"joyousness" poems
I want to apologise.
Broken relationships, I shall eulogise.
To those I know (or, knew);
Forgive my absence when you needed a warm caress and a hug,
But instead got frostbite, a torrent of snow or dew.
I am sorry for drawing a sword
When you were hoping for an olive branch;
I can be as thorny as an all-knowing lord.
I wish my heart was limitless,
And my kindness infinite –
I dream of love that is fearless,
And of joyousness completely exquisite.
Yet, that is not who I am –
I can be a calm ocean or a tempest,
A total commotion, or peacefully at rest.
I can be enigmatic and reserved,
Or, I can be charismatic, if the mood is reversed.
We are not good or bad;
We can be lewd and strikingly mad,
Or cunningly shrewd, or maybe sad.
We are the yin and the yang;
We all tend to sin, to our demons we hang.
We are objects of pure fascination,
In constant fluctuation,
A recalcitrant reconciliation.
So, I will say it one more time –
Look into my eyes, see through my guise.
I apologise to those who had no shoulder to cry on
And sought mine, when I was not there.
I hope you’re fine, and that someone showered you with care.
Sep 6, 2018
Sep 6, 2018 at 10:25 AM UTC
*This is one of the racier "Memories" poems by the great Barry Hodges, my alter ego.
It might well make you come involuntarily in your ******
How happy was I once with the wind in my hair
Wandering o'er the dales with joyousness unmeasur'd,
In the sweet long passed innocent days of platonic love
When stolen gropes and kiss were to be treasured.
But all good and true things come to a sad close
And my poor first love lies in her grave so sorrowfully
Having been crushed to death by a runaway steamroller
Before I managed to go all the way quite thoroughly.
What a waste of delightful teenage flesh was that
Yet perhaps I had a narrow escape from the derangement
Which might have been mine had our trysting
Led to a semi-permanent matrimonial arrangement.
For I recall one afternoon in the old ABC cinema
In the delighful Yorkshire spa town of Harrogate,
Sitting next to my gorgeous love in the back row,
Exploring her not so very private parts on a hot date.
How I cursed the management's niggardly folly
In not showing a film with hot romantic blood
But saving pathetic pennies by putting on
Daffy ******** Duck and Elmer ******* Fudd.
But yet I perserved with my digital explorations
Unaware that the throbs my fingers felt were no dream
But darling Elsie laughing like a proverbial drain
At Daffy's hilarious anatine adventures on-screen.
'Twas then I began to wonder about the viscous liquid
I had hitherto imagined was Elsie's lovejuice flowing
*(dear, dear reader, cease your perusal of my tale forthwith
if you are of a nervous disposition or prone to food up-throwing)*.
It was only a careful examination of my sopping knuckles
In the dimly lit gents after old Daffy's film was done and dusted
Which revealed that my dearly beloved had leaked
Big time out of both ends, leaving my fingers well encrusted.
O to think that, but for Daffy, I might have been lumbered
With a different kind of bird for whom double incontinence
Was a way of life (thus, the fatal steamroller she encountered
The very next day was a blessing from kindly Providence).
Aug 16, 2015
Aug 16, 2015 at 5:07 PM UTC
You are that person everyone knows
Who ******* almost constantly
About everything that ever goes
Away from how you think it should be.
You have it worked out in your head
Who should get what and when
And how much is right or wrong
And exactly what kind of men
Should have luck and who should
Suffer a miserable fate.
And which people are no good
And which race is truly great.
Why do you take such joy
In making folks around you cry?
So much so that the best thing
They hear you say is goodbye.
Why do you choose hurtful way
To get yourself some attention?
Isn’t there something you can say,
Something nice you can mention
That will make people smile
And not run so quickly away
Then stay with you a little while;
Enjoy some of the things you say?
When did all this all nastiness start?
Is it something from your childhood
Made you take pleasure breaking hearts
Every single chance you could;
And if people are having fun
Makes you jump in and stop
The frivolity and joyousness
Like some kind of buzzkill cop.
Life might change for the better
If you returned the smiles you get.
You’re a big grump now, for sure
Be nice and people will soon forget.
Dec 11, 2015
Dec 11, 2015 at 7:35 PM UTC
Memory does no justice
When time comes; fades the lines
A face so dear and dominant
Fades back into mind.
Falling through my fingers
Burned to ash and gone
Whirling into dark and grey
After much too long.
Gone and so with joyousness
Fleeting far away
I'd give the world to have them back
But pain to have them stay.
I cannot begin to grasp
All of what I've lost
I've let this slip away from me
At much too high a cost.
May 7, 2014
May 7, 2014 at 3:31 PM UTC
*Our association makes the most of happenstance
When I hover close to look into your eyes,
To see your face dissolving into laugh lines
and witness your loud giggles with surprise.
The joyousness to hear your peal of laughter
Ringing out across the courtyard to the night
And to feel the balm of closeness in the offing
And the warmth of knowing everything's all right.
It's the way you take my arm in yours so easily
It's the way you sooth the worries with your charm,
And your boundless joi de vivre on the white sand by the sea
always guarantees this day will bring no harm.
It's delightful when we stroll along the lakeside
When we hear the sparrows singing in the trees
There's no unnecessary talk as we both enjoy our walk
And quietly celebrate togetherness with ease.
There's the moment when I catch your look of humour
There's the moment when we share the cherry pie,
There's the time we cuddle close to enjoy each other most
I think there's loving in the air for you and I.*
Marshalg
Pukehana with my girl
21 October 2013
Oct 21, 2013
Oct 21, 2013 at 6:24 AM UTC
Being Drunk
Being intoxicated
A new perspective
A new understanding
You see things so differently
So profoundly
When you see the light
A new perspective arises
I see the loneliness in mysterious eyes
A lover of her purpose
To expose those to a better understanding
An amazing joyousness
I have become the pupil of alchohol
A completely different knowledge
The vibrance of all things,
The voice of each person,
A song in my left eardrum
Thoughts of others
Such an understatement of my experience
Swallow the art
Consume the knowledge
Let it pass deep into your soul
Continue to be who you are,
Complete your words,
But to understand?
A gift rapped in time.
This art taken as a substance
Where you speak,
You hear your thoughts
Insane you may call me
But I call it,
Me my thoughts,
Beautiful.
My thoughts secluded like all others
So as im told with his song he shares
Unmonotone letting me feel his thoughts
Held by my mind,
A gift.
The philosopher.
Feb 23, 2013
Feb 23, 2013 at 3:58 PM UTC
words that i said i would not call her
are screaming in my mind
they creep through the darkness of my throat
as if they are scared to be found
only then to be pushed back into my mind
and do it over again i had no such intention of doing
so when they found the light the words came with the formation of sound
its a soft joyousness whisper but with the guilt of sin
****
*****
did not think she would enjoy the life thats changed
words that were never able to be thought now melt from the lashings of my tongue
drip drip drip goes the words
Nov 29, 2011
Nov 29, 2011 at 1:10 AM UTC
tender night.........beholding what we are beholden to,,,,,at last!
("will i ever see "myself" again?")
PATHETIC!
who else are you,,,who else can you be?
yeah
........feeling
a this an a that and the power an the joyousness
I SHALL DO!
(who else?)
the subway rumbles
do i have to go to new york city
an walk harlem and the rain?
do i have to see you once more?
(i know the answer, certainly)
Jul 17, 2010
Jul 17, 2010 at 11:36 AM UTC
I can hear a blood bath brewing
From here to all the land
I hear the masses weeping
Humanity, understand.
I have no hope in trying
Or yearning at the sight
Sight of joyousness amiss
When all of life seemed right
There is a darkness stirring
Upon this place called home
There is a purpose dwindling
In war of all the known
Jun 28, 2014
Jun 28, 2014 at 11:33 AM UTC
I have one person
he is my only
forever and always
I never want to let him go
he is my love
my heart
my life
my breath
my thoughts
my soul
I never want to be without him
he is mine
and I am his
forever and always
may we never part in hurt
or hatred
but be together in love
and joyousness
he makes me happy
and I make him laugh
I love him for him
just as he loves me for me
and I can't wait to be with him
to be completely his
because he lives in my heart
he is my heart
he has me
and I will always do my best
to show my love for him everyday
for having him I'm overly grateful
overly thankful
and I'll never hurt him
I love him
he is my heart
my soul
my love
*Tengo una persona
él es mi único
Por siempre y para siempre
No quiero volver a dejarlo ir
el es mi amor
mi corazón
mi vida
mi respiración
mis pensamientos
mi alma
No quiero volver a estar sin él
él es mío
y yo soy su
Por siempre y para siempre
puede que nunca hemos participado en dolor
o el odio
pero estar juntos en el amor
y alegría
el me hace feliz
y hago reír
Lo amo por él
tal como él me ama para mí
y no puedo esperar para estar con él
para ser completamente su
porque vive en mi corazón
él es mi corazón
él me tiene
y yo siempre haré lo mejor
para demostrar mi amor por él todos los días
por haberle estoy demasiado agradecido
excesivamente agradecido
y nunca lo haré daño
Me encanta
él es mi corazón
mi alma
mi amor*
May 4, 2015
May 4, 2015 at 11:00 AM UTC
Feel me
Branch out
You live
Apathetically
You’re a charlatan
Who dwells
One sidedly
Dark sidedly
Think you spew vitriolic criticism
Just abysmal blabber
You’re like an infant without wonder
You’re a void for joyousness
You’re incontinent of your blabber
Of your verbal feces
And vile thoughts
Read the room
We’re sick of your ****
The only depth you have
Is how low you make everyone
You’re so dismal
Break free
From your own restraints
And you can scintillate
Beauty can always root
Where horridness once dwelled
Aug 22, 2019
Aug 22, 2019 at 2:09 AM UTC
Off a room of the cloisters
I met Dom Andrew
bookbinding in silence
bearded and white cowled,
in silentio sit Deus,
Mancunian he said
saw picture in book
of monastic cell
and that were it,
I sensed the coldness
of the room
body shivered
ears felt pained,
il avait de la neige à l'extérieur
the French monk said
huddled in his black habit,
saw the snow on trees
and purity of it,
she took my hand
warm it was
and promised ***
Dom Charles tonsured
dark haired gazed at me
through thick lens glasses
eyes like ***** holes
in snow,
I have been all things unholy
and if God can work
through me Francis said
he can work through anyone,
I mowed the grass by the church
and Dom Frederick said
you've done well,
qui tutto sono fratelli
the Italian monk said
as he helped me dry up
the dishes,
beyond her dark hairs
lay the Kingdom of Eve
and joyousness,
bell tolled in the bell tower
by George or Hugh
or both for Terce,
a monk read in the refectory
from a book on Oliver Cromwell
as we sat and ate in silence,
bonitátem fecísti
*** servo tuo Dómine,
the old monk opposite
ate with gusto
spooned food as if
he may never eat again,
nog steeds sneeuw buiten
the Danish monk told me
coming in with vegetables
from the garden for lunch,
indeed snow still there
trees covered and fields
that I saw,
if you want to you can
she said so I did,
Dom Bruno said later
that Dom Andrew had cancer
and was silent on it,
Deus meus libera me,
and we licked our cutlery clean
between meals and put away
under our tables
in a large napkin
and George said unhygenic
but we did,
there is no great genius
without some touch of madness
Gareth said quoting Aristotle,
sunlight on flagstones
in the church
warmed by midday,
Compline bell told
of the end of day.
Jan 21, 2016
Jan 21, 2016 at 2:41 AM UTC
Oh God, how long until my woes
Transfigure into peace?
Until the violent storms inside my skull
Will finally cease?
Until the gaping emptiness
I feel beneath my ribs
Is filled with warmth and joyousness?
That's all I plead You give!
Around me I see people full
With water, meat and wine.
I see them eat together --
Oh, how carefree they all dine!
When hunger hasn't gripped my gut,
I've gorged on rotten meat.
And when my throat has not been dry,
Vinegar's been my treat.
Please give me, Lord, a future hope
That isn't a mirage.
I look for peace, but pain attacks
In relentless barrage.
My spirit grumbles -- do take ear
And help my soul to thrive.
Mend this broke heart and give me strength
To want to be alive.
Apr 8, 2025
Apr 8, 2025 at 2:51 PM UTC
tears drip from my eyes
while a laugh escapes
from my mouth,
this isn’t sadness,
this isn’t joyousness,
this comes from knowing
that people leave,
life makes you go through changes,
yet my poor heart
keeps on hurting.
Jul 13, 2019
Jul 13, 2019 at 11:00 AM UTC
Life is like a home at night, when all are asleep.
The curtains are open, but no light comes through the windows.
The world is beautiful, but the beauty cannot be seen.
Without the light, I feel
Alone
Happy, but incomplete.
Light comes in the form of a rose.
She brings peace, and calm, and
Sweet joyousness.
And with this rose,
With her presence,
I no longer feel lonely.
Instead, I feel
Exhilarated, and whole.
But all roses will eventually wither.
They make those around them despair
As they fade, and take the world's beauty with them.
And with the loss of great beauty,
Comes the loss of great happiness,
And of light.
Life is like a windowless underground room,
With no light at all;
With the weight of the world crushing down,
And no signs of hope.
I am utterly
Alone
And I will never be complete again.
Apr 13, 2014
Apr 13, 2014 at 8:59 PM UTC
Doing cosmic dance and singing cosmic song
The messenger transcends the distracting throng
That deceives the soul and self of worth
But Love will be found even in Love's dearth
We'll find out who told us the world wrong
The cosmic dance will touch everyone
And get them back in the groove of fun
Have them all dancing under sun
Enjoying the fresh, wild path begun
A tapestry of joyousness spun
The future wrestled from an evil fate and won
Together we will do the dance
Enamoured of a wholesome trance
That enlivens everyone
Mar 5, 2017
Mar 5, 2017 at 7:31 PM UTC
I had never truly embraced love as i had with you by my side. It happened in a blink of an eye, like watching the sun set where you thought you had more time but nightfall came quicker than you realised.
I spent a long time hoping and dreaming and believing in our kind of love. Filled with a joyousness that left no crevice of my chest aching for fullness. There was a difference between the idea and the solidity of corporeality. It became a fission of emotional vulnerability and unadulterated passion within a second.
The love we shared engulfed my being like a tidal wave and left me breathless. It was as gratifying as it was painful in every sense. A connection of homogeneity of our wavelengths that left an ouroboros scarred into my heart every time you held my hand.
A natural phenomenon much like a typhoon sweeping in and destroying what we thought was permanent and leaving behind a quiet peaceful sleep before the aftermath hits. The bruises were in my soul and not on my skin. And an uncharacteristic gratefulness for having felt a love so deep, however temporary it may be.
This love. Our love. Blindsided me.
But there's no other way I'd rather it be.
Mar 20, 2018
Mar 20, 2018 at 3:16 PM UTC
I am
the I am of love.
The construction of an echoing OM.
I move on sacred soil
to plant roots deep within.
I dance below blue sea of clouds
in joyousness of everything
Life force energy flows through me
like water falling from
a thunderous sky.
I am
the I am of light.
The sun like heart beaming to others.
The night reveling florescent stars
to entice dreams.
I merge with tides of moments
that accumulate like endless waves.
I swim with gratitude
inside bubbles floating gracefully.
How grand it is to be awake,
to sing with poetry
knowing we live a grand dream.
The dream of the I am song.
Nov 27, 2017
Nov 27, 2017 at 11:01 PM UTC