Submit your work, meet writers and drop the ads. Become a member
a ring of embers—
with my heart
gently dancing around it.
my face is flushed,
damp with tears,
as if they’ve started
boiling in the mist.
I miss you—
but you know that
already.

in my mind,
I’m still running
through the churchyard,
over stone paths,
stepping on yellowed leaves
that gave up weeks ago.
inside me:
homesickness, awe,
anger, grief—
a hundred hands,
all pulling.

you’re a morsel of bread,
bird-snatched, half-left—
carried home in my satchel,
like a labourer
at the day’s end.
you are what you say you are.
and more.
a frame around my soul
I can’t keep building.

I cannot call you mine.
I have a homeland.
you gave the exile shelter—
but she, the other,
birthed me, shields me,
and one day
will cover me with earth.
I cannot betray her.

for what you made
and left behind,
I owe you still.
I’ll bury your legacy
like treasure
in the quietest parts.
it’s mine to guard.

and maybe one day,
when time has vanished,
I can return to you—
shed a tear for us
on a rainy evening,
wipe you clean
like an old photograph,
and place you gently
back into
a quiet corner
of the past.
July 10, 2025.
this one is about loyalty split in half. one gave me language, the other gave me life.
Carlo C Gomez Apr 25
Late October,
and they have assuredly returned.

A canopy of clusters.

At second glance
the leaves on the trees are wings.

Whisper into the dreamscape
for they sense your voice.

Revive them with your breath.

Hold out your hand
like you hold out hope.

The warm sound of flutterings.

Circadian clocks in their antennae,
a sense of where they've been
and where they are going.

The gift from their Creator
moves them in the right direction.
blank Apr 18
it’s easy to miss the juncos’ slow, sudden departure in spring;
messengers from colder warming worlds

they arrive a dulling autumn:
peppering notations of life in a landscape encased,
each deep dark demitasse
brewed on increasingly tardy dawns
painting a night sky inverted

standing ankle deep in first snows
searching for leftover springs beneath the detritus

but then they finally emerge with the warblers,
orioles, robins, and buntings

and pointillism fades beneath impressionist palettes
that flash over treetops and underbrush

but the last juncos linger:
quiet familiar trills outside my window each morning
disrupting stillness till it disappears
an ode to the dark-eyed junco

i just ******* love birds idk what else you need to know. about time i wrote a proper poem about them
Romance it was,
when I thought
that in this country
I would feel at home.

When I boarded that plane,
headed for the future.
A promising future,
full of trials
and many successes.

I crossed borders,
both physical and emotional.

I never thought my life
would fit into a suitcase.

In my suitcase,
only a few clothes,
but filled with everything
that pushed me forward.

The rest was in my mind:
the embrace of my mother and father.
Will this be the last time I see them?

Longing and nostalgia,
a feeling in my chest.

I don’t know if it’s sadness or love,
pride for doing
what many cannot,
and yet, I dare.

Now I find myself here,
I am the different one,
the one who speaks with an accent.

Strong in life,
wondering what I’m doing here,
searching for my path.

Not for an earthly purpose,
but because the universe
needs me here.

It seems like a terrestrial journey,
but it is an astral journey
to another reality.

Many times I cry,
other times I comfort myself.
I am no longer from here,
but neither from there.

When I say,
"I am from the world,"
I find myself.
Jesus' baby Mar 8
The hustling,
The bustling,
The endless rustling —
Journeying through,
My eyes reel,
My heart screeches,
My soul needing retraining —
This hush life not mine.

Stepping into my homeland,
I knew displacement.
The air too thick,
The pace too fast,
The noise — a rhythm I never learned.

From a country serene,
I came,
Where peace was my daily bread,
And calm held me like a lover.

But here —
Here my spirit recoils,
My heart protests,
My eyes hurl against the rush
Of this my Nigeria.

Blood of Nigeria,
But bred in another’s heart —
I tasted peace and bliss
In this, my adopted home.

Can I deny my country?
My lineage trips there,
My name sings of its soil —
But my spirit whispers
In another tongue.

A proud Nigerian —
Am I?
I laugh.

Yet still,
My roots — Nigeria.
I am torn in between accepting my identity as a Nigerian or denying it
Steve Page Oct 2024
I want to express my indefinite joy
that you've settled indefinitely.
Joy that needs no further permission.
Joy that carries no expiration. 

You and yours are definitely loved.
You and yours are definitely valued. 
And you are all definitely welcome. 
Indefinitely.
To my friends who received their indefinite leave to remain in the UK
neth jones Sep 2024
'pup' is sad and so says
i point out a 'v' of exit geese against the sky
says he's not sad anymore and he's not
a child's power  just like that
observation of my five yr old child
09/24

early haiku style versions -

1.
viewing the exit migration
of a v of geese
my child's sad mood goes

2.
exit migration
  of an echelon of geese
my child's sad mood lifts
josef Sep 2024
Oh, how she calls to me!
My native land, land of highlanders,
and epics of bygone eras
Take me back to those accursed mountains,
and those flatlands where the farmers do produce their yield.
Robert Ronnow Jul 2024
The day after my Aunt Ro died
a doe approached within a few feet
as if confused about where she was
and what she should be doing.
I could neither comfort nor advise her.
I let her be not considering until later maybe
I had witnessed the transmigration of a soul.
But in the end I applied Ockham’s razor—

you rarely see what you believe.
A mile further along my morning stroll
I was greeted cheerfully by a flock
of cedar waxwings I always consider it a blessing
to encounter. Such social, amiable beings
I hope Aunt Ro will join, so sure are they of who they are—
Zywa May 2023
Buzzing everywhere,

the oasis full of bees --


All flowers empty.
1. Migration to rich countries, which get too crowded to feed everyone / 2. Kleptocracy, keeping the population as poor as possible

Collection "The drama"
Next page