#odyssey poems on Hello Poetry

Mark L Dec 2016

Father

Drowned in and by my own devices,
I stand some gray longed Odysseus
Whose sails were never sewn in Ithaca
Set born journey's of the mind, not the muscle.

It remains unclear if I will start,
Or end with the end my saviour.
With such little sand between,
Will I even be able to pass toddle, pass crawl?

One thing this life has provided me,
(Albeit these necessities be dismissed)
Is an inhuman awareness.
Little fear of sand itself, but of its dried complexion.

Had I been sewn to different sand,
Different circumstance,
Hatched to ground not my own.
Then now, no doubt, I'd have succumbed.

#poem #father #up #growing #age #odyssey

Zelda Sep 2016

In my Fantasies

For 64 days I played a game of "Truth or Dare"
Cross my heart, beg to die
This is the confession of a broken heart
That sacrificed it's sanity for a steamy love affair

Now, I sit by the window wishing I had had a crystal ball
because it'd  have saved me a century of torment
Knowing I wasn't your knight in shining armour
It'd have saved me a century of screaming
Instead I watched Atlantis vanish
My pretty, perfect, paradise turned to ash

In my fantasies
We're still in the attic staring at it
The picture of broken love
Holding on to a hope, so cold
I should let go, but I'm paralyzed
Covered in apprehension that we'd survive
And come down from the attic
I am convinced, I'm staring at it
The picture of true love
but true love left, walked out the door
and it's all my fault and if I was honest
I'd admit it's over

Hello, unhappily ever after
Thoughts that refuse me to let me sleep
I remember when I first saw you
I ran out of words
I lost my breathe as butterflies erupted
I couldn’t resist entering the maelstrom despite the warnings
This is my odyssey
I couldn't resist the enchanting music
I thought I could take it
I wanted to be imprisoned
I never knew something so beautiful could be so dangerous

But in my fantasies
We're still in the attic staring at it
The picture of broken love
Holding on to a hope so cold
I should let go, but I'm paralyzed
Covered in apprehension that we'd survive
And come down from the attic
I am convinced, I'm staring at it
The picture of true love
but true love left, walked out the door
and it's all my fault and if I was honest
I'd admit it's over

I still want to be your ***** little secret
The thing you write your love songs about
But I'm nothing more than a wilting February song
Lost in the bitter, biting, bleak winter air
Because you were never mine
And every day I woke up alone, lying to myself
That I could live with empty arms
Instead of a soft lullaby
I scream words of a banshee

Inject me with your love, baby
Give me your love, honey
Fill me with lush tender dreams
Make cotton, candy, clouds rain sweet sugars of incandescent ecstasy
Just give me what I need because underneath I’m breaking

But in my fantasies
We're still in the attic staring at it
The picture of broken love
Holding on to a hope so cold
I should let go, but I'm paralyzed
Covered in apprehension that we'd survive
And come down from the attic
I am convinced, I'm staring at it
The picture of true love
but true love left, walked out the door
and it's all my fault and if I was honest
I'd admit it's over

You need to tell me if you feel the things I do
Your hard exterior, your indecisions are making me wonder
If it’s worth staying up until 3 am
To meet you for our  little rendezvous
But I'm tired of sleeping with the enemy
A person I can't recognize
Take off the mask, end this façade
Stop blaming me for losing yourself
When you got caught up in someone you invented

But in my fantasies
We're still in the attic staring at it
The picture of broken love
Holding on to a hope so cold
I should let go, but I'm paralyzed
Covered in apprehension that we'd survive
And come down from the attic
I am convinced, I'm staring at it
The picture of true love
but true love left, walked out the door
and it's all my fault and if I was honest
I'd admit it's over

I admit
It's over
Our masterpiece has crumbled beneath your feet
Turned to ash, you left the remains in my chest
Because none of it was real
It was just a game of "Truth or Dare"
But I was never given the truth
So I dare you to tell me the truth
But you refuse
But that won't stop me from sleeping tonight
Without nightmares, without shadows
In my fantasies

#love #shadows #fantasies #odyssey

ryn Jul 2016

Odyssey

Leave your world
Bring your all
A universe to be unfurled
A realm awaiting to enthral

Climb aboard
Slide into the seat
We are what we can afford
You and I... We make
our very own fleet

Strap yourself in
Get ready for the trip
The journey we were made for
Let us begin
The odyssey of our lives
In this here spaceship

#odyssey #hellopoetry107

kk Jun 2016

Odyssey

Gentle
Gentle
breathe it in
it's all for you:

The moss on the trees
the acid in your mouth
the choked air in a sun room.

We can share this together.

See here is the man missing.
the hero is missing.

We heard many great tales of his exploits:

The wife at home,
her endless tapestry

The fatherless son now
A quarter century old.

We can share his glories,
the glorious goods:

Waking up to blood
on bedsheets
without a sign of scratch

Here
Here
Come gentle now
forgotten son:

The sail is escaping from your grip
This ship is taking us nowhere
Change the gears.

A hero will come, he’ll come
He’ll come
He’ll come

(The hero has left the room)

#homer #odyssey

Paul Butters Feb 2016

Quest

So many are searching for The Truth.
We scan the heavens in our quest.
We pray to deities
And meditate.

Something to believe in
Is what we seek.
Some clue
As to what we’re doing here.

You can read about
Religions of the world
And Yoga and so forth.
Join a Brotherhood
Or Sisterhood of course.

A lifelong Odyssey awaits us.
But never forget:
The best place to look for Truth
Is within Yourself.

Paul Butters

Inspired by an "Inspirational Quote" on Twitter.

#truth #god #religion #philosophy #search #motivation #values #odyssey

Sibtain Ahsan Fattah Nov 2015

The Odyssey of the trees

As the trees surrender their autumn leaves to winter's zephyr,
I am reminded of how difficult life is.
Even for these beings that have no lips to express the hardship of the arduous season,
and its constant return year after year.

I too must endure this season and its inevitable return,
outside and inside,
and retain my form,
through constant remembrance of my function to strive.

It is here,
I feel closest you,
and I wonder if they do too?

If they could speak,
would they rejoice this season?
would they revel in its struggle?
Knowing it brings them closer to you.

If they understood time like I do,
would they eagerly await the other seasons?
Knowing the conditions would be ripe to try again,
to grow again.

And if they could feel,
would they hope that their efforts would be rewarded with your permission?
Knowing that your permission,
and their joy,
will bring them closer to you?

And if they could speak,
would they tell me that they find you on both ends,
and everything in between,
and could not find a place to be further away from you.

#trees #seasons #odyssey

Paul Butters Apr 2015

Our Universe Ends Part Two

Thanks people for liking a poetic Story for a change. Here is the follow-up.

In Part One we visited the universe one hundred and ten trillion years after the Big Bang. Our hero Omega and his people escaped the last known dying red sun by becoming living spirits. Now they must embark on a remarkable journey... (By popular request)!

Omega and his associates flew faster than light. Up ahead there appeared a white pin-*****.

“A star!” exclaimed Omega.

“Not a star,” corrected Father, “It’s another universe!”

That tiny white gem grew into a globe, until it filled most of the “sky”.

Father: “Omega, you have a choice now. Most of our people are going on to that universe. To a new life. But some of us are going further first. We are going to take full advantage of this spirit form, and travel out as far as we can. We are going to try to discover the truth about Existence.”

Omega: “But how will you find your way back, Dad?”

Father: “We have established an unbreakable link with our people. When we have completed our quest we will follow that thread and return home. Are you up for it?”

Omega: “Of course. You only get a chance like this the once.”

Father: “Good. Let’s go.”

All the goodbyes were made and the two parties went their separate ways. For Omega, his odyssey began.

This time, they seemed to fly away even faster! Another “star” appeared. Then another, and another, until the whole “sky” was filled with a myriad of them.

Father: “Yes, son, you guessed: these are not stars but universes. We are somewhere in the middle of a Multiverse. And we are heading out!”

At some point Omega became aware that there was a “boundary” to the multiverse. That the multiverse was some vast globe of universes! Soon they were leaving that globe. Before long they were looking back at that circle his father called “The Multiverse”.

Then Omega became aware of another globe in the distance. As they moved away, this second globe looked much larger than the first. Like a sun and earth. But then other small spheres appeared: until there were eight of them orbiting that “sun”. Omega’s multiverse was the third of those eight from the “star”.

Father: “It’s an Oxygen atom, son!”

Omega: “What?”

Father: “That sun thing is the nucleus and its, er, planets are electrons. Two in the inner shell and six in the outer. Classic Oxygen.”

Omega: “Wow!”

They kept going. Soon they encountered more oxygen atoms as they sped away from their own “atom”. They also encountered countless Hydrogen “atoms”.

Father: “Water! We are in water! Lots of impurities though.”

Their pace seemed to multiply. Nevertheless it took ages. Eventually, however, they left what turned out to be a stream of water. Falling to some unknown ground. Slowly but surely, though, a “figure” materialised above them.

The realisation hit them all at once. Frozen in “time” before them was, a little lad having a *** behind some bushes! And both their old and "new" universes were somewhere within that stream of *****.

Father: “I think it’s time for us to return home, son.”

Paul Butters

Again influenced by HG Wells...

#universe #journey #odyssey #sci-fi #macrocosm

Andrew M Bell Feb 2015

MEDEA CLOCKS ON AT THE MINT

I took this job down at the Corinth Mint
after my marriage went on the skids,
I was bored at home on the DPB*
and I was sick of those two **** kids.

Jace shot through with this ***** called Glauce,
her name brings to mind an eye disease,
and her old man wants us out of Corinth
even though I got down on my knees.

I feel like the serpent who was Golden Fleeced
when Jason slipped the snake oil past it,
but, since I've been working at the Mint,
I can spot a twenty-four carat *******.

* For international readers, DPB is an acronym for Domestic Purposes Benefit, a welfare payment made to solo parents.

Copyright Andrew M. Bell. The poet wishes to acknowledge The Press in whose pages this poem appeared.

#jasonandtheargonauts #odyssey #greekmythology #medea #glauce