23
I exist in a place
Where tears which won’t evaporate
Run like rivers
Down my puffy cheeks.
A place where truths are but fairytales
Never to be believed.
~And my Knight in Shining Armour has a Rusty Heart.
Prompt 24… the road less traveled
here in the final hour
where I slept the
last 10 hours in
sickness to renew
my health
I am playing
catch up
challenging my
mind and my hands
and my mouth
to produce
poetic undertakings
of heart and
soul
no sleep
no success
no stories
left to tell
until this last one
is written
the words pouring out
like morning coffee
percolating in the
machine and the cream
and sugar on the counter
blending to perfection
tasting like heaven
each sip more sweeter
than the last
yet the first sip reminiscent
of each tender moment
shared across the
screen, and the
keyboard
stroke after stroke
of professing minds
unleashed thoughts
unspoken feelings
to strangers
capturing the moments
creating the moods
calling the moments
to be still
for a short while
here in the corner
of peace and quiet
where all the house
is in REM sleep
and even the dog
has returned to
melodic rhythms
of slumber
I write, I breathe
and I exhale my
life lessons on a
crisp clean sheet
of promise and
hope and declare
the world is my oyster
the truth of my story
is mine to tell
my words to expel
and my heart does feel
compelled
to gather the heart
of the matter
upon paper
watching colors of
ink splatter and
to share with the
world my stringing
of words, that will
bring light and life
to humanity
FJ original 2016
Prompt 24
again, the end
Stayed up twenty-four
to write all my poetry
and eight more to start…
noq I will soask in my bath
as sunrise writes its poem
©Ardelle Hollis Ray
The Aftermath
Where is the bright tomorrow
In the wake of this aftermath
With so many tears of sorrow
On the ground where peace once sat
What we hold in our hearts and hands
Is the daily struggle to understand
The reasoning of the wicked mind
With such disregard for all mankind
If it’s peace we want we must spread the seed
The center growth to all our needs
In these times it’s hard to understand
But love should be the aftermath
Remember the Middles
We seem to be at the end.
But don’t they say the end is just another beginning?
So much talk concerns ending.
Beginnings get their fair share too.
But the middles are truly left out.
The great parts that are perfect as they happen
But just aren’t well remembered.
Middles are everywhere.
The middle kisses, done in passing
or the safety of long-term relationship.
The middle chapters,
Where characters are still growing and learning.
The middle years, where life is just going
And will be much the same for a time.
Too much focus on the end and the start.
But we have no way to refocus on the middle.
We just aren’t wired that way.
Saving the last for last.
Ultimacy is more unusual than we suspect,
and seldom announced as clearly as we need.
The last day of school is memorable,
but the last you made love before the breakup may have missed notice.
Who can remember the last time they walked the dog at the old house,
or the last long trip in the old car before we found out it wouldn’t make another one.
It is really sort of artificial to say “this is it, this is final, it is all over and done.”
We crave that kind of tidiness and even imagine we have it , but it is actually very rare,
Or perhaps I am running away with my own conceit.
Perhaps most people pay attention much better than I do to these punctuationsin the minor rhythms of life.
I know we don’t talk about it much,
Although we all remember Appommatix and inaugurations, we don’t remember the last day of the incumbent as well a they do.
So, we have a brisk business in greeting cards imploring us to pay attention to the moments of our lives as they pass.
As they pass.
As they pass.
one by one
I’m up. I’m up.
My eyes drift close again.
I’m up!
The house is quiet.
Every one is asleep.
As I struggle to pull words out
One by one.
Endings Are Beautiful
The road ends
To a destination
If not
Then a decision
To begin again
The dream ends
To wake us up
To turn them true
Create something new
A life ends
Makes us realize
Everything will be left
So live in the while
The race ends
To declare a winner
To declare lessons
Motivation keeps us alive
Endings are beautiful
They are creators
Of memories
of destinations
of decisions
of Life!
Happiness Absorption
There is beauty in observation,
a lover lying on the bed asleep,
a child running across the grass to give someone a hug,
a brother proposing to his girlfriend,
happiness can silence observers of it,
and it lingers everywhere,
happiness in the smiles,
happiness in gestures,
happiness in dreams,
Sometimes I step back,
observe the happiness,
absorb the happiness,
I feel free.
PoemNo23
Fields of gold
surround me,
for acres on acres.
The way the meadows sway
to the whims of the wind,
it’s like a dance, a conversation.
Birds chirping cheers,
adding music to the dance
encouraging, singing in the language of nature.
And under the shade of that maple tree
that has stood as a testament to many a love relationships,
couples carving their names in heart shapes and sealing it with a kiss.
On days when it gets hot,
and the sun becomes too much to bear
the shade of this maple tree protects me.
And in the fall
maple leaves fallen down, if you happen to pick a leaf up
look like a melting sunset in the palm of your hand..
j.r.m© 2016
