The Poetry Marathon

A slight illusion that brushed past

A waking dream behind the shadows

A deception waiting for a spell to cast

On a bewildered mind beneath its sorrows

The silhouette of a whispering lover

Impassioned thoughts revealed in a dream

All mesmerizing beauty within that tower

A fall into unknown fantasy it may seem

Legends from meadows far away

Misunderstandings of words not known

Fantasies of thoughts that continue to delay

The flame of mind to rekindle after being blown

Beyond all limits it rests for sure

And tempts all to dream a trance

Even in its pain is a cure

For each lost it is a whimpering chance

What to speak of the visions that live?

From celestial gardens to these minds

A truthful fabrication is all it gives

Yet it lives in all of our kinds

I have not been known to speak of rhyme

Yet I am held accused of a certain crime

A known stranger has taken me spellbound

Swiftly, slowly his love has come around

In celestial ways his words so enchanting

He turns monotony into fables so captivating

Above the ringing of each sound sonorous

Stands his gleeful laugh in all stands humorous

Mystify, mesmerize, simply intoxicate

Those hazy espresso eyes, carved to invigorate

He lies satisfyingly cold in the midst of summer

And burning hot in winter’s murmur

Purely seraphic in his existence

From the dwellings of angels is his countenance

His anger, too is strong as a thunder fall

It lands into my heart for my senses to enthrall

His passions a sea of deep discovery

His thoughts to me are divine decree

All his self a glorious mystery untold

As I wait for the secrets carved in him to unfold

There’s a valley called Freedom, far away

Hardly loyal to the name, to this day

From the glorious peaks of the mountains

And the bubbling music of the fountains

Its people were slave to freedom

And engulfed in slavery’s boredom

The river, always so revolting in its ways

Suggested to the wind and its sways

They conspired against the bounds invisible

Bring them to light, make them visible

An earthbound, god-fearing

Gave birth to a girl daring

The grasslands and forever running fields

Cherished in her words and dreams

The sky smiled at her desire to fly

Her boldness to utter ‘why’

But Lord! Did it scare her mother!

And apprehended her brother

For it was dangerously dangerous

And the threats were numerous

It scared the people, it terrorized them

How she questioned; that freedom’s gem

How she dared inquire onto the origins of their chains

How could they recall all nature’s claims?

They were angered at the bounds

But fools! Turned the lesson around

Hunted freedom when their shackles did not break

Poured out her blood, dipped in their stake

The trees, tall and proud, bowed down shamefully

The birds chirped such melancholy

Malice and misery devoured freedom

And the people congratulated themselves on regaining boredom

But no, the shimmering river and the wind were no fools

They knew their young love had broken some rules ‘

For the seeds were sown for freedom to claim

And Freedom was then never the same

The Gods of love decided upon a blend

Its pleasures were never to end

So they brought together some cocoa

And poured on the magic flow

Its texture was that of sugar and diamonds

And all shades of espresso sent in their funds

Some browns and blacks would mate

And I would brew it at nights late

Ah! The aroma, how to explain?

The blessed earth in a deluge of rain

A dark, mystical, invigorating fragrance

A little unruly and rustic

Diligently mystic

And the taste of a warm, passionate affair

To say just bittersweet is hardly fair

For it is a fountain hot and bursting

The flavor in your mouth, slowly rusting

Each drop compassionately burning

Savor it; it is discovery and learning

With a good book, a tale or two

By the window, your drink and you

She covered her truth in red

It was as her mother had said

To lead astray the lustful

However, she was distrustful

Of the hood that enveloped

And those habits it developed

It hid her, of course, saved much

But its effect was such

That she was reminded forever

She must not forget, ever

A wolf loomed hereabout

It spoke and it would shout

A crimson delight for the beast

As she carried her loved one’s feast

She knew her tale though

She knew the end so

“A woodcutter saved the little red”

We all know, we’re fed

All the stories that have run

The hood saved none, no one

So I wondered why hide so?

By Lord, we should by now know

Make no false defense, hide in no hood

If a wolf is to come, and that it would

No shield of your disbelief shall save you

It will reassure the cowards; true

But if I dare say

Shall you be a coward today?

Dear Beauty, why must you behave so immodestly?

I heard last week another tale and honestly

You are lavishly sumptuous and unashamed

Of being ridiculously untamed

You and I, Beauty, are not so same

Yet I write another letter, as you live in fame

You will not last forever, all material shall end

And you will be left with no friend

Now now, fear not though young one

For I shall add, you are always young and won

Beauty, you are more than material, more than visible

I write these letters to tell you of your invisible

Dear beauty, you may just justify your immodesty

Say you may be accused falsely

Say I have had grudges of my own

But for all I have known

You are loved yet you are not forever, not everything ‘

It is another matter, your praises that they sing

Dear Miss Emily Bronte of the sisters five

How did you create love as a muddled hive?

How dare Catherine defy the love she never hated?

Why did you not simplify love as it was created?

I had often thought to ask of Heathcliff of Wuthering Heights

To know where he ventured in your sights

Miss Bronte, if I may, my curiosity is not restrained

How indeed did you know love so untrained?

It is with love, horror, smiles and grief and memories much

I read your thoughts, those words were such

Engulfed in a mystifying mystery so beautiful

Lord knows what other thoughts lived there and how bountiful

Forgive me, for I meant to take not much of your time ‘

But I have learned this much, at day and night

You are also part of the cult, the kind that creates fantasy

Writers! Your magic remains a mystery

I have had the options of reading

Of death and the deceased

I found most much misleading

Death is no fiction

I felt only love, lived only in fantasy

I was foolishly mistaken

She was a flower blooming, a vigorous sea

A haunted passion of the desolate

Grief swayed with her, misery danced around

And laughter laughed mystified

She was my relief, solace found

Though I suppose that was unfortunate

She was a deluge of desire

For even all divinity could hardly wait

To claim her life and tear me apart

No, time never glanced twice

No skies fell

They did what they did, rolled the dice

And all was fine

Amusing to my misery as she fed on me

As grief chewed out my soul

As I fought divine decree

Death remained unexplainable

I wondered, as autumns claimed my springs

Where I had first lost reality

As indefinable, death has a favorite lullaby it sings

As it sang to me each night

It sang and sang and I died each time

And so she died, yes, she died

And here I am, capable of rhyme!

Beauty is sumptuous riders of uncertainty

Truth is no certainty, you under the lantern of reality

War is not irrefutable, givers of reason

You wonder why be reasonable, in oceans of treason?

Fights are necessary, dreamers of amnesty

Yet blessed with reason peaceful, do not receive cruelty

Peace is the courage, priests of satisfactions

Are as they as satisfying, holy transactions?

Fear is ever worshipped, guardians of the faithful

Dare not play with faith since it is job of the fearful

Words are for meanings clear, listeners of perception

Though it has been perceived their laughter has reception

Forgiveness is so vast, regiment of mercy

For each merciless soul demanding decree

where ferns now grow, in once cherished grounds

and jars and jars of muffled sounds

Truth is merely a decision, collectors of wisdom solemn

Between truth and notional apprehension common

And they say, beauty is sumptuous, riders of uncertainty

For happiness maybe peace in misery.

They have had all shares of questions to me

From the misty and frosty past

They have asked in the name of divine decree

And I have asked for their last

It shivered, my hope, from within a why

From the burning and glowing now

In attempts at faith I conspired with the sky

And I have always wondered how

It was known; they had all choices laid

From the blooming pain inside

All I could see was fate and its raid

And I have nowhere now to hide

Each has had his share of mistakes, no doubt

From the winters and summers hence

Where hope or despair may eventually sprout

And I have always lost to despondence

They have had many a days of questions for me

From the hazy autumn last year

Questions in deluge: the questions a mighty sea

And I have had all fear