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f Dec 2024
I lost my pens and papers
my notebook was lost to time and war
they are scattered somewhere
in my broken home
ink dried, pages ripped apart
by the winds or by the soldiers 
i'll never know  
they mistook my literature for laughter
and my house for shelter
don't find comfort in my bed
collect your warmth somewhere else
we may share blood but never history
for my story is written in black ink, not red
free my people and my country.
Prendella Avant Dec 2024
I stay with the beast
Until the morn comes
When the great sun will
Lay bare his carcass
Torn by vultures
Eyes beady, glass beads in a kaleidoscope

I see its fangs
How sharp your teeth are, mister!
All the better, all the better…

Through its gaping neck
And the bullet hole in my head
I am granted a fleeting vista
Of light – its majestic stride
Wrought in dark steel

Alexander Nevsky grins
From its bottomless maw
Fire! Danger! Season!
We were destined, destined,
Destined…for,
For – greatness!
Title taken from Laibach's Vojna Poema.
Nemusa Dec 2024
They run,
through streets that scream of bomb smoke and shattered bone,
their shadows swallowed by the black of hijabs,
a mother swaddles her babe, her heartbeat louder than the guns.

Blood whispers its story
on trembling hands—whose hands?
Hers, his, the boy too small to carry grief,
but already has it, pressed like a kiss on his brow.

How long?
How long before the dream of faces turns to ash?
Before names become nothing more than echoes
sung to the fleeing, like lullabies of loss?

The gun is no longer an object;
it is an extension of them, fused to flesh,
its weight the weight of survival,
its promise another lie whispered to the children.

They run,
but the streets do not let go.
The ruins hold their breath,
cradle them in decay,
and ask, "How much longer?"

The answer—
silent, like the graves they leave behind.
Carlo C Gomez Dec 2024
It blew in off the sea

It went out on a limb

And broke the olive branch

Do you hear the wind through the hair of revolution

--black raven hair--

Bone straight and frayed

The split ends of society forging separate paths

Progression at their tips, regression in their roots

It makes a sound akin to the back of an old haunted house settling

It wandered here in due season

It's about to be cut short

It's about to be swept away
Tat Dec 2024
It had to be summer and harvest
but time that had come is the hardest
long winter has come,
I feel like I'm numb.

These days would be a vacation,
but millions will never return,
they wanted for me isolation
but my borders expand.

They fired at us,
but phoenix reborn,
no sense to discuss
mother tongue.

They plucked our flowers
"forbade" us to live,
our scatter through world now empowers
to remember and never forgive.

They plucked our flowers
"forbade" us to live,
our scatter through world now empowers
to remember and never forgive.

Stones and sand fly from under the wheels,
wherever this terrible road leads
it's a one-way ticket of fate
for them to the end, for us is to win.

--
(Ukrainian):
Це мали бути літо та жнива,
це мало бути щастя та турбота,
та склалася, на жаль, зима,
в очах тепер не радість, а скорбота.

Були б ці дні відпусткою для нас,
та не повернуться, на жаль, мільйони.
Вони хотіли відібрати у нас час,
а вийшло, що розширили кордони.

Вони робили нам вогневий вал,
а ми як фенікс ся рождали,
самі перекладаються слова
на мову, що раніше зневажали.

Вони зривали наш рожевий цвіт,
красиво жити нам “забороняли”,
а ми розпорошились на весь світ,
і їх відтоді звідусіль ганяли.

Із-під коліс летить каміння і пісок,
куди б не вела ця страшна дорога,
від долі це в один кінець квиток,
їм до кінця, а нам - до перемоги.
Nigdaw Dec 2024
I've not the arms to hold you
nor the heart to keep you warm
in spirit I am with you
to walk among the ruins
and watch your history burn
your face will always haunt me
as a fleeting moment passes
eyes that looked right through me
cradle so close to the grave
Nobody Dec 2024
a six day war
fight for our lives
form our hives
pray for our wives

a six day war
get our land
let our boots sink in sand
and reach for
that savior of a hand

a six day war
lose our hope
try to cope
we
will
win
the
war
Mary-Anne Dec 2024
It’s winter again
The war is long over, but the nostalgic smell of gunpowder and snow still fills my soul
I’m no writer but today I sit by the window to calm my weary soul
I spent hours thinking of what to say to you
But all that filled my head were lingering thoughts of you.

It was on a day life this we ran into our special place in the woods
We laughed and played
We were young and merry
You were beautiful and I was grey
I remember how my heart felt when you smiled at my with your crystal blue eyes, framed by the gods, your pale skin kissed by the snow, the growing blush on your cheeks creeping due to your happiness with me

Those moments soon turned dark
As we made angels in the snow, our nostrils were soon filled with the smell of gunpowder and snow
Little did we know, we had called upon death
Given her our village on a platter of gold
We stood and watched the village burn like pillars of stone
The so the snow became home to our beloved
I’ll never forget the bitter taste of blood, gunpowder and snow
I’ll never forget how lifeless you looked as I made those gravestones
I’ll never forget how broken I was as I carved the names of my beloved on those gravestones
So I steeled my resolve and did what had to be done....

It’s been a month and three weeks since I joined the army
Every day a battle, both seen and untold
Every day a fight for my willpower
Everyday a fight to keep the promise of your tears
Remember the day I left at the train station
Remember when you decorated my coat with your tears
Remember when we made a promise with the locks of your hair
Remember how you couldn’t understand why I chose to leave you for this battle of wills
Today I write down the things I felt that I couldn’t say
Today I write down the feelings I felt when your pretty eyes begged me to stay
I’m sorry I left you
I did it to protect you
Now I haven’t heard from you
Who knew love could make one so fickle
Who knew such feelings could make one feel crippled

So I lay there
Matching my thoughts to the beat of my heart
Badump.....badump.....
And so it went
Then came the sound of a missile, followed by a ringing in my head
Badump......badump
So the beat goes
There goes another home
Once again the air is filled with the smell of blood, gunpowder and snow
The ringing in my ear increased
The drumming in my heart never ceased
The lifeless bodies of my comrades at my feet
Once again I bury my loved ones
Carve their names to gravestones and sigh in defeat
What am I fighting for ?
I remember......it’s you.
But every day gets harder
I wish I had stayed with you and started a life with Aunt Agnes
I pick up my pen in fear and sadness
I scribble some words down in utter madness
In good faith that you’ll accept what’s to come without sadness.

I’m down in the pits once again
In the middle of winter
When the snow determines ones fate
But I’m lost in thought wondering if my letter got to you safe
Most of all wondering if you’re actually safe
I wish you’d write to me, let me know you’re okay
But you leave me wondering and wondering
Going mental, I don’t know what I’d do if you weren’t okay
Days later a letter arrives as if on cue
A strange feeling in my gut arises with happiness of finally hearing from you
But my joy soon fades
I’m pulled into darker days
You’re no more
Everything I’ve done is in vain.....
I feared for my life
But ended up losing what I longed for
You succumbed to illness, a thief
What am I fighting for ?
I lost my reason to live
All I have left is grief.

The war goes on....
But victory is ours
This isn’t the face of a winner
I see the Angel of Death grinning at me
“You couldn’t protect her, now wallow in shame, you pathetic loser.”
I beg for death
But she wears the crown
I’m at her mercy
She grins and I frown,
She wins and I’m the clown.

Years later
The war is over
I’m old and wrinkly
Cursed with Alzheimer’s
Slowly losing my memories and becoming more sickly
As I sit by this window, writing about the old days
I pray for your soul and mine cause it’s on the way
I smile as I seal this letter and crown it with a picture of you from when we were younger
I smile remembering the better days
I’m no believer but I pray to God asking if you’re in a better place.

It’s winter again
I know this is my last
I miss you
I want to be home at last
As I breathe my last breath
I look at the world I fought to restore
I look at the letter I sealed with my blood
Hoping that my heart gets to you
Hoping my emotions made it through
And so I take my last breath thinking of you
The window my death bed
Now I can rest and make snow angels with you.
Francie Lynch Dec 2024
I have stashed my Glenfiddich
And Marlboros
In the basement cupboard,
While settling in,
At Ground Zero.
Prendella Avant Dec 2024
We ran
From something
Unseen. We were
Two, a man and a woman

River flowed red
He is steel. And her tears
Bullets. We are
Bayonets and gun barrels

The earth flourished
With steel, straight statues
Of trees and undergrowth
A perennial memorial

Buried, we were
Under the earth
Meant to last forever
Meant to simply be

Red silence
Enveloped the world
My brothers...
Glided between the trees

Creatures joined
Those of all kinds, prowl
Across the land
Around their brothers

The earth split
We are the valleys. Gashes
Along the veins of the earth
Runs red like streams and fountains

Wounds dried and flaking
Freely beasts roamed
Lands demarcated
Trampled, trodden

We are echoes
Within the canyons. We stalk
Like spirits, like steel
Behind fervor, behind craze

They lost
Time was forgotten
Time was reclaimed
Remade

We do not know time
We do not sow
We do not reap
We do not see
We do not hear

The world is never silent
But the underground is

How would you feel
If you knew that
The world was hollow
Held up by rifles...
I am the original author of Red Silence. GuessWho2436 posted my poem with my permission.
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