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Mark Toney Aug 17
”Weeping willow’s silent wail …” — Poet


Dead of night
     thoughts of you
length and breadth
     our derring-do
love overwhelms
     flooding through
emotions swirl
     as I cling to you …

^ ^^ ^^^
        I
             s
               l
                  i
                    p
               u
                  n
                     d
                        e
                           r

engulfed in heartache
     in the dead of night




© 2025 Mark Toney
Free verse. © 2025 Mark Toney.
Flower Aug 17
That old Spanish test
The one we both failed
Was a reminder

We discussed it in hushed whispers
Outraged at our grades
That paper served as a reminder

A physical item tracing back to a true memory
A fragment of the glorious past
A reminder that once it really happened
I was looking through my old work from school and came across this test we’d both failed. It was crazy to see it; proof that I didn’t imagine everything. Proof that once it truly happened
Naebaegreen Aug 16
They don’t tell you

 love sometimes feels like 

drowning in promises.
Love shouldn’t feel like begging.

I miss when love wasn’t a game.

I miss when this relationship

felt like dancing in the rain—

slow,

and sweet.
Back then,

it was nothing but love in our eyes,

as your arms wrapped around mine

in the middle of any storm.

Feet splashing,

locked eyes,

like nothing in this world,

or any other,

mattered.
We used to laugh at the thunder—

we thought storms were just background noise.

Like we were untouchable.

Like we could survive anything

as long as we held on to each other.
But now?

Every day is thunderstorms.

Every day is pain.

And you cause it.
The one who claimed to love me

is the one who hurt me.
It’s crazy—

you once held my hand 

as we danced in that cold,

sweet-smelling rain.
And now?

Those same hands

let me drown

in a freezing,

dark,

empty ocean.
You left me.

 Alone. 

No life jacket.

No warning.

Just the ocean

and your silence.
Like saying:

“If I’m not here,

then you shouldn’t be able

to even put up a fight.”
So I sank
.
As the freezing, relentless waves

crashed into me—

again,

and again,

and again.
Your body pressed against mine

as we shared that loving gaze...
Then I snap back to reality—
we’ll never be the same.
You left me to drown.
And now,

I no longer have you

 to dance in the rain.
And I don’t know what hurts more—

the drowning,

or the fact that

I still miss dancing in the rain.
some storms aren't the problem it's who we face them with
Aidan Aug 14
The passage of time flows oddly
It has twists and loops
and holes and leaps.
It has tolls and bridges
and it may even have a cheshire cat
waiting to guide.

Which path have you taken to get where you are?
You can only tell when you reminisce

You can only share with others if:
it has been documented
it has been recorded
it has been photographed
they were there with you

Time of to set the next chapter ablaze
What's lined up?
Who knows
But one thing is for sure

Soon enough,
you'll be warped into another time freeze
another time to reminisce
another trip down the rabbit hole
Reminisce on memories & the quickness time goes without realizing
mysterie Aug 25
there's that feeling
of old memories
and happy voices --
big smiles too,
whenever you hear
thag one tune.

that one simple melody.

that one chord.

it all floods back.
prescription: read aloud once a day for full effect
date wrote: 14/8
i miss the simple life
in the way we all do.
bringing water
from the well –
the blue one –
at every street corner.
collecting firewood
so the winter stock would last,
toasting bread on the fireplace
brushed with a garlic clove,
and salt.

i remember the signs
in windows,
people selling eggs.
creeping into the barn,
scared of spiders
and chickens,
but still collecting them,
while still warm,
and fresh.

we’d scavenge
at the edge of town –
never allowed,
but we went anyway.
swimming in ***** waters,
slick with chemicals
and gasoline,
we didn’t have allergies
to the world.
just rolled around
in grass and dirt,
not caring
what lay beneath,
or might bite.

once, we let the cat taste
the tomato soup
from my mother’s bowl,
while she was on the loo.
we snickered,
choking on laughter,
watching her savour
every spoonful.
we were partners in crime,
my brother and i.

i even miss the smell
of the old theatre.
its worn-out curtains
heavy with nerves
as we danced,
competed,
recited poems,
pretended to be
one of the great
figures of the past,
and lay on the cold,
hardwood floor,
covered in dust.

i could list
these memories for ages.
what it felt like
to be a child.
weightless.
magical.
curious,
and bright.
i wanted to grow up
too quickly.
when i should
have held on tight.
this one is about the unshakable warmth of childhood memories, and the ache of realising you rushed to leave them behind.
Kalliope Aug 12
No, I never stay long
but you'll always know where I've been.
You'll hear my favorite song
and feel my presence within.

I've been so many new places,
an extensive list of things to do-
always leaving my traces,
Maybe one day you'll stand in my point of view.

Clover patches spawn on the outside
whenever I show up anew.
Do they remind you of times
when I've lied,
or all the silly dreams I confided in you?

I always seem to leave my mark,
flecks of green where they ought not be.
Bright neons light up the dark,
recentering some focus back to me.

Or maybe it's more of a haunting-
to be reminded of my soul,
to always be found is so daunting
when vanishing fully has been my goal.

What if I don’t want to be remembered?
I want to fade away in the void.
All evidence lost in the embers,
my sounds fading into background noise.

It’s not really me they hold close,
just a version that once was truth-
a humorously passionate nostalgic dose,
forgetting how I’m so uncouth.

I don’t want to be a good memory,
for those I’m trying to forget,
a snippet when I was the remedy
until I only made them upset.

Now I live in signs,
subtly in dreams,
even déjà vu at times-
things aren’t always as they seem.

If I am to be unforgettable,
if I must cross your mind,
I hope the thought is regrettable,
and slowly eats at you for a period of time.

To haunt is to be haunted,
and tortured I have been-
false futures, I’ve been taunted,
clearing caches within.

Never once have I destroyed a
pathway completely,
but this one must come down.
I’m drunk and rambling quite indiscreetly,
and your memory makes me frown.

I hope the thought of me spoils your day,
stirred up from a simple coffee -
looped in remembrance like
cursed decay,
and I the leading zombie.
Made into someone's ghost-
What a trophy for the hurt
Vindictive yet so vulnerable,
A blessing and a curse.
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