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JW Harvey Jul 2014
A holy demure had risen
from the thoughtless exposure
that crumbled under her heels
each crux up Olympus;
And I, forever faithful,
belaying her ascent, unfounded,
delaying my own, grounded as
her head breached the clouds,
A fairytale if not for the landslide
burying me under stone proof
of her unfathomable scale
out of my rope-burned hands
that only God can measure.
Cori MacNaughton Jun 2015
A Moment in Life Twice Lost to Time
The Swiss watch is my paradigm
Residing now ‘neath Tampa Bay
A moment in life twice lost to time

The gift, from a wall of ice to climb
In Luxembourg where I did stay
The Swiss watch becomes my paradigm

Research belaying the banker's crime
Through valleys green, o'er bridges grey
A moment in life twice lost to time

While belching diesels share their grime
And church bells call all souls to pray
This watch, my truest paradigm

In this city from another time
In Europe's heart I found my way
A moment in life twice lost to time

Returning from this land sublime
My walls and battlements fell away
Rodania watch, my paradigm
A moment in life twice lost to time

2 March 2000
This poem was my first, and to date only attempt at a villanelle.  The watch was a birthday gift from a doctoral candidate for whom I was acting as research assistant, which I lost years later, sailing in Tampa Bay.

I have read this in public but this is the first time it appears in print.
Keith Labonte Apr 2016
Crescendos and arpeggios alleviate the pressing
of residual enfilades of harmonies created,
raising the frequencies of thee.
.
Primordially placing seeds in the fertile heath
wandering with Orion's lead.
Sirius B'eing chronically appealing.
.
Our tranquility will rely on the apogees of the moon
and the crescendos of our eternal music.
A belaying maestro raising our moods with diction.
Craig Daugherty Dec 2011
People going, the wind blowing dust across a grace-parched land…

A lone soul, walks wearily through the land, a threadbare
Jacket protecting against the wind, the dust, the hurt
Spread out cross the vast, dry Mexican plain.
All around, people go here and there, directions to nowhere
Their destinations of choice—filled with hurt, pain,
From a divine relationship broken beyond hope of repair.
The lone man, unnoticed by most, rambles on, slowly, a
Destination laid out from foundation of time, no hurry
It seems, against backdrop of eternity.
The sound of voices, children’s, float lazily on afternoon
Air, belaying the urgency of love’s design, as a
Soccer ball flies through the air.

Yet He walks on. Not time in His plan of things to come. Yet
He prays for children, so young, unaware of Father’s love.
His pace quickens, unseen by all, as a lone dog, a stray, barks
A voice of hunger, echoing the spiritual thirst of dying world.
All around Him creation groans, SCREAMS, of hurts, of pain, of
Death’s eternal grip on long lost souls of this world.
Yet He walks on. Tears fill His aged eyes, as love seems ripped
From His soul—the coat pulled tighter still.
He stops, a moment, no more, as if sensing a smell of
Sin-soaked death upon gentle breeze; continues on.
He listens, He walks, as He talks with Father alone—a communion
So sweet, He knows—ignored, rejected, available to all.
Yet He walks on. A crying baby, pierces the sky—the air—down
To His soul. A physical hunger born of poverty’s despair.
A bus passes by, filled with souls; a few He knows. Oh, how He
Longs to know them all—His heart aches for those lost—ALONE!
His eyes search the sky, a sign He’s almost there—evil presses in, yet
Does not dare invade His space—His holiness divine.
Yet He walks on. A journey so divine. His heart quickens, so in tune
With Father’s will called out from heaven above.
Humanity, all alone in busiest of streets, of towns, goes passing
By, each soul a precious reminder of sacrifice that paid the price—
Ignorant of grace come down, each life hurries on, scurries past the
One that brings life; victories death—hurt no more.
Yet He walks on. A mission from above lived out below—divine
Appointment at the intersection of life—at holy time.
One lone soul cries out for touch, divine, complete brokenness in
Order to make whole—so together, yet all alone.
That lone soul, he searches on, looking for a purpose, a reason for
A life, so wasted it seems, on passions of this world.
Yet He walks on. Destination closer still. His journey’s end
Marks beginning of life for all around.
He cries His tears of joy as horizon brings to focus His journey,
His destination soul to capture once again.
The lone soul looks up, drawn once again to a love divine,
he lost somewhere amongst a ministry to Him.
Yet He walks on. Drawing closer still. Eyes meet—eternal
Capturing those of such a shattered soul.
A life laid bare—walls broken down all around—as piece
By piece He peers deep into my soul.
I cry out, missing now that grace of the One divine, as it
Reaches to my heart, my soul—worship now my God!
Yet He walks on—now by my side. “Unclean!” I realize now—
He clothes me in His righteousness of praise.
A life restored, mine, through sacrifice of His upon that
Cursed cross that brings life blessed—eternal kind.
Praise flows to know that my Creator chose—He loves me
So—dressed now in pure white—His robes.
Yet we walk on. So much hurt He shows as now I see
Through eyes of God—divine—lost souls—He knows.

People going, the wind blowing dust across a grace-parched land…
The driving rain is a catalyst
for change , for opening hearts
or tearing them apart , for poetic
muse , for paying your dues , unencumbered
on the golden rail or a first class ticket
to certain hell
The drops tap time outside my window
A trickle a trifle to a deep crescendo
With innuendos of a special nature ,
midnight functionality failure ,
belaying the cliffs of Dover
one wrong move , into 'the Channel'
and over
Copyright April 2 , 2017 by Randolph L Wilson * All Rights Reserved
Mark Jul 2019
As I have aged, her grave appears as new
Instilled in time, with time that stole her youth
Belaying 'neath the cruelest mire, death knew
To stain the satin dress that dawned love's truth.
When winds do swift away my oldest breaths
And I rejoin my love in lasting sleep
Will I by spirit - in it's soulful depths
Recast hereby my angel of the deep?
If not, let worms leave that of love and mine,
By her my love did know and there shall dust
And let the ashes draw her name to line
The nothing that awaits my ardent rust.

To when the grey becomes my coldest stone
Beside or with, her love's my ever known.
Time is born
manifest of change,
In space we're caught
between experiential planes;
Yet thought goes beyond
said mortal chains, to which
linearity need not pertain:
Dare you treat with thy
hollow temporal wrath?
Breathed in to replace that;
The emptiness(-in-itself)
of change as a constant
and earth's cool breath,
Skimming oceans while
belaying their depth.
Thine reflection
gone in search
of humankind,
Tranquil sunbeams
doth remain aligned.
I was gamesmanship incarnate ,
a shrimper off the Savannah shore ,
a cannoneer in the fury of maritime battle ,
a flautist calling troops to formation ,
Atop the highest ferris wheel ,
imbibing cool waters from the Big Dipper ,
scaling the Horseshoe Nebula ,
leading a fire wagon into the inferno ,
submarining the darkened abyss
Under the cover of shellfire , outflanking
a Napoleonic commander
Belaying the tallest mountainside
with cool , calculated reserve* ..
Copyright March 3 , 2017 by Randolph L Wilson * All Rights Reserved
You saw me as a fool, a child
And treated me as such.
I claimed mine was an icy heart
Yet melted with one touch.
So much alike, you knew me
And I hated that you could see
The man behind the stony mask
The truth, as it may be.

I loved you steeped in silence
from the corner of my eye.
You knew I was a hopeless mess
My composure was a lie,
Yet you approached with velvet hand,
I must have looked like an antique-
But you lifted layers of death and dust
from the truth, or so to speak.

You wouldn't let me hide my eyes,
The light you made me see.
And broken lies and alibis
Against your ears failed me.
The ****** know no frustration
Like an actor with no role;
You stripped my ruse away to see
The truth, or so I'm told.

I'm full of love and resentment
The world is just a pill
Stuck in my throat, belaying notes
That when sung come out shrill
But you're on top, where you belong,
Such anathema received
You refuse me my bitter outlook
at the truth, as it's believed.

I'll never be your hero,
It isn't in my soul.
I cannot be a guiding light
I lack the self-control
But I cannot spend another day
Believing we're both dead
I drag my lifeless body towards
The truth, or so it's said.

Through the bottom of this bottle
I can see you oh, too clearly
The lights come up, and curtains draw
On something cherished dearly
And as the world files out-
all around us wave goodbyes-
And the two of us are left alone
with the truth, and other lies

I loved you from a distance
from the corner of your eye
You never cared I was a mess
You knew that I would lie,
Still somewhere in the stormy night
we held each other warm and tight-
and learned more than we thought we could
about the truth, and wrong and right

Now, I miss the part of me
that could barely speak
And the part of you that handled me
Like a fool, a child so weak.
A contorted little memory
of what we shared is all
That I still hold of your life and times,
It's the truth, as I recall.
Jan. 2, I feared for my life.  Jan. 3, I feared for my life. Jan. 4, It was my day off and I feared for my life a little bit. ~ The Paris Sisters (with Mike Litoris) don't say: English isn't logical, threw/through, filled/field, caught/cot or Russia begins with an R. Trump has an R in his name. What's up with that? or How to make aquifer sound *****, by Kristina Magnesium, "She touched my aquifer" or When a cop shoots a deaf man 9 times for not obeying an order, it's a mistake. When I do it, it's a crime or Whiny introspection is the cop-norm among coppers. Stop whining, or else! Come, nibble on my niblet little piglet. It's a belaying pin below a giblet ~ Don't look to me to solve your whiny mental problems. I seek no part in your suicide. Hello whitey. Hello blacky. Hello brownie. Hello girl scout. No girl guide ever blurted a degraded bio-****** confession: "My ****** expression is degraded bio-sexually. Yes by Jesus plus bejesus, I grubbly & grubbily mate with highly-strung grubs in Belize City coffee grounds." ~ Will you sit with my turds? Who do I look like? Someone from **** Sitters? My *** is like ice cream from Mexico. Build that wall!
Kurt Philip Behm Nov 2022
The abyss of nothingness
looms large in my consciousness
Churning each moment
belaying the time

From Nietzsche to Kierkegaard
their vacuum surrounds me
An active volcano
—whose lava is primed

(Dreamsleep: November, 2022)
Stalking every dream
calling me from sleep
A Yeti of the frozen night
I drove the pitons deep

Climbing over hope
belaying every wish
The tracks it leaves — perdition bound
  to wander in the mist

(Haverford Pennsylvania: May, 2024)
Come, nibble on my niblet little piglet.
It's a belaying pin below a giblet.

— The End —