dan-gray
Canadian
I"ve been a soldier, cop, for a short time a volunteer firefighter. Worked as a tradesman for way to many years. I've been writing poetry since I was 17 and still enjoy it. I don't expect anyone to see exactly what I see, but I hope to strike a memory or experience that the reader has had and they can colour in my words with that thought.
I can not remember
The taste and flavour
Of a kiss.
The feeling of ones arms
Wrapped around another.
The slow rising and falling
Of a hand gliding over the others back.
The light flick and touch
Of tongues, just glancing.
To look deep.
Into the others eyes,
Deep into their soul ;
And smiling.
Dan Gray
14 December, 2025
Dec 15, 2025
Dec 15, 2025 at 11:43 AM UTC
Sitting and thinking of ladies in my life,
Past to now.
Going back from my preteens to present.
I will always remember my first love,
From before I was 10.
But I try to forget my last.
Seventy years of my heart knowing ladies
Has left my soul empty and barren.
Being a poet the words in music
Leads my heart down many paths.
As does my souls touch to the ladies
That have crossed my hearts path
Over so much time.
I have stumbled so often.
Empathy giving them so much support.
But when their hearts strength returns,
I have been disposed of.
I have spent the greater part of my life,
Alone.
I still search,
But my confidence makes this
A difficult time trying to find love again.
So I will drift,
Still looking but not hopeful.
Seeing those that Love stands out,
Easy to see, gives belief it can happen.
Dan Gray
November 28, 2025 11 PM
Nov 28, 2025
Nov 28, 2025 at 11:24 PM UTC
Traveling home before the dawn
Moving in darkness without the light
From the cold towards the warmth
Seeing out into the “Old Ways”
Passing through the Veils
Curtains of mist drifting on the breeze
Eddies of cool and warm air
Shifting the shapes of the mist
Modern road instead of ancient path
Vapours rise from all forms of moisture
Each warm puddle, stream, river, lake
Chilled air passes over, opening the touching world
Samhain (SAH:win) is forming
The time of the thin veils
Worlds touching
Ghosts, memories, the Other People passing
Walk the paths in your mind
Traveling in other “normal times”
Holding souls that were never held
Forming together when crossing through the Veil.
Dan Gray
Oct 28, 2025
Oct 28, 2025 at 8:27 PM UTC
To break down that wall,
Even to remove a stone.
Wanting to once again feel.
After the neglect,
Life with no feelings,
Non deserved guilt embedded.
Wanting the touch.
Even fleeting if true.
Of love and respect.
Tenderness,
The little joys of life.
Whispers in ones ear.
The soft feeling of lips
Just to bring a smile.
Oh, to trust again.
To totally bread down that wall.
Once again, to live.
August, 2021
Oct 17, 2025
Oct 17, 2025 at 3:53 PM UTC
I walk under the trees of my back yard
Weaving between the darkness of a moonless night
And the hard brightness of electric porch light.
Some sounds travel on a light breeze.
The crunching of my feet
Breaking through the frozen, crystallized crust of snow
With the melodious metallic sound of a wind chime
Carried like a fragile note into the night.
I look up through the finger like tree branches.
I smile at the cold winters sky
Full of bright, sharp stars
Gently twinkling because of atmospheric condition.
Then a connection from my childhood.
The poems and stories of twinkling stars,
I often wondered then how they would sound.
Fifty years later I discover the tones.
The slightly altered sound of winter chilled wind chimes
Matching the flicker in the small points of the skies light.
Memories flood with satisfaction
As well as an answer to a child's question.
Dan Gray
February 23, 2013
Jul 4, 2025
Jul 4, 2025 at 5:37 PM UTC
I reach out with my mind,
To those that can sense.
I reach out with my soul,
To those that can feel.
I reach out with my empathy,
To one I hope to find.
But I have no Muse,
And my searches come back empty.
I will never give up,
For one never knows,
When that one steps into the starlight.
Dan Gray
June 8, 2025
Jun 8, 2025
Jun 8, 2025 at 10:41 PM UTC
I admit that I do miss being held;
As much as I miss doing the holding.
I do enjoy listening to another’s thoughts
As well as discussing what is happening.
The touching of minds gives almost as much
As the physical touching of each other.
The planning of a traveling times objective
Brings a smile for the trips speculation.
If one can not keep ones mind busy,
Loneliness can make ones mind; stale.
I have spent close to sixty percent of my time,
Alone. Walking, shopping, planning, surviving.
Empathy is, at times, a terrible thing to possess,
For feeling other peoples problems can deflect,
But not resolve the quirkiness of just being,
With one’s self all the time.
I will continue to keep my mind and eyes open,
As I may find a mind and body out in the world,
That enjoys talking, holding and jointly planning.
Perhaps, if this happens, Empathy will not be a hindrance
But lead one person to help another, with each other.
Dan Gray
April 19, 2025
Apr 20, 2025
Apr 20, 2025 at 12:36 AM UTC
I sit here many a night
For no reason tears escape from my eyes.
I don’t know for sure why they are there.
I seek within my soul
I seek within my heart
I seek within my being.
Answers don’t seem to arrive.
No matter how deep I seek.
No matter how I feel.
I can not find an answer.
I have been alone for most of my life
And maybe this is the center of the problem.
My past,
No matter how much I try to deflect
Bounces around my mind
Twinging my heart
Pinching my soul
I guess the source is,
I have been alone
For most of my life.
Daniel Gray
February 3, 2025
Feb 4, 2025
Feb 4, 2025 at 8:46 PM UTC
I have been thinking back over my years
Trying to figure out for who I am looking.
I am not looking for someone to walk in front of me,
I am not searching for someone to follow me,
I am seeking someone, to walk beside me.
To be able to tell tales both tall ones and short ones.
The ability to discuss what has happened in ones life,
And the two of us able to adjust to what was discussed.
To be able to laugh and raise ones hearts feeling.
Having the ability to cry enough to empty ones pain.
Doing things together whether big or small.
Having a hobby or two that both can share.
To have the knowledge on how to look deep into the others eyes
While being drawn deep into the others soul.
To walk hand in hand,
Where ever we are walking together.
Being able to sit quietly,
Listening to music,
Watching the television,
Reading books.
While never worrying what the other was thinking.
To be one but also be an individual.
The want to please the other,
Before themselves were pleased.
I have been looking for someone just to be with
And I have been doing this since I was 15.
Thinking more than once that I had succeeded.
But so many, many years later
I am still looking.
Daniel Gray
February 4, 2025
Feb 4, 2025
Feb 4, 2025 at 8:42 PM UTC
As we get older, for what do we search?
We are not what we were in our twenties.
But what was looked for then,
Is still searched for now.
The only difference is when age is reached,
Pain, in different ways, has tempered,
Our very being.
Remembering whispers in the ear,
Maybe with a nibble.
A soft, delicate kiss, upon the lips.
Memories of a delicate touch,
Finding spots on ones body
You never knew existed.
Holding hands when walking,
Listening to what the other is saying.
Looking so very deep into some ones eyes
Reaching to engage with that persons soul.
We want to find that safe place
So one can open up to another.
To have your face hurt from smiling.
Hoping to relive those touches.
To feel once again the gentle press of lips.
The soft touch of hands.
All bringing your soul back to life.
Once again to be able to trust.
So when you think about it,
If it has been lost,
At any age, we search for the same Love
We have always searched for.
Dan Gray
4 A.M. January 26, 2023
May 21, 2023
May 21, 2023 at 10:06 PM UTC