Submit your work, meet writers and drop the ads. Become a member
Lofty currents raise a cloth flag,
Inked patterns, shapes and representations,
One icon, replicated a millionfold,
And yet,
Where are we taking this flag?
For as it is our wing,
Holding us high,
It is also the cloak we bear,
As we plunge through caverns,
Diving through murky lakes.

And, in the way of caverns,
They're so much deeper than we believe.

Now, let us venture counter-clockwise,
Close your eyes,
Strain your ear,
For the memories,
Of long ago.
Where our world,
Was small, balanced.
And the legends,
Speak to us,
Of six Behemoths,
Who began small,
Yet still evil,
And they devoured
Beings around them,
One by one,
Growing stronger,
Exponentially.

Their shadows fell across valleys and mountains,
And their breath fueled the great winds,
Their roars were thunder, and their strikes lightning,
And so, they began to dominate the very fabric of reality,
Shielding our small eyes from whence we came.

Our voices carry on,
Through the waves and turns of time.
The echoes swell up from our own vocal chords,
As past, present, and future all ask,
Who will save us now?

Break the mainframe,
Burn the framework,
Rally the work force,
And force them out.
 Jul 2012 Amy Irby
Judith Wright
The song is gone; the dance
is secret with the dancers in the earth,
the ritual useless, and the tribal story
lost in an alien tale.

Only the grass stands up
to mark the dancing-ring; the apple-gums
posture and mime a past corroboree,
murmur a broken chant.

The hunter is gone; the spear
is splintered underground; the painted bodies
a dream the world breathed sleeping and forgot.
The nomad feet are still.

Only the rider's heart
halts at a sightless shadow, an unsaid word
that fastens in the blood of the ancient curse,
the fear as old as Cain.
 Jul 2012 Amy Irby
William Cowper
God of my life, to Thee I call,
Afflicted at Thy feet I fall;
When the great water-floods prevail,
Leave not my trembling heart to fail!

Friend of the friendless and the faint,
Where should I lodge my deep complaint,
Where but with Thee, whose open door
Invites the helpless and the poor!

Did ever mourner plead with Thee,
And Thou refuse the mourner's plea?
Does not the word still fix'd remain,
That none shall seek Thy face in vain?

That were a grief I could not bear,
Didst Thou not hear and answer prayer:
But a prayer-hearing, answering God
Supports me under every load.

Fair is the lot that's cast for me;
I have an Advocate with Thee;
They whom the world caresses most
Have no such privilege to boast.

Poor though I am, despised, forgot,
Yet God, my God, forgets me not:
And he is safe, and must succeed,
For whom the Lord vouchsafes to plead.
 Jul 2012 Amy Irby
surei
Fresh Air
 Jul 2012 Amy Irby
surei
Sometimes, you need fresh air,
and beyond the curb of ignoring an annoying party-acquaintance,
you step outside to feel the briefly welcoming air;
you think you'd overcome the standing hairs of your neck,
but you don't and you stay.

Sometimes, you need fresh air.
Slowly, after that last awkward smirk from your blind-date,
you reach for your cigarettes and head outside into the rather stark breeze of night,
leaving coffee for smoke, intertwined with the thin ice, that is breath.

Sometimes, you need fresh air,
and it's cold, too cold to leave the room,
and it's dark, too dark outside,
but you leave anyway because whatever stands inside is a spoiled pique unrelentingly trying to get you.

*Sometimes, you need fresh air.
 Jul 2012 Amy Irby
Conor Oberst
I had a beautiful, beautiful time
The drives and the talks were amazing
The kind of friend I thought I'd never find
I had a beautiful, beautiful time

You have a beautiful, beautiful smile
The way it curls and collapses on your lips
When you touch me I shake like a child
It's late, I'm afraid you might leave
'Cause sometimes it seems like you still don't believe me
There's nothing I can do to concentrate
It's so distracting, always thinking of you
So I expose and explain and I meant everything I said
And it's moments like this that repeat and replay in my head
When I'm laying in bed

It's a beautiful, beautiful time
As you laugh and roll onto your stomach
The carpet embraces your design
My heart pounds as I lay by your side
And I find that I am unable to hide all these feelings that flow
In this basement, and in this dim light, you look so beautiful
I'm unsure and unclear with the words that I say
I'm happy when you're near and I wish that forever could stay
Just like today

You have beautiful, beautiful eyes
So bright and alive and enchanting
I want to be with you all of the time
It's hopeless but I have to try
 Jul 2012 Amy Irby
L H R
We were enemies in childhood,
I didn't comprehend,
a little sister wasn't cool
who followed you no end.

You were my shining beacon,
my shiny golden light,
until the day I grew up,
and you ceased to shine so bright.

You thought I was a ******,
I considered you a bore,
we barely spoke for decades
shut behind our door.

But now you are so lonely,
and I can learn to bend,
you cannot choose your family,
but I consider you, my friend.
Next page