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Mar 2024 · 358
More Less
Peter Balkus Mar 2024
More you want,
less you get.
More you try to remember,
more you forget.

More you try to be happy,
more sad you feel.
Less time you have left,
more time you ****.

The wiser you are,
the less you know.
The more you desire,
the less you own.
I
Feb 2024 · 280
*** Boxes
Peter Balkus Feb 2024
They thought it was easy:
they tick the boxes
and we dissapear.
But it didn't work like this.
It never does.
They should have known it by now.

The problem is,
we aren't just boxes to tick.
If you **** your nightmares,
you will forfeit sweet dreams.

They hate everything what is different,
but on the surface
they are nice people,
who wouldn't hurt a fly.

Haven't we all got two personalities,
good and bad?
Heaven and Hell in one?
At time it makes us dizzy.

Some of us suddenly switch
way too easy.
Feb 2024 · 296
*** Absent
Peter Balkus Feb 2024
Cold is the morning
and I don't feel like going back
to this awful place.
Will anyone notice my absence there.

Poor kids, they built Heaven and Hell.
Now they are running away
to the safety.
Feb 2024 · 135
Prodigal Father
Peter Balkus Feb 2024
Last sip of water before I will go back
where I came from.

Please tell my daughters that I'll buy them flowers
when I come home.

No, I can't stay, take the gold, take my body
- I won't need it anymore.

I had made my decision, long time before I made it.

I'm not thirsty at all.
Feb 2024 · 260
Mrs. Death
Peter Balkus Feb 2024
She lives next door,
she never talks.
She never cooks.
She never has visitors.

She never comes out,
I only saw her once or twice,
not even sure if it was her.
Maybe she is hiding.
Maybe there is something I don't know.

She doesn't go to work,
I doubt she has a job.
How does she pay her rent?!
Or maybe there is something
I don't need to know.

She doesn't make any noise,
she never gets on anyone's nerves,
no one ever complains about her.
And still she makes everyone around
move out.

Or maybe there is something
I don't want to know.
Feb 2024 · 224
*** Too Late
Peter Balkus Feb 2024
Love doesn't exist,
until it comes.
Then is too late
to take anything back.

Too late
to leave the home
and hide
under the stone.
Feb 2024 · 140
*** Old
Peter Balkus Feb 2024
Waist band
shaping the waste land.
Wait, time!
Feb 2024 · 684
*** Dead Friend
Peter Balkus Feb 2024
I asked my dead friend:
'Have you been to Heaven?'
Of course! - he exclaimed!
Many times. And you? 'Never...'

'How was it?' Nothing special 
 - he was quick to admit.
Overpriced, tourists trap.
I prefer it here, where I live.
  

I asked: 'Are you serious?!'
He replied: Yes, my friend.

Then we went for a coffee.
It was a beautiful day.
Feb 2024 · 554
*** God's Advocate
Peter Balkus Feb 2024
Maybe it wasn't him,
who was making decisions,
maybe he was just filling the orders
of his supervisors.
What if there was bigger God above him?

Maybe he didn't know about anything,
nobody briefed him
on what was going on down here.

Wha if he is innocent
and can't take the responsibility
for injustice and pain?

What if he never had the right
to an advocate?
Feb 2024 · 372
*** The Motto
Peter Balkus Feb 2024
The motto
of one of the Inquisitors of The Church was:

"We would gladly burn a hundred,
if just one of them is guilty
".

Sounds familiar?
Feb 2024 · 619
Them & Me
Peter Balkus Feb 2024
They have children,
they have homes,
they have money,
they have jobs,
they have good cars,
and many more things they want to have.

I have paper and pen,
I have my poems,
that's enough.
Feb 2024 · 1.3k
*** Smile
Peter Balkus Feb 2024
Smile to yourself,
don't smile to others,
apart from children,
smile to them,
for they will appreciate it
and understand.
But don't smile to their mothers and fathers.
They will think you are weird.

Don't smile to strangers,
they will ignore you,
or will take it as your weakness
and will dare to approach you
and ask for money or a cigarette.

Smile to yourself,
to the face in the mirror,
you will feel safe,
you will feel like a winner!
Feb 2024 · 349
*** Pompeian Sky
Peter Balkus Feb 2024
Every death is unexpected,
takes us always by surprise.
Darkness always falls so heavy
from the red Pompeian skies.
Never ready for her visit,
she will come to take your life.

Even if the holy fire
comes to wash your sins at night,
it will wake you up and frighten,
it will make you run for life.
Suddenly, without a warning,
all your dreams and hopes will die.

Young or old - it doesn't matter,
man or woman, noble, slave,
saints and sinners, bankers, poets
will end up in the same grave.
Our bones won't be discovered,
unless by an accident.

Everyone has the volcano,
sitting over their town.
One day it'll unleash inferno,
even when it's quiet now.
It will follow you, if happens
you decide to leave, move out.

Every death is unexpected,
takes us always by surprise.
Even if you say I'm ready,
you will run and try to hide.
But there will be no escape
from the red Pompeian sky.
Peter Balkus Feb 2024
I am in love with the country,
which doesn't exist anymore.
I am in love with its people,
for they have renounced the war.

I am in love with their women,
for in their modesty their beauty lies.
I am in love with their language,
for the alphabet of death never dies.

I am in love with the nation,
who didn’t **** in order to survive.
I remember that day very well.
It was love at last sight.
Feb 2024 · 441
Empire Within
Peter Balkus Feb 2024
Empires: they rise, then they fall,
nothing can't change their fate.
Even the Ancient Rome
ended in a pitiful grave.

Fools want to rule the world,
claiming the foreign lands,
but waves of time will destroy
the castles they build on sand.

And us - we can save ourselves
from architects of demise
and never give up - never fail,
but in spite of them - always rise!

And no one will take our home,
and no one will make us slaves,
for Freedom is in our souls,
and runs in our blood, our veins.

Let's build the Empire within,
the strongest country of all.
The island no tyrant will take,
no enemy will reach its shores.

No matter how much I have lost,
my head high I'll always hold.
For everything I need to be free
is here - in my heart, in my soul.
Feb 2024 · 231
*** Freshly Dead
Peter Balkus Feb 2024
Oh please stop swearing,
here is the coin,
put it under the tongue.
It should calm you down.

You were so quiet all your life,
and suddenly this.  

I know,
it must be hard -
missing the world,
the wound is still fresh.

But what about others?
Will you not let them to get some sleep
before the dawn?
Jan 2024 · 179
*** Words
Peter Balkus Jan 2024
You agree with me, saying
that I have taken them out of your mouth.
Yes, correct,
like literally.

I dared.

I'm not scared of the rain
and storms.
Yes, I am guilty of being a dreamer,
so what?
Jan 2024 · 123
Coin
Peter Balkus Jan 2024
Oh, stop swearing, please, here is your coin,
put it under your tongue,
it should soothe you.
You were so quiet and tranquil for your all life,
what happened to you?
Sudden anger, frustration, rage.

I know, it must be hard for you to say goodbye
to the things you adored and worshipped.
But there are others, what about them?
Will you let them to get a bit of sleep,
before the dawn comes?
Jan 2024 · 116
*** I Was Travelling
Peter Balkus Jan 2024
I was travelling
in part by the river,
in part by the sea.
Jan 2024 · 69
Soul
Peter Balkus Jan 2024
The body, a sumptous villain, has parted me,
or perhaps it was me who has detached.
I don't know. I have no taste of good and bad anymore.

But it doesn't matter. It has happened,
we are not the same. We never were.
We have been keeping together only out of fear.

The most important thing is
that I have made my decision: I will stay strong.
It will be hard to go through it all alone. I know.
But the light has to be sheltered
from the slightest gust of air.
Nothing else matters.
Oct 2023 · 403
Poet
Peter Balkus Oct 2023
Just him
and his pen
against the whole
world.

He'll lose many
battles,
but he'll win

the war.
Dec 2020 · 173
Knight
Peter Balkus Dec 2020
They dragged my naked body all over the town,
in front of the manically  joyful crowd
of clapping morons.

But none of them has made me the horseman,
none of them has made me the knight -
none of them has given me the name
and the freedom.

So I didn’t feel any pain, any shame.
Peter Balkus Oct 2020
I can't tell my heart what to do,
it won't listen to me. It will do the opposite.
it will make me look like a fool.

Since the first time I met you, I knew
that we can't be just friends.
But my heart wasn't sad.

And I said to my heart: You are cruel!
and it smiled at me, it smiled at you.
And I looked so helpless that night,
and you looked so beautiful.

My heart knows best, it knows that I love you.
And it knows that I know that it knows.
Brain? Oh, brain. Brain has no say at all.
Oct 2020 · 105
Autumn Leaves
Peter Balkus Oct 2020
Autumn leaves
scattered under my feet
like funeral flowers.
Oct 2020 · 34
Dead Man
Peter Balkus Oct 2020
Dead man keeps following me
and asking for a spare life.
I wish I had one for myself.
That would be lot of fun.

Dead man keeps following me
and asking for a spare life.
He looks a bit disappointed,
he knows he stalks the wrong guy.
Support my poetry if you can: paypal.me/pbalkus --- Thanks
Sep 2020 · 150
Happiness Is Easy
Peter Balkus Sep 2020
I overheard this whisper,
this gentle, peaceful chat:
Look, happiness is easy,
it's them, who make it hard
.
Sep 2020 · 65
I'm A Poet
Peter Balkus Sep 2020
I'm a poet,
I have nothing
except words.

I'm a poet,
I don't care about
the world.

Take your money,
take your cars
take your pearls.

I'm a poet,
I don't care about
the world.

Well, yeah, sometimes
I wish I was
someone else.

But I'm a poet,
poets can't escape
their Fate.
Sponsor this poem: paypal.me/pbalkus
Sep 2020 · 11
Tyrants
Peter Balkus Sep 2020
The architects
of their own
demise.
Sep 2020 · 64
Full Time Poets
Peter Balkus Sep 2020
Full time poets
don't exist.
In this world
at least.

There is plenty of them
on the other side.
It’s only for us
it seems that they have died.
Sep 2020 · 147
Autumn #1
Peter Balkus Sep 2020
Yellow leaves
falling
from the trees.

The quiet river
isn't calling my name -
it's calling me.
Sep 2020 · 32
Death
Peter Balkus Sep 2020
Death
is trying to be fair
at least.
Aug 2020 · 114
Flowers Can Speak
Peter Balkus Aug 2020
Flowers can speak
and beautiful is their language,
their voice.
You can hear them whispering
when silence falls.

But when they wither and die,
they scream
like mothers of children,
taken away from them
to be killed.
Aug 2020 · 108
When You're A Poet
Peter Balkus Aug 2020
When you're a poet,
every Hello is a Goodbye.

When you are a poet,
every day is the last day
of your life.
Aug 2020 · 56
My Coffee
Peter Balkus Aug 2020
My coffee
is never sweet enough.
Even if I put five sugars,
it still tastes awfully.

I once tried ten,
and it didn't work.
I wonder why.

My coffee
is never sweet enough.
I guess that's what happens
when you're fed up with life.
Aug 2020 · 182
Poets Remember
Peter Balkus Aug 2020
Poets remember
snows in July
and unbearable heatwaves in December.
Jul 2020 · 89
I'll Still Love Her
Peter Balkus Jul 2020
If rain never comes,
I'll still love her.

If dream ends too fast,
I'll still love her.

If stars fall from the sky
sky above her.

If Love sadly dies,
I'll still love her.
Jul 2020 · 60
Angels And Demons
Peter Balkus Jul 2020
Angels  and demons
share flats - and beds.

Angels and demons
are the best
- friends.

We try to change it
and make them fight.
We hate the darkness,
we want the light.

They live in peace
they know themselves well.

We are at war
but with ourselves.
Mar 2020 · 84
To Silence
Peter Balkus Mar 2020
Oh Silence, where are you?
Will I ever hear you again?
I've been looking for you everywhere
- in vain.

I have been to many churches
and quite a few graveyards too,
but you weren't there anymore.
Where are you?

One day you will come to see me
and you'll  lay your hand on my head.
And I won't have to be jealous again
of people, who became deaf.
Peter Balkus Mar 2020
Oh, don't abandon me, Athene,
for you are the only one
I care about.

If you forget me, Athene,
there will be nothing I can live for
and I will die.

Oh, please don't leave me, Athene, alone,
at the mercy of pigs  in the mud.
I will be dead lost without you,
and nothing will make me alive.
Aug 2019 · 472
Nothing But Darkness
Peter Balkus Aug 2019
There is nothing but darkness
on the other side.
Black night, like an ocean,
with black moon,
like dead man´s smile.

Nothing but darkness
at the end of the tunnel
of life.

The flickering flame
of darkness.

Some of us call it light.
Aug 2019 · 12
St Peter
Peter Balkus Aug 2019
When they closed down Heaven,
St Peter lost his job,
you would see him in the queue to Job Center,
you would see him drinking alone.

He was angry with the decision:
- They shut Heaven, why they don't shut Hell?!
Maybe they have work for me down there,
maybe I should go and check
.

When he knocked to the Satan's door,
they opened and a man dressed in black
said: My Lord is busy at the moment,
please come back later, or don't come back.


He came back few ours later, knocked again,
and the same strange man opened the gate:
My Lord is still busy, I'm afraid,
can you please come back tomorrow?

-Okay.

So he came back the next day, the door opened
and the same guy appeared before his eyes,
he said: Ah, it's you again, - Well, yes,
you said to come another time.


He said: I want to speak to Satan,
as I'm desperately looking for a job.

He didn't tell him who he was,
but they knew him well in the Kingdom of Gore.

Please, come later - the man said and left,
but St Peter has had enough.
- Oh don't worry you *******,
I'm fed up, I'm not coming back.


When they closed down Heaven,
St Peter lost his job,
you would see him in the queue to Job Center,
you would see him drinking alone.

Peter went off the rails, became an outlaw,
and no one called him Saint anymore,
he hit the bottom, he was a pure evil
killing men for cash and for gold.

And one day he said to himself:
I will try the Hell one more time,
maybe now they will let me in,
when I lost my all inner light.


So he went to meet Holy Satan
one more time and vowed - one last time.
Knocked the door and the same man appeared,
said: Come in, you are welcome now.
Aug 2019 · 2.1k
My Shadow
Peter Balkus Aug 2019
My shadow
it wants to be me,
it's jealous,
can't walk and can't sleep.

It thinks
that I'm living a dream -
it would do anything
to be me!

Be careful
what you wish for
- I keep telling him.

And he is surprised,
he doesn't understand.

One day
we will swap fates anyway.
Aug 2019 · 719
The Gallery
Peter Balkus Aug 2019
The gallery is closing soon,
hurry up,
don't say you will come
another time.

I bet you want to see "Sunflowers".
You say you can wait.

You can? Okay, but
what if they can't?
Written after my visit to The National Gallery in London.
Mar 2019 · 582
Sleeping With Ghosts
Peter Balkus Mar 2019
They hold me tight,
they kiss my lips,
my eyes.

When it's time to wake up
they say: "Don't worry,
stay in bed.
Keep dreaming,
keep dreaming,
don't let anyone wake you up."
Inspired by song  Sleeping With Ghosts by Placebo
Mar 2019 · 482
Mother Earth
Peter Balkus Mar 2019
The body I temporarily own,
I cherish and I adore -
it'll be taken from me,
I will become
free.

The eternity I crave,
my nothingness I try to escape -
she will offer the shelter for them.

To the mystery of life
she will find the clue,
and the child who will die in me,
in her belly will move.
May 2018 · 248
Ask Angels
Peter Balkus May 2018
If you want to learn
the art of flying,
ask angels, they are experts after all,
for people,
though they fly sometimes,
can only teach you how to fall.
Apr 2018 · 800
Rachmaninov
Peter Balkus Apr 2018

Radio
was playing Piano Concerto
by Sergei Rachmaninov,
and I felt like passion and love
were filling my heart.

My heart is like a dove.
And I'm off,
I'm off to Paradise.

And it can rain
and it can snow,
and Fate
can tumble the dice.
Nothing can stop me now,
on my way
on my way to Paradise.
(Inspired by Piano Concerto No.2 in C minor Opus 18 by Sergei Rachmaninov, played on Classic FM)
Apr 2018 · 557
Labourer
Peter Balkus Apr 2018
He is a labourer.
He fills the skip,
he sweeps and cleans the studio,
he moves the boxes,
he wraps and packs,
he loads and unloads truck.
Nothing annoys him,
nothing ****** him off,
with a big smile on his face
he does his job.

He is a great labourer,
a happy chap.
Mar 2018 · 3.4k
Naive
Peter Balkus Mar 2018
I'm sitting in my room,
writing,
believing that I can change the world,
knowing that I can't,

I'm sitting here, alone,
I'm thinking of those who are suffering,
those who've lost everything,
those, who will never feel like home.

I'm sad,
feeling like crying,
wishing to save the world,
knowing well that I won't,

but something tells me
to keep on trying.
Mar 2018 · 810
They've Sold Us Bullshit
Peter Balkus Mar 2018
They've sold us ******* at a reduced price,
it was so cheap and hard not to buy.
Like a scrappy burger from a fastfood shop,
cheapest burger in town, you just can't say no.

They've sold us ******* about democracy,
bright future, freedom and prosperity.
About the new chapter in our poor lives.
They've sold us 'good news' - the big pile of lies.

They said "Just wait and you will see
what a great country we all live in".
When the voting time came, they beg "Vote for us!",
then they turned Parliament into a comedy club.

Now we are standing on the bus station
waiting for a bus, which is on diversion.
They apologise for the inconvenience,
promising that it will come, it's just been delayed.

But the bus is not coming, we keep freezing on,
knowing too well by now, that it'll never come.
"Can you, by any chance, get a replacement bus?!"
They can't, 'cause nobody longer cares about us.

They've sold us ******* at a reduced price,
it was so cheap and hard not to buy.
Like a scrappy burger from a fastfood shop,
cheapest burger in town, you just can't say no.
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