How I wish to embrace each day
Meet the Morn with a song in my heart
Instead depression pulls me into the dull and grey

Despair rises up, much to my dismay
Clouding my judgment and tearing me apart
How I wish to embrace each day

A new day dawns, but still with feet of clay
I succumb to the darkness, wishing it would depart
As depression pulls me into the dull and grey

I awake with good intentions that go astray
It’s a constant struggle that I don’t wish to be a part of
How I wish to embrace each day

Out of the quagmire I make my way
Towards the light, thinking it’s a new start
Instead depression pulls me into the dull and grey

How wondrous it must be to find one’s way
Rising above the despair and make a new start
How I wish to embrace each day
Instead depression pulls me into the dull and grey  

Kelly Rose
December 8, 2015

Strange
How little changes
Can bring about
A great divide

Once
Our humor was in sync
Now
Sometimes
I don't recognize you at all

I know we grow
and change
But...
I never thought
I would find
Your humor so repulsive

Funny
Queer even
How little changes
Can bring about
A great divide

As I ponder
This chasm
That has opened
Between us
I feel my heart
cracking
Well, maybe just a little

Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things things are not what they seem.

Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us farther than to-day.

Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.

In the world's broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
Be a hero in the strife!

Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act, - act in the living Present!
Heart within, and God o'erhead!

Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time; -

Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o'er life's solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us, then be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.


My favorite poem

A Rough Patch

Only I can live my life
Accept my flaws and damaged soul
Childhood left wounds like a knife
Leaving its mark, taking its toll
Wounds fester when left unattended
Making room for woe’s despair
Longing for my soul to mend
And my broken heart repaired
All wounds do not heal with time
Making it hard to let love in
Life has no reason, nor rhyme
Hope comes and goes on a whim
Doubts and inertia often plague me
And I wonder if I’ll ever love me

Kelly Rose
October 3, 2015

Poetry comes from the heart and soul
At times it is revealing
Laying bare inner most secrets
Others, it is concealing
Misleading the reader
To the truth of what is deep within
Poetry
It is truth
It is deceit
A mystery
Or just plain spoken
Poetry
Is whatever you want it to be
A song you hope captures the moment

Kelly Rose
© September 16, 2017

Self-pity has taken hold
And self-hatred eats at
The heart and soul

Kelly Rose
© July 14, 2017

Words
So many words and languages
Often confuses more than clarifies
I pull words from deep within
And am left
        Inadequate
        Voiceless
        Wordless
Sil­ence reigns
Meaning is lost
As words pour forth
        Then,
In an instant
A moment is perfectly captured
And I feel I finally know myself
       Then,
Silence reigns
Meaning is lost
As words pour forth
          And I am lost

Kelly Rose
October 6, 2015

I don’t need sugar or vinegar to
Entice you to drink my cup of poison
I am a savior, a black widow, who
Lures you to my dark web, disguised as the sun
I am a chameleon who changes
To satisfy every need, until you
Can’t live without me, no matter how strange
You’re my new toy.  I will give you no clue
To the pain I will inflict with pleasure
Not only will you love my deadly poison
You will crave its taste as if it’s treasure
Yes, your pain pleases me beyond reason
So, come and ******* darkness, it will be
Beyond imagination. You will see!

Kelly Rose
© March 23, 2018

Time drifts
Moments just pass by
How I long
To grasp time
Bringing it to a standstill
As I struggle
With dreams
At a crossroad
Autumn’s chill
Holds me back
As dreams are
A young one’s game
Opportunities have
Gone away
Dare I pursue
The unexpected paths
That have opened before me
Even if time is
Elusive
Extinguishing
Faster than I’d like
Afraid of making
The wrong choice
Feeling life
Slip through my fingers
As I linger
Feeling
A bit dazed and confused
As the future
Becomes the present
Time drifts
As I stand still
Lost

Kelly Rose
© December 23, 2016

Sitting in the park one day
Watching my thoughts cast adrift
I was graced with a strange view
Ghosts of the keepers of history
Revealed themselves to me
I heard the distant cry
Of the Ravens’ caw
Desperately seeking to
Impart their wisdom.
If only one would see
They’d know the
Lessons of his story

Kelly Rose
© February 1, 2017

Tears of life:

Tears, are they ever idle?
Like departed children on a playground lot
Still, I don't always know what they mean
In-between the light of day and night
Tears, sometimes they haunt me
Taunt me
Sneer me into vague submission
Silently, silently
They come and go
Like ocean waves
On a vagabond beach of submission
Always hidden like a pearl inside an oysters Shell
And into the core
Of life..

(c) January 25, 2017
Collaboratin with Ken Riccio Poems

Little dreams
Tiny wants
And simple pleasures
Often get me through
The dark days of life

Life’s journey is made
Up of so many steps
And I dance through the day
When life is drenched with
Possibilities

But, it is
That soothing cup of Earl Grey
That feeling of clean
Or the desire to learn something new
Those little pleasures, wants, and dreams
That restart my engine
When it stalls
And I’m caught in the pouring rain

It is those little things
That allow me to
See beyond “lost gods and howling dogs”
To brighter climes
With endless skies
Of hopes and dreams
Realized

Kelly Rose
© July 27, 2017
“lost gods and howling dogs” from Phil Roberts’ ‘In My Mind’

Raised with violence and harsh spoken words
She embraced fairytales, roses, and romance
Always seeking the different and absurd
It’s better than performing a cruel dance

Fantasy led her down the path of pain
Where self-hate and ignorance reigned supreme
Unable to cope, she felt quite insane
But that’s what comes from living in a dream

Tired of the dark, she sought a new path
Self-reflection led her to face her fears
And slowly her inner pain and deep wrath
Left, leaving room for hope’s light to appear

Still, she embraces roses and romance
It’s better than performing a cruel dance

Kelly Rose
© February 7, 2017

I yearn for your touch
To be held tightly
Within your grasp
So I may stroke
The blank page before us
As my ink expresses
Your thoughts
and splatters your emotions
Across blank's page
Please hear my cries
And clasp me in your hand
Oh, just image
The magic we create
If only....
How I yearn for your touch
Defeat your writer's block
and see me yearning for
Your touch

I crave for that dance,
You, sweetly entwined betwixt my fingers,
Filled with the ink of enchantment,
The delicate nib are your lips,
Adorning your sublime silhouette,
Let me move you in cursive swirls,
sprinkling all the letters,
Forming a beauteous verse of love,
Dancing upon the stage of paper,
How wondrous is the fact,
That you fathom my inner being,
And splash it upon the sheets,
Like pearls from a sentiments' string,
Help me rise again,
From all the worldly pain,
I lovingly desire,
Your touch......

Collaboration with Shilpa Sandesh
(c) January 31, 2017
Kelly Rose
Shilpa Sandesh

Down,
Down,
Down,
The rabbit hole she goes.

Inner demons and sorrows
Lurk and fester
An open wound
On one’s soul
So deeply hidden
So dark in nature
They remain submerged
Invisible
But for the incessant taboo beat
That chokes the air she breathes
The only relief is
Down,
Down,
Down,
Deep in the rabbit hole.

Kelly Rose
© January 19, 2018

You are a lie

Don’t - life slips through your fingers
Even Poe could not grasp time
Stop hiding in illusions, coward
You are a lie
Shattering another’s dreams
Even if you don’t understand
The destruction you cause
One day you will wake up
To the reality of ‘what ifs’
As you look at withered hopes
And dreams that you hide behind
You are a lie

Kelly Rose
© March 13, 2017