"rutledge" poems
Profound, that he lost his sight.
He couldn't get the harmonies to blend quite right,
So he gave up seeing,
For music was the life and the fiber in his being.
He didn't need another soul
To change his note from half to whole,
For he had something else to hold,
And music couldn't make his spirit old.
So, he wed the chord, he played the piece,
And he dubbed musicality the worst disease.
Funny that a musical obsession
Would correspond with loneliness at life's discretion.
--Emily Rutledge
Nov 12, 2014
Nov 12, 2014 at 12:24 PM UTC
She didn't see the life left to be had,
All she saw was Darling Dear dark and sad.
She held so tightly Darling Dear, four years old
Little did she know, Darling Dear had grown up dark and cold.
Mama didn't know the strength in Darling Dear,
Befriended by the shadows, she had no remaining fears.
She loved Mama and Mama loved her back,
But nothing was as beautiful as Darling Dear gone black.
--Emily Rutledge
Nov 27, 2014
Nov 27, 2014 at 2:34 PM UTC
~for Rob Rutledge!~
<>
*too oft we do not invest
Sensation
in the under-appreciated,
in the singular,
oneword
all that is needed, all that is required to
freely steal the breath away, and
you stand up and shake your
head, nay,
your entirety,
smiling at the fulsome perfection of*
simplicity
(The oneword?)
Beautiful
Sunday
July 20th
6:36 am
In the sunroom
<>
Jul 20, 2025
Jul 20, 2025 at 6:32 AM UTC
The world tells their young
That abstinence is old fashion, that innocence is over and done.
That to make something of themselves
They must give this much
to someone else
That *** paves the road to success.
What standards should I view best?
Am I a woman now?
Look at me.
trying to understand my insecurity
Wallowing in pathetic purity
They tell me I'll never find love for more than a day
If I can't even let him get to second base.
That I should give my innocence to him,
I should join him in a ****** rhythm.
That I should have fun and forget what the bible has to say,
To find temporary bliss for a night and misery the following day.
Maybe I should fall into the mainstream,
Because popularity should fix my self esteem..
Am I a woman now?
I've tried so hard to lock myself away,
To keep myself pure in the light of day,
But night comes around and leads my thoughts astray,
Maybe *** is just a game we play.
Perhaps I'll test the waters but on the ground my feet with stay
I'll try things out but not go "all the way"
Am I a woman now?
God, I need you here right now.
I went too far and broke every single vow
Of innocence that I pledged to you.
And asking for forgiveness is all I know to do.
Am I a woman now?
Being broken by the worlds expectation,
Being deceived in my contemplation.
Don't ever lose yourself,
Not to birth control or the ****** on the shelf.
Not to boys or to loneliness in the middle of the week,
Be strong, be as much of yourself that you can possibly bear to be.
Because the negativity and hatred of the earth,
Will try to **** your spirit and tell you what your worth.
We're no better than the world and *** is a natural inclination,
But if we are the body of Christ we have a God-given obligation
I'm scared, have I done what I'm supposed to do?
Did I do what's right according to God or you?
Am I a woman now?
That's all I wanted, to be beautiful or gorgeous in someone else's eyes,
But I think I've only accomplished that by the words that humans make into deadly lies.
They looked so appealing and delicious,
But I'd advise you to avoid something so malicious,
Because there's remorse and expensive emotional debt,
When we conform to the world and allow ourselves to forget,
That God made *** a spiritual experience to share as a couple,
Only with each other,
It's a passionate emotion that should be known solely by a significant other,
The two bound by marriage, in spirit, and with rings
So that the world can see they
Can show the world what each spirit brings
To a relationship in Christ alone
In whom my unwavering worth is known.
Am I a woman now?
--Emily Rutledge
Nov 18, 2014
Nov 18, 2014 at 12:42 AM UTC
I won't take back the path I took
And I can't change the ground it shook
To face the earthquake of tough decisions
And the natural disaster of life revisions.
Nothing takes the earth apart like looking to the past
To remember the different kinds of love that wouldn't last.
I'd tell you ours was different, but the rubble begs to differ,
Each night I rest in the freezing makes my bones grow stiffer.
We're a dying race.
God is showing us our place.
We aren't all we think we are,
We won't survive without a scar,
But maybe we can climb out of this abyss,
If as a species we remember this:
We respect the rain, as she falls by design,
But neglect the lightning and pretend extinction's fine.
We stand in awe as snow falls asleep on the ground,
Everything's peaceful until we're frozen like the snow all around.
Desensitized to tragedy,
Immune to life and gravity,
Death becomes the living
And apathy keeps giving.
Will we step up, get up, and prove the flesh is wrong,
Or lay down and stay down, to admit that we're not strong?
How could we let hope die in vain,
And, without a fight, return to the dust where we belong?
Life seems well composed, happy and satisfied,
Until we face the wind that blows, and scramble so much to strategize
Just to protect the house we've built,
That stands so proud until the lilies wilt
And prove that all along, there was nothing we could do
To keep the hurricane from killing the righteous few.
Myself not included, there are honest men,
Though we wonder where all our leadership has been.
Now's the time to step up and do what's right,
Our lives may flood, but we won't drown without a fight.
We respect the rain, as she falls by design,
But neglect the lightning and pretend extinction's fine.
We stand in awe as snow falls asleep on the ground,
Everything's peaceful until we're frozen like the snow all around.
Desensitized to tragedy,
Immune to life and gravity,
Death becomes the living
And apathy keeps giving.
Will we step up, get up, and prove the flesh is wrong,
Or lay down and stay down, to admit that we're not strong?
How could we let hope die in vain,
And, without a fight, return to the dust where we belong?
We fight pain and constant pressure until the top explodes,
But we won't give up until we've exhausted all the roads,
Looking for a way out, preferably the best,
But if that fails, we'll make do with any of the rest.
It's hard to see with the ash impairing our sight,
But even in darkness, through fire, we strive for what is right.
The only way to keep the magma from burning through the earth,
Is to show the nature around us what righteousness is worth.
We respect the rain, as she falls by design,
But neglect the lightning and pretend extinction's fine.
We stand in awe as snow falls asleep on the ground,
Everything's peaceful until we're frozen like the snow all around.
Desensitized to tragedy,
Immune to life and gravity,
Death becomes the living
And apathy keeps giving.
Will we step up, get up, and prove the flesh is wrong,
Or lay down and stay down, to admit that we're not strong?
How could we let hope die in vain,
And, without a fight, return to the dust where we belong?
Maybe nature is the trees and all the flowers
Or maybe it's the sum or lack there of of human powers.
You decide what you defend and what you think is true,
Because it's passion and conviction that truly define you.
We respect the rain, as she falls by design,
But neglect the lightning and pretend extinction's fine.
Death becomes the living
And apathy keeps giving.
Will we step up, get up, and prove the flesh is wrong,
Lay down and stay down, to admit that we're not strong?
Or will we, so soon, return to the dust where we belong?
--Emily Rutledge
May 24, 2015
May 24, 2015 at 2:45 AM UTC
~ for Rob Rutledge -
@ 6:15am
~~~~~
we all are living, reading and writing,
paycheck to paycheck
even if by happenstance, our bellies full,
for the white sheets we lay our words
down and upon, our supporters of
ids and egos of egg shell thin lifes
are the bare emptied shelves
of our unending, still ongoing
pandemic pandemonium,
razing times
of eroding joys
the sheets are blank, but our souls
wearied, helmed and whelmed
by the unending of the unexpected
that demands, orders and commands,
no matter what
pour it out blasting
unleashing the rage
compelled, compiled,
completely compulsing
we
selves ordered to compose
giving form and firmament
to our vaporous innards,
releasing new oxygen from
the tides inside and without,
clashing ideas, irregular notions
that demand we poets responsible
for reconciliation and auditing for
human truths
we awake barren but weighty,
the emotions are rustling in the
now daily, common,
mighty metors of gusts of higher winds,
spreading fire and measles to spite,
not despite
our fragile failings & flailings
oh goodness and grace,
let that be the colors of
our skin, our face,
essay on, sashay with a
swinging motion,
yes, rhyme and rhythm
and deliver us with words
so soft, they shatter the
gloomy desperation of
what confronts our entirety,
when the terrors of our
sleeping dreams cannot be
differentiated from the
sad eyed waking
ones
so write, and right,
these troubled times,
when trolls, dragons
and yet unnamed monsters
seek to take away our
tiny green planet, watered,
seeded and plentiful fruited
plains enough to satisfy us all
if we are so emboldened to choose
all of us over our lonely selfish selfs
Feb 25, 2025
Feb 25, 2025 at 6:31 AM UTC
Plastered to the atmosphere
Breathing in my almost fear
Of being lost or being here
Or being the cry I've begun to hear
When I've become dust in the stratosphere
When the sun expands and burns away
A million cells of human display.
Like the H from two O
All my senses begin to go.
I'm the afraid and lost
That comes with the daunting cost
Of my life unraveled
Like a galaxy untraveled.
I've fallen into space.
I've finally found my place.
I'm nothing in a galaxy of existential being
Not worth hearing. Not worth seeing.
Just a little star dust
Cast out from the sun
But life broke my trust
And the universe won.
--Emily Rutledge
Nov 17, 2014
Nov 17, 2014 at 1:37 AM UTC
Ragged breath
pushed through lips
paperthin and dry
Clouded moons
in once sparkling eyes
Skin of face
folded and creased
by years of laughter
Age has wearied you
beyond repair
Your first foot treads
heavily upon heavens stair
And in this pastel room
the reward for a life of care
As we come to usher you away
to your final, hopeful jubilee day
All have come, none have missed
the opportunity to thank you
for, the gifts you gave...
One word of kindness, from your lips
ripples through the lives you touched
and all your students learnt well
to live, love and give freely,
of caring humanities touch.
In this pastel room, we stand,
touching one last time,
the gnarled and giving hand
And when we leave, we do weep
for loss, but also joy....
knowing your soul does keep
to the pieties of love.
So in the days to come,
know your grace will live on
through lives and generations
your teaching will be the yardstick
to which our hearts are measured
YOUR WORDS, YOUR LIFE,
REMEMBERED AND TREASURED
Sep 28, 2015
Sep 28, 2015 at 7:54 PM UTC
I miss
my friends.
While they
laugh, revel
and skip.
I miss
the point
While I
hide, cower
and drip.
I miss
my friends.
While they
fly, displace
and ascertain.
I miss
the invite.
While I
spin, clot
and complain.
Dec 18, 2017
Dec 18, 2017 at 11:47 AM UTC
You're so much more than me.
And all I'll ever be,
Is the shadow in your head,
And the sum of all the things you've ever said.
I'm like the past that haunts you.
I'm the dark that wants you.
You don't deserve rain on your parade,
But I'd be honored to be some mistake you made.
You don't deserve a mistake like me,
You don't deserve faith as fake as me.
All I want is you.
All I want is faith that's new.
I want you to lead me with strong hands
To lead me to peace in God's plans.
The truth is,I would hold you down,
You don't need me around.
I wish that I was worth enough
I wish I was worth your love.
But here I am. Vulnerable in my desire,
With nothing to offer but to hold you higher
Than anything else on earth.
I don't know how to tell you what you're worth..
--Emily Rutledge
Nov 12, 2014
Nov 12, 2014 at 12:29 PM UTC
The sun woke up
and followed its destined direction.
Light covered the lake
like a layer of protection
and danced with its droplets
like love ever after.
But when night came,
she silenced their laughter
and the two spoke softly,
water and light.
They grew in their love
as they danced through the night
and when the next morning came
and asked for her hand,
she knew there would never be light like his
to cover the land.
--Emily Rutledge
Feb 25, 2015
Feb 25, 2015 at 6:18 PM UTC
Calico gloomy rail yards
Steel vessels whine , brakeman -
locking cars against Winter sky backdrops
Painted horseman bound for Augusta -
tonight , through Conyers , Rutledge and
Union Point
Eastbound dedication passing rural
depots , breaking the twilight silence -
for many a mile , lighting each crossing -
as it slowly rumbles down the meandering line ...
Apr 15, 2016
Apr 15, 2016 at 11:06 PM UTC
In a room full of people I thought I'd met,
But fell in love because I lost a bet.
All these people, so many strangers,
Amazing that my family could be so many different dangers.
At least I have a soul to rely upon,
How can all the others be so far gone?
--Emily Rutledge
Nov 23, 2014
Nov 23, 2014 at 12:38 PM UTC
They were constant company
But I took them like they were something free.
I never need the ground beneath my feet when I'm flying
And I never need the air I breath until I'm dying.
But something about reaching for the moon in the height of the night,
Or inhaling the wind when my timing seems right
Always leads to a lonely life and broken soul
And just when I see my dream, I feel gravity pull
Me back to earth, back to who I have now,
Away from the love this hell won't allow.
All I want is to see beyond the sky
To reach up and embrace the stars before I die.
But I'm stuck alone
In a house I can't call my own.
Unhappy with the people around me.
Routine crept through the dirt and found me.
All I want Is someone new
But no other star stands out like you.
It's a **** shame I'm bound to an earth like this,
When you're of another world, in a fantasy of bliss.
So I'll stay home and fake some kind of joy.
While the people all around me misread an unhappy boy,
Because they're too tangible and real,
But it's the supernatural love I long to feel.
For now I'll look ahead and hope with all I've got,
That god will grant me blessing for all the hell I've fought,
Maybe tomorrow when the sun rises alone,
It will bring with it a new reality
I'll finally deem my own.
--Emily Rutledge
Nov 15, 2014
Nov 15, 2014 at 2:33 AM UTC
you were home and I was the traveler.
And I moved from continent to continent as the world was spinning faster
We held hands and rearranged the mountains,
We swam in each abyss below the waterfalls, the world's greatest fountains.
And we were never stayed in one place,
But danced with discovery at a romantic pace
Because I was in love with my home
And you fell in love with the unknown.
There was so much more to life
Than paying bills and being a wife,
And there was so much more to passion than a monotonous job and everything old fashioned.
We made everyday something new,
And if anything led me to believe in blessings it was you.
So tomorrow we'll cross the ocean,
We'll be brave and in love as we conquer the motion
Of an ever changing life, and ever changing existence,
All I'd ever love in life was home and your gentle resistance
To all that the world told us to be.
Because now.
I'm happy with you and you are happy with me.
--Emily Rutledge
Nov 19, 2014
Nov 19, 2014 at 12:40 PM UTC
Where I'm from, turbulence is arbitrary and the top layer is a dream
Violence and suicide hidden by pastel pinks and blues
A fragile frosted shell
Where I'm from, dark secrets come from a college in Santa Monica
Where someone drank too much
And no didn't work enough
My dad was in custody of the state 9 months later
Where I'm from, we pride ourselves in Edward Rutledge
Who picked up a pen in 1776
How does a single signature outweigh
A blurred auburn plantation in South Carolina
The sweet scent of fat, and the relatives I'm not allowed to meet
The men under another red, white, and blue flag
Where I'm from, pills are passed out like candy
Anxiety, depression, take your pick
My second cousin, she jumped off a bridge
We don't talk about her
Where I'm from, my cousins are bi-racial
I take pride in myself, and will never fall back
On racism, sexism, words that make my skin crawl
Where I'm from, I'll never stay silent again.
Feb 16, 2019
Feb 16, 2019 at 7:31 PM UTC