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Andrew Feb 18
Quietly sitting beside a dying fire,
hands outstretched, waiting for warmth
that never fully comes.
You tell yourself it's fine,
even fading heat is better than the cold.

But is it enough?
The flickering embers,
the half-light that barely holds back the night.
It is better than the risk of ashes,
better than watching it all burn away.

So you stay.
You stir the coals,
feed it what little you have left,
collecting the smallest sparks,
as if they might one day catch flame.

But they never do.
And deep down, you know they won’t.
The fire dims, shrinking into embers,
glowing softly but offering nothing,
leaving only smoke and the weight of the chill.

And maybe it’s too late.
Maybe one day, the fire will vanish completely,
a hollow space where warmth once lived.
Or maybe—just maybe—
you’ll walk away before the cold takes you too.
Zywa Feb 15
Darkness of the night,

the genuine veil of love --


drawn over everything.
Poem "Ode aan de nacht" ("Ode to the night", 1977, Jotie T'Hooft)

Collection "After the festivities"
Zywa Feb 15
Ah, the willow branch

in the vase can no longer --


reach the low water.
Haiku by Shigenobu (-1832), included in the 1986 collection "Japanese Death Poems", compiled by Yoel Hoffmann: "Nageire no / mizu mo todokazu / yanagi kana" ("A willow branch / that doesn't reach the water / in the vase")

Collection "After the festivities"
Graeme Feb 1
May a warm summer wind soon blow your way,
Wishing you good, luck fortune, and good day,
You now a part of the kingdom of heaven,
What a wonderful place to go and live in.

For there will be all your wildest dreams,
Nothing you thought you would ever believe.
And now that you will finally receive,
The Wonderful Kingdom of Heaven.
Written on 2015-09-18.

I randomly made this up one day. There’s no deeper meaning, it just came to me and I thought it sounded nice, so I wrote it down.
Jeremy Betts Jan 24
Things are bad and getting worse
And what's worse
Is this stagnant curse
One maybe set from birth
But who knows
All I know
Is it can't lead to the back of a hearse
First things first
And for what is worth
I need to find my worth
But while searching for said worth
I find myself dying of thirst
Realizing life can't be reversed
Opportunity dispersed
I have to accept the empty
Path I've traversed
And acknowledge the wasted good karma
Will never be reimbursed

©2025
Melanie Jan 21
I don't understand death
never been able to
raised on hope and fantasy stories
second chances,
just turn the page
try again, there must be away
no one's every really gone
what a harsh metallic taste
to close the book
to know there's nothing else
that gone is gone
and that's it
...dust. Ethereal disgust;
the, revolver, Earthly,
expires, coo d'etats. Droning,
are; discharges, of, mistrust.

Early, empires, of, devilment. Driven-on;
gritty, caustic, roads,
of, gristled, carbon, and, skin.
Exuviated, by, serpentine; clouds, gusts.

Makes, death; evolve.
Caught, in, each, tyre-tread,
is, every, copied, dynasty;
crushed, done, then... Chaos.
Eventually, everything,
self-destructs.

From, erstwhile, meagre,
nihilism, upended. Cometh,
mere, scintillating, diamonds. Of,
their; cognition, desires, meat. Dust...

© poormansdreams
Life, death, and, dust.
Love grows weaker
When we ignore our pain.
It grows colder
When we feel no shame.

Coldness which numbs
Needed extremities --
Parts of the soul needed
To sustain other souls.

Love may be a dying breed.
It isn't what some people
Think they need.
But pure love is the

Life in the seed --
So don't let the
Seed of Life
Become a dying breed.
©2025 Daniel Irwin Tucker
Mark Penfold Dec 2024
When old age takes you, years hence, moves, misshapes and betwixt you into mortal parts,
Where once lost memories and thoughts, take centre stage and regret, like famished rodents, gnaw upon your withered heart.
The bodied cage, worn out, divided over many leagues and years,
Time is shorter than a happy smile, so do not waste it with your tears.
  
The mind is frail, yet time and exit frailer still,
Condemned to lonely wonder on that high precipice of early dawn and sky lark shrill.
Regrets prove plenty, akin to timeless grains of sand,
left strewn across the salty shore, which cause abrasive sores both in spirit and in humble man.

The mind again, yes that oldest tempest foe,
Who tries to cheat you of your common wits.
The blind man sees which way to go,
The liars tongue is made of gold, the wise man thinks but never sits.

You search, yet fumble all the same, time and anguished time again, through nameless worn out keys,
To invisible shackles, which are as boundless as the raging seas.
Those spellbound, never ending fetters, ***** and chains,
Like endless seasons dance upon, and tread beneath untrodden moss of natures rains.

You MUST! Leave at once, and elevate your tired being, BEYOND! The confines of our fragile mind,
Free yourself, unbind regrets, mistakes and worries, and leave old burdens far behind.
Or else risk damnation and eternal loss, the final mystery unravelled,
Abandon all you seek of yesterday, and set upon that road less travelled.

We are all but struggling insects, crawling on the face of God entire,
Until that fateful day, at final close of stormy play, we all succumb, relief and vigorous delights await.
To gentle lay and leave our mortal coil upon the wire,
Our aching soul, abandoned, to the wingless, shrouded, hands of wicked fate.
Mark Penfold Christmas Eve 2024

Had a strange dejavu moment last night and this just rattled out of me in seconds, strange
rhyme weaver Dec 2024
They tell me that everything has its time—
Each heartbreak, each joy, every mountain to climb.
But here I sit, drowning in despair,
Wondering why you’re not standing there.

Is it because my body’s wearing thin,
A battle outside reflecting within?
The aches and the weight that drag me down,
A silent war where I feel I might drown.
My balance is gone; the world spins fast,
Each moment a fight just to make it last.
I clutch at walls to steady my pace,
Yet even standing feels like a race.
I’m trapped in a body that won’t obey,
A fragile shell that fades away.

The mirror feels cruel, revealing my fight—
A body in shadow, drained of its light.
I don’t know this face, these heavy eyes,
The weight of sorrow, the endless cries.
It doesn’t see the war inside my mind,
Only the shell that’s been left behind.
I search for the person I used to see,
But all that’s left feels foreign to me.

Maybe the reason we’re not together now
Is hidden in the weight I carry somehow.
My body is failing; my mind feels weak.
The healing I need will take months, not just weeks.
I’m fighting a battle I don’t fully understand,
Too broken to hold another’s hand.

And perhaps you’re healing in your own way,
Facing the wounds you’ve buried each day.
There are pieces of you that still need repair—
A journey to take while I’m not there.
Maybe the universe knows what we don’t,
That we need this time apart to grow.

I wish you were here to steady my fall,
To be my comfort, my strength through it all.
To hold me close, to ease this pain,
To bring some light to the endless rain.
But my sickness is not a burden you should bear,
Not for someone already lost in despair.
You’re fighting your demons, I know that’s true—
It wouldn’t be fair to place this on you.
So maybe it’s better that you’re not near,
For you too have wounds that need to clear.
Perhaps this distance, though hard to endure,
Is part of the reason we’re meant to mature.

And as the year slips closer to its end,
I pray for more time, though I cannot pretend.
With my health declining, I can’t promise tomorrow—
Each day is a balance of hope and sorrow.
Still, everything happens for reasons unseen.
What will be, will be, whatever it means.

Yet, there’s a whisper, soft yet unkind—
A shadow that lingers deep in my mind.
What if the stars won’t guide you back?
What if this love is the one thing I lack?
What if the reasons I cling to are lies,
And love won’t return, no matter my tries?
Am I holding to hope just to numb the fear,
Afraid to accept that you’ll never be near?

Maybe we’re not soulmates; maybe it’s true.
Maybe the stars weren’t meant for me and you.
But I truly believe everything happens for reasons unseen,
Guiding us gently, wherever they mean.

So, if you’re my person, the stars will align.
Through distance and time, your heart will find mine.
If we are meant to be, that truth will arrive.
But first, I must focus on staying alive—
Healing my body, reclaiming my mind,
Seeking the strength I thought I’d never find.
For only when I’m whole can love take its place,
And time will reveal if you share that space.

For now, I wait, with questions unspoken,
Believing some truths are best left broken.
And maybe, just maybe, the path we can’t see
Is still guiding us gently to where we should be.
12.18.24
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