"oblige" poems
There once was a friendship
A friendship that grew strong
One that was durable and could survive all that went wrong
The people in this friendship loved each other
through blood, tears, and depression
They stood by each others sides through
Spite, anger,and loss of affection
They fought for each others beliefs
Held each other when one felt weak
Trusted one another with everything
But eventually the day came
When their friendship wasn't the same
And they ran
Having each other to blame
For the once proud friendships decay
There once was a girl who yearned for what was lost
She wanted her friendship no matter the cost
So she gave up her pride
With a plead and a cry
She waited patiently for old friend to oblige
But to her surprise her friend still insisted she had lied
On the outside she shrugged and said at least I tried
But on the inside she knew the pain would not subside
That the friendship would be broken even after the day she died
Dec 3, 2013
Dec 3, 2013 at 4:33 AM UTC
up early to water
the garden
the cicadas are
already drilling holes
into the
leaden stillness
everywhere
leaves are drooping
I spray the shrubs
to wash off the dust
birds fly in to sit
on the dripping branches
begging for a shower
a cardinal flutters
its wings and sings
and I oblige
jewel-like droplets splash
through the slanting light
everywhere
the world is ablaze
heat waves wild fires
everywhere anger
everywhere distraction
suspicion
leaders are faint-hearted
the wicked fan the flames
still my garden needs water
still the cardinal
flutters its wet wings
and sings
here here water here
here here water here
Tom Spencer © 2018
Aug 8, 2018
Aug 8, 2018 at 1:41 PM UTC
(from “A Love Song” by William Carlos Williams)
<•>
familiar that apple google and amazon
have me under 24 hour surveillance
e-specially now
as I am in their
geosphere of influence
but sending me a love poem of WCWs that isolates my locale, my intended inebriation status,
and is addressed to me personally (“you”),
that’s just creepy
so charged am I, obligated to oblige,
to counter-compose a love song of mine own,
under the pinot “influence,”
(in a manner of speaking)
which a love taught me to love
what if,
a new love song ecrit,
to an old and loverly land,
a woman-land designed to be desired,
no difference -
kissing a new girl first time,
a wet and unforgettable
compote
when falling
on the neck of your one beloved anew renewed
now I tremble-tread
for the line of great predecessors,
“the land lover scribes”
skilled in natures homaging,
is like a line out the door,
around the corner as if
a new flavor ice cream
has just been isolated and mined and I...
<•>
*I,
but a novitiate
in a far away, wild untamed world
where my nature taken by her nature
cannot deny paying my just due:
selvage
late middle English, from self + edge
how perfect!
“an edge,
woven on a fabric during manufacture,
intended to prevent unraveling”
the pacific coast air
the irregular shoreline - expanding/receding,
god’s own forestry reserve,
the cascades, a goal on the horizon,
country roads where ancient wheat stalks grow wild
all a tonic intermingled, an alcohol to
imbibe through mouth nostrils eyes and skin
all will be my own selvage!
preventing the eastern unraveling disease,
a nearly incurable permafrost low grade
kate spaded infection,
brought along with me for decades,
my loon June companion, now stalling out,
lost from my happy head
a vineyard on every corner,
marijuana growing next door,
rivers that change like children growing up and down,
cheek to jowled property line
live the berries and the hazelnut groves,
god’s hay bales wrapped in plastic
like marshmallows dotting the landscape*
all daring you to say
I could
love
it here
Jun 8, 2018
Jun 8, 2018 at 3:26 PM UTC
I want to call on your name
But I’m afraid you’ll ask “who are you?”
I want to run and follow you
But that’s not an easy thing for me to do
I planned of telling you my feelings
But words could not be enough for you to understand…
Words can deny my desire
They cannot reveal my sincere love
They cannot say what you really mean to me
But how will you know my passion
If I remain in my silence
If I tell you only in my dreams
If I just keep on expecting and hoping
How will you ever know
That there is me who cares
That I exist because of you
That I was born to love you
Who will I oblige to tell you
If it is not myself
If it is not my courage
If it is not my frankness
I may not tell you, but I can show you
Not with those hundred words
But with my own simple ways;
The way I gaze at you
The casual smile I give
And my existence not far enough from you!
Jan 8, 2014
Jan 8, 2014 at 3:40 AM UTC
Upper East Side
The Hamptons
Aspen, Colorado
The plastic people
Follow each other
Moving in herds
Like cattle to the
Slaughter
Drifting
Floating
Shifting focus
From one charity event
To another
Whatever’s trendy
Whatever’s fashionable
Whatever’s happ’ning
Whatever’s the need
Tainted new artists
Society’s rejects
The film-maker who fits in with
The flavor of the month
The disease or the cause
That captures the moment
Stigmas overlooked
Deformities relieved
By one hyper exertion
By one pseudo good deed
Changing bedrooms
Changing partners
New alliances
Noblesse oblige
Mrs. Astor’s
Four hundred
Reinvented forever
Reinvented with fervor
On the edge
Of hypocrisy
Keeping up with the Jones’s
Maintaining the houses
Paris, Rome, Cote du Jura
Malibu, Palm Beach
Couture fashion
Madison, Rodeo
Worth avenues united
Avenues of the liege
Location, location, location
The right address unspoken
Dinner in the right places
Sporting events to be seen
Three martini luncheons
Halcion evenings
Business is business
Where money’s retrieved
Look to plastic people
For fashionable guidance
No matter the moment
No matter the need
Remember to catch them
While jetting to Santa Barbara
Saint Maarten, San Troupe
San Marco, warp speed
They live in their milieu
Can’t function outside it
Can’t follow a shadow
That others believe
It’s easy to find them
They leave behind footprints
But barely a mem’ry
Or singular creed
Other than finding
The latest in fashion
The latest persona
Or new plastic breed
Aug 8, 2018
Aug 8, 2018 at 8:19 AM UTC
My mind is out of focus
And my mouth is dry
My eyes are too heavy
'Im so very tired
And my face is blank
My heart is slow
My body is so warm
Then it turns cold
Now my body twitches
My breathing is getting deep
I can't trust my ears
Or images that I see
It seems that I'm here
But my mind is gone
Time seems so short
But feels so long
My system needs a shock
Or a wake up call
When you talk to me
Its like conversing with a wall
Caffeine don’t do a thing
Caffeine won;t do a thing
Caffeine does nothing
Caffeine do something
The sunshine hurts my eyes
My mood is so damp
I'm like a zombie
Try to get up but I can't
Brain drain
Brain drain
Causing me mental pain
Brain drain
Brain drain
My head can't sustain
Brain drain
Brain drain
Everything looks the same
Brain drain
Brain drain
I feel so lame
Brain drain
Brain drain
I can't concentrate
Brain drain
Brain drain
Worn out from this game
Wake me up
Get me up
Keep me up
Give me up
My head begs for endorphins
But I cant oblige
Now I'm feeling down
It weeps and it cries
Keep my head spinning
At every minute of every day
But now I'm running on fumes
You got nothing to say
You got my heart, hold it oh so tight
I go behind your back doing things that ain't so right
Wrap me up in all this drama I wanna leave
I need to take a break I'm almost outta steam
In school I'm barely getting by
Because I'm focused on getting laid and getting high
My mind wandered off
To where it shouldn't have been
So now it has died
And buried with my sins
I wanna go back to normal
Original thought process
Mind and body went to hell and back
All I can do is digress
I had too much fun for way to long
So now my right is left and my left is wrong
I've got all this stress and it piles up
But it's on my shoulders and I can't pass the buck
I find no enjoyment in what I once held dear
Becoming eternally empty is my deepest fear
Mar 7, 2015
Mar 7, 2015 at 7:06 PM UTC
the benches i always sit at are as cold as ice.
their metal structures scream at me to get off of them…
to leave them be and let them rust in silence and in solitude.
and i oblige to the request
Jul 15, 2012
Jul 15, 2012 at 7:20 PM UTC
this swifter's grift -
lifting loosely
fitted accoutrement
lourden fruit
carelessly held
silkened, gimlet lit
shamelessly rivened
to a paler shade
of need.
solitude's
enchanting seed
may confer
a grander banquet’s call
but, this tug of
grandiloquent oblige
and politesse . . .
master and slave consort
black and scarlet
swift of tongue and fingertip
unbound so neatly
and leather blind
tell me muse of the anger flesh on fire
is there really dignity in defeat
that eludes the victor
tell me muse of the truth in nature
ill-graced tail-lamp broken
is destiny all ways ordained in contradiction
tell me muse do hearts all times submit
to the beacon call
shyness long forgotten
narrative so harshly written
as ne'er before
with an insistence
ageless yearnings bellow
as but glazened shadow
if reason sleeps
there will be no learning
no refuge
only to each
for their crimes
a four-chambered riddle
All Rights Reserved
James R. Morse, NYC 2013.
Sep 12, 2013
Sep 12, 2013 at 7:05 PM UTC
*
*Your pearls & diamonds
Would transcend into tears
One needs to kneel down
In front of BELOVEDz
But it is important
To surrender at the feet
There is no need to
Utter a single word there
Your coming to the
Threshold of BELOVEDz heart
Is more than enough
To be blessed with LOVE*
That is why...
Everyone comes with a prayer
Everyone comes with
their wishes and desires
But I have come with
my LOVE at your doorstep
I have come with a
Broken heart in my begging bowl
*Look at me, look into me
This heart carries within
And displays to the world
All the good glories
Of your DIVINE LOVE
I've searched for you everywhere
With a broken heart of mine
I've wandered everywhere
With melancholic memories of your LOVE
When I am without YOU
My fate isn't working for me
Now how can anything change
The destiny of my life?
Only thing that exists here is sadness
Every moment I live,
Every moment I am alive
It tears my heart into
Small shards and pieces
I can not even talk about
Your divinity to anyone
My tears and sorrows too can't
Depict the story of our LOVE
Only if I am able to see you again
I will be born again to live again
Oh.. Zuliet, Oh.. Layla -
I've come at your doorstep
With the divine LOVE of
Romeo and Majnun*
That is why...
Everyone comes with a prayer
Everyone comes with
their wishes and desires
But I have come with
my LOVE at your doorstep
I have come with a
Broken heart in my begging bowl
*The arrows of your blessings of LOVE
The arrows of your hopes in LOVE
Can never miss its target - my heart
The God/dess - the Nature - The Karma
Can never NOT oblige to a LOVERz plea
Just keep faith in LOVE
Believe and trust in LOVE
Everything will be fine in LOVE
Even if you can't utter a word
Serve your heart in a begging bowl
And surrender it at your
BELOVEDz feet in LOVE
Just remove this veil of
Doubt from your heart
Then you'll see your LOVE
In front of YOU
And you'll also see
my LOVE in front of YOU
Nor you have to present
A bouquet of flowers
Nor you have to bring any other gifts
Oh my LOVERz... Oh my BELOVEDz
Just bring your broken-heart
And kiss the feet of BELOVEDz*
That is why...
Everyone comes with a prayer
Everyone comes with
their wishes and desires
But I have come with
my LOVE at your doorstep
I have come with a
Broken heart in my begging bowl
*Look at me, look into me
This heart carries within
And displays to the world
All the good glories
Of your DIVINE LOVE*
*
Mar 8, 2019
Mar 8, 2019 at 11:31 PM UTC
She romanticize the orchestra of her muffled cries, caught her canvases
bruised with purple and red,
Her bare chest was beautifully wounded by a serrated cage, arranging her disorganized open heart.
Her heart is malleable from tragic delights, she ripped herself open, willing to give it whole.
Will you take it all and leave it as it is?
Does it oblige you to wrap your arms around me like a tightening noose?
And as she draw marks of red stains and carve on her skin, her limbs were perched perfectly, as you adore it with a painful stare.
And her hands were pure certainty, remained untouched.
Mar 31, 2022
Mar 31, 2022 at 4:56 AM UTC
A fire of pride
A swarm of prejudice
Inside I hide
In dark malevolence
A light captured
A bone fractured
Fondness becomes love
Love becomes passion
Passion rises above
As hatred enters the fashion
Arrogance rises up inside
Makes it hard to oblige
The wishes of those around me
Pride turns to arrogance
Prejudice becomes hate
Arrogance and hatred are all I see
Jan 21, 2011
Jan 21, 2011 at 1:35 PM UTC
He was sitting at the bar,
not a nice bar at that,
when she walked in
uplifted by the draft
as she let the heavy door
close behind her
draped in a black dress
with black hair
like a shroud
and pale skin
like bones
she sat two stools down from him
and ordered an old fashioned
and necked it down
before ordering another
and another
and another
losing none of her poise
and no sign of flushed cheeks
she made eye contact with him
and for the first time in his life
he knew fear
and he knew he wanted to be scared
He ordered two old fashioned's
and slid a stool over
and told her his name
holding out his hand hopefully
she took it
with dainty fingers
her skin was colder than the creek
that he had been dared to swim in
during the winters of his childhood
"I think we've met before" she said
a voice like a funeral dirge
"so you must come here a lot" he replied
"you could say that,
or you could come back to my place"
he was more than happy to oblige
together they trudged off into the inky night
and he was never seen again,
and the next night
she was back at that bar
drinking old fashioned's
and waiting to be approached
May 13, 2013
May 13, 2013 at 4:40 PM UTC
Palestine
The blank screen is watching me
to say something about flower and the landscape
I refuse to oblige.
My thoughts today go to the suffering Palestinians,
Who had their country to pieces by a horde from Europa
claiming it was their land as promised by a Jewish scribe.
They were pushed away from their land and cities
and mercilessly sent to exile, the survivors were given
a piece of land by the invaders, who called it the West -Bank,
There is no county by that name.
There is Palestine, the people there although outgunned
resist the invaders it is a David and Goliath fight
and we know the stone thrower won.
It took some time for good people to see the catastrophe that
befell the people of Palestine, but the world is
catching up, and no longer listen to the what a fake
state's propaganda says.
I'm old and will not live long enough to see it, but
I know Palestine will be free.
Jul 31, 2017
Jul 31, 2017 at 11:58 AM UTC
she was my jane doe, my everything.
we flew to arizona.
she was my partner, my lover, wondering what i could be thinking about.
her. a different kind of her
"not now," she thinks,
"what about jane doe?"
i understand, and oblige.
the light stirs
we crash down and fall and almost burn
but live
others were not so lucky.
when we fell, i thought about her.
my jane doe.
this place wasn't a place of god, no matter what it said
the things they did to women
children
babies
sickening.
it reminded me of what they did to her,
my jane doe.
her, my partner, my lover
was gone, but i still found her.
we walked and knew we would lose each other again,
no matter how much it hurt us
the light continued to stir
and when it did
i saw her,
my jane doe,
my everything.
it happened so many years ago
we were children
young souls destined to go to heaven
if we were good.
if we weren't, they would lecture us, punish us.
yours was undeserved,
my jane doe.
i tried to be good. i tried to not say a word.
i knew what sin meant,
but i knew even more of your love for me
love.
the prophet said it was love when he slaughtered the women and children.
the heretic said it was love when she played with me like she did all those years ago
they didn't know. they'll never know
but i knew
when i knew you were there,
my jane doe,
my one and only,
my everything.
the child was you, the one who came back for me,
my jane doe.
it was nobody's fault; not yours, not mine, but his?
there is no doubt.
there is nothing.
but you,
my jane doe.
one last stir of light
helpless,
we would be one again.
now i lie here alone
where artificial light stirs
where voices mumble
and when two people say
they have plans for me.
Aug 30, 2022
Aug 30, 2022 at 4:55 PM UTC
I treasure your friendship
You make me laugh
I look for a gap
To give you a hard time
In the best possible way
I make you laugh too
If you're having a bad day
I'll tell you a joke
Or act like a clown
I'll make you laugh
You won't be upset long
If I have my way
If you need a hug
I'll happily oblige
If its real bad or real sad
I'll weep with you
Until you get through
I'll be there
We will share the load
Good, bad, happy or sad
This is friendship
Jul 16, 2014
Jul 16, 2014 at 1:45 PM UTC
They robbed us!
The one’s that told us what it means to be men…
THEY LIED!!!
They told us feeling is wrong.
And they taught us to be STRONG is to be silent.
"Build a pit," they said, "make it so deep that a lifetime of emotion can’t fill it."
And we oblige.
But we know it’s there…
The stench keeps us up at night.
The fetid fumes cloud our vision;
The windows to our souls opaque to the outside world and those we Love, those we want to reveal ourselves to.
Meanwhile, inside, we’re clawing at the glass with bloodied hands.
GOD HELP ME!!!
I want to be free of this!!
See me!
I’m a human being!
I have hopes,
I have dreams,
I have fears,
I feel sorrow, I know regret, and I believe in redemption…
but all of this...
It's for someone else… someone weak.
What a lie!
So delicious we swallowed it whole—a bitter pill dipped in honey
Given us by those we love,
by those we trust.
The poison works through us,
unrelenting,
T w i s t i n g us, turning us against one another…
No emotions!
Not here!!
You’re a man!!
Be a man!!
**** it up!!!
**** it up until it chokes you!!!
**** it up until you can’t feel anymore!!
**** it up until you’re dry and broken!!
**** it up until you forget...
What life was and what death is…
**** it up because that’s what men do.
They corrupted our legacy
They stole our future.
And we let them do it.
We helped them do it.
Aug 29, 2016
Aug 29, 2016 at 10:33 PM UTC
Miss Cleves
(she dropped
the Mrs. when
her husband left)
stood by the doorframe
of the lounge,
dressed
in a flowery kimono,
which revealed more
than it concealed.
***** wants some milk,
she said.
Benedict looked around
at her from the sofa.
Percy will oblige
after his drink is drunk,
he said. Chopin’s
concerto no 2 oozed
from the hifi. He drained
his drink and followed her
into her bedroom.
Once Percy had obliged
and ***** been fed,
they lay abed.
She criticizing
his Marxism,
he her Scottish
conservatism;
she talked
of her husband’s betrayal
and ***
with air hostess
trollops,
Benedict half-listened
taking in
the ending
of the Chopin.
She talked of the poor
and the slums saying:
you can take
the poor out
of the slums,
but you can’t always take
the slums out
of the poor.
He raved
about the rich,
she scorned
the poor;
he talked revolution,
he pointed out Stalin
and Mao and the altars
of blood they brought.
Another drink? she asked.
He said yes
and she went off
to pour. He lay naked
on her bed wondering
what the priest would think
of him lying there
**** naked. He heard
the Chopin begin again;
she had thought of that.
Time to prepare, he thought,
once more to feed the cat.
Jun 14, 2013
Jun 14, 2013 at 1:56 AM UTC
The young Musicians are at rehearsal...the ladies and the lords will soon gather in the music chamber...and Caravaggio's musicians will play them some music and sing them various songs...but first, they must rehearse...
The Musicians at Rehearsal
Let us continue…
Let me tune a little of this lute
while you peruse the notes
and you clear your throat
And what’s our Cupid doing?
Crushing grapes again between his teeth
Let us rehearse well
to render a song of softness
and ease and grace
A song of love
with sweet music
that will charm our guests
And we shall present it
in the private chamber
of honored lords and ladies -
and we shall sing like angels
and one of us will be as Cupid
dancing and flying as fancy takes him
Let us hurry now
though let us not forget polish
and pace and perfection…
come, let us again rehearse together
...and soon the ladies and the lords will arrive...and the musicians will perform and sing their songs of love, passion and sadness...
...and the ladies and the lords are seated in the music chamber...and Caravaggio's musicians play and they sing a song of love and passion...
Song of Love
O luscious Ladies
and brave Sirs
the clouds join
with one another
and the streams sing;
the birds sit amorous
on the branches
and the trees sway
while the flowers spread their scent
in the air
and the bees dance in a daze
ah, Ladies are made for men
and men for women
and each so shaped for perfect fits -
embrace then the lover beside you
O Sirs pick the red berries
on the lips of the luscious ladies;
and O lovely Ladies,
yield to the embrace
of the gallant beside you
and feel flowers bloom within -
for men are made for women
and women for men
and each so shaped for perfect fits
O embrace and kiss
dear luscious Ladies
and most accomplished Sirs
for Cupid seeks that you make love
and produce heavenly cherubim
who in turn, nights and days,
will make love like you do
now in this chamber of pleasures
...and so ends the first song...and the musicians prepare to sing one more for the charming ladies and the elegant lords...a song of sadness to end the night...
...the beautiful ladies and the lords want more from Caravaggio's musicians... the musicians are always glad to oblige..they sing their song of sadness, of loss and love...
O this ecstasy we call love
O this ecstasy we call love -
what is it?
why do we crave it
when there is such pain
that weighs on the body and heart?
O this joy we call love -
what is it?
why do we fall
when there is so much deceit
and betrayal?
why do we love
when there are lies
and hidden motives?
O this curse called love -
it has dried my heart out
and my being is smeared
as cloth with oil and grime;
my best times have been taken away
and there is left only
contempt and scorn
and derision…
O this darkness we call love -
what is it?
why do we still move to it
even as it teases us
and leaves us broken
and forlorn?
...and it is time to go...and the ladies and lords bow and they depart...some depart hand in hand...silent...some depart alone, sad and contemplative...
Aug 2, 2011
Aug 2, 2011 at 9:16 PM UTC
Softness has no measure,
you would suppose,
but your eyes whisper
intimate love secrets, that I gather,
those gentle waves of softness
my eyes would finely record,
and my heart will resonate
tenderly with its every nuance.
Every look conceals alphabets of
softness, for the one intended,
as those eye lashes flutter, like a dove,
its exact measure, my mind captures,
This softness I receive and respond,
and you send moment by moment,
is the essence of passion we deeply share.
Your voice quivers, my heart jitters,
a stylus fashioned from thought,
will etch each word,
in our inner caves, for ever to remain.
Softness spreads in the air
when you are near;
from the lovely thoughts you bring,
it permeates defying all science,
conventions and understanding,
I swing in to high gear with love fever.
*Your touch; isn't it condensed softness?
with that flower soft touch, a new level of awareness
in love, comes in to being, I fly in the air,without wings!
yet my heart craves for your eyes' special interest,
won't you oblige?*
Oct 26, 2012
Oct 26, 2012 at 12:00 AM UTC
I always smelled of lavender and smoke.
It used to linger on your sheets,
Driving you mad.
"I need you"
Id laugh and oblige,
Until the winter ended and
You didn't want my ice.
I bet I still haunt you in the spring,
When the air is sudenly rich with lavender and smoke.
Jun 15, 2013
Jun 15, 2013 at 4:21 PM UTC
I assured him I was okay,
insisted he'd go catch his train.
Though the meeting had shook me,
I knew how to stand and behave.
He told me
*forget about today,
use camp as an opportunity for relaxation
and not to keep peering at that dense haze.*
But I couldn't.
The truth burned and scalded my face.
Her lies felt like a wet blanket,
soothing all the ache.
It would be easier to oblige,
to push aside dreams of justice
and give in to her lies.
But, no I couldn't.
And I wouldn't.
Cause to do so I'd betray someone's trust.
Tear burned behind my eyes.
I told him once again that I was alright.
He let out a heavy side,
left me at the school gates.
Father knew I considered this my place.
My safe place.
My hiding place.
May 20, 2015
May 20, 2015 at 4:22 AM UTC
Twilight washes the bedlinens blue
And striped with flickering light they seem to move
And beckon us to lie in their folds,
Drawing away our clothes,
Pushing some to the floor.
Who are we to resist,
As the pretty song of strings off-key,
Winding through the forest rain
Like a goddess shedding robes,
Manipulates our minds and skins,
Only appeased by the union of
Heaven and Earth, of you and I?
Let us oblige them with our bodies,
You descending like the rain upon me
And I rising to you as the urgent river in waves
Beneath you until we are One?
If only for a night, in the Indonesian dark,
The tinkling droplets on the roof,
The flickering fires, the clouded desires.
We will send our lust into the mist and air,
So that it knows us when we are done at last,
And in every night until the world ends.
Jul 18, 2018
Jul 18, 2018 at 11:24 AM UTC
When I breathe my body is relieved.
Where once timber, now limber.
My posture is vibrant and silent.
I'm cleansing my Violet.
Violet where once crown, no longer a frown because
I'm grounding, I'm grounding until my soul is unbound.
I'm breathing, and when I'm breathing laughter reveals me but I focus, I focus and I don't let it seal me.
I'm cooling, I'm cooling, and soothing my soul, so that it may stay open for one and for all.
I meditate
I abbreviate, small glimpses of light.
So that the sugar of my solar may fall out - from my sight.
I am serious, and my breath is sinuous.
It awakens my mind,
But these competitive thoughts: they do not oblige.
So I keep breathing and breathing for full conscious feeling and through this procession my spirit is right.
Spirit pouring out of my pores.
I am rich with inner vision.
What sun shall I bring up to clear division.
What light shall I pour out tonight, Oh Sun
I am ready to stand up for what's right.
Jul 25, 2021
Jul 25, 2021 at 12:10 PM UTC