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Sarah Spang Feb 2015
I may never walk anything more the same as him
In converse shoes slapping campus pavement,
Than taking down miles in memories
And mulling over trite bereavements.

If all we have left is muscle memory
Where summer grass stroked skin like hesitant fingers
Then I'll sink into autumn leaves
And worry my lip where the impressions linger.
ANNOUNCEMENT (To my readers):

Hi Guys,

I know it's been a while since I've posted poetry and I just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate your support and feedback. All of you have been so kind and I could not have asked for a better audience. However, times are rough at the moment and I'd like to post a link to my GOFUNDME account. If you like my poems, you will be make a small donation via the website, even a buck would be appreciated. Below is the link.

Thanks,
Sarah

http://www.gofundme.com/Sarahquil
Sara L Russell May 2013
306 British & Commonwealth soldiers were shot at dawn for desertion in WW1.
Inspired by this fact and by BBC1's drama The Village*

I

Good-hearted soldier marched away to war,
Sad-eyed mother and father watched him leave
To help a noble cause worth fighting for;
Or so the government had us believe.

Bereavements swiftly followed. He returned
For time on leave, a changed, embittered soul;
Troubled by death where distant fires burned
As month on month the shelling took its toll.

Mentor and loving brother, man of peace,
Such was this force of nature we once knew;
Now weighed down with all war's catastrpohes
So guilty to be of the living few.

Oh bitter hindsight, cruel hand of fate,
That says what we must do when it's too late!


II

I saw him walking back along the path
That headed to the seaport, bound for France;
So full of care, lost in the aftermath
Of ****** conflict, as if in a trance.

Then suddenly he stumbled to his knees
And crawled, down on his belly, cautiously
As though bullets were coming through the trees
As though to shelter from the enemy.

He raked the grass with darting, trembling hands,
His staring eyes were wide with urgency
His legs would not obey his brain's commands
His lips whispered a plea for clemency

I saw my love, he didn't see me there
Longing to save his broken soul with prayer.


III

Never was a more terrifying sight
Than naked terror, screaming from his eyes;
I still recall him staring, every night;
It haunts my dreams from dusk into sunrise.

I wanted to embrace him, stroke his hair,
To whisper words of solace from the Lord;
But sometimes prayer hangs on the empty air,
Sometimes we cannot rescue the adored.

Later I visited his lonely room
To find him on his bed, facing the wall.
He turned to meet my gaze, eyes full of gloom
As if no soul resided there at all.

I made him pray with me, for love Divine;
Heedless of God, he pressed his lips to mine.


IV

I blush, I burn with shame, when I recall
I gave in to his kisses willingly;
He wanted heaven's solace not at all
But took his earthly comfort all from me.

So long I'd waited, through his years away,
Wishing to win his love through some kind deed
Now in his trembling grasp, too lost to pray,
I lay entranced by passion's burning greed.

When it was over, I looked at his face
He seemed to see some bright epiphany
Perhaps at last he knew our Saviour's grace
At last his breath came slowly; evenly.

He murmured something as I rose to go
I knew I loved him, but never said so.


V

I never said I loved him. With the dawn,
His doomsday clock was ticking down his hours.
I never said I loved him, I was torn;
For what love sanctifies, wartime deflowers.

Hindsight has pierced my heart with bitter thorns,
Trampled my dreams, stolen all future joy;
For in that worst of cataclysmic dawns,
I never said I love you to that boy.

I never even said a last farewell
Though warm kisses still echoed on my skin;
My silence tortures me, I am in hell
I burn in silent wars I cannot win.

The Redcaps came and took away my Joe.
I loved him; and now he will never know.
Two Blue Beams
rise in the twilight
from dark recesses
of a wounded city

astral projections
paint night clouds
in looming hues
of temporal intent

declarative beams
affirm a bold portent
of an insistent will
and timeless aspirations

one thrusting light
projects wanton determination
bequeathed from unhealed wounds
of a lacerated city

the other casts fervent hope
onto the vast celestial sea
boldly etching upon the heavens
an earnest nations highest ideals

the pillars of light
reveal the dual nature
fixing our place
in a turbulent universe

the brighter light
affirms the beneficence
of liberty's eternal grace
so divinely conferred

received by a higher self
accepted with gratitude
the gracious anointing
of freedoms rich abundance

ride this beam with angry cries
conjure ghosts from a dead past
channel a full measure of resent
its power of restoration is quelled

stirred from nagging agonies
nursed with righteous indignation
untreated wounds fester
the weak blue spire cannot heal

a bleak azure apparition
screams for selfish retribution
heed this dire admonition
a promised fury of
full demonic dimension

the rankled city
yearns to come together
united in communion
around these lights

drawn to the blue flames
like swirling moths
unconscious of what
compels shock and awe

earnest yearnings
flutter to exhaustion
struggle toward the light
aspiring to heal in the inviting glow

transcending the fissures
of our fractured nation
the waning resolve
of a national will

a restless Zeitgeist
cannot be repressed
nor will it relinquish
its will to manifest

a city's fondest hopes
entombed in collective memory
is foretold again
around these bold lights

entranced by the light
a solemn urban campfire
transfixed and sealed
we speak our hearts

holding hands
gnashing teeth
we bite into
our bent knees
tucked up
to sullen chests
heavy hearts
bear pains of loss
dreary tears wash
ash stained cloths
crumpled photos
dear bereavements
of faded memories
and expired hope

resolve is renewed
in bursts of pride
incendiary nationalism
suppress dissent
pummel thoughts
of perceived sedition
pump iron fists as
zealous sledgehammers
forged with conviction
in kilns of
righteous indignation
seething with infected
emotional hangovers
from prurient
tribal diatribes

these sweet sentiments
swing between the polls
of the vast pendulum's arc
along a narrow celestial scale

too and fro
angst and expectation
ebbs and flows
in this astral assignation

the heavenly helix
a set of blue axles
a modern vision
of Ezekiel's Wheel

the rung-less vertices
of our Jacob's Ladder
invites all citizens
to climb again

ascend this pathway
in the company of angels
arrive transfigured
renewed again

build new cities
transcendent destinations
new Edens await
pioneers to explore

fearless pilgrims
sojourn onward
moving to secure
liberty for all

conscious stewards
of the blessed good earth
celebrate rich diversity
of all the beloved

descending back
to an expired past
is a ridged stasis
anchored in Hell

witness flitting
nostalgic phantoms
pathetic pantomimes
of histrionic fictions

the downward path
of the lesser light
tethers us to the place
we cannot leave

The upward light
abhors a hells decent
resolved to vacate
acrimony and hate

the dancing helix opens
a blue portal to heaven
don saintly garb
wing upward in light

transcendence calls us
to traverse with angels
touch the luminescent hem
of God's divine robe

Selah

Music Selection:
Aaron Copland: Appalachian Spring , Simple Gifts

NYC
9/11/10
jbm
Barton D Smock Jun 2013
in the video about how to give my son
a bath

that’s
him

-

the woman beside me
takes her health with her
wherever

she goes

-

my wife prays
for a boredom
much like
the boredom
of the baby
Jesus
whose hair
my son

lost
This is not all that I am
All that I can see
My eyes shut close and fade
Into nothing.

I can see you
And all my hinges all my twists.
My bereavements and edges
That I cannot take back

The light can take me
When I decide it is my time
But I am not done
I am not done living.

My feathers can burn.
Into soot
Take all of me that is left
That I can give.

But I am done giving up
What more
What more can I ha-------------
.
Don’t try to fit in,
in fact, try to be more odd
If you don’t see bereavements
as achievements
it’s your view that’s flawed

which explains why I see motivation where you see peasants
Why you see failure not experience,
Or a curse where I see a present

It’s all in attitude, your approach
how you perceive progression
You see scars, I see trophies, you see mistakes I see lessons,

You say life’s hell, I see heaven
They say reality is perception
that’s why Wasted time and money
look identical to a good investment

So when I see hard work pay off
You’ll just see it as luck and scoff
which I see as inspiration for you
but all you see is a loss

all you see is where you are, so where you could be is robbed
But if you can’t see achievement in bereavements it’s your view thats flawed

if you can’t see trophies not scars
Or lessons and not mistakes
then you’ll never get why I see u ****** yourself, where u swear your bein  *****
Jason Needham Feb 2013
We held our mother’s funeral today
out back in the warm Spring rain.
It was supposed to be tomorrow but
Mother thought the forecasted sun
and flowers, a bright finish to
this dreary Winter,
Would **** the mood.
So to speak.

The earth was soft but the willow
tree roots fought back our shovels.
Mother sighed but said the small,
paltry hole filled with muddy water
would do for her ceremony.
But just the ceremony.

She sat in back,
the tail end of her own procession,
and intently ignored our furtive glances
to see if she was pleased.
She was.
Until the rain stopped, then
she called the dampness ‘silly’,
and left.

But  we’d already had the guests on
notice, with bereavements ready since
Mother can be quite fickle
and at times unruly so
we held our mother’s funeral today
her tears and ours the warm Spring rain.
Dumbstruck that the news came
so impersonal, so matter of fact.
A text to say you were leaving.
Forever.

The usual spin on 'it's not you it's me'
Came my way, 'I need to find myself'
'I feel stifled' also got a shoe in.
I was impressed the text was not abbreviated.

When I think back people commented on how handsome
you were, was that a sly dig at me?
Whatever, it's passed now.
Time stands still for no man(so I'm told)

So time to stop grieving at your leaving
Begin anew, start breathing and thinking
for me. By the way thanks for retrieving
Your personal belongings from the flat.

People, you know friends and family
asked how I was, did I need anything?
I was stunned at their curiosity and
kindness, but, told them no.

Well, if you hear from him let us know,
if you want a chat we're here to listen
Oprah says break ups are like bereavements
No need to be brave for us honey.

They leave after getting their gossip
believing I was being stoic, grieving on the inside.
I wasn't, quite the opposite in fact
I felt liberated, unchained, free to be me.

That's what I did you see, became me
I had difficulty heaving your corpse into the garden
but those gym sessions you insisted I take paid off
As did the self defence class, one strike and down you went.

BTW Thanx for the txts, they is well good as alibis.
© JLB
Jared Mar 2021
Spun a thread of dust,
Caught a whiff of the sea.
Shadows of a canyon at dusk,
Bleeds into day-old tea.

A tapestry of bereavements,
Beached ashore a gulf,
Its waves, tepid and rough,
Rippled the sun, it reflects.

Aged wood, floating, covered in cloth,
Pushed to touch horizons, wet and vast.
Aimed to dissolve with the setting sun,
Steered by the stars he used to follow.
Big Virge Sep 2021
Well It Seems Now That Stress...
Is The... Knock On Effect...

of Much That’s Been Said...
By... US Presidents... !!!
And These World Governments...
Who Just Cause Us PROBLEMS... !!!

And As Stress Levels RISE...
The Effects Now Invite...
A World of Price HIKES...
Protesting And Fights...
And Being Locked Inside...

Due To Corona Vibes...
Affecting The Lives...
of People Worldwide... !!!

An Affect That’s Not Nice...
When We See Loss of Life... !!!

But It Is No Surprise...
To Those Who Are Wise...

The Effects of Judgements...
And These Experiments...
That Create Viruses...

But The Knock On Effects...
of Some Things Being Said...
About Corona’s Spread...

Are Of Course Arguments...
And Conspiracy Threads...
About... Causes of Deaths...
That Are Now Filling Beds... !!!

Some Suggest That It’s LIES...
That This Virus Provides...
For These Big Pharma Guys...
Who Have Government Ties...
That May Well Affect Lives...
In Some Ways That Aren’t NICE... !!!

While Others Suggest...
That Such Talk Is NONSENSE... !?!

And That People Are DYING...
So They Should Stop Denying...
And Constantly Trying...
To Spread Talk That’s False...
When People Now Mourn... !!!

The Loss of Loved Ones... !!!

But The Knock On Effect...
Is What’s Causing Questions...
When Government Heads...
As Well As Their Friends...

Have Been Those Who’ve Abused...
Their OWN Policy Rules... ?!?

So Some Folk Are Confused...
And Are Those Who REFUSE...
To Now Keep Masks In View...
Around People Who DO... !?!

So Now What They’ve Effected...
Is... CRAZY Protesting...
Against Mass Injections...
As Well As Rejections...
of Claims That More Testing...
Will Stop Things Progressing...
In Ways Where Infections...
Will Continue Spreading...

But Some Have Accepted...
That Whether They’re Vetted...
They WILL Get Injected... !!!
And Take These Vaccines...
That LACK... Efficacy...
That Confirm Them To Be...
A Cure For This Disease... !?!

So Who Do We Believe... ?!?
When It Comes To News Feeds...

These Vaccine Companies...
And People Like... Fauci... ?!?

When The Knock On Effect...
of Injections Might Set...
A DANGEROUS Threat...
Because of DEFECTS...
That HAVEN’T Been Checked... ?!?

When This New President...
of America’s... SET... !!!

To SET... NEW Precedents... !!!
That MAKE People Accept...
That These Vaccines Protect...
And Will Now Help To Stem...
This Corona Problem... !?!

When Remnants Are Left...
of The... Trump House Effect... !!!

Or The... Affect of Trump...
That Has Left Many STUNNED... !!!

Because of His Stunts...
And Claims That...
... “ He Was Robbed ! “...
In This Last Election... !?!?!

Well The Knock On Effect...
of Things... That He Has Said...
Were Those That Brought Chills...
Right To Capitol Hill... !!!

Where People Were KILLED... !!!

An Effect That Instilled...
A Wish For Impeachment...
For Things In His Speeches...
Claimed To Have Caused Bereavements... !!!

But Now That He’s Leaving...
Pardons He’s Revealing  ...
Are Leaving Folks Seething...
As Well As Believing...

That Things Are Not Right...
And It Really Is Time...
For Him To Say GOODBYE... !!!

Because He’s Caused Fights...
And Has Told LOTS of LIES... !!!

Well ALLEGEDLY Right... ?!?

But We’re Now In A Time...
Where Leaders Are STRESSING...
The Masses Through Measures...
That Are... HOTTING TEMPERS...
As Well As... EXCHEQUERS... !!!

From Brexit To Sexes...
To Viral Infections...
This Poem Is Sending...
A Very Clear Message... !!!

That We Need To See LESS...
of... Conspiracy Threads...
And Lies From Congress...

And We NEED To PROTECT...
Against ALL This SICKNESS... !!!

Through Things That Are Checked...
And Proved To Be Best...
To TRULY Be CORRECT...

That Protect Us From STRESS...
And These Corona Deaths...
That Are Causing Sadness...

As Well As UPSET...
That’s Messing With Heads...
And Causing Arguments...

Because We May REGRET...
All The.........

.... “ Knock On Effects “.... !!!
There may be quite a few to come, that may well cause, considerable concern....
TOD HOWARD HAWKS Jan 2020
GETTING AHEAD OF OURSELVES

We have come far, but in the wrong
direction. Our achievements have
become our bereavements. Bombs,
not beauty, are our apotheosis. We
cling to the penultimate. We have
trouble seeing, breathing. Finally,
we shall have trouble living. Soon,
it seems, we shall cross the finish
line, but running backwards.

Copyright 2020 Tod Howard Hawks
A graduate of Andover and Columbia College, Columbia University, Tod Howard Hawks has been a poet and human-rights advocate his entire adult life. He recently finished his novel, A CHILD FOR AMARANTH.
zozek Apr 2021
awesome awakenings after
bewildered bereavements breeze breaking branches
carelessly costing crowds
dangerously destroying damages
eagerly ending eternity
flying flies flee floods
gorgeously gusting gale, gazing
hurricanes harm homes
intensifying impatience indoors
jamming jars, jugs
kicking kittens
lamely losing luster
magnifies madness        
nauseous naturalness
obligingly offer
poisonous preferences, posthumous pardons  
reawakening remorses
strongly struggling strifes
through thunderstorm
urbanizing utterances urge
vengeance... *****
zesting zealous zigzags
Stevie Nov 2020
This world is not a place, That Authentic,
Just another human race that is Dysgenic,
Prophetic, Genric and Hallucinogenic,
Research Google and Wikidepia, that not Academic,
Cannot believe history and truths, that so Systemic,
Epidemic, Pandemic are a lie, Then why are we Pathogenic,
We are Schizophrenic and Anorexigenic, But we are too taboo, that so pathetic.

This is a world that face, nothing but Mortality,
Some acts include ******* and Police Brutality,
We are the world, We are Cults of Personality,
We are cults of Sexuality, we are cults of Fatality,
We are breaking the confidentiality,
Of the dying, uploading pictures, of the dying in hospitality,

This is a world that facing, nothing but Ill Health,
Many loose life and battle with Mental Health,
Popularity is the internet way to poor wealth,
Teens are becoming screamers,
Practising and Scheming,
Dreamers and Extremers,
Queens and Teens,
Against all the Vaccines.

This is a world, all in Disagreements,
Nothing but failed Achievements,
Bereavements and treatments,
Pregnancy and ****, Just pure *****,
Another person beaten,
Another Abortion, she a demon,
Just waiting for the child born today,
To grow up and start the next sequence.

This is a world, that lost today,
Fat and obesity, we cannot change our way,
You have to agree with us all, and meet us halfway,
It doesn't affect our health, that is just hearsay,
Just like Smokers to quiet, that just ashtray,
Lung Cancer and Closing Airway,
Selling naked picture and ****** interaction,
That our way to make money, today,
Screaming that our workday,
So do not disobey, just go away,

This is a world, that changed,
Not for the better, but for the worse,
Teenagers promoting ***, Where the hearse,
No need for doctors or the nurse,
God will set up on this earth, with a curse,
No need to reverse,
This is not Nonsense, this is just Intersperse,
Is there a Doomsday Clock,
Or are we on a Clockwork Universe.

— The End —