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harlon rivers Nov 2017
The nakedness of winter lies heavy upon
the tolling Sunday quietude
Shed  leaves perish into yesterday
and the dream of another
dawning  someday wanes

The  sun ― lay low
the drudging  ashen  skyline  
Barerd emerald moss scaffolds
draw much more distantness
to the pallid shadowed horizon

The evergreens step forth,
roots grasping sacred heart,
soil  and  rock
In the swelling aloneness
you can feel the grain
of  the  heartwood
rooted in your soul

There are no hard feelings
but there's an enduring ache,
like a tree with a rotting limb
languishing  within
its blackened bark sacrifice

It's not just the grinding time
that slips away begrudgingly;
more of the same takes a toll 
as if another unrung belfry hour
in an empty bell tower
without a song rang out in vain,

peeling  reflections
of reluctant hours  c r a w l  by
in the insensible apathy

A so called holiday passes ―
its footprint bears down
hard  and  deep
as if a paling winter rose
grieves its own passing

A dry wishbone unbroken
lay bare the poignant
truth  it  holds;

it takes two to make
this wish come true


.
Written by:  harlon rivers
a winter Sunday
11. 26. 2017

Note : alternative title before
accidentally published
by write/ public/default

"Unlucky Wishbone"
harlon rivers Oct 2017
You followed down through the gathered pages
to the  labyrinth that leads back through the changes
A long and twisted line of unmapped rivers,
*** holed low-roads and tattered mileposts
glancing homeless back-alleys as dark as lonely crossroads

Past the broken wings that fell from skyward treetops
scattered feathers amongst rose petals wilted
at the hand of tear stained faded photos
of frozen black and white faces;
hidden ghosts in the closet that fell from grace

The pathway narrows where the traces dissipate
passing under burning bridges, beneath locked stairwells
A fickle feather floating upon rivers ragging
like the hubris disconnectedness of time rolling out to sea ―
Shadows growing darkest as you reach the blackest silence
and you kept the answers to all the questions at arms length
hidden in the darkness ― where you saw love disfigure me

It was then and there I knew I'd dreamed of someone like you
looking for someone more than I could ever be
Just an unsated curiosity,    trying to see beyond
your own misunderstanding,   to feel and touch
an unknown depth beyond  reach

As sunset pales the distantness, the night is yours alone
when  tomorrow's  morning  rain
hangs  on  the  falling  leaves       ―       I’ll  be  gone
Just a wayfaring loner in a lonely world

Where rivers are only water
                                         and love was once a flowing river
I thirst to swallow ― 
                                         to wash away these tracks of my tears ...


                                      rivers ... 2017
Post Script:

'I can't remember all the times I tried to tell my myself
To hold on to these moments as they pass'
nod to Counting Crows---Long December

Giving up and letting go are different
and yet the results are often the same;
at the end of the day you realize,
the things you thought mattered ―
and it’s easier being lonely ... alone

"I tried so hard and got so far but in the end it doesn't even matter." Chester Bennington. (2017) RIP

The tracks of my tears
Written by:  h.a. rivers
harlon rivers Nov 2017
A voice  gently  called  out
      whispering loudly
from the rafters of silence,
the way canyon walls softly echo
in a warm southern breeze

It seemed as if it were a dream
but eyes wondered wide open

Reaching out for the lingering
empty air that breathes my name

Touching a wafting emptiness
rippling through the hollow void,
  to buoyantly catch sight of
an oasis in another distant realm

Swept away by a seething waterfall,
      the  heart  won’t  let  go ―

 Seized  by  the  calling  voice
 that spates the broken intone

           never  fathoming
                distantness
           was  so  ­far  away

   An  abiding  voice  hovers ―
  a paling  memory beholds a glow
     of someone I used to know
                  by heart



                                                                ­                             .
written by:  h.a. rivers ... 3am ... 11/19/2017

a song lyric of influence: Mumford & Sons ― Believe

"So open up my eyes
Tell me I'm alive
This is never gonna go our way
If I'm gonna have to guess what's on your mind"
Sade LK Jan 2014
Word.
A pretty vs vicious
Sometimes inconspicuously meaningless
Infinite means of comprehending communication.
Someone once said
That what's felt in our heads
Wasn't meant to be let out
For have no doubt,
Nobody will ever understand you.
In attempt to sum my thoughts up
I got stuck in a wasteland
Of dismal debris
Leaving me to dissipate through the fabrics of existence.
Look what I have left
An abyss of familiar frigid distantness.
This is meaningless though,
It's getting older
I've spent too much time without respect for order.
Left to float here in between atmospheres
Creating cosmic desturbancess
Throughout desolate universes.
This curse is my burden
Burning me deeper with each breath
Just to check if I'm dead yet.
But don't bet it.
I don't stress it, anymore,
Still not sure if there's anything out there at all.
But inside there lies light living,
Burning just bright enough
To keep the bag of faded gray dust
Slightly a-glow.
Just know, I cannot explain this
With a *word.
Written February 4th, 2011

— The End —