"earthbound" poems
He wrote of the light of the world,
a testament, a lamp to illuminate
the place from which he came —
I saw his lighthouse coalesce
out of the cloaking mist, its blade
shearing the sheath of darkness.
I inhaled the dusk bloom scent
- Four O’Clock Flower, Poinsettia, Frangipani -
beguiled by a road, undeterred
by calls in the night, the rain, the unknown way.
I sang with one thousand night-drunk tree frogs
proclaiming an equatorial cycle to the stars,
choristers intoning a chant of existence.
I rode balanced between
the cycling engine's torque and the
reflective cast of my foreign skin.
I felt the grip of ignominy constrict the stir
of my drink, amongst hands toasting
the crush of entitlement’s bearing.
I walked where people dwell, and stop
to greet and tell news of the market
or of their nets, bearing the sea’s returns.
I savored the song in his speech,
a seasoned stew, unshackling the tongue
to ring like the steel of a drum —
a tapestry unfurled: a world
paced by sirens of wind and wave,
embroidered on the earthbound side
of heaven's abiding blanket.
Copyright © 2017 Gary Brocks
Aug 26, 2018
Aug 26, 2018 at 4:46 AM UTC
Sara L Russell, 19/12/14 00:58am
White gulls fly against darkness of winter trees
swirling in a reeling easterly;
bare branches stand in earthbound traceries
behind the birds that dance weightless and free.
There is a rhythm in this circling flight.
a lazy, slightly tipsy minuet;
a majesty in gliding wings of white,
a sign that better times are coming yet.
The dew has barely faded on the green,
two fountains bend before the icy breeze,
as seagulls, with a grace I've rarely seen
swirl heavenward, like flights of fantasies.
Dec 18, 2014
Dec 18, 2014 at 8:16 PM UTC
A bird, earthbound, disabled by birth.
Left out, deserted and even made fun of by the others, because it was not just different, it was also not capable to do what they ever did,
Taking off into the azure of the wonderful heaven, the sky far above,
A tasteless sight of a rainy day, brought from the drought of emotions
A fate, to never take off, unless he finds another to be his other half,
Broken loneliness, dancing in the loitering darkness of their life, infinite shades of punishment, fear and envy embellished in his soul,
Looked down upon, yet determinded, hopeful of what the future may hold, two single winged herons might be able to melt within love,
Darling, blood flows through the veins of fate, are you my lovebird, the one I'll finally spread the one wing I have with and fly, far away?
Let us melt, like no others have until we are unable to feel alone, dear
So don't be shy, experience the grand beauty of the heavens above with me, after all we are two peas in a *** crushed by the same fate.
Kiss me now, take off with me, so we may fly through the embrace of the sun which is shining, with every cloud and their silver lining,
It will be alright, Darling
~ Umi
Apr 8, 2018
Apr 8, 2018 at 6:01 PM UTC
Muted warning
red-line horizon
submarine morning
a full moon wanes
by nature, earthbound
yet of the heavens
meant to transform
those seeking sky
forget the ocean
how stars appear
upon reflection
celestially untethered
navigating the wild
uncharted reach
Jul 13, 2017
Jul 13, 2017 at 8:08 PM UTC
“We could be gods amongst mortals"
“Why be a god when the earth gave me you?”
His slight whisper
Another’s warmth on my hand
Body sculpted like those of gods
Engraved into my own
He is very humane; -
He is gravity;
Retain me against ascending
Pummel my sins
He is water;
Take away my thirst
Drown me when greed takes over
And I am grounded,
I am thirsty,
Lain earthbound onto the ground at his side
Heart aflame far away from Mount Olympus
I am still only ** human.**
Nov 7, 2016
Nov 7, 2016 at 8:09 AM UTC
29/3/13
Bring me celestial music of the spheres
Such notes as dance in colours in the mind
The shimmering of distant hemispheres
Where streams of rainbow nebulae unwind
Bright notes cascade in sparkling waterfalls
Light motes resound in echoes through the breeze
From secret gardens hid behind stone walls
Paradise plays enticing symphonies
Our earthly plane is rife with vexing noise
Cacophanies of thundering machines;
Barkings of dogs, vexed babies in full voice
keep us earthbound, locked into dull routines.
Reach for the headphones, cover up your ears,
Take in celestial music of the spheres.
Mar 29, 2013
Mar 29, 2013 at 12:02 AM UTC
Secret wish
stands hidden
in
cliché riddled
green patch
this neon bird
mocks
red capped
garden dwellers
serenely seated
bookish girl
half-dead fern
leans towards
hot pink beacon
salvation bent
crescent moon
casts
feathery palm shadows
with curved arms
against the
bamboo fence
lifting
earthbound desires
skyward.
Apr 24, 2014
Apr 24, 2014 at 11:02 PM UTC
Sara L Russell 5/12/2015
------------------------------------------------------------------
How can birds sing, if taken from the meadow?
Cloistered away in silent fear
envious of the boundless skies
Even her wings are held earthbound
defenceless is she, and silent as the grave.
✿ ✿ ✿ ✿ ✿ ✿ ✿
What sun may rise for she who walks in shadow,
the blackness that makes her disappear
hidden away from prying eyes
Too fearful to make the smallest sound
accepting of pain, and living as a slave.
✿ ✿ ✿ ✿ ✿ ✿ ✿
Dec 5, 2015
Dec 5, 2015 at 12:00 AM UTC
at three times the speed of sound the SR-71
was so fast it didn’t need to hide, but when
I met you we were slower, metal walls covered
in black reconnaissance paint, sonar silence.
blackbird, shy
sometimes you bit your lower lip, or my
eyes drowned, and we looked down and I cursed
my stubbornly earthbound feet, but blessed
be the stars that crossed for us to meet.
blackbird, cry
under the cozy cover of quietly building-up time
we moved on. when the back of your hand
brushes my face it slowly lifts another brick
of something sturdy into place.
the way your palms get clammy with excitement
when you point out planes coming out and in,
the way your eyes light with joy and nervousness
at my reaction is how I feel when I lean over your shoulder
and point out jupiter in the sky.
blackbird, dry your eyes
the hello was slow, but goodbyes move
faster than sound. we finally found saturn
and then time ran out.
standard procedure for the SR-71
in the event of a missile lock-on
was to continue being
the fastest thing in the sky.
blackbird, fly
Jul 30, 2015
Jul 30, 2015 at 4:36 PM UTC
Prescient, her essence
Casts a demure persuasion,
Endowed with verve and vision;
Concept to consummation,
The serenely possessed,
Creator, originator,
Allusion to the eternal azure,
Logos of abstraction,
Word and image collision.
Tonal palette of faith infused reason
Beauty and sublimity,
Serve to season
Verse, canvas and film,
Mediating aesthetic, seminal senses blossom,
Lyrical each permutation,
Seeds of vibrant chroma diffusing the mystical.
Visage and hair, her figure haunted
With perfection - a work of Art
Nurtured and lived invocation,
The canon of taste;
Crystal for the *****
Devotional fragrance ,
Holistic ethos, melodic invention,
Animated, pure -
The embodiment of redemption.
Transcending form, parenthetically
(Merely) the decorative,
Allure, artistry and symmetry
Superlative complexity,
Her erudition satiates, supplanting
Winds of constructive banality.
Purveyor of an uncommon savor,
She collaborates in the peculiar
Pursuit and reward,
Encounter with depth, explored,
Human and divine, prosaic meets sublime
Igniting within an Eros
Passion for truth, being and Telos.
Visionary of grace and peace
Transforming our earthbound dissonance;
Our caprice,
Hope and abundance, the myth of scarcity,
She narrates the Good.
Pen, lens, color and stage
Vulnerable, unrepressed, effusive
Romantic articulation,
The reservoir deep,
Innately primed conduit of Love.
Beyond plebeian, cosmetic, the trite
Woman of substance, pulchritude
And delight.
Effervescent - her smile exquisite,
Eclipsing suffering,
Wordless expression, understood language.
I am transported, my imagination replete,
Sonya Rose -
Art personified; unabridged, complete.
©2008 & 2013 W.S . Warner
Mar 28, 2013
Mar 28, 2013 at 12:28 PM UTC
The weathermen were not prepared,
the storm turned West towards the shore
For eighteen hours it came down
in blinding sheets three feet and more.
It buried cars, it covered streets
It weighted down branches
on the trees, it dusted roofs
It snarled the roads, The winter
storm did as it pleased
When it was done, the air was calm
a cold serene and peaceful scene.
The snow in drifts lay on the ground
as I looked upon what once was green.
Then, as whiteness overawed the earth
A single red snowdrop appeared.
It briefly touched the snow draped earth
then rose again towards heaven's sphere
then one by one, here and there
flakes disengaged and rose on high
until all the snow that was earthbound
in blinding flight had disappeared.
In a flash, the snow was gone
The fields of earth once more were green
No traces of the storm remained
like a half remembered dream.
Nov 14, 2011
Nov 14, 2011 at 10:58 PM UTC
Darling Mars,
Untouchable through the vast of stars,
I love you so.
Your icy caps,
Your passion red,
You are not mine.
Though I want it so.
I am Earthbound,
Landlocked to reason,
Close to the ground.
I love Earth just the same,
His pastures green,
His seas cold.
He comforts me,
When I need it most.
I promised him,
Keep my feet on the ground.
But My head is in the clouds.
Darling Mars, I yearn for you so.
Dec 12, 2014
Dec 12, 2014 at 9:41 PM UTC
There was something wrong with the sky today
in the melancholy cold September sun.
Frost sculpted clouds hung in the empty blue,
bereft, uncelebrated
The swallows are gone.
No more exalting
in our wet summer
unfettered by earthbound grumbles:
now they scythe the skies
to Africa
leaving us completely behind.
A white-spattered woodshed -
over-bold insects -
and perhaps
the promise of return.
Sep 23, 2012
Sep 23, 2012 at 3:10 PM UTC
*Outerspace is my only liberation
To break these chains that hold me earthbound
I am a prisoner of this soil
These green eyes wilt
And the light inside dies
These lungs choke on the smog
Of these dusty streets
Give me up to the sky
The only place where my wings are free
And I can fly*
Apr 23, 2015
Apr 23, 2015 at 12:08 AM UTC
As I slowly fall into the grip of mezzo consciousness
Your face emerges from the mist
A face this beautiful I shall never forget
Nor will I ever forget your beautiful silhouette
Is it really you, how can this be?
Last time I saw you, you were wild and free
In the meadows we used to run
Or Is this just an illusion
You reach out your hand and we slowly caress
Your tongue explores my mouth's inner recess
I slowly survey the curve of your lingerie
You leave me speechless, you take my breath away
Oh my god what's that horrible sound?
I open my eyes to find myself earthbound
I slowly turn over to silence the alarm
**** it was just a dream, I'm back on the farm.
Jan 29, 2019
Jan 29, 2019 at 5:53 PM UTC
She found him in the shadows of the night
He took her hand and showed her the light
She gave him her heart, he purified her soul-
Asked for forgiveness and now she feels whole
Felt her blood, rush through every vein
As quickly and silently he stole her pain
She’s reborn in her earthbound being
She’s been blessed just from believing
How lucky she is to feel his touch
She started to die until he passed her a crutch
Now she’s alive more than ever before
Because she was helped to unlocking the door
The secrets of life suddenly engulf her mind
And now she learns what to do with her time
Once a sinner, now a beginner, of her life
Oct 13, 2013
Oct 13, 2013 at 12:09 AM UTC
Flower petals fall from trees
In a kaleidoscope of colours
Red, pink, blue, white, lavender,
Orange, and yellow
Different instruments
Chime out a melody sweet
Harps, violins, and oboes
Fill the air
Along with violas, cellos,
Acoustic guitars, pianos,
And many more instruments
Each one sounds beautiful in it's own way
But Fairies play and create a melody
That sounds so heavenly
Beautiful rainbows
Fill the sky with a maze of colours
And raindrops refresh the earth
Which feels so nice and warm beneath our feet
Dewdrops kiss those flowers
The same dew that sparkled
On the grass like a million jewels
Enchanted by those honeyed rays
Of earthbound sunshine
Dancing and waltzing in the morning air
We walk down those paths
That seem so large to us
And are spellbound by the shade of the forest
We sit down to rest
On those mushrooms that grow
Alongside that forest path
We love to appear
In front of your eyes
And make you look at us
In a dazzled sort of way
In Winter we love to fly
And walk upon the blanket of snow
And play a tune upon the frozen icicles
Hanging from the pine needles
Covered in white snow
We love to fly about
Those falling snowflakes
And dance with them
Through the grey sky
In Spring we love
To fly and dance
In a meadow of flowers
I could go on forever
But here I stop
~Marian~
Jul 8, 2013
Jul 8, 2013 at 12:12 AM UTC
It all spins
gravitational pull
and I-
astronaut distance
orbit it sadly.
My only regret-
out in the black nothing
is not feeling my back
against brick
one more time.
Push me against
the cold and cutting
and kiss me with your
hands by my head.
Ever so cleverly
holding the wall-
holding the world.
Holding out on me.
As I tumble,
astronaut girl
and look at the blue beneath my toes
my only regret is
not learning how fly that kite.
Learning how to ride currents
with colorful
useless
beautiful
toys.
So very stuck, was I,
on all of the moons
That I never took
to dragons with tails
or red and black scales
and days taken hostage
and grass that can lasso
and pull me in earthbound.
Now I am anchored to nothing and watch
as the blessed and foolish dance at weddings
and funerals
and I watch from above.
Astronaut, I am
my only regret is that
all of this time
I've spent farming the stars
I never did learn
to correctly love you.
Sahn 4.13.15
Apr 13, 2015
Apr 13, 2015 at 11:48 PM UTC
We are the fingers of fog
That grasp the hilltop and
Pull the fog eyes up to see
If the sleeping valley below
Needs a blanket.
We are the mist that clings to her stream
Long after other mists have
Retreated to safety.
The mist that forsakes herself,
We are the October late-day light
That deepens the blue
And livens the green
And crowns Crimson
Your fleeting, quick-fading queen.
To distract you from thoughts
Of the cold colorlessness to come.
We are the grainy gray shadows at dusk
That camouflage the vulnerable
And vex the predator
So that the small
May scurry homeward.
We are the soft illusion
Of a bright twinkling cloud glimpse
Of the shy Milky Way
That pulls down the astral children’s shade
And hides the rage of the stars,
Indulging snug earthbound mortals
To dream their snug earthbound dreams
Under the proctor of Venus and Mars.
We are the saving grace
Between you and reality,
The light hand
Upon your shoulder
That keeps you from
Going over the edge.
Nov 5, 2018
Nov 5, 2018 at 5:37 AM UTC
Gazing into the bright dome of the sky
Through veils and drifting continents of cloud
Suspended lost dimensions travel by
I hear the universe dreaming aloud.
Infinity reflected in a lake
Deep mirror to the heavens far above,
Where reeling kestrels fly for flying's sake
Where breezes sigh like whispered words of love
Love lead me to infinities of blue
With endless depths of cloudscapes on all sides
To ride with kestrels; oversee the view
Which hitherto I'd seen with earthbound eyes.
For always with us, high above the crowds,
They glide; shape-shifting monuments of clouds.
Aug 28, 2011
Aug 28, 2011 at 12:22 PM UTC
i. descend
i've lost weight since we last met
we fit differently from before-
bird-thin, the both of us-
but this hollow in your feathered chest is
still where i feel most at home-
your jade eyes
a nest, to cultivate my happiness
i've been betrothed to the birds
you stayed back, earthbound
i fell, a cataract, from the red cliffs
you watched me sink, earthbound
i was ripped to shreds in the tundra
freezing and thirsty
and you listened instead to the flowers,
drowning me out as i whispered for help
they told you sunlight stories
when i was trapped in dusk
i was an inch from the edge of night
and you fled
so as to not be consumed.
ii. unpend
i know what i told myself-
i said i shed my mourning veil-
but i still weep for the morning lark,
your lightening song
haunting my brittle nightingale
i write you letters every night
with a fountain pen slathered in red ink
saying what i never could,
spilling my regret on the page
(wake up with ****** hands)
i should have known
you were no one to trust
you're just a fledgling
we're all so naïve.
iii. the end
i take flight, for brave is the man
who would leap from the bluff
to prove his worth;
for i can take action now-
i can say this now,
where before i sat on the sidelines
i will not wilt
in your arms
just for a moment
i will hold you tight
my prisoner
thank you for keeping me alive
i don't need that anymore
thank you for staying by my side
when i had eyes set to ****
thank you for helping me to ascertain
that i’m no phoenix
thank you for participating in
my stupid guessing games
you were the match
to ignite my nicotine habits
but now i'm the one who's
decided to spark and fade
green-eyes,
i've made a decision
and this time i'll stick with it-
featherlight now,
i will make my escape
Dec 10, 2012
Dec 10, 2012 at 12:47 AM UTC
I remember
you coming around to my house
on your motorbike,
with a kitten.
You were an image
of yourself:
nineteen, a canvas sketched in,
waiting for bold strokes
from a palette as vibrant as fireworks.
And of course
you were shortlived like a rocket,
lighting up our upturned faces as you expired,
leaving us as empty
as a milkbottle, earthbound.
Sep 1, 2012
Sep 1, 2012 at 5:47 PM UTC
...and there’s no one there to hear it,
does it make a sound?
________________________
My poetry performed—
before a crowd of johnny-jump-ups
Their faces toward me in unison—
they listen
Intense, motionless energy
Velvet applause of purple and
Yellow yelling!
Encore
of performing in the perfume
with a troop of lilacs
They will remember me
While I— await their return to May
through billowing miles
of drowsing sachet
breathing euphorias
between the lingerie of clouds
What happens after ecstasy?
Grieving in life’s presence?
Loss of mind to self-possession?
_________________
...and when my sense of smell gives out
I will hold on for a while
to the walker of hearing
trying not to stumble past
the song of thrush
beyond me in the blurring leaves
once so clearly—
crinkled, shiny, and infant green….
_____________
As a child I held on to nothing
for dear life
I could cup a storm in my hands!
Could run with the rhythm of a horse!
I could fly in my mind’s eye
if the ferns I used were only wings!
If I pretended hard enough
I could eat my own home-baked mud pies!
If only I could be—
more than a fledgling of eight
so earthbound, clumsy
_____________
But while the lilacs were out of town
thunder met the flash
and gutted summer!
I ran for dear life!
from the amazing distance of its echoes
pelted by its gentle gift
Snagged by growing things—
the clinging prattle
of their momentous tendrils....
______________
Lovers run off the path
past water lilies
along the swollen veins to the river
toward a grave and pounding heart
The Ancient Flood was jealous....
Now when the wind softens
and rain is tossed
last, and only from the leaves
may their encore be cupped in the hands
of some passer-by
Remembering—
that either because of a trifling wind
or the weight of time...
a tree fell here
clubbing the river’s bank senseless
Sep 10, 2016
Sep 10, 2016 at 1:44 PM UTC
I saw a man fly today
As he latched onto a last hope
A one way ticket to a land unknown
Didn’t care if he lost it all
I saw a man fly today
Thinking he was freedom bound
But he lost his grip and was earthbound
Strangers wept from the ground
I saw a man fly today
To our capital to give a speech
About a city that had been breached
By radicals who know no peace
I saw a man fly today
On a plane, vacation bound
And while his plane safely touches down
Millions of innocents cries resound
Aug 17, 2021
Aug 17, 2021 at 8:21 PM UTC
Vigilance, sentinel.
Vigilance…
The moment you close your eyes, you let dreams in.
But I am done.
I vaporize all worries and cares,
I disconnect from all earthbound tethers.
I will fly.
Nowhere to go but up,
nothing to lose, and nothing to fear.
-
The first steps to freedom are always the hardest.
To obtain true freedom,
you must make certain sacrifices…
like security.
To grow strong
means to build a castle around your infant self,
to lock the door and hurl the key far out,
over the castle walls.
It is to the distant hope that an innocent someone,
will disregard every brick.
And walk right in
with the key.
N.H.
Jun 2, 2013
Jun 2, 2013 at 1:18 AM UTC