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Victor Tripp Nov 2015
Miss lee regrets
She's unable to dine today
Sadly , miss lee regrets
She's unable to dine today
She's so sorry to be delayed
But last night
At lover's lane instead of being faithful , she strayed
Sadly, miss lee regrets
She's unable to dine today
When she got up from her dream
Discovered her man had tasted her sweetness and gone
Sadly, she ran after him
And made it his final earthly time to play
And from her chic matching outfit
She fired that first bullet into his chest
Sadly, miss lee regrets
She's unable to dine today
Than the cops came and put on the cuffs
Read her rights calmly with no muss or fuss
She served ten years  right away
Used the long years of time to think and pray
And not long after her release miss lee died
Few folks were at the graveside to cry
Sadly , miss lee regrets
She's unable to dine today
Terry Collett Apr 2014
The priest performed
a simple solemn service
for the internment
of your ashes.

Your close family
were there
by the graveside;
the small dug hole,
the sacred plot,
the green carpet.

Your sister brought
your wooden casket,
carrying you
for the last time.

Your nephews and nieces
cried as did we all
inside or out.

I guess you were there,
my son, in spirit
looking on, taking in
the whole service
from start to end;
the flowers;
the wooden casket
with your name on top;
watching your brother
place it carefully
in its resting place;
ashes to ashes,
the priest said,
but the soul lives on,
his words meaningful
in the afternoon warmth,
the sun lazily there;
bird song;
you listening,
my son, nearby,
silent as you
usually were,
eyeing the proceedings,
sensing our loss
and ache
at your departure
in a ****** sense;
but you are
here and there
in spirit
as our recompense.
ON OLE'S INTERNMENT OF ASHES.
Rachel W Feb 2016
When I smile on my throne,
you will wonder
why the others cringe away in fear
pawns

When I laugh behind my hands,
you will wonder
why he shook so with rage
bishop

When I sleep at night,
you will wonder
why they stand guard by my bedside
knights

When I walk in the great hall,
you will wonder
why the others flee from my path
rooks

When I cry in the garden,
you will wonder
why he does not dry my tears
king

When I am silent at your graveside
you will wonder no more
*Check Mate
SiouxF Jul 2022
A life no more,
Bright flame extinguished
Before it’s time,
Empty shell six foot under,
Soul flying free.

Mourners line the graveside
While birds sing sweet songs
In contrast to tear sodden faces,
And the finality of the thump of blood red roses landing on wood.

I never knew the departed,
Was only there to lend a supportive arm to one who remained,
But moved to tears nonetheless
For the sordid shame and meaningless loss
That only suicide brings.
SE Reimer Aug 2013
I remember the day,
When first we met;
Your face I can see, 
I'll not ever forget.
Hearing you cry, 
I sang your first song;
I was just learning,
How to hold on.

Off to the playground, 
I think you were three;
While crossing the street,
You hung on to me.
When pushing your swing,
I'd always say,
I'm right behind you, 
Son, I'll keep you safe.

For years we work hard,
Learning how to hold on,
And then in a moment,
Childhood is gone.
No longer their fortress, 
Our arms they outgrow,
We find we're not ready, 
It's so hard to let go.

We took you to college, 
We set up your room.
Had we prepared you,
Or too much assumed?
As we drove down the freeway,
Hope wrestled with fears,
Our struggle to let go,
Was a battle with tears.

Now at your graveside,
I've come here to grieve;
Your protector no longer,
Now you're watching me.
Though Heaven now holds you,
And though His hope I know,
It makes it no easier,
Its still hard to let go.

For years we work hard,
Learning how to hold on,
And then in a moment,
This life is gone.
No longer their fortress,
Our arms they outgrow,
We don't get to choose when,
It is time to let go.

I still find this painful,
It's so hard to let go.
I'll never be ready,
Though it's time to let go.
Victor Tripp Nov 2015
Miss lee regrets
She's unable to dine today
Sadly, miss lee regrets
She's unable to dine today
She's so sorry to be delayed
But last night instead of going home , at lover's lane she strayed
Sadly, miss lee regrets
She's unable to dine today
When she got up from her dream
Discovered her man had used the act selfishly it seems
Sadly, she ran after him, and that led to his final day
And from her matching outfit she fired that first bullet into his chest
Sadly, miss lee regrets
She's unable to dine today
Than the cops came and put on the cuffs
Read her rights calmly with no muss or fuss
She served ten years right away
Used the long years of time to think and pray
And not long after her release miss lee died
Few folks were at the graveside to cry
Sadly, miss lee regrets
She's unable to dine today
I didn't cry when I heard of your passing, didn't fall to my knees or scream at the sky, you would have hated that anyway.The world went on around me, daily routines soaking up time like a desert soaks up precious drops of rain. Your funeral had gone before I heard the news, no black-draped graveside gestures for me. 

All I could think was "that's another one of us gone" both of you too soon but the tears didn't come.

 Days turned into weeks, as they will...

Then came the music, funny how music can do that. My speakers spoke of Jesus riding a motorbike and there you were, dancing, or something like it. Your face radiating happiness as it always did when we misfits were all together, that grin, oh how I miss that grin, wide as the grand canyon and equally beautiful. I laughed, mascara black tears staining my cheeks, as a torrent of despair set forth, bleeding old wounds and cleansing my heart. I still miss you, even now, you with your ever- worn parka and your party tricks deemed unacceptable in polite society, I always will. I wrote you a poem. You wouldn't like it, because it's sad, the one thing you never were...
Written in loving memory of my friend Twix, many years have passed, my love for him has not. He is the Him in "For Him"
"It's coming on the end of August,
Another Summer's promise almost gone.
And I heard some wise man say,
That every dog should have his day.
He never mentioned that these dog days get so long."



"It's coming on the end of August,
Another Summer's promise almost gone.
And I heard some wise man say,
That every dog should have his day.
He never mentioned that these dog days get so long."


It was the end of summer, long long hot days maybe they would start fading, maybe the beach had something else in mind.

It had started out as a nice day.

Katlin's beauty was very noticeable, everyone that came in contact with her, felt drawn to her not only by her beauty but her persona, she loved people and people loved her. Her long blond hair flowed perfect around her shoulders, deep golden blue eyes made all men stop in their tracks. Although she had such beauty she had only one man in mind, and he called her princess.

Katlin saw the weather report it looked like bad weather was coming. She waited most of the day waiting and waiting for her love to get back.
And then....
The stars were blinking as she walked by
The landscape was loyal to her
Down in South Padre’s Island
Where they built their life of long ago...

In a way Dean, was glad of the surprised meeting he had with Katlin. Never expecting such a beauty would look at him and thanked his stars that she did. Their meeting per chance…him  looking at houses on the Island, she the realtor.  After dating for a while, he wished to move in with her, if she would only let him, her husband having passed away six months earlier.

Katlin was watching the weather report she realized they were going to have a bad storm . It was coming their way.
Startled by its ferocity, getting scared, she realized she couldn’t wait any longer. She started throwing things into the car keeping an eye, looking out for Dean.
It had been so long! Knowing if she lost him now she realized that it would break her heart.
The billowing wind was whistling past the palm trees, she had to hurry.
Walking on to their boat’s deck, she looked at the ocean and she couldn’t believe what she saw.
People were out surfing.
What was wrong with these people? With an urge welling in her to walk, she didn't want to get in that car. Maybe if she did walk Dean would be back soon… So walk she did
A new life was waiting for her
If only she would inhale
The tides of her life
A drug of a memory haunted her
Mirrored in pirouette
On South Padre Island
She was a Princess in His eyes
But everything felt strange


The wind was picking up, blowing the trees.
She was downright scared
As the sand hit the air it was thick with surf, she could feel it against her skin this cool evening. She knew she had to find her way back home. She knew that the wind now turning into a hurricane was headed her way. She had to get off this island. She wondered why she stayed so long on the beach.
As she was running, trying to find shelter she ran by the bathrooms near the beach… Suddenly, a pair of hands grabbed her and pulled her inside. She gasped and was shocked when she  came face to face with a strange man. In fact, he scared her. She realized the man was around her age and the wind had weathered him. A closer look, his appearance was actually pleasing. His sandy blond hair and green eyes were piercing.
Though she felt uncomfortable, but couldn't take her eyes off of him.
Gasping still, he dropped his hands from her body and looked into her eyes.
"I hope you are alright, and please don't be scared." He told her in a gentle voice.
His voice was reassuring, calming her tattered nerves.
"I am fine but scared, we need to get to a better shelter, the hurricane is coming and we are not safe." Mustering courage, she did not have time for tears.
Katlin tried looking down the beach from the bathroom shelter, hoping to see Dave, knowing well that he was somewhere else safe.
She wondered where he could be. Why didn't he come, get her, so they could have left? She tried his cell phone, no answer. What was going on?
She turned around and saw the stranger staring at her. "Sorry I thought I would be able to get my phone to work. But it is no use."
The wind sounded like a banshee, the waves getting bigger, water splashing into the bathroom. Wanting to step out, the hands held her firmly by the arm.
"Where are you going? You do not have a chance out there." He yelled at her.
She yelled back, "We do not have a chance in here."
He wouldn't let go of her and pressed his body against hers… and then they were on the floor with his body on hers. When the water started getting deeper, he pulled her against the wall out of the water. She felt they didn't have a chance.
She realized his hands were not where they were supposed to be. She didn't hear the wind anymore and she didn't feel the water rising. All she felt was his hands and the look in his eyes. Was she going to die in this man's arms? A man she had no idea who he was?
It felt like hours, but his lips tasted so good and she was so scared and for some reason she felt safe. She wanted him, and she knew she wanted her.
For a moment, he stopped what he was doing and looked in her eyes and whispered in her ear, "I am sorry, but I need you, may I have you this last hour of our life?"
She couldn't help herself, if she lived another hour, she knew she wanted this man too. She nodded yes and whispered I want you too.
As the water rose so did their temperatures,  the heat between them becoming intense. Her mind going blank, as his hands explored her body. It was at that moment both knew they had reached where only they could, with spasms of desire flowing between them...
The heat brought them to another level, when the wind stopped, they stopped, looking at each other.
Total silence…the eye of the storm.
He stepped back and looked at her and murmured "I am so sorry, I feel like I was ****** you and that is not who I am."
Katlin gasped and let out a cry and started running. Ran out of the bathroom and ran some more.
Then she remembered her love once more.
Where was her love? She had a nasty feeling. She found her car. Nearly in tears, as she started driving away trying to get off the island and looking for Dean's Jeep at the same time.
Driving from one end of the island to the other in bumper to bumper traffic, her hands were shaking, the winds were picking up again, whipping everything. She saw things flying and she was scared.
She decided to get off the main road and drive towards the beach once again when she saw a jeep turned upside down. Nearly freezing with fear, pulled off the side of the road and ran to see who it was. It was raining again, raining so hard the wind was worse than ever. It kept pushing her back and sideways, finally after it seemed like an eternity she reached the jeep and saw Dean  upside down and he was bleeding.
Katlin screamed Dean's name. She tried pulling him out but could not budge him. Then before she knew it, there were other people there working trying to get him out. Then next, waves were crashing and the wind so violent…she was pushed with her head hitting the car fender. As she blacked out she remembered her love.
Death Was Here....
The Death that was coming was going to be no more.
The pain would be gone
This day
You must let go
Of all the things you
Own
You cannot hold fast
For the colors fade
And light is gone
The world
Itself
Will spin
And there will be another day
But this day is gone
Lives would be gone this day!

Dean was gone. With time elapsing, Katlin tried to forget that frightening day, the howling wind and the rain, but what she couldn't forget was the man she met for brief moments, in the bathroom, those moments that would haunt her.
Sitting at Dave’s graveside, Katlin felt someone staring. As she looked, in the distance under the yew tree saw the shadow of a man. The man she knew only briefly, a man she wanted to know more of. Had he saved her life?
Then he was gone...

Debbie Brooks 2014
To the page I understand and my existence for which I only same to  trace.
Have we not came this far on instinct now can we outlast the ******* ahead?
dam the wrong turns I have far less direction with you may I convince you to stay only to destroy
what never was to begin with my dear.  

As we count hours only to empty the glass.
Maybe one last dance upon  this edge will break us maybe if only we embrace the hopeless
may we understand death and the emptiness for which you remain.

Tonight a graveside stance forget the souls underneath I walked upon to get here.

Enjoy this agony for these are the days were night will gain depth.
So shallow are my thoughts when blinded by eyes.

You counted the hours but no change would become of you in form.
A favorite monster of my worst design can I slip my poison inside only to admire are decay?

Love you served me well for winter now summers hail will reside my thoughts.
Frozen as glass to water of pond .
Your image lay trapped within my thoughts and ice.

Farewell
Victor Tripp Nov 2015
Miss lee regrets She's unable to dine today
Sadly, miss lee regrets
She's unable to dine today
She's so sorry to be delayed
But last night instead of going home , she strayed
Sadly, miss lee regrets
She's unable to dine today
When she got up from her dream
Discovered her man had hit and run so it seemed
Sadly, she ran after him and treated him to his final day
And from her matching outfit
She fired that first bullet into his chest
Sadly, miss lee regrets
She's unable to dine today
Than the cops came to put on the cuffs
Read her rights calmly with no muss or fuss
She served ten years right away
Used the long years of time to think and pray
And not long after her release miss lee did die
Few folks were at the graveside to even cry
Sadly,miss lee regrets
She's unable to dine today
Come sample the pain of love
see my heart get split in two
watch me feel sorry for myself
just for the loss of the love of you

See the meadows ashen and brown
my face will always have a frown
you know I think so much about you
I wish you had heart to think about me to

If I die, would you be there
by my graveside, throwing flowers
I so doubt you would
for you fell out of love with me

So when my winter comes
and I will be a dying
I will call to the song
that song of freedom


By Christos Andreas Kourtis aka NeonSolaris
md-writer Apr 2015
But the way you look at me
Tells me there are tears behind your smile
And a graveside in your mind
Where you sit and wonder
Why he had to leave.

I know I'm not him
But if I can I want to be the
New face of that old love.

The tree that grows up
From the dust of his ashes
To fill the dark void that was
Left by his passing.

Next phase in the old story
Where death begins birth
And new life is a graveyard not yet dug.
mark john junor May 2013
shatterproof smiles
like nineteen sixties plastic american sunshine
on the faded walls
if it was something a "la la la la" song could solve
then he wouldn't be up all night
pacing the hall wringing his clammy hands
whispering over and over
that we have come as far as we can hope to
how can i get you that one step further
shatterproof smiles
look great but they have no love
look super-duper on t.v.
but they wont be there in your darkest hour

but he waits for her
a good egg his mom always said
cause thats what they promised him
a perfect girl with a shatterproof smile
a perfect painting of plastic sunshine
a glittering prize
an empty space behind bright blue eyes

she is one of them
her glory ***** scrapbook
is filled with the blood traces of those
she has severed from their loved ones
and it smells of hard dirt
it smells of unquenchable thirst
she is now years behind me
and so is the monster she choose to be
shes a fast song now
feet too swift to spend a maidens moments
tarrying over the bouquets of roses at graveside
too swift to shed a tear for the children left behind
too swift to see the cost of her heartlessness

a fast song to spin the mind from the hearts ache
from the souls vanquish

i am alone on the long empty street
i see her as a wave of destruction approaching
over the miles and years
and nothing looks more lonely to me
nothing looks more void of humanity
than the look in her eye

i left you behind years ago
monster with perfect shatterproof smiles
and you will never never know what my answer was
edit: lines 6 and 9 where replaced...a persons name was removed.
Bardo Jan 2021
(Scene: A funeral service, at the graveside. Two mourners talking to one another)

Duncan died then, so he finally gave up his goose.

< (disapprovingly) Gave up his ghost not his goose! >

Tis sad, very sad.

< Aye, maybe twas for the best, I heard he'd been sufferin'... He's gone to a better land now. >

(Looking at him amazed, having not heard properly) He what ! He's gone where!! He's gone to the Netherlands!!!

< He's gone to a better land!  a better land!! A better place!!! For fecks sake! >

(A lone Piper starts to play a lament by the graveside)

(after a few moments listening) I love the sound of the poops. A lone **** in the wind....He's a fine wee pooper that lad.

< He's a Piper not a Pooper!
(under his breath) Only Pooper around here is you. (smiles to himself thinking) A Super Pooper. (smiles even more) A Super Duper Pooper. >

Y'know he was quite a pooper himself in his day, was Duncan. I can still remember his pooping well. A Prize Pooper was Duncan, his pooping was often the talk of the town.

< (sadly & dreamily) Well, no more will his...his poops be heard around the Glens. Only silence now and the wind....o'er the heather, the fields and the crags. >

I'm not a bad pooper myself y'know.

< (smiles)  I bet ye are. >

< (thinks to himself) But the heather will bloom again, and the children, they'll play in the meadows.>
I think I'll have this read at my funeral LoL. More silliness. A kind of a sequel to The Goose of Gainly  Hall.
niamh Jun 2015
Without you by my side
all the pain comes to the fore.
There is nowhere left to hide.

All this hurt I can't abide
Life feels just like a chore
without you by my side.

As I sit by your graveside
and my heart breaks even more
there is nowhere left to hide.

For all the tears that I have cried
Joy doesn't live here anymore
without you by my side.

And so I swim against the tide
and it's you I cry out for.
There is nowhere left to hide.

In whom shall I confide?
Never questioned heretofore.
Without you by my side
There is nowhere left to hide.
First attempt at a villanelle - had to be done :)
bleh Nov 2016
you'd always come home via the garden path, reveling in the crunching of the twigs, the slooshing of the leaves, the endless clackering of misfound footfalls. till the day, after a particularly satisfying stomp snapping, you looked underfoot and saw the remains of the fallen sparrow's nest


it took you five days to soak out the blood


tonight's supposed to be the biggest moon in 68 years. Biggest moon! Wow.


a girl at the party says it's stupid to care what others think. i agreed with her. She agreed with my agreeance, and then burst into tears. i ignored her and walked away. i'm a frigid *****, but theys' gotsta learn, they


God, the flies, it's such a cliché, but it's true, as you trek down into the sludge you can't see them but you can hear it, the buzzing, you can always, from everywhere, the buzzing


when our flatmate left, he deconstructed his bed. he didn't take it with him, he just, took the mattress, threw it in the water closet, left the headboard on the stairway landing, and the sides and springs'n-**** in the garage
                      i really respect the gesture


in the gully between the graveyard and the mine, they built a highschool. a ******* highschool. lord knows why. it looks like a ******* campers lodge, all the kids climb up the banks and the uni students sell them acid in lolly mix nickel bags. everyone i've ever known came from that school, one way or another. heavens know why. hey, look at the big chimney, guess the furnace is on. it's still in use, huh? probably shouldn't be loitering. anyway-


the big diggerman's dig up the concrete, put it in a bucket.
the big diggermans with the big digger truck, with all the cones and stop signs.
Bawm! Bwam! the big muscle arm, full of strewn piping and pistons, bab's the ground bab bab. Take that, ground! Bab Bab!! the spinning chair vibrates, the man gyrates, and the big arm up's and downs, down down, swivel, dump.


remember when we were thirteen, and the idiot boys made a game of standing in a circle, trying to **** into their own mouths? you wanted to punch them in the face, but didn't want to get your hands *****. if only you'd known, back then, that your limbs were really just overgrown turnips, would you of been so insistent at keeping your distance? keeping the world at arms length? that's always the irony, isn't it. the world was inside you all along



At the end of the cemetery, past the hedges, a car park, overlooking the hill, where there's a huge oak tree, and all the concrete is just fractured under its weight, and the asphalt is in tar stricken colours a blackbird in mid-dive splatter. Anyway. Sorry,-

god, you're making porridge? Porridge? *******, are you even hungry, or did you just ******* want to see the ******* oat-*****-muchus coat everything you

-just, there, in this graveside car-park overlooking the city but also in the middle of nowhere, there's two cars. One, a ******* Mitsubishi GT, all slick and weltering plastic, pure pristine millionaire CEO's toy phallus, and beside it, a banged up old Datsun, and it all seems like an allegory for something, but it isn't, it's just, someone dumped these two ******* cars here, but they're not even dumped per see, the registry in the windows are up to date and everything, but they're just there


      all the damp men take the STOP out the truck, stand on the road, hold the cones, watch the digger man seat shuffling; gotta shuffle move up the pavement before you big hand down


You were too clever, weren't you? to bash her head, right there, in the corner, there, above the left cheek bone, so i couldn't tell, right? to make her look like just one more corpse, among the rot? obscure that one side, turned away? left to decompose, mid-perch, on a desert highway? well, maybe it wasn't, maybe it was just someone else, but the fact that you knew, you knew i'd check above the left temple, and that you ****** chose that as the point of rupture, it shows, it just ******* shows, the


the flies never gather, at the point of death, they just breed in the damp, the gulleys surrounding it, why is that


and just look at you now, sitting there, naked as a newborn, crying to yourself, wiping your weepy eyes with your simpering turnip paws, and it's just pathetic, isn't it? And i love you, i do, it's the one moment i can say it, i can feel it with burning, simple purity, with self effacing truth and clarity, because, here, i don't matter. you don't need me, you need a body to hold, an arm to hug you. in loving you i can be absolved of all qualities, and so, for once, i do, i do

Yeah no! In sixty-eight years! What even is the moon



it's amazing, i've eaten nothing in the last thirty-six hours, except a single dried apricot. yet
                                   i need to *****

  you know that feeling? What a feeling. You need to retch, but there's nothing to retch, and there you are, just standing there, at 5am gagging to yourself in a damp field. A stomach, trying to turn away, fold upon and shaft itself a vicissitude. A stomach, no, no, yes, you see?  You need to empty yourself of this bile. What bile? Exactly. There's nothing. Nothing up-emptied onto nothing. And that's all there is, right, that's all that life is, is given right there; the gag, the convulsion, the upturning unto itself, the attempt, attempt, you understand? Of the cathexis, of the innerworld, taken to contain only the unspeakable within itself, miserly bile, a concomitant of all the worlds ills and would be ills and then upon it taken as an ill unto itself, a single nebulous fluid husk of malignant umbra, held in *******, bound in fleshy lining. But then the expulsion, the retch, is attempted, to take all the seething disease of the inner and to project, upturn it onto the outer world. Where? It doesn't matter. In the bin, into the shrubbery, Anywhere but in here. Once it's gone, it gone, that's all that matters, gone, go, go, get. The body tries to push the malaise of(as) the internal unto the external, the outer, but in doing so, finds itself(boundary) empty, where it thought it incubated only vile, there was instead, only nothing, but still, somehow, the convulsing, the retching, the act itself, remains. And that's it, you see? That's all it is, all the emotional turmoil, all the half-hearted hallucentric episodes, the all of everything, is just that, just an, an emptiness trying to upend itself but finding there's nothing to upend, but it still asserts itself as process, as an unending nausea, unresolvable nausea, both grounding and thrown, the throwing and that-which-is-cast, bent under itself,  nausea



the swamp reclaimed the garden last summer. flood season, after all. some days the stagnant waves came right up to the brickwork, can still see the lines, see? your old swing set's a gonna though. all the rabbits either abandoned their dens, or were drowned out. lord knows how many micro-organisms died as well. lot's of new ones were probably borne though, right? hear those flies, bzzt, bzzt. life loves damp heat. you can never tell, never tell really.
fuuck, porridge. porridge is great. you start with some dry oats, but by the end, who knew? the porridge isn't the oats. the porridge is the *process*, the murky texture that you just keep pouring into and it just sits there, it just takes it in, ever cloudy, ever stewn upon itself.



all the sounds, all the sound, all the sound, all the sound, all the sounds, all the sound all the sounds, all the sound, all the sound, all the sound, all the sound, all the sounds all the sounds, all the sound, all the sound, all the sound, all the sounds, all the sound all the sound, all the sound, all the sounds, all the sound, all the sounds, all the sound all the sounds, all the sound, all the sounds, all the sound, all the sounds, all the sound all the sounds, all the sound, all the sound, all the sound, all the sounds, all the sound all the sounds, all the sound, all the sound, all the sound, all the sounds, all but sound



when we'd get lost in damp forests at dawn, or around the sea cliffs at midnight, you'd always sing Poison Oak to me, and i never really got it to be honest, that one song always eluded me. why a yellow bird?
many years later, after my cousin killed herself, i'd think back to you, standing there, and i started listening to it again, and something, something really resonated. a kinda deep, all absolving, wash. but i still don't *get* it, i



******* porridge man, what the **** even is it
David Swinden Sep 2015
At the graveside the grieving man knelt
Remembering the feelings that he felt
And in all the grief and all the pain
In this painful time on his knees he remained
Face to face they had never even met
But for a year they chatted on the internet

The tears flowed down from his eyes
Some would never understand or be surprised
How can this poor man have a broken heart
When in his life she has played no part
Although face to face they never even met
But for a year they chatted on the internet

Friendships blossom relationships grow
Where will they lead? Nobody knows
But this poor man's grief that's in his soul
Has opened up a gaping hole
Even though face to face they had never met
Once upon a time they chatted on the internet

2003
Elizabeth Jan 2016
I had a friend whom I loved,
but she bedded with a beast.
The beast would beat her regularly,
twice daily at the least.

I begged her and I pleaded her,
“Please leave the beast today.”
No matter how I reasoned, though,
she said there was no way.

She said that she was happy there,
said she was in control,
said she wasn't being ****** into
the terrible black hole.

“Think about your kids,” I said,
“They need their mom to win
this battle with the pills that seem
to always draw you in.”

The sparkle in her eyes went dim,
her laughter sounded forced.
Every visit with her left my
worst fears reinforced.

Finally, I stood my ground,
said that she had to choose.
I thought I'd given her a path
that she could not refuse.

Alas, she chose the pills instead
of keeping me a friend,
this woman that I thought would be
my sister 'til the end.

She kicked me out, she carved me out,
she shut me out and then,
she denied me when I reached out for her
time and time again.

There was a time, however,
when she could not tell me no.
I was there to give her flowers
on her final trip solo.

I stood there at her graveside,
tears streaming down my face,
watching doves fly skyward
at her final resting place.
Linguistic Play Jan 2015
love by any other name will feel as sweet
as the first time we meet
when we were dancing with happiness and we called it bliss
as the first time we touched
when we were so tangled in lust and we called it passion

but love by any other name is hiding behind being coy
and im so ******* ready to come out and just be blunt
to laugh and not worry
about what you might really mean
because how am I suppose to know what you mean
when you never say what you mean
and yes im sarcastic
and yes you're full of wit
and **** yes, that was part of it when I fell to be part of your focus
but passive and sarcastic are not friends
they don't even rhyme or sit nicely side by side

love will eventually sit by the graveside of its ambiguous mistress
because mistrust caused her to be ran over
and a misstep knocked her off the building
to fall to a million pieces and shatter
the mistress in known so well the world nicknamed her a broken heart
and love forever falls victim to her lifeless grave
Helen Jun 2014
Your voice, I'll take it
may it sing me softly home
Your touch, I'll take it
it's all I've ever known

Sit beneath the willow tree
but don't cry for me
Touch the earth, giving birth
for I am Life, you see?

I fed the flowers grown
that were cut so elegantly,
to lay against my will
upon a mound of earth
that could never contain me,

still

You insisted to lay your Daisies
when you knew I loved Geraniums
in a rainbow of colours
I could never be contained in
You placated me with Yellow and White?
Did I do you justice?
Would you never get it right?

I love colour, not just Black on White
I wrote a thousand words to you
every night
You read maybe, a hundred
and thought you knew me best.
But standing at my graveside
your Daises only prove
you knew
me less and less
Appearance of the New Courier
(with namesake "Georgia Ives")
flew into the courtroom
faster than Bold face WingDings!

After the judge opened
the waxed sealed envelope stamped
with the official legal imprimatur
sound of silence filled the courtroom.

After perusing highlighted principle details,
a noticeable con jug gay shun
didst Impact countenance of attired judge.

Recess announced at authority decree
(spelled out with quotation marks high
lighting dotted i's and crossed t's)
figuratively a nouns sing moratorium
for those accused of run on sentences,
split infinitives, then versus than...
incorrect usage of ellipses, et cetera.

The justice of supreme court
critically espied quotation marks
(underscoring reductio ad absurdum
Times New Roman regulation)
against stiff penalty asper those
who commit rhetorical perturbations!    

This lenient fiat occurred immediate
by innocent omission of a colon,
which subsequently, naturally,
and immediately affected
every future jury presiding over
a defendant applying incorrect punctuation!

A favorite comma cull anecdote
often repeated by my late english
grammar (a palliative to me psyche
despite the multi-generational
difference in age) happened
when she celebrated twenty  
and counting punctual marks, whence time
in utero came to an end period.

Many question marks still abound
as per the specific circumstances
of this generally uneventful birth,
only that she seemed to dash
from the womb (of her mother –

mine great grandmother christened
Latina Greco) with a pointed
exclamation declaration
of independence while ****** constitution
adorned with supposedly shimmering
invisible golden braces
and a full set of teeth.

Somewhat averse to authoritarianism
and mores of assuming the sir name
of the groom, she maintained nom
de plume affixed on her birth certificate.

If born that way today, and ready
to pledge marital vow, would
probably follow the common custom
and hyphenate name of beau similar
to newlyweds of this day and at this very moment.

Back in those days though,
town’s folk exclaimed with
pointed superstition that a baby born
after being bracketed nine months

within the womb (which seemed
like an eternal sentence), and equipped
with the means to chew would
most likely experience little colon difficulty.

As a dignified divine dowager,
she willingly shared her cradle
to graveside tidbits (populated
with many wisecracks and
marked quotations from a life
that spanned more than a century21.

Smart as a whip or pin
(the latter term somewhat out of vogue),
this independent woman
(who married into nobility

from humble roots) frequently evinced
el shaped lips when the un
suspecting recipient ensnared
of her harmless ingenious pranks.

Aside from what many considered
childlike antics (which characteristic
salient trait appealed to this grandson),
she excelled at verbal adroitness

and could spin a jesting lightly
mocking pun, which seemed
to quiver with an invisible
apostrophe shaped blackened barb.

Though privileged per parochial parents,
her inherited empire and peers, the people
of the proletariat class felt
figuratively parenthetically
included as persons of concern
to this genteel dame.

She exemplified and wore that moniker
noblesse oblige with utmost
august excellence, and whenever
the need or wont arose to address
the madding crowd (this
crowned empress) resorted
to non-verbal communication ala semaphore.

Her lily-white hands (most often
remained sheathed in Palmolive
clad ding silken gloves - exuded
a faint patrician touch) partitioned

the air with arabesques accentuated
with sign language for those
among the teeming masses
unable to hear or in fact deaf.

Regular adherence to being grammatically
(yet not necessarily politically) correct
witnessed the air being sliced with even
less familiar punctuation symbols
such as the emdash, en-dash.

Even doctorates of English and
strict task masters (whose
frowning scowls strongly resembled
semicolons when even minor indiscretions,
infractions, transgressions, et cetera
with english language observed)

never found fault with this
former bohemian, whose rhapsodic,
melodic, linguistic voice ameliorated
dark memories from dereliction dis
played by former queen.

She also received the treatment of
a champion lyricist, whereby every lyre
(got set on fire) from utterance akin
to a choir of hells angels, yet this

chanteuse voice rang thru the
azure vault causing the small hairs
of the spine to experience a pleasant
electric shock therapy.
Jude kyrie Jan 2019
The Grave is hard to find
so many of them all identical.
I sit down next to you for our chat.
Sis its mothers day
I was just thinking about you.
How you used to bring your kids
to visit their single uncle
.
Your old station wagon
Pulled to halt in my driveway.Sis.
Your five children fall out
of its rusted doors.
shouting and laughing.
Backfiring as you turn
off the noisy engine.

You slipped ghostlike
from the driver's seat
After five hours of driving
In a bedlam of children’s noise.
you looked so slight and frail
The very sight of you Sis,,
Melted my heart again.

You tell me your husbands left you.
And you have nowhere to live.
I enfold you in my arms
And whisper you always
have a place to live in my house
And in my heart honey

We have lost you now sis
The crab sign won that battle
Don't worry honey
The kids are fine with me.
They started calling me dad
Over a year ago.

They are great kids Sis.
You must be so proud
watching them from heaven

Angel is fifteen now
she looks just like you sis
I look at her sometime
And mouth out your name.

No I never did get Married Sis.
Don't pretend you never knew
I was gay .

I must go fix the kids dinner
Honey I will be back to see you soon.

I love you Sis
I always will
Siblings can be so close
Jude
SE Reimer Aug 2016
~

i remember the day
when first we met;
your face i can see, 
i'll not ever forget.
hearing your cry,
i sang your first song;
i was just learning then
how to hold on.

off to the playground, 
i think you were three;
while crossing the street,
you were clinging to me.
when pushing your swing,
i'd always say,
'i'm right behind you, son,
i'll keep you safe.'

for years we work hard
learning how to hold on,
and then in a moment,
childhood is gone;
no longer their fortress, 
our arms they outgrow;
we find we're not ready, 
when it's time to let go.

we took you to college, 
we set up your room.
had we prepared you?
had we too much assumed?
driving back down the freeway,
hope wrestled with fears;
our struggle to let go,
became a battle with tears.

now at your graveside,
i've come here to weep;
your guardian no longer,
now you're watching me.
though heaven now holds you,
and though hope i yet know,
it makes it no easier,
its still hard to let go.

for years we try hard,
learn just how to hold on,
and then in a moment
this life is gone.
no longer their fortress,
our arms they outgrow,
we don't get to choose when,
it is time to let go.

i still find this painful,
it's so hard to let go.
i will never be ready,
though yes it's time...
time to let go.

~

*post script.

an exchange today with a dear, young mother and family friend about her daughter, growing up far too fast, brought memories of our own child rearing, and of this write from several years ago and originally posted in 2013. its been dusted off, with a bit of a rewrite, but stands, both in sentiment and in structure, relatively unchanged.

these words left in comment to her, i dedicate to each of you young parents... especially you single mothers.  "such is the tension of parenting... hang on too closely and a child shows signs of coddling, let go too fast, too early and a child shows signs of parental absence or neglect. the fact that you are aware of the tension means you are far more likely to avoid either extreme; and don't even think about some utopian parenting idea... there is no perfect parent!!"
Olivia Kent Sep 2015
I sat by your graveside last night.
Saw nothing but, a filled in hole.
I am empty.
More empty before my eyes.
A vacuum full of now dead lies.
To be free of your curse.
Placed deep in the soil.
Loving you.

Or not.
I forgot how cruel you were.
I chose to forget.
It was a pleasure to have some one.
Anyone.
No matter how cruel.
I was dependent on, disgusting you.
Better I believed, to be one half of two.
Now you've gone.
Life goes on.
Served up on a platter, of now you've died.
I really matter.
Don't need you by my side.
Don't need to fill your fat face anymore.
Just counting stars.
Lost count.
(C) LIVVI
Martin Narrod Mar 2014
30
I am riddled with 30. The strike of midnight, it eats me, starting at the toes, bare and lively and barely alive, I struggle along a seam. My thoughts hang on the graveside. I wonder if anyone can see this? Thirty has me, she's a cruel contender made up of sinew and string, red rope licorice and DNA, blinds me when I walk with my face in the wind, steps over me like a Chicago pothole; the entire size of an apartment, 30 lives in the laundry room, tumbling over and over until its dry, desiccate and dry.

30 sends mail from Washington State too, it don't leave no line for greetings, it don't whoopdy-whoop the white-prentenders. No flowers for Kristine, no merriness of mirth, or dog on tin roof or nothing. Absolutely nothing. Thirty is the wickedest weapon of the new millenium, nothing so fiercely glum as this- boots won't even fit me, my hands' knuckles is swollen. My socks have finished their last **** verse too. ****, man. 30 is the poison drug. Gator, 30 is Gator with speed and disease. Harmful tremors, shakes, phone                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000­00000000000000000000000000
grumpy thumb Jun 2020
Petals wilt
wither desert dry
stem stalks snap and topple
crumble to dust
they lie.
But do not decay.
When graveside flowers die
their essence transcend
to heavens high
a bounty floral bouquet
with love
for those who past away.
At least I'd like to hope
Pauline Morris Jun 2016
I once seen an eagle it's beautiful body gracing the sky
      "Who stood beside you to see it"
Just me, myself, and I

Once while fishing I caught a 15 pound bass on a a fishing fly
      "Who helped you pull it in"
Just me, myself, and I

I cooked up that fish,the most delicious fishfry
      "Who was there to help you eat it"
Just me, myself, and I

On a rainy day one side of the road was wet the other side was dry
      "Who was there with you for this phenomenon"
Just me, myself, and I

Once I was playing darts, I made a perfect bullseye
      "Who was there to witness such a feat"
Just me, myself, and I

While sitting on a bench one day, on my finger landed a most beautifully colored butterfly
      "Who was sitting next to you"
Just me, myself, and I

I've seen the dawns sun light up the sky with tints of yellows and reds, it truly did mystify
      "Who got to see this graceful view with you"
Just me, myself,  and I

At night I lay my body down, plunge my face into my pillow and cry
      "Who is laying right beside you hold you tight"
Just me, myself, and I

One day I will breathe my last breath and die
      "Who will carry the memories of your life"
Why no one but me, myself, and I

That day in the cold earthen tomb I will lie
      "Who will be there grieving at you graveside"
Why no one, for that coffin will contain me, myself, and I
What good are memories if there is no one there to share them with?
Vivian Zems Feb 2018
“stay low, go fast,

**** first, die last,

one shot, one ****,

no luck, all skill”

(Unofficial Navy Seal Slogan)

I stand at the graveside watching
as each person steps forward
to throw dirt on the coffin

I study each face closely
and marvel at all humanity
What is it about funerals
that causes all to attend?

And yet in a life well spent
not a visit, not even a scent
I laid down my life, as you see
laid it so they could be free

It must be a sense of duty
now they come to visit me
Oh- the hypocrisy of humanity!
And now another journey awaits me

I soar to meet passing clouds
caught in the upstream of wind
a final glance, and just by chance
I catch your eyes following me

©Vivian Zems
Butch Decatoria Dec 2018
Cranky gramps next door’s not well

Unwilling to listen, to mow his grass

Rumination’s ruination’s curb appeal from hell

Miserly, unfriendly, cussing and crass

Unwavering, a prejudiced old goat, jack ***,

Doltish Scrooge with no family left

Graying graveside his home unkempt

Eaves and chimneys and curtains closed, yet

Openly racist with his dragon’s breath.

Needs a bit of love to soften such deaths.
By the graveside

The flowers on a heap at the grave,
some given by love others out of duty.
Some with a grudge didn’t show up
as banal revenge of the pain from
the whip of her sharp tongue.
I found it difficult to comprehend that
my impossible mother was in a coffin
she had no respect of authority, spoke
her mind sometimes unwisely.
I saw she once slapping a police officer
who got so perplexed he walked his way
after threatening to arrest her.
She was an avid reader but never wrote
which was a pity she had much to offer.
She is still inside of my head and will be
there as long as I live.
The little voice begging for love and freedom from classroom is mine
I  a child
Who harbours unspoken words and wavered feelings in my heart
If you let my spirit out of this cage, a beautiful world I'll paint
Now I am bound by chains of failure and mothers unemphatic nature
Every invisible second steals a pint of blood and bucks of flesh off me
Mother is now the pain I see, an undying tormentor she turned to be
On my skin she left her palm slaps and upbeat attitude that gets me grounded
The unpacked toys on the shelf describes me, a missing puzzle lying on the counter defines me
Jack and Saldy are now my favorite mares, the spirits by my window at night they are
On a daily I receive the backlash for not coming down for dinner
A loner in a busy house I am, neither living nor dead
Everyone thinks I am reserved, NO
There's peace in returning to my bed at night, a reviving hope of not seeing another rising sun
Mother can you look at my future, you've murdered my dreams of playing cricket
Do you even notice the pain in my eyes, or the numb little robot you've created out of me
I am complaining to the deaf ears of nature, broken and cold my spirit have turned to be
The wind is upon me, I shall sink my ship to let the sailor live
Whoever sees my body at the graveside should know I was a happy child
Before my demons haunted me.
Emphatic: How we treat and react towards each other adds worth or reduces their worth and self-esteem. Families, friends and society plays a vital role in building a person, just be yourself and true in any dealing with any person. What matters is how you left them not how you met them.
Francie Lynch Jun 2017
The death of a somebody
Is life affirming.
My favorites attend
In the ante-room,
Eyeshot from the shell.
They appeared to be telling
Off-colored jokes,
Childish giggles, anxious glances.
Others talked nervously on their health,
Their swing and trips, car salesmen, and politics.
Violet remarked on the wedding, the bride's redolent dress,
Brocade and settings.
The vows were personal and promising.
Funeral Home is an ironic euphamism;
But the coffee is strong and bitter,
I burned my tongue.
I didn't see much black, mostly pastels.
It's a multi-media presentation of family,
Old and getting precariously older,
Cavorting at the cottage,
Sitting under Christmas trees,
Holding up scarves and mittens.
Everyone smoked then. Everything's hidden.
Someone's grandson touched his hand,
Then recoiled into the nearest waist.
Except for the flowers and box,
There was vibrancy and planning
Where to meet following the graveside,
For a drink and toast to why we're here,
To why any of us are here at all.
Notes
It is not enough to fall in love and be at a standstill.
It isn’t enough to toss a coin and wish that it lands on its tail.
It is not enough to spin the luck-wheel and hope for a big cash-in.
You have no idea what the future holds for you.
Do not try to control it,
Let loose and let the fun in.
That is when the creativity starts to dance around you.
There is never a better time to do things than now.
There is no present like the time we’re in.
Surrender to uncertainty,
For it is an invitation to human will, unexplored.
For your last days must be filled with happy memories,
Blissful recollections of a story, a status quo.
Never should it be recounted by your graveside, tales of you unholy.
But may it be thought of, and numerous nights of candle-wax spent
Thesis of you as life’s alembic, the needed conduit,
Conducting friendships at will; and love’s delightful dawn
And ushering in the mellowing yellow of day.
living legacies

— The End —