Lately,
I've been so down
My own thoughts scare me.
I just want some peace again
My demons to stop screaming.

To be loved by a poet
is to be embroidered with feelings.
To be torn apart,
examined,
and put back together as words
instead of flesh and bones.

The scorching sun
Burns his every hope
Then the moon comes by
To soothe his soul

Because it pains her
To watch him ablaze
By every burning flame
That always comes his way

She is a willing silent companion
To his every woe
Even if she would fall apart
It is him she worries of most

I long for quiet, but then I long for company
I long for dessert, and then I long for Chinese take-aways

I long for chocolate, but then I long to be thin
I long for the easy way, but then I long to win

I long for a husband, then I long for a child
I long for consistency, but then I long to be wild

I long for rain, then I long to swim
Although that is fine - I'll just jump in

But I find I am longing - am I not content?
Do I not have enough - must I always augment
the needs I have on my list of things
the need I have to spread my wings
the need I have to settle down
the need I have to wear a crown
the need I have to always 'do'
the need I have to start anew?

No! This must stop - I must open my eyes
To all that's around me - between earth and skies
To all I've been given, from Heaven Or Hell
To all I've become, to all I've done well
To all that I am - Thanks to Him
To the Great "I am", Who lives within.

..And although I am content as I write this,
I have found it hard to write through my happiness. For days, months, years, I continued to harvest this pain. Self inflicted; sometimes, one might say, that I was to blame - inflicting pain on my name whenever it rang. Or maybe sometimes, the world, I found a little too aggressive to tame. Trying to remain centered in my frame while all of these picture frames around this place starting taking center stage on a new terrain, or an old one: focal points of the past. Look at all that I have passed. So many leaking words, screaming to be heard but never last; perhaps only pressed into the pages I turned and still turn, that may be the only things I know assured. But I choose not to see my life as depicted so blurred. My vision is not perfect; but a vision when you know that you're worth it can create a mind that is certain on what's pertinent. I am a servant to myself. Health, wealth, and all combined. yet they still wish me hell while they stand beside the wishing well. Oh well. What am I to do? When the hopes of tomorrow might not ever become true...but to become so succumbed into thinking that we are inevitably doomed would have my mind, heart, and the very force that never holds them apart, separated in two. And so I choose. I choose when I speak, I choose when to heal.And it's like writing my pains allowed them to stand in an image a little more real, whereas my absence to the page represents my ultimate appeal: applying a happiness where words just can't seem to peel back the genuine feel. I guess I am healed. I thank you for guiding me here and allowing me to hear. I'll be near.

The sun breaks through the ocean
Breathtaking birth in one sweeping motion
The gentle force of mother earth
Teaches and tones, in a bath of foam
Pulling kicking legs beneath sparkling surf

While clouds on the horizon ring a ****** sky
And energy illuminates the air
The sun swings high, heat magnified
I find it easy not to worry or care

To run alongside playful waves I'm inclined
Angled shadows leave details hyper-defined
Every minute, the earth is recolored by light
From the low-hanging fruit to be shared by mankind

The ocean water washes away sin
And the glowing sunset heals me within
Nature takes away society's facades
And gives what we need, untainted by greed
Making us children of the earth feel like gods

I haven't written a poem in so long.
I havent written my feelings in so long.
Work, sleep, eat... repeat.
Writing was my sanctuary, my safe haven.
The mystical world of words and feelings left me and i no longer had a reason to write.
I found my happiness.
But now, it is slowly, dimming away again.
am i even good at it?
I never thought i was.
I just needed relief... sweet SWEET release of the torment my soul was feeling.
But now, i feel the itch to write.
The need to feel,
The need to liberate myself.
No words can describe how amazing putting my emotions down in words feel.
How echanting ...

Say good-by to the old year;
Say hello to the new.
Let go of the past and try to recast
A new and exciting you.
Say good riddance to all of your worries;
Start out fresh and clean.
Strive to find peace of mind
In TWENTY SEVENTEEN.

The past year was a messy one
With floods in the Midwest.
Then the ruler of North Korea,
Who has to be possessed
And thumbs his nose at the world and is
Always involved in a tussle,
Exploded a hydrogen bomb, thus
Flexing his little muscle.
LGBT and voting rights
Were both under attack.
Horrible massacres occurred
In Pakistan and Iraq.
In Syria and Afghanistan
Massacres happened as well.
And Jerusalem and Saudi Arabia
Both had a taste of hell.

Record-breaking blizzards made
The East cold and wet.
Scaring the world, the Zika virus
Continued to be a threat.
The water in Flint, Michigan,
Was an ongoing crisis.
Ancient ruins in the Middle East
Were STILL being bombed by ISIS.
The Clinton e-mail "scandal" grew
To ridiculous proportions.
More and more states were killing
Women's rights to abortions.
President Erdogan in Turkey
Cracked down on the press.
In the South China Sea, China
Was causing a lot of distress.

Britain voted to leave the EU.
Obama went to Japan
And visited Hiroshima--
A long-overdue plan.
Russia hacked U.S. computers
And boasted of certain connections,
Making us wonder how much control
We have over elections.
Summer record-breaking heat
Baked many states,
While the media bombarded us
With presidential debates.
The Summer Olympics took place this year
In lovely Rio, but mercy!
It's always hard to pull that off
Without some controversy.

This year we lost some famous people--
Too many to list.
Bowie, Ali, Leonard Cohen
And others will be missed.
(By the way, if memories here
Tend to focus on bad things,
Just remember that life is full
Of both happy and sad things.)
The economy has made improvements;
Unemployment is down.
Some businesses, they say,
Are really going to town.
Many people want to know
How much Donald Trump earns;
The billionaire still refuses
To show us his tax returns!

Fires raged in California.
In Oklahoma the land
Shook from fracking quakes, which
Are getting out of hand.
Protesters demonstrated
Together at Standing Rock
The oil pipeline coming their way.
They gathered round the clock.
Hurricane Mathew slammed hard
Into our eastern coast.
But Glenn Beck's conversion was
What shocked us the most,
Next to the presidential election,
That is. What a surprise!
And to think the unthinkable happened
Right before our eyes!

But say good-by to the old year;
Say hello to the new.
Let go of the past and try to recast
A new and exciting you.
Say good riddance to all of your worries;
Start out fresh and clean.
Strive to find peace of mind
In TWENTY SEVENTEEN.

- by Bob B (12-28-16)