(A lone voice whispers)

Be Illuminated.

Don't be like the many and fall into a readers' mindset, and believe everything you read is true.

Be sophisticated and ingenious.

And when reading poetry, be conveniently adventurous.

Don't always think it personally relates to the author:

For that trap is the oldest of the old.

Going back to poetry's first beginnings.

Poets do sometimes relate their stories to be told, but generally, perhaps:

They're really creating secret escapes.

Imagery, emotions and landscapes, for those seeking shelter.

From the cold, unforgiving, light of just living.

(C)
Copyright John Duffy

Foundation.

Some say to truly embrace someone, you have to know all their everything, to help build something.

The hidden and the openly seen.

Did you look deeper than what's openly seen before falling in love?

Title
Unity

(A lone voice whispers)


Like the wind
I pray to caress the inner recesses

Where the light can never seem to reach

To breach the fortresses hidden beneath your skin

Piece your soul
With one only goal

Togetherness
In the mess

Whatever this life
Brings us

(C) Copyright John Duffy

The Ballad of the Lucky Man

She visited me at 15

Like an untasted maelstrom of tempestuous emotions

She whispered like a midnight seductress

So mysterious and so enchanting

She stole my youth away

She dissolved my loneliness
And we were as one

She disappeared at 16

She came to me at 18
A revisit I simply adored

Like old friends
We held hands

And we strolled through life happy and carefree

Together, I wished for ever more
Her and just me

She left me at twenty

She came to me again at 27
So fulfilling and welcoming

We embraced the dark nights together

I now no longer needed to fight
She stayed

We sang our symphonies together, Our plights forgotten

She still held my hands
No more alone

She still whispered my name

In mysterious dark dreams
This beauty I speak of
From realms unseen

Some know her as Aphrodite
The Goddess of your Dreams

I simply knew her as Love
My beautiful Queen

We still met in ever-changing routines

We still stumbled and fell
But still, she stayed
And loved all that I am

Through Heavens elations and Hells unwelcomed relations

I met her at birth, this much she whispered

She looked deep into my eyes as I entered the world

She murmured my name as I begged for air

She told me a sacred truth

Love sees you no matter your gender
Status or skin

She always returns to lead you into or out of sin

Just open your heart
And she will always come in

I am now an old man
And as I lay on my bed

As I look at my life as I near the end

Love still is beside me as she looks in my eyes

She said
Love stays forever and never really dies

She stroked my hair and murmured like a seductress well-fed

She'll visit me in the skies and once more we'll be wed

Our love will last forever and the angels will sing

We'll dance forever in heavenly moonlight

As we take over Celestial's dance floor

She bowed, kissed and whispered into my ear

We are eternal
So of this life
Do not cry if it ends

We will embrace so soon
Once more again

For you are my lover and my eternal friend

And as my heart starts to fade and my heart loses its strength

Inside I soar

For I know we'll be reunited again

I met her in Life on the day of my birth

She followed my adventures here on this earth

In heaven, we will soon sing

So as I leave this old life
I feel blessed to have been married to Love

My spiritual wife

As I transfer to the angelic realms

I hope to see her still holding my hands

Still looking deep into my eyes

For we still share life's wedding bands

Be lucky like me
For true love never dies

This is the Ballad of a Lucky Man

A man married to Love for all of his life

A man proud to have embraced her and called her his wife

And as I leave this message for you to read

All I wish for you

Is a sip Loves seductive mead

For loves a beauty
Beyond trouble and strife

I hope she visits you throughout all of your life

Someone to hold through all of life's mysterious dark nights

Someone to embrace on Loves many beaches

Someone to just love you

And always leave you speechless

So here I am
As angels beckon me to leave

Just remember
Love will visit
You just have to believe

(C)
Copyright John Duffy

An inspired dream I dreamt

In the distance she stood


A visceral beauty from empires unknown


Floating on a cloud of illuminating luminosity


Emanating serenity of the Almighty and Divine


A glorious incandescent everlasting flame of Universal Hope


As she gazed through her beautiful twinkling eyes and held mine


She whispered in soft dulcet tones as the translucent grey smoke swirled


Keep the faith
Your brethren and you


For you earthly souls live for eternity


We await you in the Holy City


Where no-one cries and there is no pain


Enjoy this life
Your earthly reign


Embrace your dreams
Believe in the Powers of the Unseen


Embody your reflection

Make love and compassion your prime worldly companions


A secret I recount to you
A code to enter into our Celestial City


Sharing your inner flame has always been your plight


I am Evermore
A Redeemer of Light


I watch
Collate and reaffirm


I await you
And the brave and always welcome the infirm


Use my inspired words and seek to learn


Evermore
A deity from a Place Unsaid

Where we never die but always sing, loves symphonies and dance


Will you heed her words or go another path instead


She disappeared
Her flames lingered in the Astral Realms for a short while


A symbol of a place where no-one is ever reviled

Tales from the Astral Realms


Of majestic beings sending Inspiration and Light

Deities to heed throughout life's many carousels


As I awoke, I was still under her spell

Evermore
An angel's tale, I just had to tell


Are you too
Willing to embrace her spell


A wonderful embodiment of divinity

To always guide you and be one with the lights


An Angel called Evermore


(C)
Copyright John Duffy

Foundation.

If you've gone through separation, did sleep come easy or not?

Title
Sleepless in Paradise

I once knew Love and stayed briefly within its shadowy keeps

Sated

But now separated
And unmated

I can no longer enter
For I no longer sleep

(C) Copyright John Duffy

(A lone elderly man holds his wife's hand, for maybe the last time, and whispers. As she sleeps)

Although your beauty may fade with age

My only love
Don't you dare leave me alone

Although the shadows like midday angels may slowly appear

Creeping in
Sent from above

To take you home

Although your smiles may diminish in numbers

As our old world slumbers

Although your inner sun
May have ebbed and lost its shine

With the passing of time

Although I may not say it often enough
Although my mind may be elsewhere

I do so love you

So try to lift up your tired heart, my love, and relight your fires

Try to erase the numbness to regain the sharpness

Ignore the changes with the turn of each of life's many pages

Although you may think you've lost your inner shine

Carry this wondrous prose, just deep within that beautiful mind

A simple thought I just send

From me to you
My love

For this is not the end
Only our new beginnings
To start winning

Hold my hand
Tighter
Show me you're still mine

Surreptitiously, beyond all the grayest of skies

For I am yours forever, beyond what people might say and conspire

And here I still stand, with eyes glazed lit

Like the first day I met you
Still under your mesmerising power

Lips pursed, looking for my own loving nurse
To ignite my fires

For I breathe in your shadows

Walk in your footsteps, just craving to stop your tears
As surely as the Lord wept

May you always be mine, my divine gift

Whose Love bestows my life with so much happiness and bliss

For if you leave me now
Wilting alone, if you go home
I'll cry

And inside
You'll leave me alone to slowly wither and die

So fight my love
Fight to live

For together,
We still have so much more to share and give

(Man bows and kisses his wife's soft hands as her tired eyes slowly open)

(C)
Copyright John Duffy

Foundation.

If your higher self had a voice, what would it say?

Something like below, I hope.

Salute.

Title:
Be a Warrior.
Mirroring from the Abyss.

(A lone voice whispers)

My name doesn't matter,
My narrative you may try your hardest to shatter

You may smirk at my goals and dreams

You may try to erase them with cruelly whispered jibes

But I have an alibi

I'm a warrior just fiercely striding forth

Conquering fear and doubts daily

I wonder upon criticism's invisible shores and still overcome so much more

I am an immortal composed of sinews saturated with the ever glowing bright stars

Look at me
You green eyed beauties

Watch me rise above your worthless words and cries

Watch me soar as I pursue dreams and yours just linger confused and die

For I'm Artemis or Hercules rolled into one

I'm my moon and everlasting sun

The winds just silently whisper my name

The stars shine
Guiding my ways as I run

I'm just me
I always rise whatever the crowd says

And it's that sweet thought I'll continue

Until the end of my days

For I'm a Warrior
Just sent by my God

To help guide others
As I find my way

(C)
Copyright John Duffy