"unvalued" poems
For Henrietta Swan Leavitt—
Henrietta
dark-eyed darling of the night sky--
A Swan
who sails
the heavens
deaf with lights
that pulse across your mind
In photographic plates
that number
many thousands
You see the differences in light
You swim the curves that grace the arch of heaven
between the cloud and pinwheel galaxies
You measure
their exquisite wakes of distance--
Become the glittering timepiece of the farthest stars--
Bestowed forever in your hands
the clock and keys of all existence
You know the bends of ages
You heard the voices of the light
of the angels
and of man
I hope you've found true happiness
gathered to your love
forgetful of the pond of space and time
and all that hopeless pain and counting
of perfection
and of loneliness
to which you were assigned
that in your hands unravel all....
The secrets of the universe
white and gray in motion...
brilliant beyond all measure
by which you were forgotten
and unvalued by design
Eulogized only--
as loving God
and as being kind
___
*copyright Liz Balise 2019, Use only by permission.
Her colleague Solon I. Bailey wrote in her obituary that "she had the happy faculty of appreciating all that was worthy and lovable in others, and was possessed of a nature so full of sunshine that, to her, all of life became beautiful and full of meaning.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henrietta_Swan_Leavitt
Jan 6, 2019
Jan 6, 2019 at 6:57 PM UTC
She minds her little sister
Babysitting in the woods
Flowers bunched up in her hand, primroses perhaps
Devoutly kneeling, she offers them to the child
As hair flows down her back
A long blonde waterfall
The child with open arms
Learns how to receive
And how to give
In a corner a written plea
Take me now for twenty quid
Reduced from twenty five
Unloved, unvalued even for the frame
Now rescued from indignity
And lifted from the skip
Sep 18, 2012
Sep 18, 2012 at 4:29 PM UTC
*So fine and fragile those threads silken
Weaving together hearts, minds and souls.
Unseen, unvalued, felt but in silences deep
A cloak royal of Humanity worn always proud.
Divine can they be, of love human so tangible
of honor and dignity intrinsic to all proffered.
Still do we stretch and tear, malign that finesse
Till they are but tatters and even remnants no more.*
Jul 31, 2014
Jul 31, 2014 at 1:52 PM UTC
Jay-Z (Feelin' It (That's Life) Instrumental)
Check it
This for all of the spiritual tears
that fell down
Through out the weapin' years
No respect to our
peers pressures heard in the
ears
Of the youth I spit the realist in
The booth
So what I gotta chipped tooth only
Speak truth
It's the language I only
understand give the fans
Something they need to hear so forget yall demands
Watch my enemies hands
crossing swords
Clashing iron I ain't lying trying to
Tie in
My self back into the community embraced the unity
Cuz it's so many
of us abused used and
unvalued
**** the news crews they bruised our neighborhood avenues Misled
Golden values
And money comes in revenues so
How you
Gone hate on my hustle when I'm just tryna make a muscle
Without flexing no plexing everybody hands
Stretching
Once they see the blessing
goes up I Bump
Out the corrupt my minds finna
Erupt
Frown upon the madness no
gladness
As the game crashes head on they say I'm dead wrong
The weak or the strong man who got it going
on?
Sip German brewery with a chase of
greenery
Keep a packed sub-machinery cuz
Jealousy
Keep me strapped **** shame
How I gotta watch my
back
In my own hood it's hell destiny is set to
fail
No bail only if I see my own casket
Sail
Out the churches driveway unto the
highway
It's a brighter day as I reach for the
cemetery
My flesh destroyed but I live on
Spiritually
My heart will always be with thee
trust me
To infinity and beyond I got wisdom by the
ton
They donned and stunned on me
Since day one
My only one son Solomon I'll always love
ya
No matter the sh*tthat comes my
way
You'll always have my love
The closest
Even when I'm far away
Nov 23, 2018
Nov 23, 2018 at 10:59 PM UTC
Why do I have to earn the salvation I seek?
To be so intervened in discomfort so deeply,
I sculpture a home in it,
I bestride me in delusion,
My inconsistence towards my self,
Ignites a flame in which I burn alive,
Thus
My memories are mere ashes
And I no longer remember your name nor mine,
My inconsistency of will,
Of mind and thoughts,
Of love,
Of meaning,
It invokes of my burdens and failure,
Bewitched to inconspicuousness,
Nothing descends upon me,
But mountain of realization,
That transgresses on all my hopes,
I am hopeless,
A fool,
A puppet of the greatest puppeteer,
An unvalued one,
My theory is based off nothing,
Thus,
I am too a void,
Driven to soak up everyone's essence,
Desperate as a sponge.
Oct 13, 2024
Oct 13, 2024 at 12:42 AM UTC
The wrongs that you have been done in are strong
And torturous to be hold. O’ a pain!
A pain of such a lost to you the wrong
To keep in deep hate, unsure to be wane.
Cut by unvalued blade of love’s curl malice
You stand against her vaulting hate abash
But you have been made rough by her callus
Now done away with her vicious backlash
Set free are you to live a life a new
From lover’s quarrels made to new found peace
Of long spent wealth now able to pursue
Endeavors till the day that your heart cease
Look onward my old friend and be joyful
For it is time to pass me another bottle.
Dec 28, 2011
Dec 28, 2011 at 10:01 PM UTC
Two souls as one in twisted pleasure
Kindled hearts of unvalued measure
Kisses together part holding a token
A reminding trinket of bond unbroken
Bittersweet draw of yearn and splendor
Beaming love kept a hidden treasure
Face to face the words need not be spoken
Yet distance betwixt burning poet awoken
Jul 3, 2015
Jul 3, 2015 at 12:50 PM UTC
With each goodbye comes tears,
Not because the time shared was sad,
Nor unvalued, but
With each goodbye comes tears,
Because every fleeting moment,
Was one more minute we could've shared.
With each goodbye comes tears,
Because a piece of me is left behind,
Within our shared memories.
With each goodbye comes tears,
Because our time together has passed,
And now I must wait to see you again.
With each goodbye comes tears,
Because patience is not my virtue.
With each goodbye comes tears,
Because I love you more than I could ever know.
Sep 18, 2017
Sep 18, 2017 at 1:02 PM UTC
Oh you slippery childhood
now that I have grasped you in the memories as an adult
i realized you slipped from time
leaving the stamps of scars from your slipping tripping and falling
Oh i remember you well
we were charming and happy once
until you lost to the world as
you slipped so many times
every time like some unvalued dime
you slipped as your uncle's hand slipped in your skirt
and then the shirt
you were already fallen and hurt
until you realized that this game was tough for a girl so young
you slipped as the grades slipped from your school report
and again when the mother's tongue slipped with disappointment
you were already torn apart
until you realized that you slipped once more
you slipped once again
when the cloaked words of your street romeo slipped from his tongue
as he announced the things he wanted to do with you from across the street
your eyes were already shamed
until you realized that you slipped once more
you slipped again
when math teacher became harder than math
as he tried to tuck those stare behind the unsolved problems
you were already down on the floor
as you slipped once more
you slipped again
when you wore the black coat with teary eyes
and won the case nullifying your parent's divorce
you slipped from me
but you were already too broken to be mended again
as you slipped a little harder
oh you slippery childhood
you played hopscotch behind the curtains
and cycled me through the springs
you grew a lot more
until i realized you slipped once more
Jan 9, 2017
Jan 9, 2017 at 11:48 AM UTC
I searched for you in my deepest sea
Your sorrow endless for I am unseen
Your eyes shut me out as I clung to no hope
My bountiful gifts relentlessly turned out
Sadness is your empty prison
Unvalued relics now treasures
My kingdom is now ruled
My life center is healed
The stars I have swallowed
My sweetest universe I have found
B. Peterson
Jul 17, 2016
Jul 17, 2016 at 10:17 AM UTC
Growing, Feeling, Dreaming.
These are activities I used to do.
Growing up, Feeling emotions, Dreaming of the future.
Before I discovered I was gay.
My experience has growth, growing towards the sun,
Growing towards a box, that I could fit in.
Feeling feelings and shutting them away.
I can’t be gay.
I used to dream of great things,
Changing the world and helping people out,
But I am riddled with self-hatred,
And can’t escape, for I am a product of pressured hate.
I feel like a sunflower, Growing in the summer.
I am admired from up close but not given another look when moved on.
Sometimes I feel as though I have come to my fall,
To rid my seeds and go to sleep.
Withstand the pressure or crumble to a system,
A system of unvalued lives,
Open your eyes and see the truth,
Your gay friends are on the news.
Not as heroes or as villains but,
As stereotypes and hidden additions.
I don’t see myself, I do not see in third person,
I breathe and feel and exist as I am,
Not as a side character and not as an omission,
I am myself, and that is the mission.
Jul 10, 2020
Jul 10, 2020 at 1:43 PM UTC
At one night it was 2 am
On bed of nails she makes me wait
Shrewdness of your mouth keeps lingering on my mind
Like an echo guerilla knockin me down back and forth
I value you too much, you value me nothing but a
welcome carpet
That keeps getting stomped, unvalued, but still there
to stay
To cleanse your step
Nov 11, 2021
Nov 11, 2021 at 5:42 AM UTC
All through out my childhood
My dad was there, he was great.
When I look back now, It’s conspicuous
He was there, just not there for me.
He was there, just not there for me.
I grew up to seek someone like him
to be there for me.
To be there for me, to feel valued & worthy.
Fact is trauma repeats itself, I felt unvalued & unworthy all over again.
Little did I know, someone like him will again be, just like him.
Jun 26, 2020
Jun 26, 2020 at 2:58 AM UTC