"sturdily" poems
Queen of my tub, I merrily sing,
While the white foam raises high,
And sturdily wash, and rinse, and wring,
And fasten the clothes to dry;
Then out in the free fresh air they swing,
Under the sunny sky.
I wish we could wash from our hearts and our souls
The stains of the week away,
And let water and air by their magic make
Ourselves as pure as they;
Then on the earth there would be indeed
A glorious washing day!
Along the path of a useful life
Will heart's-ease ever bloom;
The busy mind has no time to think
Of sorrow, or care, or gloom;
And anxious thoughts may be swept away
As we busily wield a broom.
I am glad a task to me is given
To labor at day by day;
For it brings me health, and strength, and hope,
And I cheerfully learn to say-
'Head, you may think; heart, you may feel;
But hand, you shall work always!'
12.3k
Consecrate us
to grow more!
Bless us
to climb high!
Craft us
to become helpful and useful to all!
Furnish us vigour
to stand sturdily !
Radiance us
to swell your splendour and simplicity every where!
Apr 28, 2014
Apr 28, 2014 at 4:55 AM UTC
The local mall now has a Spenser’s Gifts;
I remember that place fondly as Al and I
make our way.
It’s where I sneaked a peek at Samantha Fox’s ****
for the first time,
saw my first **** ring,
wondering why anyone would want one.
I bought my first Metallica shirt at a Spencer’s;
spending twenty of my dad’s dollars.
Spencer’s and Record Wear House
were sanctuaries;
my escape from what my classmates
took for normal.
I took my son into that store
so that he could see the X-Men hats
and Deadpool shirts, the banana and pickle
pens caught his eye,
but I had to point out one more.
“What’s that one?” I asked.
Alex made a face, but in the end
he did what any 14 year old boy should,
he chuckled.
I took him in that store so that we both
could escape.
Earlier he walked the mall
a good fifteen feet ahead of us.
We stopped for ice cream.
He chose a soda and wouldn’t sit with us.
It took a second, but
I figured him out.
He was trying his teenaged self out;
testing his wings.
As we walked, he’d wave at classmates
and be either sturdily ignored or given a cursory nod.
It was obvious that he wanted so much more.
It pained us, my wife and I.
So, I took him into Spencer’s gifts
in an effort to remove some of his innocence and awkwardness.
It may not have been the wisest move,
but at least, for a moment,
both of us felt peace.
-JB CLaywell
©P&ZPublications; 2014
Aug 19, 2014
Aug 19, 2014 at 8:17 PM UTC
I climbed the dark heaven to meet myself alone..
To smell all the roses and espy the stone..
Nevertheless, the cloud was frozen and the breeze was calm..
I saw her descending and coinciding with my palm..
Her plain white vesture was contrasting my red..
She was diffusing the divinity that I could not even bled..
Our faces were same but our aces were inverse..
She owned one whole entity while I was a disperse..
The moment was priceless and so were my emotions..
It was indeed the most breathtaking phase to my notions..
My other twin was bounded with a definite time span..
She was entirely a woman with the heart of a man..
*"You don't live inside me, I have never sensed you inside,
Painted with shyness, you rather live like a bride*.."
I peeled up my heart and had the eagerness to know..
If the sun lives in me, then why do I fall like the snow..
She smiled and glared down on me with the rays of her starkness
and told me how sturdily I have been lidded under the darkness..
Holding the flowers, she stands in the island of my soul..
She ponders my echo and waits for the control..
She imparts her colors when my pallet runs out..
but puts on her cloak when my demon comes out..
Surprisingly, I asked "You are my part. Why don't you fight out..!?"
She had an answer. She works eternally from the hideout..
In the midst of the stirring stillness, she reminded that I had to leave..
Ironically, I could not crave for what I had been dying to receive..
The same ladder showed up and slanted me back to my nook..
and the wind narrating slowly what I had given while what I had took..
*I returned to my place which was as murkier as ever..
I sensed the time-It was cursive and clever..
Perhaps I will reap more strength to deflect the chirping into the roar...
to mend every single lapse and bring her back someday on my door*..
Mar 26, 2016
Mar 26, 2016 at 2:15 PM UTC
did you, even now, hope
to shut your eyes to so huge a crime,
my treacherous one, to think you could
stilly withdraw from my kingdom?
did our love not once hold you?
our ardent vows? or even I, Dido,
preparing to succumb barbaric death?
how could you, callous you!,
take wing to prepare your fleet in winter
—i’m sure to run aground—
when Boreas thrashes against the heavens?
but, if you weren’t pursuing unfamiliar soil
or incited to father a distant nation,
if ancient Ilium sturdily grimed through the war,
would you keep piercing the
wave-washed oceans in your armada?
why do you elude me; is it
because i have acceded irreality?
am i worthless, now?—i implore you!
by these tears, and your troth,
by our wedding vows, and this oath
before ***** we began:
if i deserve anything good from you,
or if you think, i was good enough
for you; pity this household
decaying before us! it was once yours, too.
and if my prayers are still yours,
gut them from my mind!
for now the Libyans and Numidians
hate me! dear Tyre is virulent!
as my honour and once-righteous
stature has vanished, just as i was
about to touch my constellated infamy.
for what destiny, my foreign one,
do you set me aside; ever-knowing
my imminent death?
seeing that only your name endures
from this union, why do i bother to keep living?
am i waiting for my brother, Pygmalion,
to destroy my Carthage’s walls, or a
Gætulian Iarbus to make me his concubine?
if only you gave me a son,
a little Æneas to play in my courts,
a boy to remind me of you;
only then, perhaps,
would i not be so utterly
violated, and
consumed.
Nov 7, 2014
Nov 7, 2014 at 1:06 PM UTC
Wisest Wood
The tree limb reaches
In silence it teaches
Some lessons told by peaches
It gives somber knowing
All the while it is bowing
In perfect stillness volumes it speaks
nothing so sturdily rooted streaks
arm of solitude so finely creeks
in winter climes wonder glows so bleak
inspiration swells for those that seek
how perfectly it fits the suroundings
though stationary across fields it goes bounding
it frames the day all with out any sounding
wisest measure trully its grasp outstanding
what else contains such extraordinary? Profundity
Nov 24, 2011
Nov 24, 2011 at 2:42 PM UTC
The air is incredibly thin.
I can’t breathe, and my
hands are shaking.
When I was a boy,
a playmate hit me
in the head with a
glass ashtray.
In an instant,
my father had snatched
the boy up and carried him
****** outside, suspended
by one ankle.
I’ve heard also,
stories of my great-uncles
two brothers, run out of
Saint Louis County
because they’d fought in and
been banned from every tavern
on both sides of every main drag,
of every township therein.
Maybe that’s where this
comes from.
There is a fire inside that
most days is only embers,
but stokes far too easily into
infernal inferno.
The grey mush in my skull is
jacked into some electricity
with jumper-cables made from
too many sour thoughts,
a fierce depression, and
huge piles of self-doubt.
Gladness, contentedness,
feels like fraud, like failure,
like not leaning into it sturdily
enough.
Like not staring into The Abyss hard
enough.
It feels like obscenity to
not see conflict,
to not rail against
some dark thing,
some enemy.
In doing so
is found the ability to
feel like
enough.
But,
what
is
enough?
***
-JBClaywell
©P&ZPublications; 2016
Apr 6, 2016
Apr 6, 2016 at 9:21 PM UTC
When I Learned to Run
I Walk and walk and walk
Eyes are at my every step
I walk and walk and walk
Lips are narrowing my way
I walk and walk and walk
Few smiles, thousand grins
I walk and walk and walk
I stumble, fall, it hurts
My vision bubbles shame
My chest feels the surface of humiliation
I feel the gravity against me
The utters weakening my bones
It disperses all over me
But my heart holds sturdily
And so,
I kneel, launch and stand
My ears are back to reality
I walk and walk and walk
My feet, ankle, knees stronger
I Walk and walk and walk
One… two… three...four
I run, stronger, faster
Jul 28, 2014
Jul 28, 2014 at 11:40 PM UTC
to love
it is
the me to care for lips seriously fragile. the
for me
to leap strenuously knowing
and dance amongst unknowing
the towering cadence, my heart. to
the for me (love) the
sturdily upheave the slowly clamoring of soil,
and march widely the span, my kiss, through closing
and meet with your kiss, the legion, my soul;
(a parting of silence. a fiercely innocent foal)
Nov 29, 2013
Nov 29, 2013 at 3:47 PM UTC
The walls around the labyrinth that is my mind aren't very tall or thick. They aren't difficult to tear down. You're just scared because you've never seen this kind of wall before and you don't know how to get around it.
Or maybe you were initially intrigued by this maze that suddenly fabricated around you, but you grew weary trying to find your way out.
Maybe you just had some time to spare and that's why you gave it to me.
You had no idea that while you were circling around them, the walls of my mind were studying you too.
Maybe your arms wanted to see if they could hold up my flaws and thats why they wrapped sturdily around me.
You analyzed the direction of this maze trying to find your way in the same way you found your way out. The direction of the walls of my mind were following the direction of the curves of your sly grin.
You were following the lines of my internal structure and that's when you figured out that you were running in circles. You were following yourself.
Maybe your heartbeat wanted me to know that it could beat on its own and thats why you pressed your chest against my ear.
That's when you broke out of the maze and left it unfinished.
The walls of my mind stopped twisting in the place that you left.
Maybe your feet wanted to seal the walls of mind and thats why they burned your footprints in them forever.
Sep 16, 2013
Sep 16, 2013 at 11:53 PM UTC
Oh honey, depression isn't pretty,
it isn't suppose to be,
people always connect sadness
with depression
but the connection is different,
it is a train of thought
like a chain cut short,
that is sturdily held together
but it doesn't last forever,
it is an armour that is worn
and polished everyday
just to say, 'I'm not sure'.
Oh honey, depression isn't pretty;
it isn't suppose to be,
and I want you to know clearly,
that there are always people
out there, somewhere,
who appreciate you for you
and who is nothing more than
a teardrop or a sweat dripping
away from help.
Some might ask,
'Are you depressed?'
and I can say, 'no I'm not',
so what I write is an expression of mind,
of how I wish you could find, that you
have a chance, because you deserve that chance,
the past is the past, a certain glance at the future
says that you could be doing so much more
and if you don't want to, that's your choice
but honey, depression isn't pretty
and it isn't suppose to be,
but you sure are beautiful,
so please keep staying strong
and marching on.
Nov 15, 2016
Nov 15, 2016 at 9:23 PM UTC
Afear not the prison of the felons
But the prison of the spirit and soul
The heaviness of emptiness
In men’s lives
Suffocates the illumination of elation
Even around human beings
It is rare to find a circle of humanity
Only the centre of silence too loud
We never care
Silence built sturdily amongst mankind
To restrain and strangle the mind in solitude
And fading its peace away
Thus void be called my hearth
Till I embrace the shadows of death
Alone and alone the angels of hollow
Shall cuddle my soul cold
And drag me to the grave
Sing no song of sympathy
Nor thy cold condolences
When I’m gone
For thou shall forget of liberty
And venerate divinities of lonesomeness
When silence sighs alive amongst your souls
Let it not breed
And defeat humanity
Relent not to that kind of wicked war
Let it ebb afar from thy generation
And construct love and care strongly
For my children
For unity is the reliable strength of society
Let it be a custom to keep it firm
Since it takes society to raise a child
Raise them warriors
And patriots of humanity
And thou shall breathe happiness eternally
And love be spread to my people
Jun 20, 2016
Jun 20, 2016 at 5:36 AM UTC
gold
that beneath from
sturdily shouts a girl
in milk as body white
easily
that snipped of barely
perhaps flits enormously
which face is hers
curiously
curling upon
most girlish smile
of most maybe lips
gone
behind quick glass
–and rain started
to fall
Dec 26, 2014
Dec 26, 2014 at 4:50 AM UTC
I'm coming back as a tree
I could leave now
For all I care
The tree is an Ash
Sturdily bends in
In the sharpest winter
Breezes blows the boughs
The waves from the Pacific Ocean
Are jealous of her cadence
I'll take my leave now
I've seen all I need to
When you hear the wind look up
I've returned
Rooted, alive, without a care
Let the cages of birds freely fly to me.
Jun 29, 2025
Jun 29, 2025 at 12:06 PM UTC
heaven has never felt so close
yet some days i miss the melancholy
the stale taste of your ghost
i sip tastes of the sweetness he graciously pours past my lips
yet in my sleep when darkness and truth consumes i still see you
like a beacon your ugliness shines through the mist
wholesomely i love him, my love floats up high radiantly
like all love should grow
yet it remains anchored sturdily in the warm depths of my soul
on the nights he's not home
and the disfigured memory of you
leaves a chill in my bones
i remember how you really were dysfunctional and cold
i remember his love and his radiant soul
and how heaven has never felt so close
Feb 16, 2014
Feb 16, 2014 at 6:04 PM UTC
Another dull day,
Without much to say,
is silently slipping,
While dodging a gripping,
again, empties my will
Leaving all so sadly still
Once sturdily strong,
Always chugging along,
Fell in a deep hole,
and for now is all gone.
Yet maybe with luck
if not completely down struck
will rage a return,
to, again, light up my yearn.
Mar 3, 2014
Mar 3, 2014 at 5:55 PM UTC
She walks
Head high
Hips swaying
Boots planting sturdily
Unwavering confidence
Emits from her every movement
The epitome of style
She flips her red-dyed hair
Blue eyes staring straight ahead
Lips slightly parted
Face as still as stone
Unfaltering authority
Emits from her every movement
The epitome of beauty
She moves her head from side to side
From the music in her earbuds
Eyes closed
Immersed in her favorite song
Unyielding passion
Emits from her every movement
The epitome of happiness
She takes out a notebook
And starts writing
Her pen moves fast
Along the lined paper
Unrelenting thoughtfulness
Emits from her every movement
The epitome of intelligence
She opens the car door
And sits in the passenger seat
She starts to smile widely
At her mom, talking about her day
Indefatigable love
Emits from her every movement
The epitome of caring
Mar 26, 2019
Mar 26, 2019 at 4:07 PM UTC
there were colorful rag rugs stitched
together with wool, spun sturdily to paint
the largest impression upon the floor.
there laid flattened pillows, stuffed of hope from
our compressing bodies; which fought
to protect us from the holding hardwood.
there grew basil on the windowsill. where
we were free to pluck and pair it with our cheese,
then sip our wine as we walked along the river.
where we were, there; that was something.
Apr 2, 2017
Apr 2, 2017 at 3:31 AM UTC
I used to be a lighthouse, standing sturdily
Shining my light that others might see
Guardian of your safe passage through life’s treacheries
Until the day my light began to fail me.
I struggled on illuminating hoping to shine through
But ominous clouds amassed and grew
Leaving me with the dimmest view
How can I get through to you?
There you stand in the midst of the storm
Innocent substance this tempest has torn
I try to reach you, to cry out, to warn
I am broken, despairing, forlorn.
Time now to take down my beacon, you see
Not part of my nature, but setting me free
The new role that I’ve chosen for me?
To shine within and hope others will see.
May 21, 2017
May 21, 2017 at 7:48 AM UTC
in march, i stopped breathing.
one entire year spent stumbling,
and then finally, a friend to us, lost,
never to be heard again, seen again,
in my memories, he keeps on smiling
under the fireworks he lit in all of us.
to the lost ones, to the ones who keep
flailing and flailing through any cities,
any families, any wishes,
i pray for our feet to walk sturdily
to flee our own sorrows, our sad
mistakes, sad, like everyone else's.
Apr 2, 2023
Apr 2, 2023 at 7:51 PM UTC
Transform me into a tenacious tree
Rooted in perennial love
Intricately twisting up towards light
With mangled arms swaying sturdily
Always stretching
Always reaching higher for the golden enchanting clouds
I will grasp them
And be cradled by the sky
From there, I will emerge as an eagle
Nomadic and noble
Guided by the wind maneuvering me to secluded, distant dreams
Meandering, I become a river
Powered by the silky snow fallen from the heavens
Drifting though the backwoods where contented souls reside
Until eventually pouring all of me into the vast sea of conciousness
Where all are free
Nov 25, 2017
Nov 25, 2017 at 12:56 PM UTC