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  Jan 2016 Barnaby Harrison
Daisy Arcos
I saw you in my dreams last night
As your body laid there cold and quaking
The doctor robed in decrepit shadows
Whispered to me, “wishes do come true.”

Your hands were pale and fragile
Like a thousand crumpled paper cranes
A thousand torn up love letters
A thousand rewritten apologies

So I gently folded them into mine
Hoping to give them back their true form
Reshaping your joints to familiar angles
The ones my own hands knew best

I studied the rise and fall of your chest
Encumbered with each painful breath
Your body and soul danced with demise
To the sound of the monitor keeping time

Then a disembodied voice rattled my sanity
A forgotten melody that once haunted me
“I cheated death for far too long
to let you be the one that stops my heart’s beating”

I could not reply, lacking the proper answer
Overcome with remorse and eager to end the torment
I hurriedly traded heartbeats with you
And felt my pulse shudder and stammer

My new heart’s cadence slowed then ceased
Suddenly missing the rib caged rhythm
An epiphany of the words I desperately needed
Became perfect, cohesive, articulate, whole

But the room fell silent and my voice fell short
Only the sigh of my last breath lingered
And my unsung requiem remains
*L’esprit de l’escalier
Based on a reoccurring dream.
Barnaby Harrison Jan 2016
There was a day so long ago
A day now long forgot
Of fiery land that spat soot coloured rocks
Burning ash rained from the heavens
And people breathed in the stale, burning air
Never again did they breathe.
Perhaps they fled and cried in mercy
Or crouched in an accepting position, their face tightened.
Perhaps some escaped...but who would know?
This land now strewn with ash cast corpses
Lays dormant, forgotten and yet still preached of.

Of course it has to be Pompeii...
A little bit of free verse for you.
  Sep 2015 Barnaby Harrison
Yanamari
My heart, even though already dust,
Somehow continues to break...
And it hurts!
It ****** **** as heck hurts...
And tears seem to be flowing from my dried eyes,
As if my eyes were not dry at all.
The millions of pieces of my heart scrape at my innards,
Almost forcing me to scream,
But I make sure barely a whisper moves out of my lips.
Not because I'm afraid to, but rather I prefer to keep it to myself.
Because no person's there for me anymore...
Barnaby Harrison Sep 2015
I am the last duchess portrayed in colour and mortar
Flirtatious I was and thus the gardens rest now my being. My being
Rather mauled guarded still by an overhead warning to
The outer lands that surround this palace of corrupted souls. Souls that
Dance and feast upon nights such as now; Oblivious to
Reality and the threats that lie within rather than outside as I lay lost
And unheard to the outside world. Wonder I do if âTwas
The dainty hands of Fra Pandolf; Never a gentler soul
Though deceitful he may not seem he is more than the cover of manuscript
May show. Tis this same scroll though encrypted with ancient
Texts of lost love that tells trued stories of misconception in relation to
The floral talents of the master sculptor who, though
Faulted, has the innocent heart that only future beings will come to accept.
For Tis only this beating wonder though now so blackened
With the plague of dark deceit and dismal lies that embraces the heart of thee
And absorbs the greatest of woes. Try I did but shadowed
I was by the reputable artist that was master Pandolf who though so shy
Entered into the family name; his christened title inscribed
So deeply into the now dirt cast flag that before was written âbout by the greatest
Of laureates. These same laureates now bathe in the
Scandalous material so readily provided by a well seduced feminine figure
Who gave away money and a roof for the so seemed
Loving arms of inspiration. I ask now for the forgiveness of thy master:
The same titled being as that who scribed his
Shadow-cast name into my muscular ***** that now no longer pulsates in the
Same rhythmic tempo as the now lost lover
I used to so easily trust, under the false belief of a returned favour I was so
Quickly promised. Maybe Twas the sight
Of thee that provoked this audacious incident that now hangs over the same
Man that I became ignorant towards. Though
An arrogant human, tis him who I vowed my heart to; the same ***** that
Tis now eaten away by the feeders that have
Been placed inside this case I lie in. Many queries I have but say I cannot as
These dreaded feeders have taken away that
Same privilege that I once had. Why tis me that has to hold this great weighted
Burden? Why tis me that fell yet again
For the seductive methods of man? Answers will not be a given though as my pleas
Are not heard; I am the unknown backyard mistake
That has now destroyed the class a family such as my married one had worked
So hard to produce with intention to keep.
Tis this class that has now crashed to the same ground in which I writhe and though
Faulted, I want justice served upon that monster
Whose handsome looks created such a stir in my mental crevasse
I forgot the importance of appreciation:
And swapped all I had for the pleasures of pretentious love, whose creation has now
Caused the greatest of upsets not only for myself,
But for all that are joyed by the presence of the grand towers that overlook the city
In which I used to strut and sleep in:
The same city which is still plagued by the rodent that tis
Fra Pandolf.
Please read Robert Brownings 'My Last Duchess' for the context behind this poem.
Barnaby Harrison Sep 2015
My bruises are hidden and my mind is a mist

When I feel threatened out comes my fist

My home is a hell; my future so bleak

Cared for I'm not so attention I seek


The smells of this world are damp and so dark

My only palace is the swings in the park

Most avoid me and I wish he would too

I would like to speak out but would it seem true?


I listen for help; from the crack in my wall

But no-one comes; they know nothing at all

I oppress others as a release of my hate

I am alone and there is no escape


Everyone else has a hand to hold

This world is so dark, so sad and so cold

Why do I have to live with anger and strife?

I am a bully and this is my life...
Bullies can really be the softest of souls but because of their life they become the darkest of hearts.
Barnaby Harrison May 2015
Upon this rainy day
I stand on a boggy bed
Alone, untouched, unscathed
All to clear my head

For if I return I am hurt
And if I run I am without
This day of wet and murk
Is the best without a doubt

My thoughts are washed away
Onto this muddy plinth
I want to run and play
But I'm cursed, stuck and skint

And now I must return
And recall the deep, dark blue
I cannot help but burn
For I cannot escape from you
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