"greatens" poems
I never made a poem, dear friend--
I never sat me down, and said,
This cunning brain and patient hand
Shall fashion something to be read.
Men often came to me, and prayed
I should indite a fitting verse
For fast, or festival, or in
Some stately pageant to rehearse.
(As if, than Balaam more endowed,
I of myself could bless or curse.)
Reluctantly I bade them go,
Ungladdened by my poet-mite;
My heart is not so churlish but
Its loves to minister delight.
But not a word I breathe is mine
To sing, in praise of man or God;
My Master calls, at noon or night,
I know his whisper and his nod.
Yet all my thoyghts to rhythms run,
To rhyme, my wisdom and my wit?
True, I consume my life in verse,
But wouldst thou know how that is writ?
'T is thus--through weary length of days,
I bear a thought within my breast
That greatens from my growth of soul,
And waits, and will not be expressed.
It greatens, till its hour has come,
Not without pain, it sees the light;
'Twixt smiles and tears I view it o'er,
And dare not deem it perfect, quite.
These children of my soul I keep
Where scarce a mortal man may see,
Yet not unconsecrate, dear friend,
Baptismal rites they claim of thee.
2.2k
Into the thicket of brambles and thorns,
Where the weak hearted die, and the stronger mourn.
Tread softly my lamb for you know not what it poses,
The danger of stopping to breifly smell the roses.
The start maybe green and vibrant with life,
But the farther you go, so greatens the strife.
Tread softly my lamb for these thorns don’t abide,
To the laws of our God and great pain they hide.
Hold to the trail and center your path,
If you stray but one step you’re subject to wrath.
Tread softly my lamb for a slow wit entices,
The evil surrounding like simmering spices.
In the day travel and find shelter at night,
For the dark beings fester in the absence of light.
Tread softly my lamb and ignore all thier pleading,
For the shadow filled brambles can be very misleading.
Avoid other faces like the tell tail smoke,
None stay friends and hands will constrict as you choke.
Tread softly my lamb and be wary of vices,
For all will strike back with much higher prices.
I have trod on these trails and wisdom I earned,
But I’d have none if I hadn’t from misstepping learned.
Tread softly my lamb but do take some chances,
For with every mistake your knowledge enhances
Aug 15, 2010
Aug 15, 2010 at 10:11 AM UTC
...laughs at me, as the distance between our shores greatens. Deep coldness, marbled with the warmer scarlets we've imbued in the flow. That distant shore has never seemed further away. Each attempt at crossing hits the rocks...Make mine a double, Evviva!
Oct 17, 2012
Oct 17, 2012 at 3:14 PM UTC
Rhymes have their reasons
Time has its place
All anguish bestowed
On a soul’s fall from grace
At the darkest of dark
When the clock chimes midnight
The fears of the wretched
Fuel the devil’s delight
Each click of the clock
Greatens a freighting despair
Tick after tock
Twelve o’clock
Is almost there
May 8, 2017
May 8, 2017 at 6:37 PM UTC