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mikumiku Dec 2018
I met her on a narrow street of old Verona
Her beauty’s magical, her name was Lady Mona
She rolled a cigarette between her diva fingers
A little cherry smoke around her gently lingers

She had a long deep fire-coloured autumn hair
That with the wind dance as if out of very care
Her eyes are brighter, gayer then azure sapphires
Two little diamonds that can start unholy fires

Her ******* are full of life, the sweetest goddess milk
It taste like childhood memories wrapped up in silk
The skin – an undiscovered lands of sinful wild
It sends you on a trip so rough yet very mild

She was so picturesque, a genuine sugarbomb
Like rays of sun that dazzle through a naked palm
I pray thee, Jupiter, align the heaven stars
And let me be the one who strikes of her guitars

Wish I could walk to her and ask her dearly out
I feel so brave yet nervous, want to scream and shout
I want to spill it out, express my inner passion
But that’s not me behaving in such crazy fashion

Hell to the no! I go! I’ll spit my fire lines!
I am a blonde! I curse those stupid *** designs
I’ll offer things to her, I promise I’ll pushy
****, I am gonna offer her my cola *****

If men be ***** models, I shall be one too
I have one in my mouth – a nasty point of view
If men can flirt and conquer, so can ******* I
This Aphrodite’s taken, she is only mine

I walk to her, approach her like the mighty Taurus
Rehearse my lyrics, shuffle through my love thesaurus
I smell perfume – ambrosia, nectar, lemonade…
Formation, hold up, queen of… ******* Lemonade..?

“What is the name of thee, do tell me, pretty dear
Just like the beauty goddess you to me appear
By any chance you are one of the youthful Graces?
Be careful, darling, I can see your leather laces”
Em MacKenzie Dec 2018
I’ve been counting stacked bricks
running my hands over the grout,
tracing each corner with my fingertips,
building them up to cover my doubt.
You could marvel at the beauty in the stone,
completely ignoring that it fully insulates
it keeps all out and ensures you’re always alone,
can’t even slip through the cracks or the grates.

I was dying to get out from where I was in,
oblivious to my own paradise,
with a tongue in cheek and **** eating grin,
ignoring all the ways words can slice.
I’m always left with empty hands
and your court is overflowing with *****,
a simple truth no one understands;
there is no life beyond Verona Walls.

I’m inspecting crumbling support beams,
running my hands and my skin catches a splinter.
It’s not as structurally sound as it seems,
but the continuing construction it does not hinder.
What do you even label an impenetrable wall,
is it a friend or is it a foe?
Do you judge it on it’s length or if it’s tall,
I guess only the person on the other side will know.

I was waiting to escape my own dwelling,
unaware of the safety it always could bring,
could I ever return home, there is no telling,
but the consensus is a no that can sting.
I’m aimlessly drifting among the sands,
and you mistake my pleas as cat calls,
a simple truth no one understands;
there is no life beyond Verona Walls.

How can you know if the grass is more green,
if you cannot even glance to the other patch?
It could be more vibrant, or just more clean,
or it could just be a perfect match.
When you know every corner and every nook,
you can’t help but feel that you’re Iocked in a cage.
Maybe I’m dismissive and should take another look,
I mean sometimes you have to re-read the same page.

I’ve seen that time keeps going on
and that our lungs continue to breathe,
but the blue skies and sunshine are gone,
I’ll never forget the day it chose to leave.
I’ll cling to all crumbs and strands,
ditch rivers and streams to chase waterfalls,
‘cause no one ever understands
there is no life beyond Verona Walls.
Daisy King Aug 2014
Telephone wires are tangled in the trees tonight
and the stars are copper colour,
as if scattered from a fountain
and Romeo is calling from beneath the balcony
of the Capulet family in Verona,
trying to get reception-

but the receiver is busy
moving on, and growing up-

Juliet, the girl he is calling, has a new phone
that she doesn't trust with unfamiliar numbers,
and his is listed 'unknown'

Unsent messages: "goodnight
"goodnight- parting is such sweet sorrow,
that I shall say good night till it be morrow."


The story of the star-cross'd lovers was no tragedy at is end.
Nobody died, nobody had to pretend
to die. They rarely think of one another now,
only from time to time do they wonder 'what if'
or regret the absence of a real goodbye.

Romeo never got the chance to defy the stars
Juliet never got the chance to contemplate him cut out in them
and neither of them got the chance to commit,
and neither of them took a chance with suicide.

Telephone wires in trees, copper stars-
-ghosts, wished on, shooting, burning far, far away-

Unspoken words: "some consequence
yet hanging in the stars,
auspicious stars"


(the fairest of them, he'd once found in her eyes)-
no reception, nothing received.
In this love story, nobody dies.

It is remembered as any other night before.
It was not long until where Romeo had come and gone
he'd left behind just a flicker of a frisson
in memory, growing distant,
gradual decay, and then
he was nothing more than threads to weave
the patchwork of a dream,-
hard to recall, a close call,
a near miss, a could-have been-
but it was harder, with time, to believe it was ever
the real love she yet knew nothing of
at the keen age of only thirteen.

It was Paris she fell for. The two were to marry
and for her bouquet that day, the flower she chose
to carry- for their romance and sweetness-
was the rose, and in her vows, she spoke of her love
being boundless and deep as the sea,
and infinite. All the wishes he'd made on stars
and coins in fountains had come to be.

Spoken words: "Have I thought long to see this morning's face..."

So many saved lives and one love lost and
a glooming sort of peace settled over
the star-cross'd streets of Verona.
Mike sikes Aug 2014
You've poisoned your blood.
I'll stab myself for love.

We've had our share
of false endings.
But somehow, this feels so real.

Verona's in our hearts
although we're worlds apart.

We're giving up on life, not love

Two young souls lost to eternity
Destiny can be cruel sometimes.
-But not near as cruel as family.
John F McCullagh May 2013
In fair Verona where Will set the scene
Belle Fortune moves the markers up and down.
Two households both alike in dignity
Fiercely compete for fear of losing ground.

When Juliet saw Romeo at the dance
Events were set in motion that, perchance,
Would see fair Juliet as our Romeo’s bride
but ultimately result in her suicide.

With Tybalt and Mercutio both dead,
And Capulet and Montague estranged.
Young Paris sought fair Juliet to wed
not knowing of her loss of maiden-head.

Romeo was banished for his crime,
a sin for which a peasant would have died
Their two households, joined because they wed,
remained divided by their foolish pride.

Summer’s fierce heat shimmered in the air,
oppressive in the absence of a breeze.
With Friar Lawrence’s help, Romeo’s girl played dead,
as if struck down by some unknown disease


Romeo , in Mantua, heard that his Juliet
Lay dead amongst the sleeping Capulets.
A draught of deadly poison he obtained
So they might sleep together once again.

When Romeo met Paris at her tomb,
Words led to swordplay, leaving Paris dead.
Would not the world have been a better place
if Romeo had kept it sheathed instead?

Unshriven, Romeo drank the poison down-
the only son of Montague now dead.
Perchance just then fair Juliet revives
Bereaved, she took his Dirk to bed instead.

Authorities, arriving at the scene,
could only mourn a brace of kinsmen lost.
Capulet and Montague were reconciled
Their amity bought at a fearful cost.
A cliff notes version of Romeo and Juliet
How steep the stairs within Kings’ houses are
For exile-wearied feet as mine to tread,
And O how salt and bitter is the bread
Which falls from this Hound’s table,—better far
That I had died in the red ways of war,
Or that the gate of Florence bare my head,
Than to live thus, by all things comraded
Which seek the essence of my soul to mar.

‘Curse God and die:  what better hope than this?
He hath forgotten thee in all the bliss
Of his gold city, and eternal day’—
Nay peace:  behind my prison’s blinded bars
I do possess what none can take away
My love, and all the glory of the stars.
makeloveandtea Mar 2016
She always looked at herself in the mirror as if she was looking at a familiar stranger. She would never know what to say or how much eye contact to make and so, she would look at her arms instead and tug at her clothes in haste.

But she always noticed something uncommon in the refection of herself in her eyes. It was very different, the way she looked at her like as if she knew more than anybody has ever known about her. But they did not know each other for long. Two weeks they spent together when she was visiting Verona and after that, four months of writing letters to each other. "I woke up thinking of you this morning. The walls reminded me of you, my feet on the floor felt like my skin against yours and even my coffee tasted of you." she once wrote in a letter and those were the most beautiful words anyone had ever thought about her. She found herself melting into her words, those deep eyes and just her existence but she would never let her know; she would hardly admit it to herself. "Darling, people are abstract. The things that you love about me might not be a part of what makes me tomorrow." she would remind her, every time.

Most times she would read the letters over and over again. Some parts even more than the others like this one, "Weddings are such beatific affairs, apart from the moulding uncles, aunts and their unhappy looking partners, dwelling in their grey clouds of eternal loathing. Except that, I love weddings. I danced all night at Patric's reception last night and oh, you know how I can't dance without breaking a bone or two; you saw me that night outside Al Pompiere. Turns out, I dance fantastically once I have a bottle of Sauvignon blanc in my system! My love, how I wish you were there with me at the joyous occasion. Also, I dreamt of you in a white wedding dress, while I sat alone when the music was soft and all the lovers danced unaware of realities, as if in a state of hypnosis. My dear, I could die in that moment for I had seen in my mind the most incomparably magnificent imagination." She always felt unsure of how she exactly felt about those words and how she would reply to that letter. She might have told her that it was sweet of her to write those words but she knew that she felt so much more than that. She had never imagined herself in a wedding dress before and that evening after reading her letter, she closed her eyes and she pictured herself in a white gown and it was as if she grew in her thoughts and her mind opened up to new possibilities that scared but excited her. She made her feel like she was introducing her to herself and that now every time she looked in the mirror she saw a little more of her each time.

She was dusting her bookshelf when her letter arrived that afternoon. She sat on the couch, cross legged while she very patiently opened the envelope, unfolded the paper and started to read. She sounded disheartened and melancholic. "It is not that my love for you depends on the feelings that you reciprocate or that what I feel is conditional but my love, when I was sitting at the coffee shop today going through the letters you have written to me over time, I saw them as if with new eyes. I felt like you were so disconnected. Each one sounded like you were forcing the words onto the paper. Darling, your words lacked you in them, it lacked the meaning that I have seen in your eyes therefore I know for sure that it exists but I am in a state of confusion and paranoia. My mind is consumed in thoughts that you don't trust me yet and that you think I am one of those people that you talk about who call you pretty. On the other hand I wonder, then why would you keep writing to me after every letter I sent you? I don't know what is going on in that fascinating mind of yours but love, do you feel like you are wasting your time on me? I wonder, if you do think that then am I wasting my time? I feel disorientated today...but I hope I find clarity in the next letter you send me."

That was the last letter that she ever sent her and she never replied to it. She overdosed on her antipsychotic medication , the night after she received the letter. They found her in her bedroom midst a pile of journals, clothes and painted canvas boards. They also found several letters that she wrote to herself and replies to the letters that she sent to her own address, as if she was talking to herself.

She always looked at herself in the mirror as if she was looking at a familiar stranger. But she always noticed something uncommon in the refection of herself in, her own eyes.
Overwhelmed May 2010
I once almost cursed
the final performance
of a wonderful play I
had the fortune of being
a part of it

The play was Romeo and Juliet on Verona Street
Set in the 1930’s
I didn’t do anything important
Carried two bodies
Got in a fight
Smuggled some beer
Called a mob boss
Delivered a package
and
Investigated two dead bodies in
mime

but waiting on my final role
during the final performance
of this oh so wonderful
production I reached out to
a friend of mine (his name was
Paul but he played the Prince)
and told him

“I’d love to direct
MacBeth”

He did a double-take
Asked me what I said

I said again

“I’d love to direct
MacBeth”

“You mean the Scottish
Tragedy?”

I held my mouth in shock
I knew better
That name was cursed

Paul told me all was not lost
there was a way to reverse the curse
just listen close he said

Take your fingers in a peace sign
Spit between them
Swear (I said “*******”)
Turn around one,
two,
three times
Then leave the dressing room
And come back

I did all
and Paul was relieved
but Romeo chimed in
“well you know we have to circumcise you right?”

Paul added
“Yeah, with a Claymore!”

Don’t ever wish me luck,
I might break my leg!

I still want to direct MacBeth
and to show I’m serious I even
bought the script!

All that’s left is to get a stage,
and some money, and some
actors and maybe some talent
to go with my almost obnoxious
amount of luck
Miranda Leigh May 2015
For what it was tell me anon
Lest my heart turn and run
Away from Verona, Cursed land
That else was dealt a Wounded hand
In gloomy streets do shadows cry
For the Love of my life that did Die
Deep in her Earthen bed
From her breast drew red
By her own lovely manner
So down came the War banner
And so in quiet despair
With a quick, desperate Prayer
I lay down next to her in the tomb
And return to the Mother's womb
This is my fail at a poem about Romeo and Juliet. Yes I do realize that Romeo was already dead before Juliet stabbed herself, but this is just for recreational purposes so don't get your ******* in a twist.
Raj Arumugam Oct 2010
O come
gentle persons all
and listen to the woeful tale
of an unfortunate lover

1
I pitied Cinderella
and knocked at her door
when everyone was away
and I sang:
Come, run away with me
and I shall look after you -
all the days of my life
all the days of yours

Get lost,* she said.
I’ve a premonition
of glass slippers
and Princes and castles


2
And so I went to fair Verona
to see if Juliet would
give me her hand
but it was her father
who showed me the toughness
of his servant’s hands

3
And ah, I went to Rapunzel
and I said:  Oh, let down your hair
and I’ll come to you;
and I’ll find a way for both of us
to run away to better lands



Get lost,  she said
You don’t look like a man
who can afford to get
me the best shampoo
and golden diamond-studded hairclips -
new ones everyday
for my hairdo


4
And so I waited
for Cleopatra
till Brutus and the conspirators
stuck their daggers into Caesar
and I went to her mansions
but the guards seized me and they said:
You ever heard of Cleopatra’s needles?
Where’d you like us
to stick them in you?



5
and so, desperate,
I went to **** myself
back in Verona
in the family crypt of the Capulets
and woe is me -
I really don’t know why -
but I’m thrown into prison now
*‘for the ****** of two’
Primrose Clare Dec 2013
veins of my fingers in riots of blossomed colours
like threads made of lilac, lavender, blues and leafs.
for the blues are essences of the Elysian skies,
while lilacs, lavenders and leafs were stolen from an old man's farm

every dawn the sunlit blue wept for the docile stars' hide
I knock my knuckles red and wild, like the raspberries from the monsieur's farm
my chin against the beige, I gaze to where the magpies talk too loudly on the garden moist
swollen and offended by the loud chirps of boisterous dins, the grouchy neighbour cry.

I fill my baskets with wild things and papers,
I have cheese and juices, fruits and sweet carrots.
I have peach trees on my nails for jam
I have cherries in my toes for pie
I have snows in my lapin's soul for some ice creams
I have poppies in my worn pants for a good sight
And there's even vineyards of all Verona in my mind

the ribbons on the hat loom into the gardens' tunnel;
I have herb gardens, I have secret gardens 
And I have my old books and pens in there.
when my laces are riven, the embroidered flowers are not.

the canvas shoes is painted in petrichors and soil
my dresses go tattered, sewn with patches
into the vines, thorns and russet throats I lilt and leap
against smells of rustic wood pencils and redolent flowers
There, under a green willow is where to sit and devour wisdom
and to drink some saccharine wine with mon lapin and maybe some picnic pies.

The abominable tremors will be gone,
My morn soul diving into fairy pools of sensuous europhias.
Shakespeare was always fond of tragedies.*
From the star-crossed lovers of Verona,
Romeo and Juliet,
to the revenge-stricken prince of Denmark, Hamlet.
Sometimes I wonder
if he was the author of our fate,
for our love has slowly become a tragedy.


(k.p.)
Butch Decatoria Dec 2015
WALLS (Verona)
Mon ami tu vas
where star-crossed hearts' confessions
hides your saint in bricks.

NAPE
Warm whispers of lips
down smooth meadows of your neck,
my familiar bed.


VATTO
Gang signs, ink, and blood
****** in a low beamer
Cool kissing his gun.

BIGOT
Burning up with hate
like an oil spill on one's soul
heartless mouths pollute.

NIJINSKY
So divine such grace
words not made to embody
Ballet when God speaks.

OSMOSIS
Blossoms in winter
bursts of Japanese kisses
how to love haiku.

BLUR
Tears are no longer
loose and quick to disarray
how sight understands.

BARRIER REEF
Great walls dividing
Vast cold deeps from Summer seas
"Hail Metropolis!"
¡Se celebra el adulterio de María con la Paloma Sacra!
Una lluvia pulverizada lustra La Plaza de las Verduras, se hincha en globitos que navegan por la vereda y de repente estallan sin motivo.
Entre los dedos de las arcadas, una multitud espesa amasa su desilusión; mientras, la banda gruñe un tiempo de vals, para que los estandartes den cuatro vueltas y se paren.
La Virgen, sentada en una fuente, como sobre un bidé, derrama un agua enrojecida por las bombitas de luz eléctrica que le han puesto en los pies.
¡Guitarras! ¡Mandolinas! ¡Balcones sin escalas y sin Julietas! Paraguas que sudan y son como la supervivencia de una flora ya fósil. Capiteles donde unos monos se entretienen desde hace nueve siglos en hacer el amor.
El cielo simple, verdoso, un poco sucio, es del mismo color que el uniforme de los soldados.
Bailey B Apr 2010
The scientist-psychiatrist
the psychologic sociologist
has proved with his statistics
and his data-riddled literates
that nothing will be crippled
if they sweep the city clean
if they slay not only Tybalt
but the whole Verona scene
so they ****** it from our hands
from our brains and those to come
as the Ravens sear across the lands
and bindings come undone
They watch the pages flitter by
and cackle with delight
as the populace of fiction
by their hands is ripped alight
The licking of the laces
by the hungry tongues of flame
will ravage on the characters
you've come to know by name
Montag barrels forth and finds
the Fahrenheit has risen
Hester screams and claws her mind
out of this hellish prison
and Dorian will clamber up
to sit atop the pile
and weep for Pictures yet to sup
upon his looks and guile
And you'll watch as they obliterate
the city from within
de-storying our Paradise
so it won't be Lost again.
But I, Calpurnia? I warned you
that the fiery clouds would rain
I told you all, fictitious youth,
but you called me insane.
I knew you forever and you were always old,
soft white lady of my heart. Surely you would scold
me for sitting up late, reading your letters,
as if these foreign postmarks were meant for me.
You posted them first in London, wearing furs
and a new dress in the winter of eighteen-ninety.
I read how London is dull on Lord Mayor's Day,
where you guided past groups of robbers, the sad holes
of Whitechapel, clutching your pocketbook, on the way
to Jack the Ripper dissecting his famous bones.
This Wednesday in Berlin, you say, you will
go to a bazaar at Bismarck's house. And I
see you as a young girl in a good world still,
writing three generations before mine. I try
to reach into your page and breathe it back...
but life is a trick, life is a kitten in a sack.
This is the sack of time your death vacates.
How distant your are on your nickel-plated skates
in the skating park in Berlin, gliding past
me with your Count, while a military band
plays a Strauss waltz. I loved you last,
a pleated old lady with a crooked hand.
Once you read Lohengrin and every goose
hung high while you practiced castle life
in Hanover. Tonight your letters reduce
history to a guess. The count had a wife.
You were the old maid aunt who lived with us.
Tonight I read how the winter howled around
the towers of Schloss Schwobber, how the tedious
language grew in your jaw, how you loved the sound
of the music of the rats tapping on the stone
floors. When you were mine you wore an earphone.
This is Wednesday, May 9th, near Lucerne,
Switzerland, sixty-nine years ago. I learn
your first climb up Mount San Salvatore;
this is the rocky path, the hole in your shoes,
the yankee girl, the iron interior
of her sweet body. You let the Count choose
your next climb. You went together, armed
with alpine stocks, with ham sandwiches
and seltzer wasser. You were not alarmed
by the thick woods of briars and bushes,
nor the rugged cliff, nor the first vertigo
up over Lake Lucerne. The Count sweated
with his coat off as you waded through top snow.
He held your hand and kissed you. You rattled
down on the train to catch a steam boat for home;
or other postmarks: Paris, verona, Rome.
This is Italy. You learn its mother tongue.
I read how you walked on the Palatine among
the ruins of the palace of the Caesars;
alone in the Roman autumn, alone since July.
When you were mine they wrapped you out of here
with your best hat over your face. I cried
because I was seventeen. I am older now.
I read how your student ticket admitted you
into the private chapel of the Vatican and how
you cheered with the others, as we used to do
on the fourth of July. One Wednesday in November
you watched a balloon, painted like a silver abll,
float up over the Forum, up over the lost emperors,
to shiver its little modern cage in an occasional
breeze. You worked your New England conscience out
beside artisans, chestnut vendors and the devout.
Tonight I will learn to love you twice;
learn your first days, your mid-Victorian face.
Tonight I will speak up and interrupt
your letters, warning you that wars are coming,
that the Count will die, that you will accept
your America back to live like a prim thing
on the farm in Maine. I tell you, you will come
here, to the suburbs of Boston, to see the blue-nose
world go drunk each night, to see the handsome
children jitterbug, to feel your left ear close
one Friday at Symphony. And I tell you,
you will tip your boot feet out of that hall,
rocking from its sour sound, out onto
the crowded street, letting your spectacles fall
and your hair net tangle as you stop passers-by
to mumble your guilty love while your ears die.
Invitación al llanto.  Esto es un llanto,
      ojos, sin fin, llorando,
escombrera adelante, por las ruinas
        de innumerables días.
Ruinas que esparce un cero -autor de nadas,
obra del hombre-, un cero, cuando estalla.
Cayó ciega.  La soltó,
la soltaron, a seis mil
metros de altura, a las cuatro.
¿Hay ojos que le distingan
a la Tierra sus primores
desde tan alto?
¿Mundo feliz? ¿Tramas, vidas,
que se tejen, se destejen,
mariposas, hombres, tigres,
amándose y desamándose?
No. Geometría.  Abstractos
colores sin habitantes,
embuste liso de atlas.
Cientos de dedos del viento
una tras otra pasaban
las hojas
-márgenes de nubes blancas-
de las tierras de la Tierra,
vuelta cuaderno de mapas.
Y a un mapa distante, ¿quién
le tiene lástima? Lástima
de una pompa de jabón
irisada, que se quiebra;
o en la arena de la playa
un crujido, un caracol
roto
sin querer, con la pisada. 
Pero esa altura tan alta
que ya no la quieren pájaros,
le ciega al querer su causa
con mil aires transparentes.
Invisibles se le vuelven
al mundo delgadas gracias:
La azucena y sus estambres,
colibríes y sus alas,
las venas que van y vienen,
en tierno azul dibujadas,
por un pecho de doncella.
¿Quién va a quererlas
si no se las ve de cerca?
Él hizo su obligación:
lo que desde veinte esferas
instrumentos ordenaban,
exactamente: soltarla
al momento justo.                                   Nada.
Al principio
no vio casi nada.  Una
mancha, creciendo despacio,
blanca, más blanca, ya cándida.
¿Arrebañados corderos?
¿Vedijas, copos de lana?
Eso sería...
¡Qué peso se le quitaba!
Eso sería: una imagen
que regresa.
Veinte años, atrás, un niño.
Él era un niño -allá atrás-
que en estíos campesinos
con los corderos jugaba
por el pastizal.  Carreras,
topadas, risas, caídas
de bruces sobre la grama,
tan reciente de rocío
que la alegría del mundo
al verse otra vez tan claro,
le refrescaba la cara.
Sí; esas blancuras de ahora,
allá abajo
en vellones dilatadas,
no pueden ser nada malo:
rebaños y más rebaños
serenísimos que pastan
en ancho mapa de tréboles.
Nada malo.  Ecos redondos
de aquella inocencia doble
veinte años atrás: infancia
triscando con el cordero
y retazos celestiales,
del sol niño con las nubes
que empuja, pastora, el alba.
 
Mientras,
detrás de tanta blancura
en la Tierra -no era mapa-
en donde el cero cayó,
el gran desastre empezaba.Muerto inicial y víctima primera:
lo que va a ser y expira en los umbrales
del ser. ¡Ahogado coro de inminencias!
Heráldicas palabras voladoras
-«¡pronto!», «¡en seguida!», «¡ya!»- nuncios de dichas
colman el aire, lo vuelven promesa.
Pero la anunciación jamás se cumple:
la que aguardaba el éxtasis, doncella,
se quedará en su orilla, para siempre
entre su cuerpo y Dios alma suspensa.
¡Qué de esparcidas ruinas de futuro
por todo alrededor, sin que se vean!
Primer beso de amantes incipientes.
¡Asombro! ¿Es obra humana tanto gozo?
¿Podrán los labios repetirlo?  Vuelan
hacia el segundo beso; más que beso,
claridad quieren, buscan la certeza
alegre de su don de hacer milagros
donde las bocas férvidas se encuentran.
¿ Por qué si ya los hálitos se juntan
los labios a posarse nunca llegan?
Tan al borde del beso, no se besan.
Obediente al ardor de un mediodía
la moza muerde ya la fruta nueva.
La boca anhela el más celado jugo;
del anhelo no pasa.  Se le niega
cuando el labio presiente su dulzura
la condensada dentro, primavera,
pulpas de mayo, azúcares de junio,
día a día sumados a la almendra.
Consumación feliz de tanta ruta,
último paso, amante, pie en el aire,
que trae amor adonde amor espera.
Tiembla Julieta de Romeos próximos,
ya abre el alma a Calixto, Melibea.
Pero el paso final no encuentra suelo.
¿Dónde, si se hunde el mundo en la tiniebla,
si ya es nada Verona, y si no hay huerto?
De imposibles se vuelve la pareja.
¿Y esa mano -¿de quién?-, la mano trunca
blanca, en el suelo, sin su brazo, huérfana,
que buscas en el rosal la única abierta,
y cuando ya la alcanza por el tallo
se desprende, dejándose a la rosa,
sin conocer los ojos de su dueña?
¡Cimeras alegrías tremolantes,
gozo inmediato, pasmo que se acerca:
la frase más difícil, la penúltima,
la que lleva, derecho, hasta el acierto,
perfección vislumbrada, nunca nuestra!
¡Imágenes que inclinan su hermosura
sobre espejos que nunca las reflejan!
¡Qué cadáver ingrávido: una mañana
que muere al filo de su aurora cierta!
Vísperas son capullos. Sí, de dichas;
sí, de tiempo, futuros en capullos.
¡Tan hermosas, las vísperas!
                                                          ¡Y muertas!¿Se puede hacer más daño, allí en la Tierra?
Polvo que se levanta de la ruina,
humo del sacrificio, vaho de escombros
dice que sí se puede.  Que hay más pena.
Vasto ayer que se queda sin presente,
vida inmolada en aparentes piedras.
¡Tanto afinar la gracia de los fustes
contra la selva tenebrosa alzados
de donde el miedo viene al alma, pánico!
Junto a un altar de azul, de ola y espuma,
el pensar y la piedra se desposan;
el mármol, que era blanco, es ya blancura.
Alborean columnas por el mundo,
ofreciéndole un orden a la aurora.
No terror, calma pura da este bosque,
de noble savia pórtico.
Vientos y vientos de dos mil otoños
con hojas de esta selva inmarcesible
quisieran aumentar sus hojarascas.
Rectos embisten, curvas les engañan.
Sin botín huyen. ¿Dónde está su fronda?
No pájaros, sus copas, procesiones
de doncellas mantienen en lo alto,
que atraviesan el tiempo, sin moverse.
Este espacio que no era más que espacio
a nadie dedicado, aire en vacío,
la lenta cantería lo redime
piedras poniendo, de oro, sobre piedras,
de aquella indiferencia sin plegaria.
Fiera luz, la del sumo mediodía,
claridad, toda hueca, de tan clara
va aprendiendo, ceñida entre altos muros
mansedumbres, dulzuras; ya es misterio.
Cantan coral callado las ojivas.
Flechas de alba cruzan por los santos
incorpóreos, no hieren, les traen vida
de colores.  La noche se la quita.
La bóveda, al cerrarse abre más cielo.
Y en la hermosura vasta de estos límites
siente el alma que nada la termina.
Tierra sin forma, pobre arcilla; ahora
el torno la conduce hasta su auge:
suave concavidad, nido de dioses.
Poseidón, Venus, Iris, sus siluetas
en su seno se posan.  A esta crátera
ojos, siempre sedientos, a abrevarse
vienen de agua de mito, inagotable.
Guarda la copa en este fondo oscuro
callado resplandor, eco de Olimpo.
Frágil materia es, mas se acomodan
los dioses, los eternos, en su círculo.
Y así, con lentitud que no descansa,
por las obras del hombre se hace el tiempo
profusión fabulosa.  Cuando rueda
el mundo, tesorero, va sumando
-en cada vuelta gana una hermosura-
a belleza de ayer, belleza inédita.
Sobre sus hombros gráciles las horas
dádivas imprevistas acarrean.
¿Vida?  Invención, hallazgo, lo que es
hoy a las cuatro, y a las tres no era.
Gozo de ver que si se marchan unas
trasponiendo la ceja de la tarde,
por el nocturno alcor otras se acercan.
Tiempo, fila de gracias que no cesa.
¡Qué alegría, saber que en cada hora
algo que está viniendo nos espera!
Ninguna ociosa, cada cual su don;
ninguna avara, todo nos lo entregan.
Por las manos que abren somos ricos
y en el regazo, Tierra, de este mundo
dejando van sin pausa
novísimos presentes: diferencias.
¿Flor?  Flores. ¡Qué sinfín de flores, flor!
Todo, en lo igual, distinto: primavera.
Cuando se ve la Tierra amanecerse
se siente más feliz.  La luz que llega
a estrecharle las obras que este día
la acrece su plural. ¡Es más diversa!El cero cae sobre ellas.
Ya no las veo, a las muchas,
las bellísimas, deshechas,
en esa desgarradora
unidad que las confunde,
en la nada, en la escombrera.
Por el escombro busco yo a mis muertos;
más me duele su ser tan invisibles.
Nadie los ve: lo que se ve son formas
truncas; prodigios eran, singulares,
que retornan, vencidos, a su piedra.
Muertos añosos, muertos a lo lejos,
cadáveres perdidos,
en ignorado osario perfecciona
la Tierra, lentamente, su esqueleto.
Su muerte fue hace mucho.  Esperanzada
en no morir, su muerte. Ánima dieron
a masas que yacían en canteras.
Muchas piedras llenaron de temblores.
Mineral que camina hacia la imagen,
misteriosa tibieza, ya corriendo
por las vetas del mármol,
cuando, curva tras curva, se le empuja
hacia su más, a ser pecho de ninfa.
Piedra que late así con un latido
de carne que no es suya, entra en el juego
-ruleta son las horas y los días-:
el jugarse a la nada, o a lo eterno
el caudal de sus formas confiado:
el alma de los hombres, sus autores.
Si es su bulto de carne fugitivo,
ella queda detrás, la salvadora
roca, hija de sus manos, fidelísima,
que acepta con marmóreo silencio
augusto compromiso: eternizarlos.
Menos morir, morir así: transbordo
de una carne terrena a bajel pétreo
que zarpa, sin más aire que le impulse
que un soplo, al expirar, último aliento.
Travesía que empieza, rumbo a siempre;
la brújula no sirve, hay otro norte
que no confía a mapas su secreto;
misteriosos pilotos invisibles,
desde tumbas los guían, mareantes
por aguja de fe, según luceros.
Balsa de dioses, ánfora.
Naves de salvación con un polícromo
velamen de vidrieras, y sus cuentos
mármol, que flota porque vista de Venus.
Naos prodigiosas, sin cesar hendiendo
inmóviles, con proas tajadoras
auroras y crepúsculos, espumas
del tumbo de los años; años, olas
por los siglos alzándose y rompiendo.
Peripecia suprema día y noche,
navegar tesonero
empujado por racha que no atregua:
negación del morir, ansia de vida,
dando sus velas, piedras, a los vientos.
Armadas extrañísimas de afanes,
galeras, no de vivos, no de muertos,
tripulaciones de querencias puras,
incansables remeros,
cada cual con su remo, lo que hizo,
soñando en recalar en la celeste
ensenada segura, la que está
detrás, salva, del tiempo.¡Y todos, ahora, todos,
qué naufragio total, en este escombro!
No tibios, no despedazados miembros
me piden compasión, desde la ruina:
de carne antigua voz antigua, oigo.
Desgarrada blancura, torso abierto,
aquí, a mis pies, informe.
Fue ninfa geométrica, columna.
El corazón que acaban de matarle,
Leucipo, pitagórico,
calculador de sueños, arquitecto,
de su pecho lo fue pasando a mármoles.
Y así, edad tras edad, en estas cándidas
hijas de su diseño
su vivir se salvó.  Todo invisible,
su pálpito y su fuego.
Y ellas abstractos bultos se fingían,
pura piedra, columnas sin misterio.
Más duelo, más allá: serafín trunco,
ángel a trozos, roto mensajero.
Quebrada en seis pedazos
sonrisa, que anunciaba, por el suelo.
Entre el polvo guedejas
de rubia piedra, pelo tan sedeño
que el sol se lo atusaba a cada aurora
con sus dedos primeros.
Alas yacen usadas a lo altísimo,
en barro acaba su plumaje célico.
(A estas plumas del ángel desalado
encomendó su vuelo
sobre los siglos el hermano Pablo,
dulce monje cantero).
Sigo escombro adelante, solo, solo.
Hollando voy los restos
de tantas perfecciones abolidas.
Años, siglos, por siglos acudieron
aquí, a posarse en ellas; rezumaban
arcillas o granitos,
linajes de humedad, frescor edénico.
No piso la materia; en su pedriza
piso al mayor dolor, tiempo deshecho.
Tiempo divino que llegó a ser tiempo
poco a poco, mañana tras su aurora,
mediodía camino de su véspero,
estío que se junta con otoño,
primaveras sumadas al invierno.
Años que nada saben de sus números,
llegándose, marchándose sin prisa,
sol que sale, sol puesto,
artificio diario, lenta rueda
que va subiendo al hombre hasta su cielo.
Piso añicos de tiempo.
Camino sobre anhelos hechos trizas,
sobre los días lentos
que le costó al cincel llegar al ángel;
sobre ardorosas noches,
con el ardor ardidas del desvelo
que en la alta madrugada da, por fin,
con el contorno exacto de su empeño...
Hollando voy las horas jubilares:
triunfo, toque final, remate, término
cuando ya, por constancia o por milagro,
obra se acaba que empezó proyecto.
Lo que era suma en un instante es polvo.
¡Qué derroche de siglos, un momento!
No se derrumban piedras, no, ni imágenes;
lo que se viene abajo es esa hueste
de tercos defensores de sus sueños.
Tropa que dio batalla a las milicias
mudas, sin rostro, de la nada; ejército
que matando a un olvido cada día
conquistó lentamente los milenios.
Se abre por fin la tumba a que escaparon;
les llega aquí la muerte de que huyeron.
Ya encontré mi cadáver, el que lloro.
Cadáver de los muertos que vivían
salvados de sus cuerpos pasajeros.
Un gran silencio en el vacío oscuro,
un gran polvo de obras, triste incienso,
canto inaudito, funeral sin nadie.
Yo sólo le recuerdo, al impalpable,
al NO dicho a la muerte, sostenido
contra tiempo y marea: ése es el muerto.
Soy la sombra que busca en la escombrera.
Con sus siete dolores cada una
mil soledades vienen a mi encuentro.
Hay un crucificado que agoniza
en desolado Gólgota de escombros,
de su cruz separado, cara al cielo.
Como no tiene cruz parece un hombre.
Pero aúlla un perro, un infinito perro
-inmenso aullar nocturno ¿desde dónde?-,
voz clamante entre ruinas por su Dueño.
emnabee May 2018
I have a friend from Milano. His name is Marco. I’ve known him for years and years. Since we met on a train to Brussels. He took me to meet his friends. And I got involved with one of them. Things didn’t end well with him. He was a player. (Marco’s friend, not him.)

And for a long while, Marco and I lost touch.

---------

Many years later, we reconnected. You were on Facebook. I wasn’t. But I signed in just to look you up. There you were. An indescribable feeling. To see you, after all that time.

Since then, we became friends again. And have been now, for several years. You live in Dubai, in a high rise. I live in Minnesota in a suburb with lots of parks and friendly neighbors. You travel every week, to exotic locations, like Egypt, Oman, and Saudi Arabia (although you do say you hate that place). And back to your home in Italy, and to our old neighborhood in Brussels. I travel a bit only to see family, in Tennessee or Texas occasionally.

We have chatted a lot exchanging details that have shaped us. I told you of losing my friend to suicide, when I had just that day, found out. You told me of your childhood in the church, and that now you don’t care for faith.

I told you, on one occasion, “I'm so uncultured. Once I went to see Nutcracker, and already my mind was having ***** thoughts, and the male dancers came out in their tights, and did a very ladylike dance, where they jumped up and down on their toes, to a twinkly, upbeat tune. I giggled so much I got “shushed.” But still I couldn’t stop.
The more I giggled, the louder I got!"

You said, “I should take you to the opera. My mom used to take me to Verona." You said it was splendid and phenomenal. And I was instantly sold. I said, "I won’t understand anything." And you said, "Yes you will." I imagined myself like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, tears running down my cheeks at the end.

But, you know you can’t take me to the opera in Verona.
Because I might fall in love with you.
He is married, and so am I, so....
I wanted to stop someone

on the street

and ask them.

I wanted to stop the next random person

and say, hey

can I ask you a question.

They would think

I wanted some change

to buy a little more alcohol

but I don’t really drink

and they would say sure you don’t, buddy

and maybe hand me some coins anyway

or just walk on

without another word or turn of their head

convincing themselves that my homeless state

is my own fault

and it is

but I am not even homeless

Not the way they think.



I want to ask them,

the ones reverently typing into their phones,

excuse me but what exactly does LOL mean

because I don’t hear anything.



I wanted to ask someone

but everyone seems in such a hurry

procuring caffeine infused drinks

with names that are so long

that you couldn’t fit them on billboards

but they rattle them off

with a fine, practiced precision of the tongue

to Baristas in green aprons

wearing Verona smiles,

their eyes glinting from farther away than

the place which the precious coffee whence came

and I want to ask

if this is maybe their own illusion,

one that mimics conversation,

making the five-something they pay

so ******* worth it.



I wanted to ask someone

sitting at their desk

incessantly checking their on-line profiles

and commenting on comments

made in response to the comment

they left on the post of a picture

that has captured a small snapshot

of some life

while they pretend to be working on something else

so that they can pay the ever increasing price of access

because its important to stay connected

and I bet if I asked them to list

six things they could never live without

surely Facebook is what they would list

right after water, food and God

but they just seem too busy which

I think is their intent.



I wanted to ask someone

but everyone seemed so focused

on getting home

so they could embrace their loved ones

on the sofa

and hold each other close

while they memorize the reruns of

some reality TV show,

while they don’t talk to each other,

being so engrossed, and

I would ask them

if I were in their living rooms

while they strain to hold their heavy lidded eyes

high

shooting their television with their ray guns

chanelling their TV gods,

chanting,

there’s nothing on,
there’s nothing on,
there’s nothing on.



I wanted to ask someone,

anyone,

if that girl was right

when she told me that

I speak too passionately when expressing a point

and if it really is good

to nod in agreement

with the things people say

like a parrot

as opposed to posing an argument

because she professes to know that

beneath my façade of not caring

that I do care if they accept me or not and

I really do want to know

if she is right and

I wanted to ask someone

but instead I decided to just keep it to myself

because deep down I do know

she was as wrong as

I always was

and if there is one thing that I did learn from her

it is that

if you cant fit it

in the one-hundred and sixty character space

of a text message

no one really wants to hear it anyway



so instead of starting a random conversation

with a stranger

I spent the morning memorizing acronyms

so that I might communicate more effectively

with people farther away than my voice.


Michael L Sutter
Qualyxian Quest Apr 2023
tired, long and lonely
grateful for the rest
ambiguity
even at my best

European trains
Sunlit Italy
Latin, a little Latin
Shakespeare's tragedies

                JMU
Drifton A Way Nov 2013
Try your best to escape and free
Your mind is not your identity
Your genetics, your family tree
Your looking glass eyes can see
Through the window an fatefully
Change your perception of reality
And redefine who you are to be

My new persona is in a coma down in Barcelona
Now I'm Jonah in love with Mona from Arizona
Drinking corona with Fiona in the streets of Verona

Creativity is a proclivity that unshackles our identity free
Journey with me far from the vast sea of mental captivity
Exclusivity of proactivity creates a glorious life of festivity

Consent to your dreams to the absolute umpteenth degree
Augment your schemes and forget about the no guarantee
Reinvent thee extremes, and you will never be a life absentee

Remember as you read that we are all connected eternally
On this marble together spinning we are all just guests
Wandering around trying to solve our personal quests
Humans being we happened to be, but only temporarily

May as well attempt and squeeze life to death and manifest
All your aspirations and ambitions should be put to the test
All so blessed with a mind, and a beating heart in our chest
So why not invest the rest of our time to aspire to be the best
Devilish Grin Sep 2013
I, ****** to the cage of love by my maiden as sweet as thy canary drops from the extravagant leaves born in Verona that I feel as drawn to much will deem me as I decline. Will I be regretted in my first love. We are not defined on how hard we try, we are defined by our choices in how we love.              
Thy Love, is so great, I determine to marry thy maiden in the sweetest night, under moon in the clear sky. Thou glow of White Heaven, may you shine down your pure light as we hold midnights first kiss, may you shine down on our galliard, may you shine down on our last breaths as we lay to eachother. Thou Validity to time spent with thy Maiden, I cherish in the most imperative of ways and the Vastidity of thy love cannot be held nor can be touched by no one other than Thy Heart.
Paul Hansford Jan 2016
Take a group of chimpanzees
used to swinging through the trees,
and sit them down at keyboards in a row;
lots of paper, lots of ink,
lots and lots of time, I think,
and what the theory says I’m sure you know.

Yes, along with all the junk,
all the gibberish and bunk,
somewhere there’d be the full works of the Bard:
As You Like It, Cymbeline,
Richards 2 and 3, the Dream,
though Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, might be hard.

But I’m sure the little blighters
would get on fine with Titus
Andronicus
, The Taming of the Shrew,
The Moor of Venice (that’s Othello),
the other Merchant fellow,
and Antony and Cleopatra too.

The Winter’s Tale would hold no terrors,
nor The Comedy of Errors,
and Verona’s Gentlemen would turn out right;
Love’s Labour might be Lost,
or it might be Tempest-tossed,
but All’s Well That Ends Well, even on Twelfth Night.

Lear, King John, and Much Ado,
Henry 4, parts 1 and 2,
Henry 5, and 6 (in three parts), Henry 8,
Troilus, Timon, Measure for Measure,
Pericles (a neglected treasure)
and how Romeo and Juliet met their fate;

all the Sonnets, and the ****
of Lucrece
(typed by an ape!)
and if they worked for ever and a day
they could fit in Julius Caesar,
that Coriolanus geezer,
the Wives of Windsor, and the Scottish play.

I grew more and more excited –
even thought I might be knighted
if I could be the one to make it work.
But to realise my dream
I had to try a pilot scheme,
to prove I wasn’t just a reckless berk.

I bought one chimp from the zoo -
didn't have the cash for two -
and gave him a typewriter, just to try
for a short while. Well, a fortnight
was the time-scale that I thought right.
You see, I’m quite an optimistic guy.

Now everyone who heard
of my project said, “Absurd!”
when I told them of my striking new departure.
“Get a chimpanzee to type
the works of Shakespeare? Oh, what tripe!”
Still … he did produce the works of Jeffrey Archer.
Jeffrey Archer in Wikipedia: Whilst Archer's books are commercially successful, critics have been generally unfavourable towards his writing.
On another topic, in 2001, Archer was found guilty of perjury and perverting the course of justice. He was sentenced to four years' imprisonment. (More details if you read the article.)
Adam Disser Jun 2012
There I was, drunk behind the wheel
Seeing where I was and wishing I was further
Blabbering thoughts and ideas I steal
That whisper in the ear of some forgotten parents daughter

Well, I'm the devil in disguise.
Say, "We all are at times" and
As long as it rhymes
Then it all sounds good.

I can see the worlds demise
In that same daughters eyes who
Watches TV and cries
I can't be like I should.

Like life etched down in screenwriters heads
Who think perfect perfection and leave naught lost.
Who lead all of Verona to houses and beds
And untangle ley lines of lovers star-crossed

Instead there's no order
No place to fall in
It's just drunken, splendid squalor
Without and within
Hit me with some feedback
Verona Pentony Aug 2015
THE FARMER
The lonely wood pigeon perched, echoes, sounds of joy – ‘the morning has risen’. The farmer stirs from a deep slumber as a beam of sunshine escapes through the curtain, reaching his furrowed, leathered, weather-beaten brow. He places one foot on the wooden floor, his lips part as the second foot completes the pair. Whispering, “Thank you;” he feels a deep gratitude for having awakened to this new day. He scratches his head in anxiety, with a hand that has worked the farm, wondering if the area aid from the EU will keep him afloat. He understands his maker has determined this day, yet the weather elements will dictate the farmer’s way. He glimpses through the window to see what is yet to come and sights a congregation of birds on the electricity cables above - a sure sign of rain on the way!
In the kitchen, he listens for a weather update. Warming himself near the Aga cooker while making a brew. He looks to the Sacred Heart picture and the hanging family rosary beads. To understand the farmer, one must understand the traditions of the land. The land has a holden-fist on the heart of the farmer, as many farmers well know. It has caused bitterness and disputes in generations past. The farmer must feel a love for the land and a passion for what he does best. The land holds high expectations and demands dedication from him.
From the first leaves falling in autumn, to the nurturing of crops through understanding of spraying techniques. In winter, hearing the cows crave for hay, and repairing machines during the low times. Springtime brings cattle and sheep grazing pastures new; and seagulls landing on freshly ploughed fields. Grass whirling in the wind, then corn ears blowing side by side. The warm glow of the valley in summer brings the harvesting of ripe golden corn. Haymaking sees farm picnics, readymade tea in old lemonade bottles, poured into mugs and stirred by straw, with the smell too of homemade bread and curney cake. The farmer, seeing birds migrate in a ‘V’ pattern, feels an anxiety for the year-end accounts yet to come. Feathers are scattered outside the chicken coup - the fox has been and gone!
The farmer leaves the doorway in silence and walks out to the fields to assess his crop. The early morning dew dampening the ends of his trousers as he walks. A slight smile parts his lips as he listens to insects galore. He bends down and reaches with a strong, hard-skinned, gloveless hand, grasping his crop and pulling from the root. He sees what he needs to know. In that moment he is complete; he is a Farmer! He turns and strokes his dog, which had been laging behind.
He understands his fate. One day he will leave the land behind – he will be gone, but the land will remain forever!

"Copyright Verona Pentony 2014  from 2nd collection Reflections from Time  see www.veronapentony.com
Carve this heroine from black polished Obsidian , begat by fire , tempered with beauty , charm .. Place her figure high above for all to see !. On a base of red Verona marble , defining strength and honor ! Surround this monument with honeysuckle and gardenia alongside a bench made of granite so that the weary may rest beneath her , cloaked in the reflected light of liberty and abiding love for country ! On watch for all eternity .....
Copyright October 13 , 2015 by Randolph L Wilson * All Rights Reserved ***Young lady from McDonough , Georgia killed in Afghanistan last week. Coming home today ..
wordvango Nov 2014
Onto a wall I post my claim for love beneath
thy balcony in Verona! I borrow thy name, Juliet,
my love is for her. I too have witnessed mine and thine passions,
I love her so, as did thee.
So, under thy balcony I left a poem,
a rose to another name,
a love I seek!
Help me William and Romeo and Juliet,
to send her my visions!
vega Jan 2022
come wash your sin with me,
i am a flightless soul covered in gossamer
i am love in the form of locks
you cannot unchain with bared teeth
and bare skin and the blade
of the twisted dagger strapped against your thigh
i adore your spirit but i do not
adore you. i am a capricious madness
drink me to excess if you so wish
me to be—a cold chestful of chemical smoke
a sink full of the remnants of
an unborn child, eject me
i am unwanted, i am a wanted hallelujah
with a swollen-gum smile in every
lithographed dead or alive poster, please save me
please buy black water lilies
for my funeral the priest won’t attend
please let the worms make homes out of my
gaping throat, and i shall whisper unto
you. one last time. it will be done
unto your will without wisdom
i am corruption in the form of conscience
i am the riptide washing away your firstborn son
with the taste of ****** verona.
John Holmes Sep 2014
O with thy smile thou could make angels fall
whilst the prince of hell would turn from all sin,
angels and demons would forsake their call
while their respective realms turn'd outside in;
would Romeo forsake his Juliet —
ay, a glimpse of thee would be all he'd need
and fair Verona could turn cold and wet
forsaken by the fair sun by one deed.
Nuns to riot and Kings down on their knees
such is the way of Aphrodite's hand,
and none of her choosing know her decrees
until too late as Aphrodite planned —
ay me! for ne'er such beauty such as thine
has shown in stone, in paint, or read in line.
From Selected Sonnets, iTunes
Lee Janes Jan 2013
You know the tale about young Romeo
His story of love, torment and sorrow.
For what lay before him was crystal clear,
The love he held for his Juliet so dear.
The journey took passed his father and mother
The violent death his cousin would sadly suffer.
Slain revenge upon Tibult, did he doth do,
And expulsion from Verona; where he did brew
Returns to his belovéd with help from above,
A planned sneak back to his one true love.
With joyous swift pace flew to his lady fair,
A song from his soul he let off in prayer,
Laying tearful eyes on Juliet with one last kiss,
Dying for his dove in woe of loves dark abyss.
John Holmes Mar 2015
If I could only reach out from this page
and hold thee in mine arms like lovers should,
like those star-cross'd lovers from past-gone Age,
from Shakespeare's Verona, why then I would ⎯
I would, I would hold thee like Orpheus
on saving his one love in hell ensnared,
but, ay me! 'tis false hope and of no use
and all but just a dream a fool has dared.
But if thou would think of me when thou read
and gently touch this page as if 'twas me,
if thou would only do this simple deed
do this for then thy touch would set me free.
For better is thy touch however small
if just mine page than have no touch at all.
From Selected Sonnets, John Holmes, iTunes (free download).
During the fifteenth century,
in Verona, Italy...
Lays a story of the star crossed lovers,
that ends in pure tragedy.
According to the stars above
it is said that the couple,
was never meant to fall in love.
The Capulet's rue,
the Montague's.
A long lasting feud,
that ended very crude.
Already secretly wed,
by the Friar Lawrence.
Juliet is forced to Marry Paris instead.
On the day she is to wed she drinks a potion,
to fake herself dead...
When Romeo hears about his wife's death...
It is at that moment,
he is ready to take his very last breath.
Their love was marked ill-fated.
All because one family was very well hated.
Butch Decatoria Mar 2016
Part Four
WALKING THESE STREETS
______


PROUD

Sacrificial lamb
motivates the hearts of Men
how a son is raised.


BIGOT

Burning up with hate
like an oil spill on one's soul
heartless mouths pollute.

EXCERCISE

Samoan in jeans
bids me a good morning smirk
chews gum as he jogs.


A LIVING

homeless on my street
collecting their tin and glass
daily for some green.



HOOD
1.
Most Deaf in a mood
take cover Shotty in black
not today Chi-raq!
2.
Loud gang sign-language
take cover YOLO fingers
'cuz ****** is mute...
3.
And bullets are blind,
lightning striking down a soul,
Reaper has the hood.


VATTO

Gang signs, ink, and blood
****** in a low beamer
Cool kissing his gun.


HOT PLATE

Drink sierra's drought,
summer's heat a microwave,
cook ourselves their meal.


BLUR

Tears are no longer
loose and quick to disarray
how sight understands.



ALIEN ANT FARM
1.
A metropolis
between glass walls, our formic
art of consumption.
2.
Eyes barren within
like landscapes of the wasteful
dead as dirt highways.
3.
From Central Park bench:
dogs walk folk on jogging trails,
Crumbs and passersby.
4.
Spectres' in dark shades.
Soldier, drone, still hive alone.
Storm of silences.
5.
Window of locusts
in view of our summer fruit:
cosmic flesh so blue.


THE JOINT

For that glaucoma
red eye flights in chronic puffs
squinting all your life.
          
THE CLICK

We straight up chillin'
it's not cool to ******* school
streets teach straight "A" G's  


THE POINT

Wussup with all that?
An identity crisis.
Go find peace / of mind.


WALLS & LETTERS
1.
Wailing at God
At David and faith:
     hollow screams of human pains
  "please deliver us"
2.
Verona
"Mon ami tu vais"
your wish in calligraphy
for saints behind bricks.
3.
Barricades
The self is heavy
     with bone and chaos / need
     leaves no peace of mind.


IMAGINAL CELLS
1.
Monarch lacks her crown
awhile a worm's ugly state,
true beauty (is) within.
2.
Come chrysalis sleep
finest dreams take silken wings
at the time of death.
3.
Imagine rebirth
like feathers upon the wind,
the soul rules supreme.


BLOOD**

When broken feels raw
as a throbbing from a cut,
truth must weep as deep.
Verona Pentony Aug 2015
THE FINAL FAREWELL SONNET
(By Verona Pentony -  Reflections of Time)

As my footprints on the earth fade away on this final day
I want to say a fond farewell  
No need to whisper anymore, for I will not hear you
No need to think I will come, as you will not see me
I ask you to be grateful for the memories we shared
Understand now my path in life has been walked
Every stone unturned, every thought cogitated
Now my legacy is all that will remain    
On this last farewell; I ask you to do what I cannot
With compassion, understand me for not saying the words I should have said to you
Find acceptance in your heart and mind using whatever reasoning it will take
(Pause)  
I must go now to my final destination
Open hands await me in far distant lands  
The garden of ‘forget me not’
James R May 2018
Due. Ironically, sat just right
Unknowing of what dreams the bright
Days reveal of thee.
In the Bard's own words:
Wrenching hands unclean.

To gaze is to flinch, provide
Arms. Yet far better to hide -
Toil incessantly beneath,
Prevail in silent wisdom.
Thus Eden's treasures bequeath

For now at least. But to strike,
Unnoticed, those that wish likeness.
In turn, treasonous treachery churns
As the burnish'd sun bakes
The mid-afternoon sky burnt.

Eyes twinkling, a violent storm
Boundless oceans which have thinly worn
Yet these delights scream to be free
Like fire and powder destroy
fields of nectar for the sweet lick of honey.
A poem concocted on an Italian bus.
David Beltran Feb 2021
I found myself aboard a midnight train,
I left Salerno for Milan
listening to Her for Five Minutes,
Simon used to sing this song.
Come si chaima?
She asked as a drug's side effect,
Soft grin and all she may not have spoken French, Spanish,
nor English but music is the universal language after all.

Love in retrospect like a butterfly effect,
Sua, Cinque Minuti.
a quiet smile,
between laughter and silence
filled her face.
She came from Verona, to visit family,
I came to see the city where God met the Sea.
Lui dice, l'amore che non ti aspetti?
Her voice, a dream complete,
the universal language in tones and  beats.
Galileo of Galilei finally free,
my heart a quivering seat.

I expected to fall asleep,
but mistakes you don't regret,
an angel's voice inside your head.
errori di cui non ti sei pentito, è amore, non è vero?
She said, as rain translated words obsolete.
love is something you don't regret.
I don't know her name,
but all I need is five minutes,
to feel her voice in my imbibition,
a reminder of a midnight train precognition.
Thank you to Simon and Victor of Her, dedicated to the memory of Simon for his amazing work on his short time here. To Victor for your incredible voice on your Colors rendition, helping create a moment on a train. To Isa a beautiful reminder of experience when you venture out to seek discomfort.
May Elizabeth May 2018
Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal ***** of these two foes
A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life;
Whose misadventur’d piteous overthrows
Doth with their death bury their parents’ strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark’d love,
And the continuance of their parents’ rage,
Which, but their children’s end, nought could remove,
Is now the two hours’ traffic of our stage;
The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.
This poem/sonnet is the prologue to Shakespeare's famous play, "Romeo and Juliet." I obviously did not write this, but I love it. Thank you.
John F McCullagh Aug 2018
In fair Verona where Will set the scene
Belle Fortune moves the markers up and down.
Two households both alike in dignity
Fiercely compete for fear of losing ground.

When Juliet saw Romeo at the dance
Events were set in motion that, perchance,
Would see fair Juliet as our Romeo’s bride
but ultimately result in her suicide.

With Tybalt and Mercutio both dead,
And Capulet and Montague estranged.
Young Paris sought fair Juliet to wed
not knowing of her loss of maiden-head.

Romeo was banished for his crime,
a sin for which a peasant would have died
Their two households, joined because they wed,
remained divided by their foolish pride.

Summer’s fierce heat shimmered in the air,
oppressive in the absence of a breeze.
With Friar Lawrence’s help, Romeo’s girl played dead,
as if struck down by some unknown disease


Romeo , in Mantua, heard that his Juliet
Lay dead amongst the sleeping Capulets.
A draught of deadly poison he obtained
So they might sleep together once again.

When Romeo met Paris at her tomb,
Words led to swordplay, leaving Paris dead.
Would not the world have been a better place
if Romeo had kept it sheathed instead?

Unshriven, Romeo drank the poison down-
the only son of Montague now dead.
Perchance just then fair Juliet revives
Bereaved, she took his Dirk to bed instead.

Authorities, arriving at the scene,
could only mourn a brace of kinsmen lost.
Capulet and Montague were reconciled
Their amity bought at a fearful cost.
A cliff notes version of Romeo and Juliet
karleigh Sep 2015
Dearest Italy,
on the 1st of November
i met him in Verona
and so begins my story
Ours
Sincerely,
Yours
Brendan Looney Nov 2012
Oh Juliet, my Juliet, where art thou?

i have searched and searched fruitlessly for you
yet i gain no reply, no response to my increasingly pitiful cries

until that one moment, the blossom of light, fire on
cold, wet wood, shedding light on a beautiful world
only to be extinguished oh so cruelly, not with water, no
at least then there is smoke, an intricate pattern of memories
but no, dirt was tossed, and there it shall remain,
stultifying something beautiful,

and his uncivil blood will make my civil hands unclean
i have been banished from my personal fair verona
in search of another life, another love, a spark that will grow,
slowly, steadily but always held back by the ash from fires long before

Oh Juliet, my Juliet, where art thou?

— The End —