#narrow
feather clouds broken by rays of light
the perpetual buzz of the fireflies
nature writes to me, poems of love
i didn’t hear the first whisper
i didn’t feel the first flicker
but once i recognized, i revitalized
revive me and crown me
disrespected and drowning
align me and define me
i am burnt blue narrowing
Mar 28
Mar 28, 2026 at 9:10 AM UTC
to be thought 'mad'
to know constant pain
persecuted most days.
Feb 26
Feb 26, 2026 at 6:23 AM UTC
My blithe observation,
whether I'm in the box or out,
Don't twist yourself out of whack,
There's nothing you lack.
Case in point:
You're not gettin' out alive,
Just make it count, for the time being, you're gonna survive.
The roundest peg, never fittin' in a square hole,
Inside and outside,
yet never quite appropriately positioned.
Try hard, try not, try just enough or don't try at all.
One foot in and the other is always out,
Put it in, and shake it, but don't shake it all about.
Stinky clics and cordial how-do-you-do's,
Making no mistakes about it.
A circle of trust is one thing,
But the other is the group in which you don't belong,
Lessons learned, so don't try so hard,
But just keep on singin' your own song.
Fortune and fame have their own misalignments to declare.
Misinformation, deception and compromise,
They too, will all someday meet their own demise.
Running the straight and narrow, whatever it is you're called to do,
Make no mistake about it,
Just remember - to thine own self, be true.
Jan 12
Jan 12, 2026 at 5:48 PM UTC
Opportunities are knocking, but hurdles are approaching.
Opportunities are knocking, but hurdles are approaching.
Whenever you try to escape, chains of resentment grow narrow.
Whenever you try to speak, chains of communication grow shorter.
Nov 22, 2025
Nov 22, 2025 at 4:42 PM UTC
Feeling forced to
Live through
An impossible scenario
I'm someone who
Finds it hard to
Find anything but static on the radio
All this blue
Is nothing new
42 seasons of the same show
A tandem dive done solo
The sign says shallow
Margin for error narrow
But ***** it, here I go
'Look out below'
©2024
Nov 21, 2024
Nov 21, 2024 at 9:17 PM UTC
among the skyscrapers my mind wander
how narrow my sight was
to only surmise what one might feel
realizing there are more to conquer
so i take a step back
revisiting another possible tracks i could take
Mar 22, 2022
Mar 22, 2022 at 3:20 AM UTC
"From the depths
of the mirror,
a corpse gazed back at me.
The look in his eyes, as they stared
into mine, has never left me."
Closing the book I looked at the cover,
Night by Elie Wiesel. Averting my eyes
from the book to my teacher, she stares
at the class in profound silence, then she says,
"There's something very similar happening in America
today." I was shocked, I couldn't believe it took me until
middle school to hear about this. My ears perked up in morbid
curiosity as the other students nodded making me feel like a *******
"Abortion." the teacher stated with lofty arrogance as I breathed a sigh of relief
encouraged by the banality of right wing indoctrination replacing revelation
of more senseless slaughter. I didn't watch Fox News, I didn't know I was
supposed to hate abortion and Dr. Tiller; that's where Elie Wiesel and
teacher come in. Elie Wiesel wrote a book that makes people want
to change the world, my teacher narrowed it down to the target
in her crosshairs. Tiller died a few years later, Wiesel died
several years after that. My old middle school teacher
is still alive using books of the dead to demonize the
living for demanding demonetizing democracy
until malleable minds are mangled
shifting their forming mentality
into one as narrow as hers.
Sep 30, 2020
Sep 30, 2020 at 9:18 AM UTC
For you
to see me,
hills and valleys
oceans and seas
moon and stars
days and nights
water and fire
heaven and earth
must fall asleep
And,
for you to see me
take a tour and pass
through, the narrow
of needle space
Else,
for you
to see me,
close your
eyes and sleep
to dream about
me
Safana & Bamalli 2020
Sep 6, 2020
Sep 6, 2020 at 7:39 PM UTC
A reflection on birthdays, friends departing this world, and surveying ones life
~~~
this one poem is not lurking,(1)
turmoiled bursting,
shaking, quaking,
release aching
write it in droplets,
my chest speak squeaks,
each thought, a stanza,
each moment, a bonanza
of the doled, muddled mix
of tremblings on this my extravaganza,
renaissance day of birth
upon this earth
sixty five calendars,
this space,
so gulf and so narrow, (2)
for what profit this man
for himself, others?
a Judgement Day of sorts,
where the man~poet is efficiently
prosecutor, defender,
judge and jury,
as is he not,
his one true
peer?
let his biases be betrayed,
his fault lines be paraded,
let his deeds be the unlawful legal coda
by which he is remanded
if found guilty of a ledger imbalanced,
more sins than glory,
only one sentence permitted,
life imprisonment
even the NYC weather
clued in and deity cooperative,
wakes me up to this advisory:
Overcast.
Slight chance of a rain shower.
High near 65F.
High near 65.
what portent this oracle,
a warning guide to this morass
of a contradictory, crevassed man
full of mea culpa poetic messes,
his old is his high...
or are these just winking,
birthday instructions from
an observer on high?
this space of years, this life,
so gulf and so narrow,
engulfed, yet so sparse is his barrow,
his first minutes of the day
a lean inventory taking,
for better or worse
as he overcasts a full review,
plus a bonus (!)
a forward progress prognosis
there is a fresh formed
Cain mileage marker upon his brow,
a check-mark scar,
resultant of his self-checkup
upon the tree rings of his tiring body
weeping only because a mistrial is declared
and no verdict returned
and he rises for coffee,
promising himself someday an honest resolution
before...
these the acts of
sixty five calendars,
of this, his-space,
so gulf and so narrow,
subjected to a now daily interrogatory:
*for what profit this man,
his actions, his loved words,
for himself, to others,
to this world?*
October 1, 2015
~~~
(1)
http://hellopoetry.com/poem/1417203/there-is-a-poem-lurking/
~~~
(2)
*but I can't stop
for each hour of the last 72
has witnessed a new poem
in-between
minute one and minute sixty five
written for you,
writing for life,
writing of this moment,*
this space so gulf and so narrow
*in and between
the unity of
us*
http://hellopoetry.com/poem/1413760/for-ernesto-l-gonzales-aka-the-dedpoet-the-in-between/
~~~
Oct 2, 2015
Oct 2, 2015 at 5:09 PM UTC
why does the world which is wide
becomes so narrow?
why do the eyes which see a ray
see only sallow?
why does the fresh air which spreads happy
brings sorrow?
you are the born to to grow and magnify
the wealth not make fewer?
we push the hate at every side
not prison it at outer hollow
let us spread the love at every sight
the world will be so major
May 9, 2020
May 9, 2020 at 3:11 AM UTC
Flowing like water
Going wherever I need to go
Cutting through the way
No narrow path can stop me.
I am the water
I am a river
I flow through everything
That's all I know.
Nothing is ever what it seems,
I am the sea
I am the ocean.
Nov 17, 2019
Nov 17, 2019 at 4:41 AM UTC
slowly step across
the narrow path -
fear crawl backwards
Apr 21, 2019
Apr 21, 2019 at 4:59 AM UTC
I can see you but do you really see me?
How can you know what it’s like to be?
Surface impressions can be so very deceiving
if the onlooker is by a narrow mind perceiving.
__________________________
Oct 20, 2018
Oct 20, 2018 at 2:41 AM UTC
soft expectations
surrendering to rage’s sweetness
that’s my eyes on your words
I said, oh God I’ll get to
through the narrowest, silent, anguishing
so that when I’m there, I’m really there
Sep 14, 2018
Sep 14, 2018 at 8:38 PM UTC
I go off on a power trip;
sometimes I won't even notice it.
Like a train on the track at full speed
unaware that some people get motion sick.
May 5, 2018
May 5, 2018 at 11:30 AM UTC
There’re are two paths going opposite ways
People travel these paths every day
The first path leads to a place of tears
people who take this path, reflect death like a mirror
Guilt haunts them when they do wrong
The memory of their sin creates a mournful song
People say you can do whatever you please, they say, “Come over here, join us!”
But a wise person knows down that path, people give into their lust
Most people who follow this path, don’t see the dangers around them, But those who truly believe in Christ can see through the fog
For they are the ones pulled out of the miry bog
The second path is thin and narrow
It is thinner than a golden arrow
There are very few who find this path
Those of the world look and laugh
This is the path that leads to life
It is full of danger, hardship and strife
There are trials on this path, it won’t be easy
But that gives no excuse, like the rabbit to be lazy
What’s so great about this path is that someone cares for you when you fall
Through the church, He sends out his gospel call
He is all holy, powerful, and merciful
He is Author of the universe, and Creator of all the people
You must be born again through his holy Son
Who died on the cross – the victory won!
Jul 20, 2017
Jul 20, 2017 at 8:49 AM UTC
I'm sorry you think me offended
I'm sorry you refuse to see
I'm sorry when I show you the mirror
that its white fragility you see
I'm sorry that I don't fit your narrative
that America is the greatest to be
I'm sorry that it hasn't been, not for people
like me
I'm sorry that you can't accept it's different
But I am not sorry for who I am
Nor am I sorry for what I believe
Not sorry for the truth
Not sorry for my protest
Not sorry for the bruising words
Not sorry for the wounded ego
Not sorry for the things to come
Not sorry that I'll never quit
Just sorry for you.
Nov 15, 2016
Nov 15, 2016 at 10:15 AM UTC
Tell me
If I’m wrong,
But haven’t we been here before?
We reach this same fork in the road
No matter where we turn,
No matter the distance,
No matter the time.
Tell me,
How many times
Will I have to make this choice
Between those two old foes,
Light and Dark,
Good and Evil,
The Better Man and the Fool?
Tell me,
How many times
Will I have to make the decision
To take the harder road,
The steeper path,
The journey more strewn with danger,
The straight and the narrow?
And tell me,
If I dare ask,
How many times
Will I fail?
Oct 27, 2016
Oct 27, 2016 at 5:49 PM UTC
Black crows,
smothered jackdaws,
obsessing on religion-
******* on ancient ideas,
drowning in gloomy words.
God made the world to be lived in
not to escape from-
Oct 14, 2016
Oct 14, 2016 at 12:57 AM UTC
Sulfurous smell
Please seal your lips
Not a word you shall tell
Nobody would heed your tip
Narrow mindedness,
Selective thinking
Has caused you blindness
Do us a favor - please stop speaking
Sep 26, 2016
Sep 26, 2016 at 3:15 PM UTC
Walk the narrow road
Total blind with time
Wicked trees tickle the spine
With air as still as the night
We encounter careless souls of the mindful dead
Placed there by each of us
Head torn and mind ******
We go there each day
Walk the narrow road
No looking back to see you
Not a second is spent feeling
or pushing back the heart
I wonder why it's gone
But all too soon
Eyes crossed with double vision
Venture past the door
Jan 25, 2016
Jan 25, 2016 at 12:05 PM UTC