"encroach" poems
When education was restricted
They ran to religion
When solace was stripped away
They ran to martyrdom
Loved ones fell
Hated ones rose
As hearts sank
To the depths of the maelstrom
Fueled by the unholy trinity
Value, vindication, and violence
Bombs decimate Afghan villages
With the precision
Of a needle hitting a vein
And as casually
As a contractor putting a dollar in his pocket
The rubble of their town
Lost in a mist of dust
The rubble of their minds
Lost in a mist of vengeance
The rabid dog chases the subjugated raccoon
The raccoon discovers a sacred hole and hides in it
The predator attempts to encroach the void
The raccoon quivers in it's sanctuary shelter
Finding relief as the hound becomes stuck
And laughs as the infected beast starves to death
But ecstasy turns to terror
As the raccoon realizes it's only way out of this hole
Is being blocked by the gargantuan corpse
Terror turns to sorrow
As the raccoon starves to death
Alone
In the dark
It's holy land now hell
For once it had protected the raccoon from unbridled rabies
But since the hound's death
It's Cerberus size obstructs all progression
Holes become graves
And prey are left to pray
For someone to drop a bomb and clear a path
Jun 7, 2017
Jun 7, 2017 at 4:45 AM UTC
What is a loser?
Someone spiraling within a microcosm of unfortunate events?
Or forgetting to update one’s facebook status in the macrocosm of tiresome vents?
People nowadays throw around insults as smiles and cheek,
Loser is a mere phrase between impudence and courageousness, sheik.
Many forget the power in which words command,
“Sticks and stones may break my bones”, but words unmanned..
Rip the heart and soul and cannot withstand,
The ebbing soreness of our confused migraine.
Perhaps I misunderstand.
Twenty-first century loser on the other hand,
Means you've made it into the ‘in-crowd’,
Enshroud,
Rain twinkling like stars,
Bicycles feeling like cars.
Yet heed this warning with everlasting effect,
Your words are yours to not neglect,
Take pride in your intellect!
Those hearts you may sway,
With words of colour and not grey,
As sweet as if valentine’s day.
May encroach your direction through doors unknown,
Before hinged like an Antarctic zone,
Forget “loser”, create your throne.
Aug 18, 2014
Aug 18, 2014 at 7:35 PM UTC
Breathing on the surface but smothering inside,
Pale face blue lips and wide open eyes.
Running desperately with no company and guide,
Too little time and too many disguise.
Like a lost site pervade with dreariness and spite.
Who would help you when they heard your yelp?
Hoped to be broach but no one to approach.
Who would love you when without the pure white dove?
Trapped in coach and let the soul slowly encroach.
How would you feel when no one to reach?
Stares at the window just to look for a shadow.
How would you feel when your heart starts to screech?
At last it became hollow slowly loaded with deep sorrow.
Like a letter unsent filled with unread content.
Holding on like a puppet being sway,
With those unsure senses and constraint.
Living faithlessly and ends up stray,
Nerves are brutally torn and mind gone insane.
Jan 13, 2017
Jan 13, 2017 at 5:26 AM UTC
Flabbergasted, the whale wails
Lonely upon the sea drifting ever apart
A sole ****** raises his tired sails
Forever trapped in solitary solace
Winds warping the canvas
While ominous clouds encroach
The salty breeze stinging his taste
A bitterness within the calm
Peace drowns with the fury
That the storm has yet to bring
Fear not, creature of the sea
The troublesome life is far from over
Another night trashing about
The rock and the roll of the bow
A lullaby to a tired soul
Slowly rocking to dreamless sleep
Jan 12, 2013
Jan 12, 2013 at 12:23 AM UTC
Like a frightened animal,
sleep eludes me.
Like a lithe, scared kitten,
sleep dashes away as I get closer.
Yet,
while I chase the frightened kitten around my head,
I'm blessed with an exquisite 5 am sunrise.
But fear not little kitten -
a magic cocktail of pills will soon encroach on you
like a fisher's net!
Already, I can feel their effect,
pulsing through my veins.
Soon, little kitten, we'll catch you,
soon, we'll finally get some sleep!!
Aug 3, 2014
Aug 3, 2014 at 12:25 AM UTC
the
boonies
where you are
in the outback, and
the middle of nowhere, but
y'all like callin' it "God's Country"
because it's a place which is tended by God
where businessmen have yet to overrun and ravage
to fell forests,and clear acres of land for cozy developments
and it's a place where you are dangerously closer
to the wild elements and are self-reliant
comfortably near to the natural
free of the 'pressures' who
could encroach upon
your space and
freedoms
wow
Sep 15, 2013
Sep 15, 2013 at 1:43 PM UTC
the shadows of others
which maliciously
dance
upon the walls
point and laugh
at my human body
that sits in my room
watching
they use their
shadows
fragments of their
true self
to shame and degrade
this person
my self
because I do not hide
my flaws
in darkness
the teasing
shades of human
criticize and belittle
myself and
the other few
who openly exist
as exactly
who we are
these shadows
fueled by
fear
spite
negativity
make every observation
of exposed flaws
I can only imagine
that the humans
who are casting these
shadows of hate
to be
biting their nails
and looking away
as their
shadow
becomes them
while I was
openly
exposing my true form
I began to hate
that of who I am
taking the shadows critique
to heart
when they are too weak
to expose
who they truly are
their shadows
came for me-
as did
shadows
of my own
instead of
hiding myself
becoming
the same as them
using my
insecurities
as fuel for hatred
to burden
upon others
when
the darkness began
to encroach upon me
it fueled
to make me hate myself
instead of others
now,
I have begun
to understand
my own shadow
will no longer
swallow me in darkness
as it is just
my own
embodiment of hatred
a version of myself
that isn't real at all
and the
shadows
from others
who spit fire
to try and burn
my flesh
will fail
as I now know
that if they exposed
their true self
as I have done
everybody
would be able
to see
that the faults
they accuse of
only exist
within them
and I
am just simply
me
Apr 6, 2016
Apr 6, 2016 at 1:17 AM UTC
There's a place between society and the wild
Where aimless bodies are piled
We call it the Wastelands
All creatures die of old age
Or hunger inside this cage
The deer are never hit by cars
For they never travel that far
The Wastelands use fear
That's what keeps them here
The Wastelands are a scary place
It's horrifying how nothing happens
It becomes too much to face
So we hide under satin
To provide comfortable resting
And avoid Wastelands testing
The Wastelands are a barren environment
Solitary coyotes learn from the cacti
Who soak up meager moisture
And become prickly to protect it
Never knowing if nourishment was near
They grew prickly because of their fear
We inhabit the Wastelands
We're trapped here
Where the walls of the city
Seem to mirror
The walls of the wilderness
So it's here we build our nest
But surviving is a constant test
Because we have useless hands
Here in the Wastelands
Wastelands
Interaction
Is reaction
Create a faction
And never leave
Even if love cleaves
It lies behind ramparts of containment
And the fear of society's arraignment
Even if peace calls
It stays behind walls
Of trees hiding predators
That keep us embedded here
So we ***** barriers to protect us
From the barriers surrounding us
We find our connections through hatred
And build teams around it
We made foolish deals with Satan
This is what we're amounted
Scavengers from both worlds encroach the Wastelands
Journalists and artists mine our souls
Vultures mine our flesh like gold
Taking what they need and going home
Our rabid mouths begin to show foam
From the frustration of loss
But inactivity is our cross
While we watch carrion feeders
Carry on eating
Our friends
Until we turn and look away
Knowing that'll be us one day
Because in the Wastelands
Friends are just creatures who are near
There are no animals to hold dear
We're afraid to lend an ear
When Wastelands use fear
The Wastelands are hell
Dry river beds tell of a time
When the rain fell
But now we're plagued by drought
You can tell by looking at the trout
They flop on the ground
Wondering where to wander for water
The cacti remain still
It's the Wastelands will
In the Wastelands we wait to die
Although we really want to fly
We're just afraid of heights
Which impedes our sight
Where we can't view over our own barricades
It's fear that prohibits our ability to elevate
And we see that the order is too tall
Back into the Wastelands we fall
Sep 12, 2017
Sep 12, 2017 at 9:30 AM UTC
I’d stop to indulge in my cursed writer’s rut,
And cease to perch beneath the spiky pine,
Like the winter snow my thoughts doth jut,
Beside a flame, on delicious dreams dine,
No forest bequeath or mountain’s soul call,
Just the spring of my writer’s pen approach,
As doth many a story on these blank pages fall,
The chilly snow, nigh the singing wind encroach,
Perhaps my mind in another universe doth roam,
Witness to more then what the eyes here fathom,
Like a child’s delight in summer’s soft moan,
Stories of Mermaids dwelling in nature’s *****
Star by star and sun by sun, stories here themselves doth tell,
Of beautiful Queens and Kings of valor, my pen doth here compel.
Oct 7, 2013
Oct 7, 2013 at 4:42 AM UTC
You can love me or loathe me,
Agree or disagree,
But you can never erase me.
I drive you,
Rein you in or rip you apart,
I encroach your mind with my conniving hands,
Yet you haven't the strength to expunge me.
However you might shut me out or restrain me
But in the end you succumb and I win.
I give you the hope to live,
The backbone to prop yourself up in despairing times,
The happiness to rejoice.
Call me friend or fiend,
Your fort or your facade,
Nonetheless I'm your past,
Will be your future and I'm here right now...
I'm undeniably your conscience
Oct 22, 2012
Oct 22, 2012 at 5:52 AM UTC
** I wrote this long ago for a friend with cancer - a small malignancy the size of a pearl in her lung. The hateful thing metastasised to her pancreas after two years in the shadows - she lost her battle last week. She was 73. She was firm friends with my mother my entire life, and her own children Isobel and Craig are like my own flesh and blood. I was unable to attend the funeral due to ill health, but she requested this poem be read out at her funeral - I'm sharing it here as a tribute to her, and I've changed names to preserve her privacy and dignity. **
This kingdom's hewn of time and words
And glances flashing over
Shadows, shapes and silhouettes
And pearls of smoke and ochre.
Rude invaders! Generals!
Who dares encroach our borders?
"Naught but pearls my princess, so
We strike! At dawn! No quarter!".
Set shoulders low and feet aplant
And curl your fingers slowly.
Your enemy is swift and lean,
Ten thousand times below you.
No mercy from a princess who
Instilled in fresh disciples
Wisdom, courage, whimsy, love and
When it's called for... rifles.
Gather muskets! Catapults!
Oh marshalls! Summon nurses!
The game's afoot and outcomes?
Well, who dwells on whom we versus?
For masses swell behind you and your
Gleaming armour guides us.
Swords aflame! We saw! We came!
Wakes of pearls behind us!
Ten years hence, one hundred, more
Louises, Davids, Andrews,
Will sing with you your victory,
Sandy Alexandrou.
Oct 18, 2016
Oct 18, 2016 at 6:38 AM UTC
Vision sometimes becomes blurry
when darkness moves at the speed of your sight
and the shadows encroach on the peripheral of your vision
and looking for inspiration becomes like being in a tunnel/
At times like these a second pair of eyes relieves the pressure
another dimension to add to my line of sight
At times like these another pair of eyes combats the haze
and the horizon of your perception leads me to brighter streets and metropolis waves/
Like neon lights
in the mall after dark
like wedding rings and violin strings
like a silhouette of light etched upon the night
A muse references the future through the now
A muse makes even the abstract man aware of daylight and sunshine
Oct 18, 2013
Oct 18, 2013 at 10:59 AM UTC
If I should fall a thousand steps into your arms,
will they not wait? For I
let not Cassiopeia move beyond her throne
to encroach my bed.
Let gravity
seek its master upon my feet
and warm itself in my slippers,
carry me through curtains
and clouds of deceit to reach a haloed moon
in an airless night. If I
should wait a thousand years for a single step into your arms,
will they not open? For I
let wide the gates and fiery the oil
to relinquish the kingdom and forge
against the current into the quiet distance.
Apr 14, 2016
Apr 14, 2016 at 12:38 PM UTC
A tiger at the zoo.
Violent, impulsive, and insatiably ferocious;
To be feared, surely dangerous?
Aging in captivity, he watches the people walk by; who mostly are thankful at him safely set apart from others.
A woman pauses in front of his predicament, and thinks," What folly is this? For I do not fear the untamed, I will test him and encroach upon his pride."
Her reasoning unclear, she approaches that cage;
Not caring whether for her safety, or his-
To **** into action, something that may or may not be safe.
I watched this from some distance, and thought,
"Will she push too far and his animalistic savagery will overcome, to fatally satiate her curiosity?
Or, will he give it no thought at all and soon expect his scheduled pittance of flesh to devour?"
After all, I reasoned, he is still a tiger.
I watched intently. And waited...
Mar 5, 2013
Mar 5, 2013 at 3:17 AM UTC
night time doth slowly encroach
on the creatures of the bush
their activity shall quieten
as the stars sparkle
Dec 1, 2013
Dec 1, 2013 at 4:05 AM UTC
I am the beautiful Scorpion Queen
Ruler of hidden places
Securer of hiding spaces
Buried often under rocks
Cautious of people
Who stamp over me
So I mastered the perfect sting
As those who encroach over me
I give a little ping
They say I look nasty
But I do it all for you
As I show you your true value
I will bite the hand that
Undermines you
As me and my children
Will protect your foundation
And cut the vines of envy
That strangle you
As I love sacred spaces
I lift the confusion from those
Who say all is one
But live on the outside
And trample over everyone
I cut the claws
With my jaws
Breaking the need to please
I say build your house
Before you build your city
As I preserve the
Sanctity of duality
The guardian of your cave
Protector of your temple
Keeper of your palace
A soldier who keeps on fighting
Fighting to the death
May you visit me
On memorial day
My life I feel complete
As I sew doubt splitting the world
Like a chisel into wood
But I celebrate dividing lines
And cut the white light
To give you colour
Let the rainbow shine
As I champion variety
The Goddess of individuality
As I give you difference
And hold the value of
Many shapes and sizes
I release you to your self portrait
Colourful Mosaic
My nippers become the scissors
Of the Lord's dressmakers
As my tail does the needle work
I clear the muddled mind because
They all said you must say yes
I take away the guilt of no
Heavy shoulders weighed down by yes
And give you NO NO NO
NO to the controller
No to those who think
They know better
Dare a no to the precious Guru
For I will betray the Christ
Out of my Love for you
When they point their finger
I will make your point much sharper
I will rescue your sweet
Innocent soul
Which can not defile
I will get my hands dirt
So you don't have to
They call me the betrayer
But what I want
Is for you to find
The real you
As my gift is
Your TRUE SELF
So much love to give
And possesses a beauty
That puts the Gods to shame
Our truly great SCORPION QUEEN
Jan 20, 2015
Jan 20, 2015 at 9:18 AM UTC
Nigredo
Crawl to your calignous cave, where
The carbon walls will encroach your gray matter.
Choke on the ebb of your gnarled reason. Left imploring,
You will breathe the expanse, planets will taunt you.
Negligible, your ego will dissipate,
For you do not matter, are not matter, will not matter.
You will take the cathartic dragon,
Purge the soot from its gaping nostrils.
Shadows will multiply and thunder your eyeballs
Quick silver tears will swarm your porcelain peel.
So below, As above.
Albedo
I erupted from my candescent pool, where
The ivory baubles pirouetted in the cerulean sky,
Stimulated faith, insanity, rhapsody.
My unblemished chalk fingertips traced star-letters,
“I do mind, am mind, will mind.”
Bathing in this serene elation,
I released the congested swallows,
Scattered feathers upon the wasteland.
As above, So below.
Rubedo
Soon will be a crippling inundation of crimson diamonds,
That will shred and tear her dusty membrane,
Waning shards will slowly clear and stitches will surface.
Recognition will ignite from her shadows and
Golden love will germinate in the sandy dunes.
Leaves will gather to crunch her toes.
The vitality queen will reign from her throne,
Encrusted with life, stone in hand,
So above, As below.
Jul 13, 2011
Jul 13, 2011 at 4:46 PM UTC
Oh stuffy how you are so soft
So perfect and held aloft
On your soft cushion of stuffing you sit
Even as i age and grow my first zit
Oh stuffy how you are so great
So perfect and the size of a plate
The perfect companion
Through the treacherous
Canyon of age.
Never let me enter the haze
For i shall be lost in a daze
Waiting for the phase
Of being old to slowly encroach.
Never let me enter that haze
And remind me of the days
Where books ended in rhymes
And we played in our minds
Never let me forget the time
When time simply forgot to tick
Stretching between naps and noms.
Reminding me of my first tooth
This is an ode to youth
Nov 9, 2020
Nov 9, 2020 at 4:25 PM UTC
A line of trees in massive form
Encroach along a ridge of stone,
Gnarled, bent and weather worn
Their clinging roots call granite home.
This ancient wood has weathered time
Felt the freezing gales of snow,
Has witnessed birth and death by day
Through life's kaleidoscopic show.
Oh the stories they can tell
When sunshine in the heavens ,warm,
When rivers run in merry tune
And safflower honey bees do swarm.
Oh the stories they can tell
When fillies kicked their heels in grass,
When whippoorwills did sing their song
And rampant stallions vied for class.
Oh the stories they can tell
When ancient armies trod this way
When clashing steel rang loud and clear
And good blood flowed in battle fray.
Oh the stories they can tell
When faceless horsemen galloped by,
The stench of putrid fear's lament
When populations bled to die.
Oh the stories they can tell
Of mountain peaks succumbed to fire,
Where ash removed the very sun
And panicked people fled the dire.
Oh the stories they can tell
Of black and white and good and bad
....But immaterial, perhaps, to trees
Who root in rock and seem so sad.
Marshalg
Taranaki dreamin'
26 May 2011
May 25, 2011
May 25, 2011 at 9:49 PM UTC
I wrote a letter to a cliff
Because I know how it is to be the edge of the earth
It's ingrained in my mind always from experience
How one more step can lead to a fall
How one more step....
I wrote a letter a cliff and sent it via the wind
I sang a song to a mountain
Because I know how it is to rise above the world
A monument standing tall amidst the valleys
How one more step can lead to a peak
How one more step.....
I sang a song to a mountain and played it on the wind
A wrote a poem for the sky
Because I know how it is to feel endless
And then have the clouds encroach in a threatening way
How one more step through thunder and lightning
Just one more step.....
I wrote a poem for the sky on the air that I breath
Just one more step
Can lead to a peak
Can lead to a fall
A step in the rain
Can lead me to home
May 22, 2016
May 22, 2016 at 1:54 AM UTC
Blankets covered the floor
White like forgotten snow
Ruffled in places,
Dust settled, grey patches in White
Foot touches floor, the blanket seeps red
Like a virus spreading ,
Consuming the white
The floor now like a wine,
A smell of copper
I touch the crimson,
A ripple spreads across the room,
From wall to wall,
Ripples come together forming more,
Then towards me they encroach
Liquid,
Scarlet,
Waves,
Washing over my feet,
A grip I feel as the crimson
Pulls,
Seduces,
Wrenches,
At my feet,
I collapse like a toppled tree,
The waves crash upon the wooden floor
Each like a hook pulling me in more,
Then I am consumed
Underneath the waves of crimson death
There is only darkness,
My screams unheard
Not alive,
Not yet dead,
I look up as the crimson turns white,
And where once there was liquid
There is now white sheets waiting patiently
For those who don't tread carefully
Only death does await.
Aug 9, 2014
Aug 9, 2014 at 8:13 AM UTC
When silence screams, it deafens all.
For those who listen close shall find,
Mistress darkness beckons to its call,
Seeking to shake up your state of mind.
In darkness lies monsters few dare see,
They encroach from the shadows,
Much taller, much wider than you or me,
Twisted creatures unfold and transpose,
In life there is no greater fear,
To be alone in a cold world,
Means to lose all that you hold dear,
To the point you're nothing but furled.
Mistress darkness beckons her call,
Awaiting her next victim whomever shall fall.
Apr 5, 2016
Apr 5, 2016 at 3:12 AM UTC
If ever the internal chatter threatens to cease
and the Clear White Light begins to encroach;
if the nail-biting, jaw-grinding, hackle-rising clamour
starts to give way to the humming tranquility of Truth,
where boundaries dissolve
and language lies in redundant, grateful sleep
Some internal reflex snaps me back into distraction,
relentlessly revs the engine
and spray-paints ugly slogans across
enlightenment's helpless face.
I used to resent this, and see it as a weakness.
Now I am profoundly grateful.
It's not the unfettered truth I couldn't bear,
it's the moral obligation to share it
when the dawn rises on another normal day
and you carry the burden alone
through careless crowds, wondering
what the hell
you're supposed to do with it.
Jun 11, 2013
Jun 11, 2013 at 9:58 AM UTC