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Michael Murphy Dec 2015
There are things I can share, only now, only here
Skin on skin and sin on sin, I will open the door and
allow you into my closet of skeletons

Only now, only here, do I dare reveal, my inner thoughts
It is in trust earned loyalty that I do share

Be prepared, for it is through this dark passage that you also enter my heart
No turning back, Angels await to forever join our love!
Michael Murphy Jul 2016
The POWER of silence
Is so seldom heard

Instead we attack
With an ill chosen word

Though intelligence deems
Throwing fuel on a fire

Is a fools way it seems
To help it expire

Nothing I say
Will change how you feel

So I say nothing
Until our wound starts to heal
One of the most important lessons I learned as an adult that I pray my children learn!
Michael Murphy Mar 2016
A revelation I had
While watching a lad
Who swore, he was President Lincoln

Couldn't be, I did say
What had made him this way
Seriously, what was he thinkin

Oh so happy he seemed
He was living his dream
If only the Doctors could see

He was content just to stay
In his dream world all day
So I prayed this would happen to me

Now my sadness has lifted
And my thoughts are all sifted
Only delusions remain

I might seem a bit odd
In my mind I'm a God
Yes, as you guessed, I'm insane

Yours truly,

George Washington
Michael Murphy May 2023
Diary, journal
Recorded thoughts
eternal

Private, locked
Sifted feelings
blocked

Ink  smears
On pages
tears

Memory recorded
Life neatly
ordered
Does keeping a diary lead to writing poetry?
Michael Murphy Jun 2023
T ime

O ur

U nion

C ombines

H earts
Not sure where I was going with this but I was thinking about how poor my sad proposal went to my now wife. My car was smoking and I practically threw the ring at her when she answered the door.
Michael Murphy May 2023
"Young child"

As mother's will do
In my shoe
Was a dime

To call from a payphone
If out
Past my time

"Teenager"

In my wallet
A ******
Tucked neatly away

With the hope
Some young girl
Would invite me to play

No luck
On that though
As the ****** expired

Wore a ring
In the leather
New wallet acquired

"Old man"

Protection remains
In my wallet today

It never expires
Never throw it away

I just changed the brand
No more Trojan for me

Imodium now
When you're old, you'll agree
I wish this wasn't true.
Michael Murphy Jun 2016
I am a thirsty man adrift on your waters!  

Love abounds, but I dare not drink!

It is the promise I made that if you keep me afloat, I would not ask for a drop you did not willingly offer.

      I sit and pray for rain!
Michael Murphy Feb 2024
Looking in the rearview mirror
To a simpler time and place

Everything much clearer
A smile on every face

Peace, love and Innocence
So safe in mother's arms

A time when every thought made sense
Sheltered from the harm

Looking up each day
My vision filtered child

Buried life, now packed away
Once lived, recorded, filed
Some days I miss my youth.
Michael Murphy Mar 2016
I feel like I'm on a fast moving river

Sometimes I row hard and try to steer

Sometimes I just let the current take me where it will

Sometimes I feel lost

Sometimes I duck the low hanging branches

Sometimes the river widens and the current calms and I can rest

Sometimes the river narrows and the whitewater throws me into the boulders

It is in the turbulent waters that I am tested and my skills are sharpened

Always I try to appreciate the journey and the breathtaking views

I know around every bend, a new challenge awaits

Never knowing around which bend lies the non-corporeal sea of dreams

No more branches, no more bends, and no more boulders

Only calm waters, gentle breezes, and smooth sailing
Michael Murphy May 2019
Such an ***
Is the fellow
Who crosses the yellow
When solid
And then again doubled

Run the red
So he thought
Cause he'll never get caught
His decisions are
What's making me troubled

Do the rules not apply
To this *** of a guy
So stupid, selfish and vain

I pray for his soul
Cause he's out of control
That he learns to
Stay in his lane
Michael Murphy Nov 2024
I wrote a poem

I wrote it twice

Seeking words expression

Clouds roll in

My shadow hides

Exposing my depression

Pressure mounts

Weight so intense

No strength to set me free

Shallow breath

A whisper utters

Is this the end of me
Every day, a new obstacle.  Enough!
I have a snake
That slithers and slides.

So green in the grass —
It's easy to hide.

Today is his birthday,
I made him a cake.

Happy birthday to Sammy,
My slithering snake
More kid poems. I need 25, I wrote 10. Wish me luck!
Michael Murphy Jun 2023
I wish we were a sandwich
Simple would suffice

Smooshed between the slices
with you would be so nice

You could be my jelly
your sweet as sweet can be

I am simply nuts for you
Crunchy PB's the one for me

We go so great together
I know you feel it too

I offer you this sandwich
to show that I love you
I don't know.
Michael Murphy Nov 2015
As he opened her door, he noticed a tear rolling down her cheek.  It was all so overwhelming, the happiness to be exact.  As he wiped the tear away with his thumb, she leaned her head into his hand. Running his hands through her hair, never breaking eye contact,  hundreds of thousands of years of instinct took over.  When their lips met the world that they lived in disappeared and they were immediately transported into a new existence.  Where there was two, there was now only one.  They were lost in each other, not knowing where one person started and the other ended.  

It could be argued that no first kiss has ever been as deep or sensual as the second kiss. Their experience was no different.  Easily the second kiss in the car was the kiss they would be thinking about every second that they were apart.
Want to turn this into a book
Michael Murphy Nov 2015
I am a seed.
A pebble vault.
Secrets of the universe abound within
my humble form
So tiny and inconspicuous
I know without knowing how tall I will stretch,
How I will bend or not with the breeze,
How I will veil myself in dappled leaves
and invite bees to velvety garnet petals,
or thistles made of silk,
How do I know these things, you wonder, being so small
without wit, without sage?
How can I do this
With no teacher?
The teacher is in me
My secrets are my own.
Michael Murphy Feb 2024
I wrote a book
And all it took

Was the love and support from you

Thank you to everyone that left a kind or constructive comment over the years!

Michael James Murphy
I know this is shameless self promotion, but I do sincerely appreciate my HP friends. 'Shades' is up on Amazon. One less thing on my bucket list. Thank you
Michael Murphy Nov 2015
In whispers I hear the voices of past

So very loud once, I thought they would last

In shadows I see the loved ones I knew

But the clearest of all is the shadow of you

I can still feel your touch, with eyes closed and mind still

As if heaven allows my heart now to fill

The gift of your love was so strong but so brief

The love in my heart has turned now to grief
Michael Murphy Nov 2015
In her silence much is said

There is no comment on what she read

She can't tell you how she feels

That in your words, there's no appeal

She doesn't hold what you desire

So let your tears now, cool your fire

Your course is clear, just let her be

And in your silence, you will set her free
Six
Michael Murphy Nov 2015
Six
Six babies born
Six babies nurse
Six babies loved

Six children play
Six children sing
Six children loved

Six teenagers driving
Six teenagers dating
Six teenagers loved

Six young adults kissing
Six young adults making love
Six young adults loved

Six adults married
Six adults loving their families
Six adults loved

One is Muslim, one is Jewish, one is Atheist, one is Hindu, one is Christian, one is Buddhist, all are loved
We are not so different!
I have a twin that's stuck to me

He's 6 foot 4

I'm 5 foot 3

How do we move

Well let's see

He holds me in his arms sometimes

I bought special shoes

Now walking's fine

My special shoes are 1 foot 1

With my new shoes

We walk and run
It just to crazy to keep in.  My family just rolls their eyes when I speak.
Michael Murphy Nov 2017
In the sleepy hours, I miss the warmth.  

Body on body,  breathing as one.  I miss the touch, the being touched. The feeling of skin, not my own.  

In the sleepy hours I think on memories,  I imagine making new memories.  Hoping my memories fold into dreams and dreams become real.
Laying alone at night and this is my stream of words.
Michael Murphy Mar 2024
I rise above the earth
The noise transcends to silence

Darkness giving birth
As peace replaces violence

If only from up here
The big becomes the small

Gently falls a tear
The absurdity of it all
I long for the world to be civilized
Michael Murphy May 2023
O                   O
U

S                           E 
M                   L
I L E S M I
This was harder to do in this simple editor than I had anticipated.
Michael Murphy Oct 2023
There was a moment
There was a time
You in my arms
Your heart beat with mine

I thought that I knew
I thought you were mine
I thought it was true
But only to find

It was only a moment
A snapshot in time
I look to that moment
To see I was blind
What you believe to be true might only be true in that moment
Michael Murphy Nov 2015
I look to the sky and imagine I fly

Look at me now I'm two miles high

Above all the clouds the sky is so blue

I'm soaring and gliding and all of it new

I'm looking at trees, way down below

The air is so thin, light headed I go

I'm falling to Earth, still not a care

I'm higher on Earth, as long as you're there
Read it to someone and she said I should try to  write about sad things?
Michael Murphy Feb 2024
So many thoughts
Not shared

So many words
Not read

So much music
Not heard

So much beauty
Not seen

So much time
WASTED!
As I get older I feel like I'm running out of time to experience everything.
Michael Murphy Apr 2023
Is it just me and
The people you see

Could it be frogs and logs and
The bumble bee

How about flowers, turkeys, and crows
Could it be them, does anyone know

It has to be puppies, and kittens I bet
I keep asking, but no answer yet

What about creatures from planets unknown
Forget that last thought if you think we're alone

What about rocks the inanimate type
You know what I mean, no carbon in sight

Do they all have a soul, a spirit like mine
Do they they all go to heaven at the end of their time

I hope so
I planted a seed,
I’m watching it grow —

Praying for both rain and sun.

What did I plant?
You reap what you sow.

The waiting is half of the fun.
Michael Murphy Nov 2015
The train of despair is rolling now
It's building up steam
Faster and faster the tunnel approaches

Just a passenger, not the engineer
Powerless to stop my descent

The darkness now envelops all I once saw
There's a cold dank odor in the air

If this be my end, and my end this might be
Throw coal on the fire and build up more steam

Take me fast to the wall, don't linger, don't wait
It's the trip that I dread, not the crash at the end
Michael Murphy Aug 2016
Unlike in a book, the chapters of
my life arrive unannounced

The birth of a child, the death of a loved one, the passing of a season, bring subtle change

New memories are made as old ones fade into the mist of time

Each day arrives full of possibilities
New adventures evolve into new stories

It is the stories, told and retold, that woven together reveal the fabric of my life
Sometimes a word triggers a thought.  I could rewrite but sometimes I like to just let go and let the words fall.  If it reads like a stream of consciousness, it is because it is. Something very personal and honest about the unedited word.
Michael Murphy Dec 2015
Oh, Stranger on a Plane, we connected right away

Confiding all our deepest thoughts, the love game we did play

Through intimate words and loving glance, as we flew we did romance

In fleeting flight and fantasy, in moment loved, now memory!
Michael Murphy Nov 2015
The next words that I write could go sweet or go sour

They could last for mere minutes or go on for an hour

There's a power I have when I start to create

It can be somewhat awful or truly be great

I try to pick words so a picture they paint

Sometimes there is color and sometimes there ain't

I hope what I write, in the end, makes you feel

Like a diner who's about, to consume a great meal

If you're happy and full when you leave from my table

Then I'll continue to write, as long as I'm able!
This is what happens when I get no sleep!
Michael Murphy Mar 2024
Words there are not
to express how I feel

Hearing your words
of your sad ordeal

My heart reaches out
to shoulder your pain

Hoping this song
has a happy refrain

My angels are yours
to carry you through

Til happiness blooms
like a flower anew
Searching for words for a friend facing the death of her sister
Michael Murphy Dec 2024
On the other side of the bullet
You hope the crooked road to straighten

I fear the fog remains
With path unclear

Fix it here
Or
Fix it there

My prayer for you
Seek help here
A friends brother committed suicide over the weekend. I hope he find peace in his new life but...
I put my old cat up on a cow.
I had to reach up high.

The cow went moo,  
my kitty flew.  

I didn't know that cats could fly.
Another poem for my kids activity book that I'm writing.
Michael Murphy Oct 2016
Let go and I will catch you
I would never let you

Fall
To the cold and hardened ground

Reach and I will reach you
Together we will forge through

Pain
Will die when love surround

Call and I will hear you
Feel my love within you

Joy  
In our once lonely hearts abound
A puppy and kitten were talkin’,
"I’m cute!" — "I’m cuter!" But then…

A baby chicken came walkin’ —
The cutest is the babe of the hen!
Michael Murphy May 2023
I didn't think it would end like this
I couldn't catch my breath

Gasping, I could feel my blood run cold

Time stopped
Feeling stopped, even pain

I heard someone say, "time of death
2:34 am."

No bright light, just nothing
Asleep and awake coexist.

Back in our home, I turn in bed to kiss you goodnight, as I have done for a thousand nights

Your side of the bed is cold, so cold
Great loss comes with great love. This was written after witnessing my father's reaction to my mother's passing. I felt part of him die. She passed peacefully.
Michael Murphy Oct 2023
No more wick to light
The candle lost its fight
It actually is about a candle that I couldn't light. Lol
Michael Murphy Nov 2015
Two years ago
I didn't know your name, I couldn't see.
My world was dark, so very dark,
And then you came to me

One year ago
I didn't know the friend you would come to be
My world was light, so very bright,
Your love had set me free

An hour ago I didn't know the power of your touch
I think heaven made a mistake today
I'm smiling way too much
The Magical Man
With a wave of his hand
Stops the world
As he fiddles and tinkers

He gives youth to the old
Comforts the cold
Feeds the hungry and gives drinks to the drinkers

He then cures the sick
With a smile
so quick

For the sad and disabled
He makes room at the table

BUT there's still work
As he ponders
Walking and wanders

What to do?
What to do?
What to do with

The racists, hate-haters
The for-fun agitators
The mean and the greedy
The liars and seedy

But the good will go where
With none to compare

Will they even be needed
With the bad so depleted

So the Magical Man
With a wave of hand
Simply smiled
All his changes deleted
Sometimes I wish for Super Powers because if they do exist. Somebody is asleep at the switch.
Michael Murphy Nov 2015
Sometimes I start to crack a small smile as I slowly open one eye

I smell food in the kitchen, so I stop my itchin, and off the couch I do fly

He's opening cans, he's opening cans, I'm so happy I'm up on my toes

I haven't eaten in days, what's a day anyway? I'm not sure that anyone knows

Scoop it out, scoop it out, oh wow, he's mixing it in

He's looking at me, he's smiling at me, so I know my feast will begin

I could give him a kiss, he's the one that I miss

When he's gone it's just not the same

He's the guy with the food that brightens my mood

If only I just knew his name!

Dave? Nope, Jack...hmmm or
Michael Murphy Apr 2023
See the path
It's right there

I see it not
Tell me where

Close your eyes
Believe it now

So hard to see
Show me how

Hold my hand
The darkness clears

Release your thoughts
Let go your fears

I see the path
Revealed and clear

So clear to me
Now you are near
This came out of a time that my son couldn't find the sugar that was inches from his hand.  I told him to believe it was there and he couldn't see it until he believed.  We have to be ready for the reality in front of us.
Michael Murphy Nov 2015
A perfect Anchor will hug you on calm seas as you travel and explore.
When the winds blow and the sea pitches, the same
Anchor will dig in and hold you steady!
It is always in the background, it is strong and understands its role!
Michael Murphy May 2023
Average I'd say
she presented each day
makeup smoothing the rough

By some standards plain
Would never complain
and her size was more than enough

Then she smiled her wide smile
Oh and she moved with such style
To reveal her beauty within

When she laughed at a joke
Or her angel voice spoke
Every heart in the school did she win

I fell so in love
Prayed to God up above
That the prettiest girl in the school

Would just look my way
Words of love I would say
To the prettiest girl, such a jewel

Our love would not be
Still I learned how to see
The prettiest girl in the school
Michael Murphy Jan 2024
I wrote a word and then another
A thought I did provoke

A feeling buried deep within
Asleep but now awoke

So many words I can't contain
Spill out upon my page

To illuminate so bright with light
My soul I did engage
I am self publishing a book of 100 poems and was playing with this for the back cover.
"A girl and boy went for a walk. The walk turned into a race. The girl won, but it's okay—the boy took second place."
I decided to write an early reader coloring book and word search.  I teach  K-8 and I really think my lack of maturity gives me an edge.
Michael Murphy Nov 2015
It's only a ruse, I know its not right

I'm keeping my feelings way out of sight

You're mad and so crazy, is that venom I see?

Please swallow, then speak, you're spitting on me

Bad chemicals, I know, it's not all your fault

Your brain, at this time, is under assault

You're yelling and screaming and out of your seat

Is met by the same with a mighty chest beat

I can be louder than you, if that's what it takes

I'll stop your train by applying the brakes

The truth is I'm acting, I'm not really mad

The truth is I love you and I know you're just sad

Now you are silent, your anger did cease

My ruse it did work, and now there is peace!
Michael Murphy Nov 2015
Mighty swing tree that carried me through summer days of yore

To-and-fro, I try, with each pump I fly higher than before

So strong, you stand, with single hand, you hold me safe and true

With me here in rocking chair,  from wood where you once grew
Michael Murphy Jun 2023
Standing at the ******
I really gotta go

Starting to get ******
Cause I ain't got no flow

I feel the eyes upon me
The pressure starts to mount

A line of guys behind me
More than I can count

If only I were younger
I could **** a hole through steel

Now I just go drip, drip, drip
Seriously what's the deal

My prostate's like a grapefruit
I go five times a night

I haven't slept in fifteen years
It really kind of bites

When I close my eyes the final time
The biggest gift for me

Is when I get to heaven
I won't have to ***
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