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596 · Aug 2018
The Lust For Purity
Searching with a ravenous smile
Beyond depravity to find
Lustful home in a woman with
Pinup soul and centerfold mind.

Like prowling wolf under full moon
To find in habitats untold
Attracted to a body with
A chest that shields her heart of gold.

Sensuality unrestrained
Approaches as innocent knave
Seeking that woman who has too
Naked Eros towards the brave.

Drawn out by libidinous need
That only making love can cure
His darkness only wants her light
Everything about her is pure.
Instagram @insightshurt
Blogging at insightshurt.blogspot.com
Buy “Insights Hurt: Bringing Healing Thoughts To Life” at store.bookbaby.com/book/insights-hurt
595 · Dec 2018
War Within
A match, unlit, but potent, awaiting
A spark.
Impulse, unfit, but potent, awaiting
The dark.
Controlled, subdued by intimidation.
Behold! It escapes in conflagration!

Desire, unmet, but potent, and wanting
To play.
The id, unchecked, but potent, and wanting
To prey.
Dead, beaten into its subjugation.
Instead! Unchained, furious damnation!

Defense, untried, but potent, seeking
To win.
Violence, untold, but potent, seeking
To sin.
Enslaved, subject to emasculation.
Saved! Freedom, total depravation!
Blogging at www.insightshurt.com
Instagram @insightshurt
Buy "Insights Hurt: Bringing Healing Thoughts To Life" at store.bookbaby.com/book/insights-hurt
588 · Apr 2019
World Goes Round
Spinning, turning from night to day,
the world goes around and around.
“You’re wrong! The Earth is flat!” some say.
They’re wrong. You make the world go round.

Each day the sun will rise and set,
with songbirds as the morning sound,
all might seem calm and still, and yet,
your love’s making the world go round.

There’d be no stars and no night sky,
no constellations to be found,
if we couldn’t bid the Sun goodbye,
and you didn’t make the world go round.

The world greets me each day anew.
Time passes though I hold my ground.
Time itself seems derived from you,
because you make my world go round.
(C) 2019 Daniel H. Shulman
Buy “Insights Hurt: Bringing Healing Thoughts To Life” at store.bookbaby.com/book/insights-hurt
588 · Feb 2019
Infinite Ifs
Time spent in obsessive contemplation
Of infinite paths of infinite ifs.
How many if only buts today alone?
I could be infinitely different.

My head hurts, my soul is so uncertain.
I’m this, and not infinite other ifs.
I am from mistakes of pure carelessness,
I am random intentional choices.

My world is what it is, but is that all?
What remains of other infinite ifs?
I have memories of worlds that weren’t,
Of worlds that might be infinitely worse.

There is an unknown me inside of me,
Who pursued some other infinite ifs.
And yet, what if I chose right every time?
What if that unknown me is also me?
Instagram @insightshurt
Blogging at www.insightshurt.com
Buy “Insights Hurt: Bringing Healing Thoughts To Life” at store.bookbaby.com/book/insights-hurt
585 · Oct 2018
Ray Of Light
When the clouds part just a sliver
And the sun is like an echo,
O’er the Earth with light to give her,
To make a ray of sunlight glow.

Angels pass upon the sunbeam,
They carry light from God above,
Our so one ray of light would seem.
With sky awash in aural love.

A point of light from overhead
Expands around us from the gray,
Like a halo upon our head
Adorning us on our dark day.

To see Heaven illuminate,
When all the light has been obscured,
Reminds us that it’s not too late.
The world is sick but can be cured.
Blogging at www.insightshurt.com
Buy “Insights Hurt: Bringing Healing Thoughts To Life” at store.bookbaby.com/book/insights-hurt
584 · Mar 2019
Divine Duet
Music—the score of victories,
triumphant cymbals of success
of orchestrated histories,
to regal anthems to impress.

Music—scribbled notes to recall,
arranged in sync with beating hearts
resounding with clarion call,
of overtures meaning imparts.

Music—felt across Earth’s measure,
in staccato revelation
that accompanies God’s treasure—
the symphony of creation.

Music—God’s whistle in the wind,
that piano voice, in us He set
the atonal key, blessed or sinned,
music is our divine duet.
Instagram @insightshurt
Blogging at www.insightshurt.com
Buy “Insights Hurt: Bringing Healing Thoughts To Life” at store.bookbaby.com/book/insights-hurt
583 · Oct 2019
For One Kiss...
To have chosen
to be broken,
and be frozen
while awoken,

To live the pain
to love too much,
and never gain
the needed touch,

To want to feel
a broken heart,
when only real
is torn apart,

To want to live
in spite of this,
so she might give
me just one kiss.
@not.thepoet.hewantstobe
Night has fallen, my head hits the pillow,
Knowing there will be kisses tomorrow,
Kisses, embraces, love at every sight,
There upon daybreak, gives me peace at night.

Night has fallen, eyelids darken my eyes,
Knowing there will be an end to all lies,
Truth, joy and happiness, hope in my hand,
There upon daybreak, I now understand.

Night has fallen, I slip into my dreams,
Knowing there will be love real as it seems,
Love, adoration, anticipation,
There upon daybreak, heartfelt elation.

Night has fallen, all my thoughts of your smile,
Knowing there will be kisses all the while,
Kisses, embraces, love you in my sight,
There upon daybreak, but for now good night.
Instagram @insightshurt
Blogging at www.insightshurt.com
Buy "Insights Hurt: Bringing Healing Thoughts To Life" at store.bookbaby.com/book/insights-hurt
580 · Jan 2019
You And Me And Me And You
I’m aware of my awareness of you,
Of my absorbing everything you do,
And wonder if you are aware of me.
But you are not real, so how could you be?

I’m loving the feeling of loving you,
Of investing my heart in all you do,
And hoping inside that you’re loving me.
But you hide your heart, so how could you be?

I’m aroused by my arousal from you,
Of the lust I feel watching all you do,
And aching for you to make love to me.
But I am nothing, so how could you be?

I’m needing those needs I have for you,
Of needing to live in the world you do,
And needing to dream you also need me.
But you’re just my dream, so how could it be?
Instagram @insightshurt
www.insightshurt.com
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580 · Dec 2018
Breakfast For My Soul
Calming with the softness of your skin,
Sated of my hunger for your kiss,
Nourished by the state you put me in,
Feeding this soul’s appetite for bliss.

Craving delicacies of your eyes,
Sensing sunrise warmth of your embrace,
Mornings such as this I energize
With anticipation of your face.

Awake to the honey of your tongue
And fluttering eyelash on my cheek,
You’re the morning hope of day still young,
You provide for me the love I seek.
On Instagram @insightshurt
www.insightshurt.com
Buy “Insights Hurt: Bringing Healing Thoughts To Life” at store.bookbaby.com/book/insights-hurt
574 · Jan 2019
Sonnet To Guilty Pleasure
She’s a figment for vulnerable men
Who see beauty through self-loathing windows.
Her beauty is far too much to take when
It pierces the heart where passion’s sin goes.

Ashamedly smitten men curse their eyes
For beholding beauty they don’t deserve.
They seek her attention, she ignores their cries.
They grovel on their hands and knees to serve.

Her nakedness sows men’s basest skin’s need,
For intimate contact with lurid thought.
She is the temptress, they’ll follow her lead,
Through gates of despair their lustfulness brought.

She strikes men dumb just because she is there.
They have nothing real and pure to compare.
Instagram @insightshurt
www.insightshurt.com
Buy “Insights Hurt: Bringing Healing Thoughts To Life” at store.bookbaby.com/book/insights-hurt
561 · Apr 2019
Ode To The Irony Of Beauty
At night I close my eyes to see beauty,
and then in the morning I open them.
This is the essence of being awake—
to open your eyes to live your dreams, or
live without them because you don’t need them.

All the world’s beauty to appreciate
includes the beauty worth dreaming about,
and beauty about which I dared not dream.
There is beauty in darkness and in light—
who am I not to fall in love with it?

I’ve dreamt of beauty I could not describe,
but nor can I describe beauty I’ve seen.
To encounter beauty is irony—
it stops my heart and makes me feel alive,
touched and moved by ethereality.
Blogging at www.insightshurt.com
Buy “Insights Hurt: Bringing Healing Thoughts To Life” at store.bookbaby.com/book/insights-hurt
561 · Mar 2019
Your Voice Is Mine
Holding hands, we’ve got a reason
To be together.
Taking a stand, for a moment in time
And forever.

We’re all here,
Because we care,
About something.
We each speak,
but together
One voice matters

Sickened by the news,
Hate against Blacks and Jews.
Schoolchildren aren’t safe,
Tiki torches in our face,
their light shows, we’re all one race.
No one wants your view,
But I do,
And the women scream,
“Me too!”

Arm in arm, defending our rights
For each other.
Sound the alarm, have we stopped caring
For one another?

Thoughts and prayers
Are all we hear,
We need more.
If we all,
speak together
Our voices matter.

We can’t feed our poor,
But the rich keep getting more.
Instead of bridges,
We get walls.

When did we go blind, to the suffering
Of the stranger,
who’s our neighbor?
I can’t just be for me, if I’m free,
So people, follow me.

Open your eyes, staring down power
For freedom.
Time to rise, pray with your feet.
We need you.

Speaking up,
Because silence,
Grows evil.
If we all,
March together
Our footsteps matter.
We spend more on defense,
But we never invest,
In those we most need to protect.

Land of opportunity?
Shutting doors?
What future is in store?
Now is our time.
Get in line.
Your voice,
Is mine!
Instagram @insightshurt
Blogging at www.insightshurt.com
Buy "Insights Hurt: Bringing Healing Thoughts To Life" at store.bookbaby.com/book/insights-hurt
553 · Feb 2019
How Are You?
You exist, and I wonder how.
Of desires I feared to allow?
From dreams, did God make you somehow?
By my design are you here now?

I longed for hair silky and black,
Hung to the spot I’d rub her back,
Who’d be my aphrodisiac,
By you I am taken aback.

Your hips are curved to my design,
Perfect taste when your lips meet mine,
Made as if by a poet’s line,
I am a man but you’re divine.

I saw you before I could see,
A thought I thought inside of me,
I sculpted you in fantasy,
How is it you have come to be?
Instagram @insightshurt
Buy “Insights Hurt: Bringing Healing Thoughts To Life” at store.bookbaby.com/book/insights-hurt
She draws attention with spellbinding dance,
No man has ever looked and looked away.
So much mistaken beauty for romance,
Those men who see with just their eyes, her prey.

Her body is the uniform she wears,
Nubile and innocent in father’s eyes.
Enchanting beauty fueled by endless stares,
Of men who see with blindness idolize.

She’s only all the beauty, nothing more,
And nothing else she ever wants to be.
The promise of a Siren on the shore,
Exposed to every ****** on the sea.

She’ll never lack for men she can control…
Just not men who see Beauty with their soul.
Follow me on Instagram @insightshurt
Read my Blog at insightshurt.blogspot.com
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552 · Apr 2019
Consuming Fire
This spirit is a fire that consumes,
that burns the words to ashes and embers,
energy rises in beautiful plumes,
revealing what the hidden remembers.

Drawn to the call of the consuming flame,
awed by the wonder of the mystery,
once burned by the spirit, never the same,
charred remnants become light of history.

Nothing can be done to dampen this soul,
this burning life can not be extinguished,
flames growing rapidly out of control
calling out a new hope for the vanquished.

I am consumed, but I shall not be burned.
This kiln of passion has purified me.
Seared in my mind are the lessons I’ve learned.
Burning love no longer terrifies me.
Instagram @insightshurt
Blogging at www.insightshurt.com
Buy “Insights Hurt: Bringing Healing Thoughts To Life” at store.bookbaby.com/book/insights-hurt
548 · Mar 2019
The Chirp Of Winter's End
I thought I heard a chirping bird
just about this morning’s sunrise.
Don’t think a mating call I heard—
sounded like a shriek of surprise.

I was surprised, too, and quite so.
Not from the bird’s chirp. Well, perhaps.
There were puddles instead of snow,
and snow-plowed mountains in collapse.

That chirping bird and I both saw
the cautious springing up of spring.
But while that bird sang to the thaw,
I don’t think I’m done worrying.

Seasons ’round here don’t change like that.
Although winter has one more freeze,
the bird on its Tree Ararat,
celebrates forty-five degrees.

This morning it was just one bird,
soon maybe crickets will chirp, too.
But I think spring is seen not heard,
and that chirp’s too good to be true.
Instagram @insightshurt
Blogging at www.insightshurt.com
Buy "Insights Hurt: Bringing Healing Thoughts To Life" at store.bookbaby.com/book/insights-hurt
546 · Aug 2018
Bless'd Eyes Of Deceit
Oh you bless’d eyes, how can I forgive you?
I trusted you to find beauty unloosed,
To hallow it, beauty from Heaven true.
But you wandered, looking to be seduced.

Oh you bless’d eyes, how can I still trust you?
I closed you at night with dreams as your guide,
And bid you find each day’s beauty anew.
But you opened, sought fantasy and lied.

Oh you bless’d eyes, why should I let you see?
I gave you the rainbow’s colors and hues,
To enjoy life’s beauty and majesty.
But you went dim, after the darkest views.

Oh you bless’d eyes, what sight now shall remain?
No beauty below, no solace above.
Please find me beauty to ease my heart’s pain!
But you’ve gone blind, useless to find true love.
Instagram @insightshurt
Blogging at insightshurt.blogspot.com
Buy "Insights Hurt: Bringing Healing Thoughts To Life" at store.bookbaby.com/book/insights-hurt
This cloak of self-deception blocked the light
So shades of darkness were all I could see.
While the radiance of truth shined so bright,
Intensity of blackness blinded me.

A sorry past saw all future as lies,
And faithlessness had closed my every door.
While I knew light was just beyond my eyes,
My dead soul would not let me see once more.

But hope’s the curse of a defiant mind!
My need for love begged my heart to let go.
Accustomed to the darkness, I was blind,
When I looked at my future’s shining glow.

Squinting I let my faithful eyes adjust,
To happiness beyond me I should trust.
Instagram @insightshurt
Blogging at insightshurt.blogspot.com
Buy "Insights Hurt: Bringing Healing Thoughts To Life" at store.bookbaby.com/book/insights-hurt
544 · Jun 2018
Born With Memory
Like the fruit tree that every spring,
Blooms when it senses flow’rs should be,
Knowing at once what fruit to bring,
It has a flawless memory.

To see the sun rise every morn,
And know it never skips a day,
Forgotten not since Earth was born,
It’s memory can’t fade away.

When petals of a flower spread,
Ere they go dormant in the fall,
Entice a bee and feathered head,
It’s memory gives food to all.

When nature has a vital need,
It knows what God already knew.
As plants have mem’ry in their seed,
I’m born with memory of you.
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The incessant need for togetherness,
More alone than a single blade grass,
Relationships that need foreverness,
As fused as are the grains of sand in glass.

Relentlessly seeking love through giving,
From an abyss of generosity,
To connect with loving souls is living,
With such self-proclaimed virtuosity.

To be close is just to make someone feel,
To give just to elicit emotion.
And love returned for giving is the deal
Like a returning pendulum’s motion.

This instinct brings innocents elation.
Why does it reek of manipulation?
Plight of the Enneagram Number 2
Instagram @insightshurt
Blogging at insightshurt.blogspot.com
Buy “Insights Hurt: Bringing Healing Thoughts To Life” at store.bookbaby.com/book/insights-hurt
534 · Aug 2018
Your Kiss Is Life
I was not alive until my first breath,
Inhaling the spirit of the divine.
And yet I was alive without living
Till you kissed me and your breath became mine.

Each breath I took filled my lungs with stale air
But my heart remained dark as an eclipse.
Now the quickened breath that lights up my heart
Is the moment I seal my mouth to your lips.

My mouth only used for meaningless speech,
With a tongue that had no reason to be.
But you kissed me and its purpose was clear,
My tongue dances with yours delicately.

Breathing was just my excuse to survive
But I breathed in life that was less than whole.
Now I survive on the breath of your kiss
Kiss me again and breathe life to my soul!
Instagram @insightshurt
Blogging at insightshurt.blogspot.com
Buy “Insights Hurt: Bringing Healing Thoughts To Life” at store.bookbaby.com/book/insights-hurt
529 · Oct 2018
Her Beauty Of Legend
Her hair
Like the silk bought from princes,
Delivered on ancient caravans
Sent to bring unknown wonders.

Her eyes
Like the jewels of a queen,
Preserved unblemished for the royals
Envied by the common man.

Her skin
Like velvet robes upon kings,
Worn as complete comfort and softness
Untouchably delicate.

Her lips
Like perfect quartz and ruby,
Crystalline sparkling of pink and red
Kissing with rare perfection.

Her *******
Like orbs of Delphic temples,
Firm and pure power of seduction
Giving source of life and love.

Her
Like the finest of fine art,
Generations’ legends of beauty,
Unfit for her description.
Instagram @insightshurt
Blogging at www.insightshurt.com
Buy "Insights Hurt: Bringing Healing Thoughts To Life" at store.bookbaby.com/book/insights-hurt
526 · Oct 2018
Sweet Angel, Tell Me
Sweet angel, tell me everything.
I’m not afraid of anything.
Let your worst troubles speak aloud.
You won’t transform to a dark cloud.

Sweet angel, I’ve made space for you,
A safe place where you can be true.
My love has ears for what you say.
Your troubles won’t scare me away.

Sweet angel, we’re beyond compare,
But we’re more than a love affair.
The two of us want something real.
Stressful days are part of the deal.

Sweet angel, we’ve laughs and kissing.
There’s no fear our joy’s gone missing.
It doesn’t matter what you share;
It’s sharing that proves love is there.

Sweet angel, my love ain’t too proud.
A little sadness is allowed.
Don’t let your down times change to fear.
When those times come I will be here.
Instagram @insightshurt
Blogging at www.insightshurt.com
Buy "Insights Hurt: Bringing Healing Thoughts To Life" at store.bookbaby.com/book/insights-hurt
523 · Apr 2018
Note to My Sons
My sons, there’re things I hope you’ve learned,
About the proper way to live. 
And with any respect I’ve earned,
I’ve fatherly advice to give. 

If you’re alone and can’t connect,
There’s a girl and you can’t reach her,
Know that love follows intellect. 
Aspire first to be her teacher. 

To say “I love you” frequently
Is only good if you are true. 
The pain of loving secretly
Will always eat away at you. 

Nurture your curiosity,
Though there’s sometimes no solution. 
Let asking be your specialty,
And learning your evolution.  

Identify the righteous way,
Aware of who you’re meant to be. 
Your mirror at least once per day,
Should reflect pride in what you see. 

Each morning that you see the sun,
Appreciate your sense of awe. 
Know your soul will always be one
With your father’s God of Torah. 

Always give yourself to others
You can’t be selfish and content. 
If you err and hurt another,
It should never be with intent. 

When life gives you a broken heart,
Even if that heart is not yours,
Just find some wisdom to impart. 
Let self-compassion open doors. 

When you have children of your own,
And I’m in Heaven up above,
Know this, my son, you’re not alone—
Inside you is your father’s love.
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522 · Dec 2018
Waiting
There are two kinds of waiting:
Hopeful and hopeless.
Hopelessness is weary angst,
Violent eddies of despair.
Nervous pacing while staring
The mind battling the heart.
Hopefulness is jubilant,
Spontaneous leaps of joy.
Nervous tapping of your feet
Ready to meet life head on.
There are two kinds of waiting:
Hopeless and hopeful.  
But neither prevents waiting.
Instagram @insightshurt
Blogging at www.insightshurt.com
Buy “Insights Hurt: Bringing Healing Thoughts To Life” at store.bookbaby.com/book/insights-hurt
520 · Aug 2019
Sonnet To The Insecure Poet
I have not that divine intercession
to pluck the right word from all been written,
that gifts to few the art of expression,
to write the poetry of the smitten.

I pen verses of no significance
that sing melodies in my ear of tin,
embarrassments to poets of romance
in whose company I wish I were in.

Oh, to write odes to nightingales and urns,
with love as an extension of my quill!
Although I do not lack passion that burns,
I’ve not the talent that matches my will.

Here is another literary blight
authored by one who just thinks he can write.
(C) 2019 Daniel H. Shulman
516 · Aug 2018
Spaces
Spaces
Between the letters of a word
Between the words on a page
Between each breathless sound I heard
Between those moments as I age.

Spaces
Between my eyelids and my tears
Between the sniffles of my cries
Between the drums of my two ears
Between the whites of my two eyes.

Spaces
The nothingness of emptiness
A place no physical exists
The center of all loneliness
The comfort of the pessimist.

Spaces
They’re places asking to be filled
They have meaning in their presence
To those both soulful and strong-willed
Space is where they find their essence.
Instagram @insightshurt
Blogging at insightshurt.blogspot.com
Buy "Insights Hurt: Bringing Healing Thoughts To Life" at store.bookbaby.com/book/insights-hurt
514 · May 2018
Sonnet To Your Kisses
If I could taste your kisses on my tongue,
Then I’d be stealing nectar from the gods.
Your kisses like ambrosia keep me young,
Like bloom of endless summer goldenrods.

In this, a moment calls our lips to meet,
To kiss like kisses are the only touch,
Your lips the honey nature made so sweet,
A sweetness which can never be too much.

Our kisses in our intimate embrace,
Without a thing to come between our skin,
Our immortality is face to face,
You open up to me and let me in.

If life is never-ending when we kiss,
Then let us not that moment ever miss.
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511 · Apr 2018
No Need For Gravity
Mr. Newton and Einstein can keep it.
So far I’m handling it all on my own.
Unlike Isaac who’d under a tree sit,
I don’t need gravity to keep me down.

They say when you’re happy you’re flying high.
But that must mean we’re destined for sadness
Because no human can stay in the sky.
While gravity just adds to the madness.

Pain and suffering from separation
When true love should attract us together.
And it’s gravity’s sole occupation
To pull two bodies closer together.

A cruel scientific duality,
With no power over my massive heart.
I have got no use for you, gravity.
When it seems I’m always falling apart.
https://store.bookbaby.com/book/insights-hurt
My courtship is like autumn chill,
An omen to the nervous trees,
Who hold their warmth by staying still,
Before the comfort of green flees.

The steady chill has no effect,
The leaves resist their urge to fall,
The branches hold ever *****,
Resisting the whistling winds call.

With the first frost there is a change,
The tree becomes vulnerable,
The nakedness of its trunk is strange,
But change is inevitable.

My poetry has worn away,
The leaves you wore for protection,
That frost came when you heard me say,
Magic words of my affection.
Instagram @insightshurt
www.insightshurt.com
Buy “Insights Hurt: Bringing Healing Thoughts To Life” at store.bookbaby.com/book/insights-hurt
507 · Mar 2019
Curiosity Of The Faithful
The pantheon of misplaced fears,
Whose walls were built on oppressed tears,
Has been well-guarded through the years,
Hiding from curious man’s ears.

There is no faith that threatens fears,
Afflicting the weakest with tears,
No faith like that withstands the years,
Silent in curious man’s ears.

Unchallenged faith the true faith fears,
To give compassion through the tears,
Where questions repeat through the years,
Faith needs curious eyes and ears.

The curious confront faith’s fears,
The curious fight through faith’s tears,
The curious give faithful years,
The curious give faith their ears.
Instagram @insightshurt
Blogging at www.insightshurt.com
Buy “Insights Hurt: Bringing Healing Thoughts To Life” at store.bookbaby.com/book/insights-hurt
503 · Dec 2018
Silent Words Speaking
I hear your echo in silence,
Your voice speaks to me in quiet,
With ears that hear feelings, not words,
In a heart to amplify it.

Your clearest words were not spoken,
But they resounded in my ears,
In a heart tuned to perfect pitch
Of loving feelings that it hears.

I listen to your heart beating
To know the words you have to say,
My heart understands love language
Said from a million miles away.

In despair that causes deafness,
Hope is the comfort your voice speaks,
With ears you’ve given to my heart
Your love is what my silence seeks.
Instagram @insightshurt
Blogging at www.insightshurt.com
Buy “Insights Hurt: Bringing Healing Thoughts To Life” at store.bookbaby.com/book/insights-hurt
502 · Apr 2018
Echo
What cavernous space bellows back to me
From depths I encounter so warily?
Those hearts that stared back at me emptily,
Now echo “I love you” so audibly.

Abandoning hope I screamed into the black,
And nothing but darkness answered me back.
The silent response a deafening crack,
Now no echo of “I love you” I lack.

Opened my mouth with hands cupped to each side,
Projecting voice over my swallowed pride,
To space I wanted my love to reside,
Now echo “I love you” from the outside.

Standing alone atop the highest peak,
Into the abyss of loves I would seek,
Speaking whichever love language I speak,
Now echo “I love you” in voice unique.

From depths of another I hope to hear,
An echo of words I said so sincere.
I whisper “I love you” into her ear,
At last the echo “I love you” is here.
https://store.bookbaby.com/book/insights-hurt
500 · Feb 2019
Struggle And Despair
Flayed and tattered,
Torn and shattered,
Bruised and battered,
Never mattered.

Self-invocation,
Self-immolation,
Self-molestation
No consolation.

Bridges burned,
Lovers spurned,
Disgrace earned,
Nothing learned.

Heart conflicted,
Soul afflicted,
Self-inflicted,
Contradicted.

Hard discipline,
But genuine,
The only sin
Is giving in.
Instagram @insightshurt
Blogging at www.insightshurt.com
Buy "Insights Hurt: Bringing Healing Thoughts To Life" at store.bookbaby.com/book/insights-hurt
499 · Mar 2019
Tunnel Vision
This tunnel of vision
defies indecision.
To choose with precision,
I hide from derision.

The voices outside me
tell me lies to guide me.
With no one beside me,
I hear what’s inside me.

I can find my out.
I’ve always done without
others knowing my route
or what I’m all about.

Though the tunnel’s unlit,
dark and loneliness fit.
I’ve made myself commit,
Straight ahead, and don’t quit!
Instagram @insightshurt
Blogging at www.insightshurt.com
Buy “Insights Hurt: Bringing Healing Thoughts To Life” at store.bookbaby.com/book/insights-hurt
496 · Feb 2019
Healing Hearts
Residing at depth so deep,
Encapsulated by madness,
A heart once broken heals itself.

Darkness itself has no meaning
There, where light has never been seen,
The place that hearts must go to heal.

The infinite is closer than
The distance away from sorrow
A heart must travel to be healed.

A place no love can penetrate,
Where loneliness is redundant,
Broken hearts become whole again.

In that beyond, the seconds tick,
As time, ever the master waits.
Time, immanent time, heals the heart.
Instagram @insightshurt
Blogging at www.insightshurt.com
Buy “Insights Hurt: Bringing Healing Thoughts To Life” at store.bookbaby.com/book/insights-hurt
486 · Apr 2019
Winds Of Change
Stillness. Interrupted
by the howl of the wind,
unseen, now hear, then feel.

Apathy. Disrupted
by piercing of my skin
like blades of sharpened steel.

Existence. Corrupted
by the wind’s chill within,
shattering the ideal.

Emotions. Erupted
from the internal din
of feelings to reveal.

Stillness. Interrupted
by baring to the wind
what I could not conceal.
Instagram @insightshurt
Blogging at www.insightshurt.com
Buy “Insights Hurt: Bringing Healing Thoughts To Life” at store.bookbaby.com/book/insights-hurt
485 · Oct 2018
The Girls Never Loved Me
The girls never loved me.
Never when I was young.
Never when it mattered.
Not one tried to hug me.
I still feel how that stung.
Fixing what was shattered.

The girls never loved me.
I wrote poems each day.
I placed it in her hand.
Not one wrote back to me.
They just walked away.
It never worked as planned.

The girls never loved me.
Though they admired my mind.
But just to help with school.
But to really love me?
They may have been too kind.
I just was not too cool.

The girls never loved me.
But somehow I survived.
I made the uphill climb.
Someday they would love me.
Their needs had not arrived.
I was ahead of time.
Instagram @insightshurt
Blogging at www.insightshurt.com
Buy "Insights Hurt: Bringing Healing Thoughts To Life" at store.bookbaby.com/book/insights-hurt
480 · Aug 2018
I Wish
I wish I’d known you longer,
Met earlier, been stronger.
I wish I’d not spent those years,
Without you, with all those fears.

I wish that our paths had crossed,
Met earlier, I’d been lost.
I wish I’d have had the chance,
Without you, knew not romance.

I wish I had known your name
Met earlier, it’s a shame.
I wish I’d known who you were
Without you, past life’s a blur.

I wish that though we never
Met earlier, forever
I wish endless love and so
Without you, I never know.
Instagram @insightshurt
Blogging at insightshurt.blogspot.com
Buy "Insights Hurt: Bringing Healing Thoughts To Life" at store.bookbaby.com/book/insights-hurt
I see you…
With eyes that belie my weakness.
And a heart in humble meekness.
I see you, and your uniqueness.

I feel you…
With an embrace to enmesh us.
Sustained passion to refresh us.
I feel you, and why you’re precious.

I perceive you…
Your awesome aura and mystique.
The answer to the love I seek.
Perceive you, precious and unique.

You…
Of this unique revelation.
Preciousness of your creation.
To perceive precious and unique—
That defines appreciation.
In "God In Search Of Man," Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel writes, "Appreciation is not the same as reflection. It is an attitude of the whole person. It is one's being drawn to the preciousness of an object or a situation. To sense the preciousness of being able to listen to an imperative of God; to be perceptive of the unique worth of doing a mitzvah, is the beginning of higher kavanah."
The definition of "appreciation" as perceiving the unique preciousness of something stuck with me ever since I first read that passage.
Follow on Instagram @insightshurt
Blogging at www.insightshurt.com
Buy "Insights Hurt: Bringing Healing Thoughts To Life" at store.bookbaby.com/book/insights-hurt
470 · Aug 2019
No Darkness (Too Easy)
There is no darkness, no fearsome
emptiness we allude to as
an excuse for sadness. We ne’er come
into the light each of us has.

Those restless nightmares, too evil
for scaring us into shameful
weak banality, so we will
live cautiously and shift blame still.

Where has your hope gone? Did you cast
it out of you, like some demon
you could not exorcise too fast?
It’s there, in the world you dream in.

Lazy darkness comes, too easy,
while to make light needs energy
of asking for life to “please be
constant inspiration for me.”
(C) 2019 Daniel H. Shulman
464 · Apr 2019
Bounce Back
Springs spring back to life,
returning to form,
recovery gets
a bounce, extending
from its latent fate.

Springs power through strife,
calming from the storm,
everything resets
themselves, with pending
energy in fate.

Springs, rhythm of life,
no matter the form,
ensure the world gets
rebirth, extending
reliance on fate.
Instagram @insightshurt
Blogging at www.insightshurt.com
Buy “Insights Hurt: Bringing Healing Thoughts To Life” at store.bookbaby.com/book/insights-hurt
463 · Jan 2019
To Beauty, You Beauty
You, Beauty.
You populate those thoughts,
Arisen from solace.
To Beauty.
My constant seduction,
No honor or valor.
You, Beauty.
Not once have you passed by
Leaving idle my dreams.
To Beauty.
Instead you surround me
With a soul in squalor.

You, Beauty.
I want you ever more,
With you as my master.
To Beauty.
Have no regard for me!
Waste me away, depraved!
You, Beauty.
In every form and place,
You find me seeking you.
To Beauty.
I am never more dead.
I am never more saved.
Instagram @insightshurt
www.insightshurt.com
Buy “Insights Hurt: Bringing Healing Thoughts To Life” at store.bookbaby.com/book/insights-hurt
460 · Apr 2019
Wine
You are my goblet of fine wine,
deep and full, aged to perfection,
plump red lips as grapes off the vine,
tastes mixed in perfect complexion.

Like wine that one drinks long and slow
to sense every subtle tone,
each sip brings something new to know,
our encounter is all my own.

I’m drunk on your complexity,
calmed by your scent before I drink,
yet moved by your intensity
until I know not what to think.

My symbol of celebration,
the proof of the Vintner’s daring,
cause and effect of elation,
your love is my perfect pairing.
Blogging at www.insightshurt.com
Buy “Insights Hurt: Bringing Healing Thoughts To Life” at store.bookbaby.com/book/insights-hurt
456 · Jan 2019
Choreography Of Prayer
Rocking, rhythm, bobbing head.
Quiet wisdom, words unsaid.
Moving, swaying, in a trance.
Feeling, praying, like a dance.

Darkness, hearing, murmured sounds.
Soulful, fearing, fire surrounds.
Comfort, pleading, self laid bare.
Crying, needing, selfless prayer.

Heartfelt, wholesome, voicing praise.
Faithful, welcome, end of days.
Forgive, revive, guilt away.
Strengthen, alive, here I pray.

Intent, inspired, sensing awe.
Arise, aspire, then withdraw.
Recede, to Earth, breathe the air.
Shalom, rebirth, peace from prayer.
Instagram @insightshurt
www.insightshurt.com
Buy “Insights Hurt: Bringing Healing Thoughts To Life” at store.bookbaby.com/book/insights-hurt
452 · Aug 2018
Inspiration
If God created the World
        and all its Beauty to see,
What Beauty inspired Him,
        like your Beauty inspires me?

If God created the World,
        As Art for eternity,
What vision did He behold,
        Like yours is beheld by me?

If God created the World,
        where Love makes Man want to be,
What Love motivated Him,
        Like your love motivates me?

If God created the World
        within His own timelessness view,
What causes God’s timelessness
        Like those moments I’m with you?

If God created the World
        to bring living Life anew,
What made His life worth Living,
        like mine was not before you?

If God created the World
        but lived in His Creation,
What a World He would create,
        with you as inspiration!
Instagram @insightshurt
Blogging at insightshurt.blogspot.com
Buy "Insights Hurt: Bringing Healing Thoughts To Life" at store.bookbaby.com/book/insights-hurt
452 · Apr 2019
Return To Sender
There’s a knocking that I hear each morning,
a knock both a visitor and warning,
mistakes that invite themselves to my door,
mistakes that are not welcome anymore.

It’s not fear that makes me keep them outside,
nor the fatigue of further wounded pride.
I’ve learned enough what lies beyond my door.
It’s those mistakes I don’t need anymore.

Although I still don’t live life blamelessly,
I prefer to make mistakes namelessly.
Don’t package them and send them to my door
with my name on the label anymore.

It’s not that I should err and let it slide,
but I’ll never be perfect, though I’ve tried.
I know the sin that coucheth at my door.
I don’t need to bear their mark anymore.
Blogging at www.insightshurt.com
Buy “Insights Hurt: Bringing Healing Thoughts To Life” at store.bookbaby.com/book/insights-hurt
450 · Oct 2018
Rise and Wine
I sleep tonight anxious to rise,
And kiss your lips as sweet as wine,
So I awaken to surprise,
The woman lying there is mine.

My dreams no match for when I rise,
Drunk on her love like sweetest wine,
That she loves me is my surprise,
I love her and her love is mine.

The sun could someday fail to rise,
But still I would drink of her wine,
A sunless day is no surprise,
For my light is this love of mine.

Her touch is all I need to rise,
She’s rarer than the finest wine,
When our flesh meets to my surprise,
She says to me, “You, too, are mine.”
Instagram @insightshurt
Blogging at www.insightshurt.com
Buy "Insights Hurt: Bringing Healing Thoughts To Life" at store.bookbaby.com/book/insights-hurt
448 · Aug 2018
Love Survives
The whole wide world would end
If the sun ceased to shine.
But my world would go on
For as long as you’re mine.

The Earth would be destroyed
If the planets collide.
But I’ll live forever
If you’re still by my side.

If every cloud opened
And all the living drowned,
I know that I’d survive
If I have you around.

Though I have no power
To survive mortal strife
It’s just a simple fact
That our love survives life.
Instagram @insightshurt
Blogging at insightshurt.blogspot.com
Buy “Insights Hurt: Bringing Healing Thoughts To Life” at store.bookbaby.com/book/insights-hurt
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