"outlives" poems
Piteous my rhyme is
What while I muse of love and pain,
Of love misspent, of love in vain,
Of love that is not loved again:
And is this all then?
As long as time is,
Love loveth. Time is but a span,
The dalliance space of dying man:
And is this all immortals can?
The gain were small then.
Love loves for ever,
And finds a sort of joy in pain,
And gives with nought to take again,
And loves too well to end in vain:
Is the gain small then?
Love laughs at "never",
Outlives our life, exceeds the span
Appointed to mere mortal man:
All which love is and does and can
Is all in all then.
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*Not all was lost
to the beast,
nor to the silence
that sheltered it.
For deeper still,
beneath the rubble
of unspoken years,
the child remained.
Bruised, yes..
but not extinguished.
Hidden;
but not erased.
A breath still moved,
a spark unclaimed
by the darkness.
The beast does not feed only
on the wound itself,
but on the hollow it leaves behind.
Gaslighting, scapegoating, silence..
all these are its masons;
carving out a chamber in the soul
where the beast makes its abode.
There, in the aloneness of the child,
it feeds from within,
claiming the silence as its fortress;
the emptiness as its throne.
And the door creaks again..
not always the first door,
but another..
a new figure cashing in
on the void they sense.
Their entry feels like company,
even love,
yet it is only continuance...
a repetition of the first harm.
Worse still when the creak
is painted with a smile,
when exploitation wears
the mask of care--
The abode deepens,
and the beast settles further
into the soul.
Yet the fortress cannot hold forever.
The silence cannot smother forever.
Even the grave-dirt of denial
cannot bury it whole.
For the child endures
where walls collapse,
and the smallest cry
outlives the loudest lie.
The beast devoured much,
but not all.
And in what survives,
the future breathes;
a testimony,
a beginning,
a voice
that will not be hushed.*
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Sep 2, 2025
Sep 2, 2025 at 3:44 PM UTC
I sat beneath a willow tree,
Where water falls and calls;
While fancies upon fancies solaced me,
Some true, and some were false.
Who set their heart upon a hope
That never comes to pass,
Droop in the end like fading heliotrope,
The sun's wan looking-glass.
Who set their will upon a whim
Clung to through good and ill,
Are wrecked alike whether they sink or swim,
Or hit or miss their will.
All things are vain that wax and wane,
For which we waste our breath;
Love only doth not wane and is not vain,
Love only outlives death.
A singing lark rose toward the sky,
Circling he sang amain;
He sang, a speck scarce visible sky-high,
And then he sank again.
A second like a sunlit spark
Flashed singing up his track;
But never overtook that foremost lark,
And songless fluttered back.
A hovering melody of birds
Haunted the air above;
They clearly sang contentment without words,
And youth and joy and love.
O silvery weeping willow tree
With all leaves shivering,
Have you no purpose but to shadow me
Beside this rippled spring?
On this first fleeting day of Spring,
For Winter is gone by,
And every bird on every quivering wing
Floats in a sunny sky;
On this first Summer-like soft day,
While sunshine steeps the air,
And every cloud has gat itself away,
And birds sing everywhere.
Have you no purpose in the world
But thus to shadow me
With all your tender drooping twigs unfurled,
O weeping willow tree?
With all your tremulous leaves outspread
Betwixt me and the sun,
While here I loiter on a mossy bed
With half my work undone;
My work undone, that should be done
At once with all my might;
For after the long day and lingering sun
Comes the unworking night.
This day is lapsing on its way,
Is lapsing out of sight;
And after all the chances of the day
Comes the resourceless night.
The weeping-willow shook its head
And stretched its shadow long;
The west grew crimson, the sun smouldered red,
The birds forbore a song.
Slow wind sighed through the willow leaves,
The ripple made a moan,
The world drooped murmuring like a thing that grieves;
And then I felt alone.
I rose to go, and felt the chill,
And shivered as I went;
Yet shivering wondered, and I wonder still,
What more that willow meant;
That silvery weeping-willow tree
With all leaves shivering,
Which spent one long day overshadowing me
Beside a spring in Spring.
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Sunset whispers to itself
~No time outlives time~
The meltemi winds crackle the wild millet,
Graze-feed upon the stalks of Greek plains,
The pelican scoops up the honeyed Aegean,
Waves of sunlit anise and almond in refrain,
Vestigial as the sweet persimmon from Egypt,
The hammered warmth from the flat anvil of Africa,
Sunset whispers to itself
~No time outlives time~
Aug 27, 2020
Aug 27, 2020 at 7:43 PM UTC
Life throws storms
I grieve, then stay.
Anger flares, loyalty remains.
A million miles won't break this thread.
Block me, **** me
I'm still yours.
Absence cannot erase our bond.
Life is brief; love outlives it.
I'll chase your smile through every time.
If not here, I'll find you next.
My vow endures beyond all ends.
Sep 12, 2025
Sep 12, 2025 at 11:20 AM UTC
~
her wishes she guards,
like every beat of her heart;
and plans too far off
she easily discards.
they offer comfort, no cure,
t'is the best they can find;
she calls it quality assured,
takes it one day at a time.
tomorrow a hope,
next week is a prayer;
living forward with foresight,
she's had years to prepare.
unfettered by limits,
her mind now unchained;
free from constraints,
she's gained... far and away!
with joy she embraces
every hour she outlives,
with nothing to lose
she has everything to give!
each night gives her sleep,
rest reserved for the brave,
her future she's glimpsed,
she lives free...
unafraid!
~
*post script.
this one feels undone, and yet i have nothing more on the subject. i suppose it just means the end, like life, remains unknown... unwritten.
Memorial Day brings with it a somber hush; a reminder of sacrifices past... a realization of more to come. as i have written here before, none of us gets out of here without any scars; and though we are living longer today than at any time previous in history, the mortality rate still stands firmly... almost resolutely... at one hundred percent! this then begs a question- would i live differently, if i knew just how numbered my days were... and what keeps me from living that way today?*
May 30, 2016
May 30, 2016 at 11:39 AM UTC
My brain has been cursed,
you can now see,
The voices and screams are tearing at me,
Her fight at the tower,
A vertical hell,
She climbs over bodies,
drenched in their smell,
This pain it seems endless,
You forget how to think,
Your heart has been pierced
Your strength seems to shrink,
Yet she fights and she fights
for a better life,
She slices her demons,
she outlives her strife,
The question now is,
where is her heart?
It was grabbed by his hand
at the very start.
Now she begs
for it’s safe return,
But when she receives it,
She sees it’s been burned.
Forever branded with his powerful name,
He tossed one more trick,
Into his sick little game.
She cries to the heavens,
For just one more chance.
Like a deathly tango,
A murderous dance.
Yet she can not go,
Back to the start,
She can never ever,
Reclaim her lost heart.
Jan 31, 2020
Jan 31, 2020 at 8:00 AM UTC
Reality has spun its web,
Beneath the indifferent moon,
And as the ocean tides sigh and ebb,
It catches life- too soon.
Time has cast her heavy net
Upon the vacant skies
Begging dawn to ne'er forget
The sunsets slow demise.
Oh, fallen stars, don't fail me now
Your glow outlives your light.
Bear no sweat upon your brow,
For your death is lost at night.
The sweetest eulogy does sound
Against the hollow space
That pushes the moon round and round,
Casting shadows 'cross my face.
Apr 16, 2013
Apr 16, 2013 at 3:36 AM UTC
*I can be a star that shines through your night and day
a painting that sticks on the feathery canvas
the radar to your ship, the enduring campus
the words that are so difficult to say
I can be the one leaf in windy seasons that never falls
but sticks with you till the very moment eternity calls
the beautiful melody that never ceases to sing
the serene filled drone which may never sting
I can be the careful and graceful bird that never perches
the unnoticed but concerned eye that always watches
the willing helping hand in your times of need
the much desired friend in need,a friend in deed
I can be every joyful and melancholic poem you've ever read
a roseate flower whose frail petals never fade
the green thick dense canopy to always bring you shade
the one who makes your twisted world a better place
I can be wide spectral smiles to colour your love locked face
A friend against foes, a kiss on your cheek,
Or a secret in your palm to hold you whenever you're weak
I can be more than just a phone call and text
a mechanic who gets the wreck of your broken Heart fixed
Or lifeless images of glowing eyes and tearful emotions,
and the eternal rivers of hope flowing within to Oceans
I can invent the technology to teleport you here
be the keeper who whispers sweet somethings in your ear
the destiny you've always wanted to have
I can make that dream lad you've always wanted to love
if only you give me a chance,and to the rhythm of life rise to dance
walk barefooted through thorns, I can take the bull by his horns
I can be the Madonna whose bloom conquers all seasons
and outlives eternity if only you understand my reasons*
Apr 18, 2016
Apr 18, 2016 at 5:48 PM UTC
The body rarely appreciates,
So however we treat it,
Eventually it depreciates.
The soul,
If we give to it,
Will grow,
Its glow is eternal.
Beautify the soul,
They way you would the body and even more,
Afterall its the inside that reflects on the outside.
Jun 23, 2016
Jun 23, 2016 at 7:58 AM UTC
tell me it's for my own good
sell it to me like a god **** vacuum cleaner
peddle it, baby
knock on my door
and sell me cheap romance:
a product that
always
just slightly
outlives its warranty.
tell me that you loved me
you really, really did
but there are no refunds
and for three easy payments
of anguish, time, and torment
you were mine, mine, mine:
what a deal!
tell me it's for my own good
when you break down early
i'll get my money back
and take it gambling
where the odds are better.
it's just like you said
just like you said it would be
in fact
the only guarantee i was given
hidden
not-so-plainly
in the fine print.
I'll invest in something else
and you can keep your broken promises.
Aug 30, 2015
Aug 30, 2015 at 2:16 PM UTC
Respect yourself enough to see that
Unlike where your heart may lead,
No woman should date a child.
Remember, new love will taste sweet
Until his comfort outlives his care, and
No woman should make him try.
Realize the vast potential he has
Understand the man he soon may be, but
No woman should make him grow
Raising men is for mothers, not lovers, and
Ungrown things need space and time
Now a woman should let him go.
|b.g.|
Apr 22, 2017
Apr 22, 2017 at 1:27 PM UTC
Let love be performed, as required.
Let desire flow, as it will.
Let excitement mount, as it must.
Let synchronized pleasure commence.
Let the hydraulic imperative be obeyed!
Now is the moment of peak sensation.
Let rhyme be used where it helps.
Let rhythm bounce when it can.
Let words speak to the heart.
Let form magnify sense.
Let the poem take flight!
Now is the moment of inspiration.
Let love grow stronger with age.
Let friends share our happiness.
Let thought guide us to wisdom.
Let our children be our epitaphs.
Let life be savored.
Now is a moment of reflection.
But ...
... Affection outlives passion.
... A good poem needs time to be born.
... Life might not ever make its meaning manifest.
Now is a moment of partial understanding.
May 20, 2012
May 20, 2012 at 3:05 PM UTC
Maybe crazy is all but sane, but they lie to keep you, to tame your brain.
But spirit belongs not to this place, it outlives body, it has no face.
So while you dwell upon the earth, I urge you discover your intrinsic worth.
For when we tap into our all, never again by flesh we fall.
So ask the questions and seek what’s true, take a swim in your deepest blue.
In deepest blue when you find you, on earth you’ll know what’s false and true.
Mar 9, 2015
Mar 9, 2015 at 1:54 PM UTC
Whence come ye, so wild and so fleet,
For sandals of lightning are on your feet,
And your wings are soft and swift as thought,
And your eyes are as love which is veiled not.
We come from the mind,
Of humankind,
Which was late, so dusk and obscene and blind.
Now, 'tis an ocean,
Of clear emotion
A heaven of serene and mighty emotion
From the dim recesses,
Of woven caresses,
Where lovers catch ye by your loose tresses,
From azure isles,
Where sweet wisdom smiles,
Delaying your ships with their siren smiles.
We waded and flew
And the islets were few
Where the bud-blighted flowers of happiness grew,
Our spoil is won
Our task is done,
We are free to dive, or soar, or run,
Beyond and around,
Or within the bound,
Which clips the world with darkness around
The joy, the triumph, the delight, the madness,
The boundless, overflowing, bursting gladness,
The vaporous exultation not to be confined,
Ha! Ha! the animation of delight.
Which wraps me like an atmosphere of light
And bears me as a cloud is borne by its own wind
As the dissolving warmth of dawn may fold,
A half-unfrozen dew-globe, green and gold
And crystalline, till it becomes a winged mist,
And wanders up the vault of the blue day,
Outlives the noon, and on the sun's last ray,
Hangs over the sea, a fleece of fire and amethyst
May 21, 2018
May 21, 2018 at 6:36 AM UTC
Eschewing that second thought,
let me tell you what I truly sought
come, lock me up in your heart
you, I've no doubt is a true despot
I don't hold back, life is way too short
can't heckle and haggle like an idiot
on the planes, see profligacy of robust water
hills are in the reign of wild sun and winds
Here ends the vast fields of ripened rice,
where prowl crooked foxes eyeing hens,
on the foot hills furious bisons flare nostrils,
as you climb,eager leopard smells blood.
Love is the fragrance that outlives the flower,
my trek to the mystic mountain continues where
**** and shroom grow tangled everywhere
the trek to the love hill, to strike gold,is in progress,
Mar 31, 2017
Mar 31, 2017 at 3:39 PM UTC
We're living a Dangerous Life,
tiptoeing on the Edge of a Knife.
What will come and take you in
The End?
Will it come from Behind
Or from Around the Next Bend?
Are We Here,
Really Here
Now?
...
The Everpresent Present
The Eternal,
The Undifferentiated,
dao
...
The Way of the Eagle
The Way of the Sun
The Way of the sweat
of the Toiling One.
The Way of the World,
The Way of The Track,
The Way of the Scorpion who rode
the Frog's back...
The Ways of Old We've left Behind
The Ways of New We must
Now design...
The Laws of the Jungle
And the Laws of Gods
and Men.
The Laws of Those Whose Land
We're In.
The Laws of Physics and
The Laws of Time.
The laws of lawyers and
of Organized Crime.
The Uncaused Cause,
...
And The Uneffected Effect.
The Unpolished Flaws,
And the Unfinished Project.
The Unwritten Rules and
The Unspoken Code.
The Unwitting Fools and
The Untraveled Road.
The Final Frontier,
And the Promise it gives...
The Things We Create
and the Life That Outlives...
The Dawn of the Century,
The Dusk of Mankind.
The birth of Something New,
Of a limitless Mind
Or is it really New?
Or was It done before?
And who is
the Ultimate Authority
on the Universe's lore?
And is Novelty
all that we aim to adore?
What about the Nothingness that came from
Before?
Did it have some Great Big Colorful Blob to explore?
Did We sunder the Stasis
forevermore?
...
Is there One God,
or an Infinitude?
...
What does it mean
to Truly Be
"The Dude?"
Or
Maybe the Many make up the One,
And from the One All
Things flow?
...
Have these Thoughts been Thought before?
How am I to know?
And
How about We Just Be
Good to Each Other
And
Help Each Other grow?
Feb 14, 2022
Feb 14, 2022 at 11:17 AM UTC
(PART I)
My heart aged quickly
Much faster
Than my face lets to see.
Pumped with deceit
By things and many
Stabbed and asked to heal
Perpetually.
If there is such a power
As to completely recover
A lesson I never learned;
Because regardless
Of how well it survived,
The finishing line
A heart in pieces
Already from the start.
Back to square one
The heart has won
Matured a couple of years
A thousand with every tear.
The heart grows older
Each time it starts over
The heart gets wrinkles
That no night cream
Can meddle;
I move with a cane
Taken the ability
To love without restrain.
(PART II)
But every time
I am done
I bethink myself of
The time I was young
When I believed
Without seeing
When I knew
Only by imagining.
With every life experience
The heart has catered
Faith
Always seems
To pull me back in
And this ancient heart
Runs back to that route
On the verge of innocence
When the heart's skin
Was still so thin;
Not hardened
Nor overshadowed
And eyes still sparkling.
I do not mind getting older
As long as I get wiser
And the lesson
Withstanding alone
With every heartache
A heart doubling its age
The heart that still tries
This heart that is willing
To always begin a new life
Is twelve years old again.
And when my body
Will slow down
And my hair
Is no longer brown
I will love as long as I live
Leaving behind what outlives;
For nothing is as hard
Nothing more enriching
Than staying young at heart.
Sep 27, 2012
Sep 27, 2012 at 3:25 PM UTC
If we are mark’d to die, we are enow
To do our country loss; and if to live
The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
God’s will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.
By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,
Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;
It yearns me not if men my garments wear;
Such outward things dwell not in my desires:
But if it be a sin to covet honour,
I am the most offending soul alive.
No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England:
God’s peace! I would not lose so great an honour
As one man more, methinks, would share from me
For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!
Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made
And crowns for convoy put into his purse:
We would not die in that man’s company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is call’d the feast of Crispian:
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbors,
And say ‘Tomorrow is Saint Crispian:’
Then he will strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say ‘These wounds I had on Crispin’s day.’
Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
But he’ll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day: then shall our names
Familiar in his mouth as household words:
Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
Be in their flowing cups freshly remember’d,
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now abed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.
May 30, 2022
May 30, 2022 at 9:36 AM UTC
I wish you would stay awake tonight ,
But your Eyelids bear the burden of your past ,
And your Eyelashes are anchored to caskets heavy ,
With logs of unburnt memories ,
Logs fit for the pyre of your past ,
That you chose to maroon on uninhabited shores.
I wish you would stay awake tonight ,
And watch me burn myself at the pyres of your past ,
And keep you warm enough to outlive this winter,
And every winter destined to come ,
And dream of a tomorrow,
Unstained by the poison spilt last night.
I wish you would stay awake tonight ,
And let me gaze away at those stormy eyes ,
Which unlike mere spheres of crystal beads ,
Mirror the memories that lurk ,
Beneath a veil, well woven with lies ,
And spun out of strands of false felicity,
I wish you would stay awake tonight ,
And sing me a different song each hour ,
Till your song outlives the eternal force ,
That rolls the wayward wheel of time ,
I wish you would stay awake tonight,
But then , I know you won’t .
Dec 25, 2014
Dec 25, 2014 at 1:11 AM UTC
the inexorable finality of time
that outlives us all
clutches at exaggerations
that would conform
to pretentious intentions
and succeed in consummating
an accentuated design
of limitless flaws
Nov 13, 2012
Nov 13, 2012 at 1:30 PM UTC
“To love is to tenderly dig into someone’s mind:
His or her heart and soul to forever find!
Care and carry compassionately in storms and in winds
To love is to find an eternal peace in the one that you lovingly abides
Love is to find a familiar ground that two forever binds!
Love is the joy shared by two that in this journey, true rides!
In love are routes rough, in love are ways tough, in love are rails-grids that grinds
Though, in love are determined souls that never part but remains set in strong stands”
A kiss is a stamp of love
To feel your breath warmth in mine
An emboss, an assurance of love
Our staring gaze, the stupors for each other’s sight
Is a language stronger than words-written or verbal
Understood only by two fools honestly hungry for each other
The beauty and peace of your voice
Candidly meaning your saying that you love me alone forever
Is an indelible engrave of our love
Music, a sweet sacred hymn to my soul
Like a piper’s pious pipe, it is a song to my ears
A solemn instrumental, sentimental to my heart
To hear the heart beat of your heart
In the strong embraces of your arms
It’s a stigmata to our love, there to be binding forever!
An umbilical cord strapping us together end-ever
To listen to the whispers of your soul in our feelings and flows
To feel the silences of your heart in our emotions and elations
Is to be entangled in eternal love, to be chained in forever love
You are mine, there is no way I will let you go!
I will fight for you, I will care for you!
I will love you forever and ever for our love is forever
I will love you beyond any Heaven's heights or Earth's extents
Now in its extant and ever even when we are lost extinct
We will watch the earth form and deform together
Nature, magnificently make and despondently delete together forever
Together we will quietly listen to the melodic music of the universe forever
When the sun sad burns, I will be your shade
When storms rage havoc, I will be your shelter
And when the rains pound, I will still be your umbrella
When lightening rudely strikes and thunders raucously scares
I will still be there besides to care, your scares to cure
When snows severely fall, I will be your oven, kiln warmth
When summer and springs sweet sings, I will be your mild melody
And when autumns dull comes, I will be the joy to raise your moistened moods
To who do you owe your heart to? To you I owe my heart
In my heart is my all-my soul, it that outlives me-dust!
Keep compassionate care of my spirit, until I returns-compost!
© Kìùra Kabiri. All rights reserved.
Mar 25, 2017
Mar 25, 2017 at 3:50 AM UTC