Category: Poetry (Page 15 of 36)

This Life (A Poem)

December 8, 2014 / Tom

Dreaming…in segments

Disturbed innocence in the realm of possibility

Left me wondering in a pool of uncertainty

Tomorrow’s truth is yesterday’s lie

Forever telling stories.

One day I was born

Given to the burdens of my ancestors

Eventually I’ll die

And wither away to the nether

Yet a Creator I’ll be to the last.

Life…that experience between

Is what I’m here for

The pains and the joys

The smiles and the sorrows

The climbs and the cascades.

Pardon me if the rules can’t apply

Even if they do

Excuse me if I don’t participate in your insanity

Even when I do

Allow me the folly, then the faith, of this reality.

The child cries in an unholy lust

The boy reviled in some darkened melancholy

The adult is caught in the throes of metamorphosis

The change, painful and daunting in its blood lust

The result, a merciful reprieve.

The young ones born within his slumber

The love, the perfect nirvana

The loss, the perfect nirvana

The closeness and unbridled bliss

The result nothing but some perfect harmony.

Hear me shout a certain song

Then hear me hum a lullaby

Sleep and slumber a rich man’s right

While the poor slaved sleep deprived

The looters vilified as the banker’s laughed.

My heart bleeds bright red tears

As my brain recovers from its numbness

My body, plump with unrequited sadness

My heart burdened by the secrets of frightening liberation

My soul just wants to know.

In aloneness I feel inseparable

In a crowd I feel so separated

In friendship I feel a beautiful revelation

In love I am reminded of that glorious dream

Segments showing me the realm of glorious possibility.

I was born once

Or maybe a million times

Presented with a million stories

Of a million ideas creating a million tears

And I suffocated, writhed and wilted.

I lived once

Or maybe a million times

A million muddy footprints in the sand

A million hand holds to that mountain’s top

Trying to sit there, on top of the world.

I died once

Or maybe a million times

A million last breaths give birth to a million firsts

A million times I succumbed to sigh

Closed my eyes, and said goodbye.

Awakened here, I love it so

An eternal wave of a sacred pebble cast

That is me, both pebble and ripple and puddle and sea

I cannot forget yet I cannot remember

This life…or that…or the in between.

And thus, I go

Who Am I? (A Poem)

December 5, 2014 / Tom

Who am I

To tell you how beautiful you are?

How your eyes light up my heart,

How your mind teases me into submission?

Who am I

To suggest little things to you,

To tantalize myself with thoughts of passion,

To remind myself of times I only hope could be?

I am but a dreamer,

A fool…

A warrior without a battle,

A timekeeper without a watch,

Macbeth without his bell.

So who am I

To tell you these simple truths?

To make you smile under your umbrella

To have you wander in the rain?

Who am I

To love you from a distance?

To believe in magic miracles

To want you in soft wonders of the moonlight?

I am but a fool

A dreamer…

Lost in the mist of his own mind

Trusting in the song of his own heart

Gone into such places full of time where we belong.

A Buddha Under A Tree (A Poem)

December 3, 2014 / Tom

I wonder where we’d be without the judgment of others. I wonder what we would look like. Who would we be?

I think I’d be a Buddha sitting under a tree.

In a world that’s gone crazy

A crowd stops by my home

They stare at a sight

They have never quite known.

I’m sitting in stillness

Tattered clothes on my back

I’m full of contentment

Yet all they see is I lack.

They laugh and they shout

As I sit under my tree

“Get a job you old bum,

You need to be more like me!”

With a snort and a laugh

They will surely all scurry

They have deadlines to meet

And lives full of worry.

And while we hustle and bustle

In the new cars we buy

We ignore the things

That survive when we die.

Yet in sitting and loving

And being so dull

What was closed is now open

An empty cup is now full.

This tree blocks the sun

On the hottest part of the day

The fruit falls from its branches

To the soft grass where I lay.

The rain softly caresses

My skin and my hair,

And while I choose to sit still

There is nothing keeping me there.

I’ll smile in silence

A withered hand I’ll extend

There is nothing to lose

When everything is your friend.

The clouds will float by

The seasons will change,

The clock will strike zero

What was real will seem strange.

And on my last breath

This old man will have shown

There was nothing he’d lost

In the life he had known.

But for now I will sit

A man trying to see

That brave part of himself

That sits under a tree.

A Solid Truth

November 4, 2014 / Tom

Through the numbness gaze I see

Cloudy, murky, beholden to the current

Leaning, listing, the stormy sky emblazoned

Calmly, the whitecaps form.

Through the blinded folds of skin I feel

Nothing, lost moments, surrounded by light everywhere

Laying still yet falling into the whirlpool

Rising, the foamy surf left evidence to the dying.

Lovely, I’m lost to the bliss of my own ignorance

Awakened in a moment, I cannot stand to shout

Aware in a flash, I cannot look to see that spark

Forever changed, the light enters me where I am wounded.

But such is the way of great fortune

To be wounded but alive

To be silenced but not forgotten, then heard again

She reaches for the coldness and brings a warmth renewed.

One wobbles, but does not fall

One stumbles, but finds sure footing

Somewhere, beyond the certainty of the next step

Comes the power of where the feet now stand.

One regrets, but accepts what cannot be changed

One worries, but gives himself to the great Ocean on which he lives

There, in the horizon that we call our home

Come the Sunrises and Sunsets that define our days.

Goodnight, dear, see me in your dreams

Goodbye, friend, hear me in your laughter

Feel me as the waves caress your feet, as the Sun warms your face

Know me when the light appears as a new day comes.

There is nothing to fear there, in the waves

Dance like you’ve never danced before

And know me there, everywhere

No surrender, no retreat, just calm acceptance of the Warrior.

Now, let’s go, to that healing place

Let’s bask in the warm water

Play in the lush fields where the color is blinding

And hold this moment dear.

Let’s leave the worry to others

Go crazy in the surf, find ecstasy in the sand

Together, as lovers sitting on an Earthen altar

Together in every breeze, in every wave, in every squawking seagull.

There is heaven.

There is hell.

There is everything in between

And it is there that we will find ourselves in a solid truth.

The Sun Loves With You

September 30, 2014 / Tom

A sigh can be a mantra of sorts, reminding us of a dream that inspires us, of a passion that fuels us, a desire that makes the unreal real in a way that speaks of unlimited possibility.

See more on Elephant Journal at http://www.elephantjournal.com/2014/09/the-sun-loves-you-poem/

One Light (A Poem)

August 29, 2014 / Tom

One light outside my window sill

Begged me quiet, made me still

What sin I’ve sinned to bring you there

To watch you vanish in thin air.

One light forgave my fearful heart

One darkness set my soul apart

To be alone, to be set free

To find you are a part of me.

One light that warmed the misty ground

And lit the world for miles around

Discovered true, those seeds I’ve sown

I’d weed those fields if I had known.

In the end my torch’s song is true

The flickered flame I’ve found in you

From the darkest dream I don’t speak of

Glory be the one light I’ve loved.

The Nether Times Between (A Poem)

August 27, 2014 / Tom

You bewilder me with your smile

Your tender mercies

The way you effortlessly glide through the Ocean

And care for your sugar sands.

You tease me with your hidden treasure

And take me to places I want to go

Begrudgingly, unknowingly I sail beyond my complacency

Past the line between night and day.

When will I tell you?

When will I let you know?

Never. Or perhaps I have already

In little songs only you can hear.

Goodnight twilight, good morning dawn.

And to the nether times between

I worship those holy moments beyond my storied fantasy.

The moments when you appear. The moments when you fade away.

Because I Love You (A Poem)

August 5, 2014 / Tom

I hear you when you don’t speak,

My heart hears your silent words.

My soul listens.

I want you to know that if I smile

At what appears to be nothing,

I am listening…

Because I love you.

I feel you when you aren’t here

My hand reaches for the fullness in empty air.

My arms embrace it…

I want you to know that if I sigh

At what appears to be nothing,

I am remembering

Because I love you.

I taste you in the sweetest drink.

I take you in, you course through my entirety.

My lips hold you dear.

I want you to know that if I moan out loud

At what appears to be nothing,

I am drinking you in…

Because I love you.

I see you in the twilight

And in the moments before the dawn.

My eyes take in all of you.

I want you to know that if my eyes should overflow

Even in the happiest of my days

I am basking in the light I see…

Because I love you.

I am Simply, Me

May 29, 2014 / Tom

Please whisper to me again. Don’t go, don’t leave. Please…

Write me a story, I promise I’ll read it this time.

I promise I’ll sit, and study, and be sure to pay attention.

Who am I kidding?

I’m a writer, not a reader.

And try as I will I just cannot make sense of your words.

To you, I am illiterate

To me, I am simply, me.

Please sing to me again. Don’t go, don’t leave. Please…

Sing me a song, and I promise I’ll listen this time.

I promise to move, and hum, and spin to the beat of your rhythm.

Who am I kidding?

I’m an eagle, not a swan

And try as I will I cannot float gracefully through the shallows

To you, I am an oaf

To me, I am simply, me.

Please talk to me again. Don’t go, don’t leave. Please…

Tell me all about your faith, and I promise to believe this time.

I promise to kneel, and pray, and smile through the bleakness of my soul.

Who am I kidding?

I am doer, not an actor

And try as I will I cannot feign my joy through such hapless ritual.

To you, I am a heathen

To me, I am simply, me.

Please love me again. Don’t go, don’t leave. Please.

Give me your body again, and I promise to be fulfilled this time.

I promise to feel what you need me to feel, and never let my mind wander.

Who am I kidding?

I am a round peg to your square hole

And try as I might we cannot fit without destroying one another.

To you, I am a guarded man unworthy of your time

To me, I am simply, me.

And as simply me

I deign

To be

Free.

Let Go (A Poem)

May 29, 2014 / Tom

You will never understand untill it happens

To let go

What if I dive so deep

That I never see the surface again?

What if I search at such darkened depths

That I forget that light my eyes enjoy?

If only I could just let go.

To let go

Of the strings that I’ve clung to

Of the strings that have played me

Like a marionette, like a toy

To this I struggle against the Master mind

Becoming twisted, knotted, left limp in the corners of this stage.

Like a doll played by a child true to his darkened self

I am owned, I am hard as I am limp to the whims of a twisted heart

When all I want to do…

Is simply…

Let it go.