plan, you would call again, only this time you would talk.
"Hello", I would say confused.
"I found your wallet miss, remember you bumped into me earlier?"
"oh yes thank god for you sir. Tell me where you are and I shall come and pick it up."
and with that you would let yourself go.
after all, a "hi" i all we need to melt, to fall, to die, all over again right?
and with that I woke up to the alarm screaming in my ears to remind me that reality still persisted, and that it would take more than a dream to get you back.
no one tells you
that the person you are
was the person you'd hate.
was the person you were,
all of a sudden the person you ain't?
they told me i'd walk far but i chose to run,
far away from the person i wouldn't become.
it might've been a dream but baby, this is fate.
i'm running so hard, and staying up so late.
no sleeping tonight because i gotta fight,
always making things worse instead of making things right.
you're just another face that puts me to rest,
don't think for a moment that you know me or what's best.
my parents never call and my brothers aren't around,
oh
sigh
there's nothing like the calm of being safe and sound.
Heart In A Knot. (Nevershoutnever Found Poem.)
by Maya Vulgarity.
You make me happy,
whether you know it or not.
It's hard to conceive,
That someone like you,
Could be with someone like me.
You see,
This is such a sad place,
And without your pretty face,
I'm sure it's going to wind up worse.
It's been one hell of a year in my own shoes.
I'm running my mouth just like I got you,
But I surely don't.
Because you're so far away,
And I'm here.
And I just wait for you.
I love to hear that voice,
And honestly I'm left with no choice.
Because you're so far away,
And I'm here, watching the days
Pass as I wait.
I've been waiting my whole life
For someone like you.
I mean, damn, what's not to adore?
I've been searching for a girl that's just like you.
Someone who is you.
Everything you do is super fucking cute,
Super duper cute.
I know for sure that you are beautiful.
You're everything I want and more,
Everything I want to adore.
I'm terribly convinced,
That you could be my lover,
Because you had me at first glance.
I've been wanting to know what is love
And I can't stand it.
I'm happy knowing that you are mine,
'Cause I'm overly attracted,
And terribly convinced,
That you could be my princess,
And I could somewhat be a prince.
Who do you think you are,
To go and steal my heart
Just the way you do?
I'm an addict.
I'm addicted to you, girl.
Are you out of my league?
I text so late at your night,
I swear, you're going mad,
But you've got my heart tied in a knot,
And my stomach in a whirl.
Did it hurt when
You fell from heaven?
I'm so happy knowing
That you are the one that I want
For the rest of my days.
Let's sell all our shit,
And run away to sail
The ocean blue.
Then you'll know that
My heart is true.
I had the weirdest dream
That you and I drove up the darkest streets.
Passing through the city lights,
Birth of a kiss that will not die.
Your heart is true.
So this one goes out to the ones
That fall in love.
And to the girl
That filled my dark.
She's got my heart tied in a knot.
