#ode poems on Hello Poetry

just another nobody Sep 2020

O soft evening, I keen await
your calm, consoling atmosphere,
The peace drifting upon your whisper,
The choruses of the birds I hear.

My troubled soul, it longs for you,
When it may finally be at ease,
When the world is stroked by golden charm
to sleep, and red boughs sigh in the breeze.

The dying daylight gilts the earth,
and drowsiness settles in the warm air,
I sigh, for the day is nearly done,
and some days are more than I can bear.

As evening slips into the night,
and as the gold fades into grey,
As darkness falls upon the land
I let my thoughts and feelings stray.

I think of this Autumn evening,
so beautiful and without a care,
I think of its creator, my Almighty God,
and I offer up this evening prayer.

Please banish from me the thoughts of day,
O Lord, and deliver me upon your wings,
and I praise you, Lord, for the calm you bring,
Upon an Autumn evening.

#autumn #evening #ode #praise #god

Jonathan Moya Sep 2020

River Ode

The lavender skin river
whispered with a maiden’s call.

Bonnet curls kissed her banks
in a flush of forgiving tears
for the trawlers bruising
her mercy and calm,
each departing an oily scar
that dispersed in the flow,

for the water is never mean
this cold season
to those that whip her
yet never scuttle in her embrace,
for she is an orphan
seeking the lost ocean’s reunion.

She wonders on rivery things,
the searching and sloshing swirl,
the geraniums, irises, lobelias
breaking off in purple sacrifice
to soothe her aching waters.

knowing that endless
Sunday baptisms have made her
sacred to those who
know only the dawn and twilight
of the sun above her
and the watery blessings
below that feed them.

The river flowers tickled her and
the laughter spread on her stream
and she knew what she meant
and what she meant to them.
She moved closely away
to the tiny hands in the grass
waving her goodbye
and the longer, bigger ones
welcoming the trawlers home.

#river #ode

From the ashes Sep 2020

Ode to the Traveling Man

Up in the backwoods
Of Michigan, lives the
Traveling man name of Tim.
He's in a band, with a million fans, and I think it is a sin, that he's in better shape than I am, and I'm ******* younger than him.
Ever since he got bit by that possum, he will never be the same again.

I had a great conversation with Traveling Man the other day, he's a great dude, and this ode practically wrote itself. Long may he live

#ode #traveling #man #poet #musician #father #human

Alicia Aug 2020

subjectively living

these days without a dad are strange
in ways I wish I cared more about
things are suddenly easy to let go of
when you are tired and
you finally loosen your grip,
an ode to visceral reactions
things are simple to never need back
if nothing seems real
in the first place
it's never even that deep
just that picturing a future
seems more like
getting hopes up
there is an important distinction
to be separate from "looking forward to something"
life grows disheartened when these two are confused
used too closely to tell
is this realism? or a ****** distraction
from the fact that
I wouldn't mind dying

#daddyissues #visceral #ode #future

Tosan Oluwakemi Thompson Jul 2020

Esu

Esu Lanlu
Esu Elegbara
Esu Odara
Esu, the scared child of heaven
Esu, a reviled, respected,
Yet misunderstood being.
Esu, all creations dance to your best of life
Esu Dagunro
Esu Lukuluku
Esu Apagbe
Esu, the quickest and fastest one
Esu, confuser of many
Esu, the disruptor of order
Esu, the iconic one
Esu, the master of linguistics
Esu, the conciliatory peacemaker
Esu, the divine alchemist
Esu, the trickster
Esu, the pusher of those,
Who doesn't carry Olodumare's wishes.
Esu, the inseparable friend of Orunmila
Esu,
Papa Legba
Legba Atibon
Kalfou
Papa La Bas
Esu, divine messenger of transformation
Esu, ebora to luti la nbo
Esu, Okunrin ori ita
Esu, a quick responder when consulted
Esu, divine messenger of the gods
Esu Odara, the divine one of Ose Otura
Esu, carrier of the ase of sensuality and fertility
Esu Lanlu, king of dance
Esu, keeper and imparter of ase
Esu, the fundamental Orisa
Esu, the manifest of greatness
Esu, the one who is as hard as Rock
Esu Akeregbaye
Esu, the shedder of blood who knows no one's tears
Esu, the controller of earth
Esu, the special middle man between heaven and Earth
Esu, the anointed rope to success and wealth
Esu Lanlu
Esu Elegbara
Esu Odara

Written by Tosan Oluwakemi Thompson

This poem I wrote titled "Esu" is an eulogy to Esu and the praises of Esu.

#esu #eulogy #ode

Ashley Mellinger Jul 2020

To All the Fathers I’ve Borrowed

Thank you for loving me.
For greeting me with a smile,
For encouraging me,
For picking me up when I fall down,
For forgiving my mistakes,
And reminding me I am not my faults.

Thank you for hearing me,
For listening,
For taking action,
For your careful word choice.

Thank you for reading me.
For listening to what I wasn’t saying.
For picking up but I wasn’t laying down.

Thank you for staying by my side.
For fighting for me,
For taking up a war you didn’t have to fight.

Thank you for teaching me.
For explaining so thoroughly,
For waiting so patiently,
For understanding my misspoken words,
For knowing me.

Thank you for taking the time to truly understand me.

Thank you for seeing me —
As a person,
As a gentle soul,
As an emotional teenager,
And not brushing me
Like you so easily could’ve.

Thank you for loving me
Even when it was hard.

#ode #father #deadbeatdad #emotional #thankyou