Scene:

A middle-aged man.
Unshaven.
Surrounded by photo albums.

And cobwebs.

Kneels in front of an aging shrine to his dearly departed wife.
At midnight.

And prays

(A lone voice whispers)

O Lord
King of all Spirits and Fates

Why do I
With sleepless eyes

Still seek a love that's died

Am I a foe
Seeking forgiveness
In lullabies

In knee-worship prayers
With a broken heart of catacombs

Where fear lives
Now it has found its
Home

As I once reached out
To the Ether
And cried

When she crossed over
To the Other side

With sullen eyes
Am I cursed to never sleep

To never again know
To treat or feel her

My sin eater and preacher

As demons and angels
From past delights

Like Demeter and the old Unwashed Redeemer

Walk past
Like pale shadows
In endless nights

And smile

When sleep
I do fight

On Monarch
Lord

And King of all that's Right
Pray for me

Go that extra mile
And open a window
So I can reach her

In sleep
Tonight

To see her
My teacher

My speaker

And who like
Mary
Was a true believer

Who now lives within
Your kingdom
As she's found holy freedom

Pray we can wander hand in hand

In The Great Underground Stream

As I dream
Tonight

In a new
Garden of Eden


For without her love
I'm lost and feel so useless

(C)
Copyright John Duffy

(A lone voice whispers)


I watch unseen
From The Great In-Between

Carrying your heart's dreams
In my brown and blue suitcase

Filled to the seam

And when the daylight sun lays to rest and the night stars

Look down for souls to mark and Illuminate, ready to confess

I appear sparkling like rare diamonds through a purple portal in time and space

To open my brown and blue suitcase
And quietly whisper

Mortal
Take these dreams as yours
As you run your race

Fear not failure
Or feelings of disgrace

Which might take you
To a hard place

But revel in the freedom
My dreams will bring

Be them good
Or filled with sin

For either way,
They'll help your soul
Sing

And with a transmutation spell
I then disappear
Back to The Great In-Between

To watch the night stars
Looking down for souls ready to be marked and illuminated

As they plead to confess

So I can then appear
To help those

Who might feel low
Or oppressed
Rise up with all they possess

As my dreams
In their tired minds

Slowly unravel and take off their dress

So they can never be by Darkness
Tethered and
Conquered

For I'm just one
Of the universes many good shepherds

(C)
Copyright John Duffy

Can you miss someone
If they left you stagnating, 
Unloved for decades?

#Senryū
(575)

(C)
Copyright John Duffy

Senryu focuses on human nature and its perceived weaknesses.

If there ever comes a time that you'll miss me

Read this
My handwritten soft kiss

The first time we spoke was like a hot summer in winter

You melted all that icy shell around my soul

As our higher selves whispered
To leave me lying uninjured
And as that once cold husk splintered

I knew then all my morning and night prayers had been answered after being heard

(C) Copyright John Duffy

(A lone female voice whispers clutching a photograph)


Sometimes
I stand silent and still

Just staring up at the blazing hot sun

Is there nowhere left
For me

To now quickly run

No retreat or temple of Salvation

After all is

Said and done
No matter how you preach
Or shout

I've done all of this
For you

Lived this old life

Swam the many emotional oceans

Walked

The dark lonely wastelands
As the passing grey clouds
Turned blue

But
When I stand silently still

Under the blazing sun
And close
My deep green eyes

Even though inside
I see the shining beacon

An innovative revealing
Of a deep inner truth

Even though
The emotional
Undulating oceans

Still whisper your
Still treasured name

This fate I've chosen
To be your concubine

Numbs the fire and heat
And keeps me eternally
Frozen

My time may be near

The grey mists are parting and it's all becoming rather clear

I need to leave to start living and to
Really breathe

But I can still feel
You just running
Through all of my pulsating veins

For all those old ways still haunt me

Still
Visiting in the quiet darkness
At three

They always remain
Like gate crashing guests

But when
The early morning sun rises
And I open my eyes

It burns them into tiny grey embers

Sending them up high
Into the blazing hot sun

And as I pause and bathe in its glorious undertow

As I watch the Autumns
Golden leaves fall

And hope break through all my inner carefully
Compartmentalized walls

No matter where this new life
Goes

I really know
I'll just be ok

Because I know I'll rise
And no longer fall

No matter what
gets
In my way

Starting from today



(C) Copyright John Duffy