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Malcolm Mar 12
Don’t we ever grow weary of this act,
This endless caring, this fragile art?
Caring how we feel, our hearts laid bare,
Caring how others feel, their burdens to share.
Yet seldom do we pause, seldom do we see,
That we don’t feel like them, nor they like we.

It seem loadsome and heavy this thing, to carry the we,
To make their troubles ours, their joy an act
Of mutual faith, though rarely do we see
An arm extended back, a mirrored art.
It tires the soul, this caring we share,
This weight we bear, our hearts threadbare.

why should we care anyways when hearts are bare and obsecured to be observed,
When the world is fractured more than the, not “we”?
Why should we extend when few choose to share,
When kindness is an act too rare to enact?
It seems a wiser step and much easier to master the art
Of apathy, to let the silence of care be as shadows gentle fall.

But this silence chills where warmth could be,
And empty hands find no measure in solace bare.
So we persist, weaving the frayed art,
Stitching the threads of "I" and "we."
Though tired, we play this timeless act,
For hope demands that we still share.

Yet hope alone cannot teach how to share,
Cannot fill the void where care should be.
Each gesture must be chosen, not just an act,
Each offering made from the soul laid bare.
Though broken, we rebuild the "we,"
A woven thread of hearts, our flawed art.

Perhaps it is this: the beauty of art,
The fragile beauty of daring to share,
That binds us, imperfectly, into a "we."
Though the effort aches, though joy may flee,
The soul is fuller when no heart is bare,
And life is richer when care is not an act.

So we care, not an act, but an art,
Barriers laid bare, and hearts we share.
Though tired, we be... we still choose to be "we."
Copyright Malcolm Gladwin
December 2024
The Weight of Care
Malcolm Mar 12
A bird flew by and dropped a seed,  
It landed softly on fertile soil.  
With time, it grew, deep roots to hold,  
But the flower dreamed of fields afar,  
Longing to leave and reach the sky,  
Unbound, untethered, and free to roam.  

"Why must I stay when I wish to roam?"  
It asked as life stirred within the seed.  
The wind would whisper of the wide, free sky,  
Yet something held it fast to the soil.  
It yearned for adventures distant and far,  
But the earth, unyielding, kept its hold.  

The flower grew, but resented the hold,  
For its restless spirit was born to roam.  
It gazed at clouds that traveled far,  
And dreamed of the life beyond a seed.  
But all it had was the binding soil,  
Its roots too deep to touch the sky.  

"Help me!" it cried to the vast blue sky,  
"Loosen these roots and free their hold!"  
But no reply came from the watchful soil,  
Nor from the clouds that drift and roam.  
Even the rain ignored the seed,  
Its drops sinking deep, yet never far.  

The flower watched the birds fly far,  
Their wings alight beneath the sky.  
It envied creatures sprung from seed,  
Unfettered by the earth’s firm hold.  
Ants and bees would come and roam,  
Yet always it stayed within the soil.  

Seasons turned and nourished soil,  
While winds would carry whispers far.  
The flower, though fixed, began to roam
Not through the fields, but in the sky.  
Its radiant beauty took its hold,  
A miracle sprung from a simple seed.  

Bound by soil yet free in sky,  
The flower found that the deepest hold  
Was not in roots, but in dreams that roam.
Copyright Malcolm Gladwin
December 2024
The Longing Flower ...
Sestina Poetry
Malcolm Mar 12
Beneath the argent spires of a moonlit glade,
Where ebon vines in arabesques cascade,
Whispers of zephyrs in perfumed wane,
Entwine the symphony of night’s domain.

Opalescent pools,
veiled in stygian gleam,
Hold captive stars adrift in a liquid dream.
Celestial murmurs wend through gossamer trees,
Ethereal hymns adrift on astral seas.

A wraithlike orchid unfurls its argent crown,
Breathing nocturnal fire where shadows drown.
Copyright Malcolm Gladwin
January 2025
Starlit Whispers
Malcolm Mar 12
These barren cries whisper plains,
Despair. This silence, artic, yet brightens refrain.
Hushed dreams glisten; they surge, then blooming,
Horizons where shadows dance, fading into softly.

Despair. This silence, artic, yet brightens refrain,
Grainy laughter spins through sands of grains.
Horizons where shadows dance, fading into softly,
Seamless yet prickled, tender echoes still seas.

Grainy laughter spins through sands of grains,
Turquoise dawns flood sepia skies.
Seamless yet prickled, tender echoes still seas,
Worn edges of hope, a kaleidoscope's fleeting horizons.

Turquoise dawns flood sepia skies,
Dreams dissolve, shimmering fragments yet night.
Worn edges of hope, a kaleidoscope's fleeting horizons,
Shards illumine faith; prophetic whispers.

Dreams dissolve, shimmering fragments yet night,
Hushed dreams glisten; they surge, then blooming.
Shards illumine faith; prophetic whispers,
These barren cries whisper plains.
Copyright Malcolm Gladwin
January 2025
Forgotten World
Malcolm Mar 12
Crying into the ocean, I lose my way,
To add to the sea, where sorrow will stay.
To see the reflection of me dissolve,
I cry as the waves around me revolve.
To see, then fall, and splash into the tide,
Where tears and the water forever collide.

I cried into a river, where currents collide,
To see my tear just washed away.
On the bank, I did stand by the rushing tide,
My tears fell to the land, destined to stay.
The river consumed all I could resolve,
My cries to its waters did slowly dissolve.

I cried in a puddle, where grief could dissolve,
But the rain swallowed it up in its collide.
To feel pain drain up, my soul would revolve,
Yet time’s quiet march took the tears away.
As the sun dried it up, I begged time to stay,
But even my cries were swept by the tide.

Crying into the ocean, the endless tide
Returned my tears, which refused to dissolve.
The sea would not let my anguish stay;
Its waves rushed forward in a rhythmic collide.
To see, then fall, and splash, was swept away,
My sorrow’s reflection began to revolve.

I cried into a river, my thoughts revolve,
Searching the depths of its rushing tide.
On the bank, I did stand, to see pain away,
But the waters whispered, "Your tears dissolve."
To add to the sea, I let my soul collide,
Though a part of me begged for my tears to stay.

I cried in a puddle, where the rain would stay,
But the sun’s golden warmth made grief revolve.
Time spoke in the silence of drops that collide,
Reminding me gently of the eternal tide.
My tears, like the puddle, would one day dissolve,
Swept into rivers and oceans, carried away.

The tide will stay, though my tears fade away,
And I will dissolve, as my thoughts revolve,
Crying into the ocean, where all things collide.
Copyright Malcolm Gladwin
January 2025
Tears - written as villenella
Malcolm Mar 12
Fair is foul, and foul is fair,
A dagger gleams before my eye,
The serpent coils beneath the flower's care.

The witches chant their eldritch prayer,
The cauldron bubbles, vapors rise
Fair is foul, and foul is fair.

"Out, brief candle!" Life laid bare,
A shadow struts, its hour nigh,
The serpent coils beneath the flower's care.

The stars retreat, their fires rare,
Desires burn where secrets lie
Fair is foul, and foul is fair.

In thunder, lightning, poisoned air,
Ambition bids the world comply,
The serpent coils beneath the flower's care.

By pricking thumbs, I sense despair,
As fate decrees that kings must die
Fair is foul, and foul is fair,
The serpent coils beneath the flower's care.
Copyright Malcolm Gladwin
January 2025
Serpent Coil written as a Villenella
Malcolm Mar 12
Hope, the final shard of the box, remained,
Not a blessing, but a quiet tether,
Binding the will, a silken chain unseen,
Whispering promises through hollow winds,
The evils now roam free, clawing the earth,
And still, they hold to what was left inside.

Inside, they hold to what was left,
The earth clawing free evils now roam,
Through hollow winds, whispering promises,
A silken chain unseen, binding the will,
Not a blessing, but a quiet tether—
Hope, the final shard of the box, remained.

The box of Hope, remained shard-like,
An anchor tied to despair’s subtle breath.
Action waits, lulled in its hypnotic hum,
Hands falter, waiting on stars to align.
The cycle repeats, unbroken, a spell cast,
Inside and out, the box is never empty.

Empty is never the box; out and inside,
A spell cast unbroken repeats the cycle.
Align stars to waiting hands falter, hum,
Hypnotic in its waits; action breathes subtle,
To despair tied, an anchor of Hope.
Shard-like, remained, the box of the final.

The final breath of Pandora’s folly,
Hope weaves its lie into mortal veins,
“Better will come,” it whispers so sweet,
Yet better never comes, just the waiting.
Palindromic is its promise, circling
Forever, always, back to the same song.

Song the same to back, always, forever.
Circling promise its palindromic waiting,
The just comes never better; sweet whispers,
It will better, "Come," so mortal veins lie.
Into its weave Hope folly Pandora breathes,
The final shard, the box of evils remains.

Hope remains—the illusion unchanged,
Its promise a mirror of stillness.
Copyright Malcolm Gladwin
January 2025
The Last Evil

Written as a Paladrone
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