Submit your work, meet writers and drop the ads. Become a member
Jiāwén Liú Jan 25
In frigid shadows of a broken vow,
My heart, a prisoner, in silence cries.
Forced to yield, unseen chains bind me now,
Where love's cold absence breeds a storm that sighs.

She walks unburdened, draped in self-made light,
A queen unstained by tears my spirit weeps.
My yearnings mocked, a one-sided plight,
Betrayal's embers where true passion sleeps.

A barren wasteland, where our dreams lay slain,
Hope's fragile bud choked by a loveless rain.
My silent screams unheard, a whispered pain,
Lost in the darkness, love's deceptive chain.

Isolation's grip, a serpent's cold embrace,
Tightens around me, fueled by her cold grace.
I reach out, grasping for a fleeting trace,
Of the love we once shared, now displaced.

Invisible chains bind me to the past,
Memories haunt me, can't escape at last.
Like a ghost, I wander lost, outcast,
Trapped in a love that couldn't ever last.

Each link in the chain is a bitter regret,
Moments lost forever, I can't forget.
I'm shackled to a love I can't reset,
Tangled in a web of love and debt.

The weight of the chains bears down on my soul,
A heavy burden I can't control.
I long to break free, to finally be whole,
But the chains hold tight, taking their toll.

Unseen chains, invisible but strong,
Bind me to a love that's gone so wrong.
I'm trapped in a cycle, where I don't belong,
A prisoner of love's haunting song.

I search for a key to unlock the chains,
To free myself from these loveless pains.
But the chains remain, a reminder of stains,
Of a love lost in sorrowful refrains.

I long for freedom, for release from this plight,
To soar like a bird in the clear, free light.
To break these chains that bind me so tight,
And finally find peace in the still of night.

But until that day comes, I'll endure the pain,
Of living with these unseen chains.
Bound to a love that's left me drained,
Haunted by memories that still remain.

Unseen chains, a burden unseen,
A weight that crushes all my dreams.
But I'll keep on fighting, despite how it seems,
For one day, I'll break free from these loveless schemes.
This was written once I discovered that after 3 years of separation, I was in a loveless marriage.  She had forsaken and abandoned me but kept me around to do her bidding, the mundane things that some think that a husband is only good for.  Living in separate homes, paying for both.  I realized the worst, that it was irrevocably broken, unrepairable, but that I had been shackled to it.  This poem acknowledges that pain, suffering, and shame, and that I need to find an escape, no matter how painful and hurtful it became.
Battered plaster,
shattered glass,
splintered rafters,
a crumbling mass.

You former home
of…who knows who?
who left to roam
away from you.

Now you stand
empty, broken
but look quite grand
in scars unspoken.
Inspired by this photo I took of an abandoned and crumbling ornate house in Potsdam: https://bsky.app/profile/jackgroundhog.bsky.social/post/3lg6fgwou4s24
AllyRose Dec 2024
My soul is a lacuna
In these moments of silence
There’s an empty void.
In this river of regret
It’s Hollow dark and cold.

Nothing left but bitter emptiness
I’ll still long for your touch
To hear the sound of your voice
And I don’t want to forget
Or Learn to live with the pain

These demons are relentless
And driving me insane
But If you want the leave
Don’t let me stand in your way

But Please don’t call me a fool
If I ask you stay
Let them think what they want
I don’t care what what they say

I’ll be lost and scared
In the midnight rain
If you go away
You may as well take the sun away
Sara Barrett Nov 2024
Growing up as a girl, I watched and learned,
The truths of boys and men often go unturned.
“Boys will be boys,” a phrase we all know,
Implying that girls must shoulder the load.
This notion suggests that girls mature fast,
Leading to women who pick up the cast—
An unspoken burden, a silent decree,
To bear the weight of their irresponsibility.
In a world steeped in misogyny’s grasp,
Women face judgment; their futures unclasped.
Absorbing the shame of the games that they play,
While men to walk away, free to go on their way.
Many men abandon homes they once called their own,
Now seen as free, yet their true selves unknown.
Disgrace drapes over women like a heavy yoke—
A weight of neglect that shatters their hope.
This yoke is forged from promises unkept,
From fathers who vanish while their children wept.
He escapes guilt with practiced ease,
Dodging duty like a ghost on the breeze,
Claiming children and a wife he never knew,
While society laughs at the pain he withdrew.
Leaving his children to carry his woes—
Their identities shaped by the hurt that he chose.
His children learn quickly to shoulder the shame;
They remember who was the burden of blame—
Like he who claimed love but was never there.
Those left to carry his name feel the strain,
Learning of unfairness that echoes their pain.
Abandoned women and children continue to grow—
A daunting endeavor men wish to overthrow.
Yet shadows may linger, and burdens remain;
They’ll carve out a future where hope will maintain.
For every struggle faced will lead to the dawn—
A testament to strength as they carry on.
The poem “Left To Carry His Name” delves into the profound burdens that women and children endure as a result of men’s irresponsibility. This poem critiques the societal norms that enable men to escape accountability while women are left to shoulder the emotional and social consequences of abandonment. Through vivid imagery, it conveys the shame and struggle experienced by those who are left behind, underscoring their resilience as they strive for a brighter future. As the second piece in a series focused on gender roles and family dynamics, this work invites readers to reflect on how we can confront and change these deeply ingrained societal expectations.
Moni Nov 2024
En el silencio
Busco por tu voz,
Un señal que por me
No te sientes desprecio,
Que no me vas a quedar
Con tu ausencia.

Quiero rogarte hasta las rodillas
Que no te vayas,
Que no me das una
Patada en la espinilla.

Pero no.
Las palabras no me salen.
Me siente q todos me jalen
Porque en realidad
No me aguanten.

Chillo y chillo
Hasta que reconozco
Que las lagrimas no hacen nada.
No paran el abandono,
No paran el odio
Que tienes por mi,
El odio que me da ganas de morir.

Lejos quiero correr,
A un bosque
Y nunca volver.
Los pensamientos me consumen
Y me quedo congelada.
Me quiero morir.
Hasta que
Oigo a tu voz.
Gerry Sykes Nov 2024
Abandoned, Still, Silent,
only the dust is moving
dancing a noiseless perpetual waltz.
Here and there a mote
intersects the silent sun,
(that slips in through broken glass)
picking out the rainbow rays.
Just the quick perception
of mouse and bird
to observe the shafts of coloured light
that they do not comprehend.

Above the pulpit
marble eyes look out,
and stone lips
caught in the act
cry out
"Why have you forsaken Me?"
Immobile hands are pinned
out wide,
to receive the world.
They cannot open the door
but wait
for someone to come.
One of the first I wrote, sometime in the late 1980's. The first one outside English lessons in school.
Ariannah Nov 2024
Will you be the queen to my castle?
Just like the moon completes the sky,
Will you be the light that guides me
Through the shadows of the night?
Will you look me in the eye and promise me delightfully
That I'm the best you'll ever see?

Will you be the bead to my bracelet?
Threaded through the string of life,
An anchor of pure investment
Will you be the playful wind that tangles through my hair
That would never let me live in despair
For I've been already there,
Running away from the things I mostly cared

So will you be The queen to my castle?
Will you let me embrace you with my fortress walls?
Will you let me hold you close and never say goodbye?
Will you stay, or will you leave?
Will i be abandoned, like the hundred times before ?
Or will I finally have-
A queen to my castle?
I want my queen to enter the castle :)
Next page