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There are sleeping dreams and waking dreams;
What seems is not always as it seems.

I looked out of my window in the sweet new morning,
And there I saw three barges of manifold adorning
Went sailing toward the East:
The first had sails like fire,
The next like glittering wire,
But sackcloth were the sails of the least;
And all the crews made music, and two had spread a feast.

The first choir breathed in flutes,
And fingered soft guitars;
The second won from lutes
Harmonious chords and jars,
With drums for stormy bars:
But the third was all of harpers and scarlet trumpeters;
Notes of triumph, then
An alarm again,
As for onset, as for victory, rallies, stirs,
Peace at last and glory to the vanquishers.

The first barge showed for figurehead a Love with wings;
The second showed for figurehead a Worm with stings;
The third, a Lily tangled to a Rose which clings.
The first bore for freight gold and spice and down;
The second bore a sword, a sceptre, and a crown;
The third, a heap of earth gone to dust and brown.
Winged Love meseemed like Folly in the face;
Stinged Worm meseemed loathly in his place;
Lily and Rose were flowers of grace.

Merry went the revel of the fire-sailed crew,
Singing, feasting, dancing to and fro:
Pleasures ever changing, ever graceful, ever new;
Sighs, but scarce of woe;
All the sighing
Wooed such sweet replying;
All the sighing, sweet and low,
Used to come and go
For more pleasure, merely so.
Yet at intervals some one grew tired
Of everything desired,
And sank, I knew not whither, in sorry plight,
Out of sight.

The second crew seemed ever
Wider-visioned, graver,
More distinct of purpose, more sustained of will;
With heads ***** and proud,
And voices sometimes loud;
With endless tacking, counter-tacking,
All things grasping, all things lacking,
It would seem;
Ever shifting helm, or sail, or shroud,
Drifting on as in a dream.
Hoarding to their utmost bent,
Feasting to their fill,
Yet gnawed by discontent,
Envy, hatred, malice, on their road they went.
Their freight was not a treasure,
Their music not a pleasure;
The sword flashed, cleaving through their bands,
Sceptre and crown changed hands.

The third crew as they went
Seemed mostly different;
They toiled in rowing, for to them the wind was contrary,
As all the world might see.
They labored at the oar,
While on their heads they bore
The fiery stress of sunshine more and more.
They labored at the oar hand-sore,
Till rain went splashing,
And spray went dashing,
Down on them, and up on them, more and more.
Their sails were patched and rent,
Their masts were bent,
In peril of their lives they worked and went.
For them no feast was spread,
No soft luxurious bed
Scented and white,
No crown or sceptre hung in sight;
In weariness and painfulness,
In thirst and sore distress,
They rowed and steered from left to right
With all their might.
Their trumpeters and harpers round about
Incessantly played out,
And sometimes they made answer with a shout;
But oftener they groaned or wept,
And seldom paused to eat, and seldom slept.
I wept for pity watching them, but more
I wept heart-sore
Once and again to see
Some weary man plunge overboard, and swim
To Love or Worm ship floating buoyantly:
And there all welcomed him.

The ships steered each apart and seemed to scorn each other,
Yet all the crews were interchangeable;
Now one man, now another,
--Like bloodless spectres some, some flushed by health,--
Changed openly, or changed by stealth,
Scaling a slippery side, and scaled it well.
The most left Love ship, hauling wealth
Up Worm ship's side;
While some few hollow-eyed
Left either for the sack-sailed boat;
But this, though not remote,
Was worst to mount, and whoso left it once
Scarce ever came again,
But seemed to loathe his erst companions,
And wish and work them bane.

Then I knew (I know not how) there lurked quicksands full of dread,
Rocks and reefs and whirlpools in the water-bed,
Whence a waterspout
Instantaneously leaped out,
Roaring as it reared its head.

Soon I spied a something dim,
Many-handed, grim,
That went flitting to and fro the first and second ship;
It puffed their sails full out
With puffs of smoky breath
From a smouldering lip,
And cleared the waterspout
Which reeled roaring round about
Threatening death.
With a ***** hand it steered,
And a horn appeared
On its sneering head upreared
Haughty and high
Against the blackening lowering sky.
With a hoof it swayed the waves;
They opened here and there,
Till I spied deep ocean graves
Full of skeletons
That were men and women once
Foul or fair;
Full of things that creep
And fester in the deep
And never breathe the clean life-nurturing air.

The third bark held aloof
From the Monster with the hoof,
Despite his urgent beck,
And fraught with guile
Abominable his smile;
Till I saw him take a flying leap on to that deck.
Then full of awe,
With these same eyes I saw
His head incredible retract its horn
Rounding like babe's new born,
While silvery phosphorescence played
About his dis-horned head.
The sneer smoothed from his lip,
He beamed blandly on the ship;
All winds sank to a moan,
All waves to a monotone
(For all these seemed his realm),
While he laid a strong caressing hand upon the helm.

Then a cry well nigh of despair
Shrieked to heaven, a clamor of desperate prayer.
The harpers harped no more,
While the trumpeters sounded sore
An alarm to wake the dead from their bed:
To the rescue, to the rescue, now or never,
To the rescue, O ye living, O ye dead,
Or no more help or hope for ever!--
The planks strained as though they must part asunder,
The masts bent as though they must dip under,
And the winds and the waves at length
Girt up their strength,
And the depths were laid bare,
And heaven flashed fire and volleyed thunder
Through the rain-choked air,
And sea and sky seemed to kiss
In the horror and the hiss
Of the whole world shuddering everywhere.

Lo! a Flyer swooping down
With wings to span the globe,
And splendor for his robe
And splendor for his crown.
He lighted on the helm with a foot of fire,
And spun the Monster overboard:
And that monstrous thing abhorred,
Gnashing with balked desire,
Wriggled like a worm infirm
Up the Worm
Of the loathly figurehead.
There he crouched and gnashed;
And his head re-horned, and gashed
From the other's grapple, dripped ****** red.

I saw that thing accurst
Wreak his worst
On the first and second crew:
Some with baited hook
He angled for and took,
Some dragged overboard in a net he threw,
Some he did to death
With hoof or horn or blasting breath.

I heard a voice of wailing
Where the ships went sailing,
A sorrowful voice prevailing
Above the sound of the sea,
Above the singers' voices,
And musical merry noises;
All songs had turned to sighing,
The light was failing,
The day was dying--
Ah me,
That such a sorrow should be!

There was sorrow on the sea and sorrow on the land
When Love ship went down by the bottomless quicksand
To its grave in the bitter wave.
There was sorrow on the sea and sorrow on the land
When Worm ship went to pieces on the rock-bound strand,
And the bitter wave was its grave.
But land and sea waxed hoary
In whiteness of a glory
Never told in story
Nor seen by mortal eye,
When the third ship crossed the bar
Where whirls and breakers are,
And steered into the splendors of the sky;
That third bark and that least
Which had never seemed to feast,
Yet kept high festival above sun and moon and star.
Nathalie Hill Jan 2023
I find myself hiding
under my bed sheets,
every corner of my room haunts me.
The alcohol on my breath worries my mother.
The aroma of your cologne
remains impregnated on the sweater
I wore the last time I saw you .
I hate you even though I miss you through my teeth
and even though this feeling consumes me,
I regret you all the time.
Leaving tore me apart, but realizing you’d already abandoned us stinged even more. No matter how tiring my days were, I would always seek out that street corner, where your words first wrapped me with love. But now, the sight of it from across the street is a wound that refuses to heal.
I expressed out the fear that loving you caused me, due the damage I had already lived through and even so you continued to do me the same damage
I drown seeking answers for the endless doubts that you left me.
I lose myself in a glass of wine, chasing the ghost of our first kiss.
Did you ever thought of me? Or did your narcissism get the better of you once again?
probably my most personal poem yet.
Karen Ng May 2016
Taller than I, assembly of faces;
Said greater than I – too is my vision:
Gather round me as I lift into grace;
With me, this unto there; companions
unchanged will secure my rule in bright bloom!
Bring me to dragons, I’ll prowl neath gold heaths;
Fell sinners, tear ’part quick my slow virtue:
Bedded I, sore stinged ***** bleat to spry sheath.
King I am. All else is transient, SAVE I.
By stone and peach I am edged off my bed.
Friend that follows, that rids, nimbly closed my eyes
with careful, frenzied, bound blade I have wed.
Earthern army abord to uncharted
Dew, time, faceless therewith, I was yearning...
Rows of you, helms of safety, you guarded
To be shepherd and sheep not returning.
Be still, I reached mourning; by last breathing
I hushed; lucid thunder: youth, embrace me.
colorless Sep 2015
i
I love you* and I know love is only an understatement of what I’m really feeling I wish you’d somehow understand where it falls to

I love you and this is not the end of it, there’s more to this, like there’s more to you, it’s a never-ending event of you and me

I love you like how you would always look at the city lights in your rooftop building and say this is my safe haven this is where i want to be

I love you when it’s raining and you're beside me sleeping, and your hand would hold mine

They would say it’s that simple. You feel butterflies when he’s near you, your heart would know if he’s the one you deserve,

if he’s the one

I love you if only it was just you and me and that simple but there’s me and this world and coincidence and alcohol and temporary love

I love you even when she was with you and the pain of it stinged like a ******* but sometimes you just have to swallow it like a pill without water

I love you because I wanna feel loved again and you’re the only one who can actually manipulate my feelings

I love you when im drunk because that’s when my memories pass like a train on schedule leaving trail marks of shattered glasses

i love you and i wish i’d know how i got from folding the pages of my favorite book to being held in your arms being the selfish little ***** that i am, disregarding everything and keeping you all to myself

i love you because i was never selfish before you, i’d always think about others before myself and with you i never thought of what anyone would feel if they’d know what we did

I love you when you look at me because you make me feel immortelle

I love you and I was always that girl who never knew what she wanted or where anything was going

*I still am and I love you still
Chris Apr 2014
Touch the spoils of me
Such few feel left
kids in africa have a worse life then you so quit CRYING
The verbal knives she throws into me
Seemed to have bore all the fun away
Why don't you LOVE me anymore
she asks me in such a tone sending guilt through the hair on my toes
meanwhile she denounces me at every corner
this is NOT good enough
it never was good enough not even the straight As
the hours I spent trying to make her happy again were never good enough
you are so LAZY just like your father
those words have stinged my teeth and wrapped braces of anger around
its not my fault I was born like him
Chris what is WRONG with you
I cannot figure this out mom as to why im so different
maybe i was born wrong god had chose me to live beyond understanding
stop playing the VICTIM oh poor chris his life is terrible
i grew up the victim of your disgrace and tears
the victim is the only thing I know I am
stop crying and be a MAN
only existing knowing words of my failures none of my successes
how else is a 15 year old supposed respond
you don't have any FRIENDS
mom i had reinvented myself for you
and yet you cannot even think of me
I am just a terrible MOTHER
no mom you are not terrible
its all my fault
Jowlough Nov 2017
Fake house I've invented
To elongate my lift
To play the advisor
And pick up lines
To fullfill satisfaction
For you to hear
The tunes I've lined up
Carefully hand picked
Normalized to hear you to bits
Withstanding the insensitive mob
On the common highway
Just to hear giggles
And shiny sun rays
To the invitation
I won't commit
And I make a long turn
So just you won't hint
That the fake house is ****
And my intentions are equipped
And the light punches
You bored on my shoulders
Stinged and milked my cows
To the point where I came up
With the so called fake house.
anshika gehani Nov 2018
All that is shattered,
The doomed and the dead,
Darkness in weather,
Their love has had,
Impure is indeed not right,
To describe their fate,
One is the king of destruction,
The other is his whim.

Lunatics and maniacs,
Animal like minds,
Psychologically stinged,
Humans alive,
One be the curer,
The other victimized,
Pages revolve,
When story moves by.

Hypnotized by the man,
Confused by his vibes,
The woman decided,
To change her life,
Ideals so distinct,
Attraction deeper than the eye,
Fell for her master,
Sadistic pleasures derived.

Potentate of the Arkham asylum,
Ruler of Harley's heart,
Manipulative undertones,
Lying under the mask,
"Mr. J." is what she calls him,
"Pudding" his name,
Toxicity so captivating,
The doctor turns into the patient!
#joker #harley #batmanreference #MR.j
Surya Kurniawan Jul 2018
Falling down
Head first,
Beneath the ground.
Dust and dirt
Bring me around
Warmth stinged my bones
Laid my body down
Tired and rusted
Once broken, a new one grows
Disposed, and another shows
Destroyed one will be cured
Meaningless one will assured
Things recurred someday'll quit
One falling down, will rose
The ones who grow
A little while ago
Cried and tired a bit.
Tint Aug 2018
I want to take the hat off
And then wave my goodbye.

I am a child with a suitcase,
A woman with a crane
Taking each step with little strength,
then falling over again

I am a child that ran over,
A man with no name
Helding my hands in the sky,
begging for the rain

I was the falling paper,
from the tree of neglect
Rushed with the wind,
heavied by water, loved by the pain

I became the small pebble
that talked to little grains
Ignored and dumbfounded
and stinged by bolts of gale

I went to take the hat off,
with a smile that never fade
Soon, I will take this hat off.
So long! To you my friend.
LefaNdlovu Dec 2018
She opened her warm arms for you Smiling and welcoming you deep into
Her heart, tears of joy filled her eyes, she
Hoped for not so much but just love, she
Trusted you to respect her and never to Break her heart and you promised never In your sober senses to hurt her
And she felt for it

You looked straight into her eyes,
Knowing very well you feeding her lies,
Manipulated  her mind and She only Believed you felt the same, not Knowing You brought her nothing but shame,  
When you came and played her
She thought  that You Were the one but You were planning to hit her behind and run leaving her behind

She treated you with kindness but you Were so heartless you stinged her  with Your bitterness you  came and change
The game took her innocence planing to Leave her in pain although she was with You through the rain you chewed and Threw her in drain, although she gave You all she had  you still took from her more than she gave, then you left

She never complained because she had Faith in you but you took advantage
With your fake love, you won her mind And her heart, she gave you more her soul But all you did was bruise and hurt her Then you left her in pain she could have Sent you to jail or prayed you to burn in Hell but instead she chose to forgive you Because she love and she cares for you

You injected her with lies and false hope She accepted you  with all your flaws but
You rejected her after getting what you wanted, not only you fooled and failed her
To fullfil your own evil shelfish feelings  
You played her.

— The End —