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Jude 1d
lately all I get
are broken backs
and droopy eyes.

cracked ribs
and split lips.

gurgling breaths
and hollow cheeks.

a bright flame burning
but buried
too deep.
A flame once thrived on outer heat,
In comfort’s arms, its life complete.
It danced on winds, so wild, so free,
Unknowing warmth could ever flee.

It never learned to guard its core,
Believed the warmth would ever pour
The world had fed its every spark,
And lit its path through every dark

But one still day, the skies turned gray,
The winds grew cold and pulled away
The warmth it knew slipped out of sight,
And left the flame to face the night

It gasped for warmth, for hands, for light,
But frost had chained its wings in flight
Its hues grew pale, its spark withdrew,
A golden heart turned cold and blue

It tried to shout, but none replied,
No flame to spark, no light to guide
It fought to burn but lost the fight,
Now flickered weak in ash and night

Deep in the dark, a whisper grew,
A hidden beat no one once knew
A memory kept, by heart it's known,
A spark that glows when all alone.

In that silence, a spark was born,
A brand-new blaze, untouched, untorn.
No sun, no wind could feed its flame,
It burned alone untamed, aflame.

It shed the wish for borrowed light,
And made its warmth against the night.
Not just to live, but to ignite,
And turn the freeze to glowing white

The cold around began to shift,
Its biting edge began to lift.
The flame, now still but burning deep,
Had taught the dark itself to weep.

And as the frost began to fade,
A dance of light and shadow played.
For even in the coldest night,
The smallest flame can birth the light.
You'll get two for flinching and a extra one for dodging.  

A hug for every stutter
handshake for every flutter
You'll get more than what I could ever ask for,  you're all that I need You're the only thing I bleed.    

It could be a distance even though in the same room I feel like I'm floating Even though I'm physically choking  

A kiss for every scar
A wink for every time you needed to think
A smile for every time you brought yourself in denial.
A smirk for every time you pretended to be a ****  

I thought things would stop I thought wrong even with my eyes this world I thought I'd leave behind.  
I want you to have what I can't.  
I want to feel the things that you're not supposed to.  
I want to hurt for you I want to hurt with you.  

It's inedible the incredible that I could find somebody to loathe somebody to crown somebody to dress  beautifully . Somebody that accepts themselves the same way that I hated myself.
Was in the feels.
owls at dawn Mar 29
I hold my line
I hope he holds his
we are fantastic creatures
holding this existence between our teeth
we juggle sorrows and joys
we welcome angels and gods
we touch lightning rods between our fingers

you cannot stop us
we evolve
slippery as fish in primordial waters
we are the bearers of a new age
and we will love
each other
and you
Neil Coleman Mar 27
I rarely understand,
or, in any case,
I am the last to understand

a stream flows for the first time, trickling up from earth
air, hushed in the still of night,
then puff, a breeze

O' to witness that glorious space in time
a river magically unfolds, alive
wind, from nothing, begins to blow
a flame arises, unbidden
a universe bangs big

our hearts beat as one,
As we fall in love
for the first time

All over again.


njcoleman    march 2025
Ian K Mar 27
Why I keep the fire alive, I don’t know.
It wasn’t particularly strong,
or explosive.
You couldn’t have used it to fight any wars,
or heat a city.
From the outside, it was nothing special.
Destined to flare, flicker, then fade.
But to me,
it was soft and warm.
Just enough to keep a hope alive.
But what if that hope burns brighter?
Brighter than I could dream?
Maybe it’s not a hearth, strangled in the crib,
but a wildfire, being nursed to devastating force.
I don’t know. I guess an arsonist
is more interested in the lick of the flame
than its bite.
It’s selfish then;
keeping these embers a glow.
…I’m fine with that
owls at dawn Mar 24
there is much to accomplish in the desert between oases
A world, hidden in a lover's eye—
Outsiders ought not to oversee.
It's where anything can come by,
Where ordinary would be a beauty.

Yes, dear reader,
It's the lover's eyes,
A realm much deeper,
Where all the magic lies.

Don't turn away,
Don't shun the flame
Let it softly stay—
It's love, not shame.
It's love, not shame
Dom Feb 20
Life fizzles effervescent
And all we are is popping carbon
Leave the ashes of our embers
To perfume campfire scents
From the fires burning bright,
Twin candle flames
Dancing in twilight
Betwixt and concentrated
Quick as a winter’s day
Left colder just the same,
White dwarves made from stars
That once clambered for infinity.

Cheers, to you.
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.
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