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I broke down and wept yesterday,
at the sight of my grandparents grave.
Clutched dead grass in my trembling hands,
ripped it from the haunted lands.

Every year, it comes and goes,
the days I hoped would never come.
They say it gets easier with time,
though each year, it's another mountain to climb.

But sometimes,
you realize,
it can't get much worse.

Sometimes,
you realize,
it doesn't always hurt.

I leave just like I always do,
struggling to bid them both adieu.
Rolling through the ghostly fields,
I wonder if it's all even real.

Another punch right in the gut,
leaves me fighting to get out of this rut.
Much like every day of my life,
filled with so much anger and strife.

But sometimes,
you realize,
it can't get much worse.

Sometimes,
you realize,
it doesn't always hurt.

And sometimes,
you realize,
it can't get anymore dead in a graveyard,
no matter how many black clouds roll by.
It can't get anymore dead in a graveyard,
no matter how many showers pour down.

It can't get anymore dead in a graveyard.

It can't get anymore dead in a graveyard.

It can't get anymore dead in a graveyard,
no matter how many people die.
Copyright Barry Pietrantonio
O joyous world
for which I weep,
what splendid treats
you share with me.

For I've seen your
beauty in green mountain side,
or in soft blue skies as far as
my eyes reach.

I've been entranced by mirrored lakes
and natural silence.

I weep for the people
who will not see,
the elegance carved before me.

I weep for the world
encased in sin,
a concrete evil that shackles our will.
Copyright Barry Pietrantonio
“I dont know”
was my response
when you asked me if
I still love you

the world stopped
for the both of us
as I wondered on the thought
of me, being selfish
or being true
and yours upon the
realization that
maybe, just maybe
my love for you
is fleeting

neither of us was speaking
and the silence echoed
through the depths of my head
and you uttered
‘oh’

that moment, I knew
that you gave up
on me, and my inner
indecisiveness

I crumbled upon
the guilt of telling you
those words, so instead
I let my tongue do
the talking and said
'maybe'

cause it was never hard to say

but it is always hard to face

the reality of being responsible
to someone

as if I have to breathe
through somebody’s pair of lungs
and scratch the loneliness
with someone else’s fingers

we parted
I changed numbers

cause I had to stay afloat
on the clouds of solitude
free from attachments.
Where were you in Montréal,
when the heavens sang a disjointed chord,
a harmony both rich and poor,
where were you in Montréal?

Where were you in Montréal,
when we took a drag outside the bar,
and learned there's more to who we are,
where were you in Montréal?

Where were you in Montréal,
when the cobblestone path led us home,
despite our hearts begging to roam,
where were you in Montréal?

Where were you in Montréal,
when the sun rose like gentle tide,
like a warm blanket on a cold night,
where were you in Montréal?

Where were you in Montréal,
when we branded warm memories,
inside the souls of you and me,
where were you in Montréal?
Copyright Barry Pietrantonio
I thought I'd take a walk today,
down the road,
around the block.
Detach myself,
go where I feel,
not where I think.

I found myself under dimly lit street lamps,
questioning the lamps ferocity.
Man strives for evolution,
and around me it stands,
a testament to our ferocity,
our everlasting battle to be better.
Yet it feels so limp,
a dim light like a wisp of wind.
Not a raging fire,
a lions roar.

How great are we really?
Are the edifice of our time a testament to our eminence?

I stare into the window of a home.
On the television,
damnation.
A preacher and a parishioner,
absorbing the rhetoric.

One might think nothing of it,
but everything has a motive.

As I round the bend,
I think to myself an old idiom,
"the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak".
Our evolution is stalled under the impression that these edifice represent progress.
Alas, our minds remain stale.
Thousands of years of blood,
greed and deceit,
rest under dimly lit street lamps,
unseen and ignored.
Copyright Barry Andrew Pietrantonio
Sun perched in the trees,
why do you stare at me?
I’ve not sinned!
Sun perched in the trees,
why can’t you leave me be?
Rest already so I can breathe,
I’m barely standing,
on my knees.
Your piercing gaze,
jets through me.
You ******* sun,
let the night take thee.
A stain in the sky,
blistering high,
perched in the trees,
let me be!
I’ll trade you for anything,
even disease,
just bury yourself deep,
into stone and granite.
Settle behind cloudy seas,
burrow into hillsides if need be,
just avert your gaze,
sun perched in the trees.
Copyright Barry Pietrantonio
Seasons come and gone,
grey ice fights the waves.
Sun stretches its arms,
its reach not far away.

Warm air pockets come,
cold air fights to maintain.
A steel grip on my soul,
but it slips away.

Sitting on stony earth,
the most comfortable I’ve been it weeks.

Hard ice gives away,
to soft embracing mud.
Wind whispers warm secrets,
of sweet summer love.

Holding out for hope,
the brighter future fades,
taken by the sound,
of an invasive plane.
Copyright Barry Pietrantonio
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