Centuries
float by as I sit
on my knees
in prayer
The bosom silent slayer
of my withered dreams
Weaving streams
my lids’ waters flow
The heart beats
as they grow
Mind knows of timeless defeats
as it caves down slow
Death repeats
riddles of my spleen
Now washed clean
they glimmer
in incandescent shimmer
revive the unseen
Yesterday
impossible time
I woke up
to a rhyme
it rang within me a bell
solitary chime
I lived lives
etched in galaxies
cosmic rings
shaking me
Wedded to the law of three
sacred in me sings
Tomorrow
whisper that arrives
when mouth drives
widowed wives
As the eye watches teary
the heart grows weary
Reading of the poem:
Seek me in the rivers that flow stark
I have given in to the tides that all embrace
yielding into the deltas that claim more
that demand from all the very core
I will gaze upon the sun unflinching
the memories of you lying intact
unravelling in a world we never touch
as I watch your dark wings glowing
Laying on a bed of flowers exhaling
scent of jasmine, rose and moonflowers
I am one with my other face hidden
deep into the water it slowly grows
What is you has now become me, us
and what I am I know exists no more
yet I explore the emptiness of your face
translucent, aglow, it escapes physicality
I look beyond the life we never had
beyond stolen instances of nighttime
into the compressed breaths taken
to construe a world beyond the world
We will sing sweet and soft lullabies
to the unborn children we raised
in our mind’s eye they roam playgrounds
sitting in the recesses of my bosom
We keep and weep within my bosom
withered like an old nun’s gait
it speaks of unraveled moments
In Time we will see them flourish
Reading of the poem:
Elixir part 3 – The paradoxes of Melancholy3 July 2022
Courtesy Adobe Stock
Amelia found a seat not far from the dead teenager and threw herself on it as she could hardly bear the crescendo of the wailing that emanated from the Melancholists. The wails subsided after a while and the Melancholists slowly exited the burial ground passing by the parents and other family of the young teenager and offering condolences to them. Amelia knew they would soon be gone to their dwellings all around Melancholy. She wished to see how they entered their dwellings that seemed hermetically shut and asked if she could follow them. The Melancholists accepted in hope of making of her an ally who could create the Elixir their breed needed so much. Even they, as a matter of fact, would do better with some drops of Elixir to make their lifeline longer and the beauty of their life greater.
Amelia followed a crowd of Melancholists back to their dwellings and she saw one family after the other slide into the slit that revealed itself to them and be gone into their mushroom-like dwellings. She realized that the slits would appear only to the owners of the mushroom and not anyone else – not even the other residents of Melancholy. One of the Melancholists by her side told her that it was only if the owners gave specific orders to the membrane that covered their dwelling that it would open to someone else. The orders had to be accompanied by a ritual if the dwelling was to open to a non-resident of Melancholy. This was to ensure a double protection from a potential non-resident of Melancholy trying to harm the Melancholists by forcing them to say the orders. Indeed, even if the orders could be given under constraint the ritual could only be made by someone who was free of all constraint.
Amelia watched them disappear one after another in their dwellings and realized that on the other side of Melancholy far from the burial grounds, there was a group gathered and whose collective sorrow seemed to draw her in like a magnet. After the last family had gone into their dwelling, she headed towards the group of sorrowful Melancholists. When she reached them, she realized that they were all youngsters, so beautiful that she could not identify who was the most beautiful of all. It was as if their features kept morphing and the one she looked at seemed always more beautiful than the one she had looked at just before. Despite so much beauty, they were full of an agonizing sorrow that seemed to be tearing them apart. They talked about their fallen friend in hushed voices and seemed to be betting on who would go next.
Amelia asked them why it was that they needed to shorten their lives and they answered as if surprised by the question that this had always been the case. Amelia assured them that they did not need to follow what had been done and that they did not need to shorten their lives. Somehow, they seemed to believe it was the only way that their parents could live longer and were happy to gift them with their lives. Besides, they said that while they were alive, all they could feel is sorrow and woe and they simply could not live with such a heavy burden. They were therefore doubly happy to gift their life away. Amelia asked them how they could possibly feel sorrow and woe in such a beautiful place and one of the taller ones answered that behind the beauty lay the thought of the death of their parents so they could only see the death and the beauty of the surroundings evaded them. It would seem like they had uncovered these feelings after they reached the age of twelve.
Amelia thought that it was such a strange paradox that the young ones should live in a place of beauty but shun it and concentrate on the sorrow and giving their life away for the elders while the elders of Melancholy not only found the place beautiful but were also able to get within it the gift of life from their youngsters. It was not a gift of extending the life eternally like the Elixir though but a gift of just a few more years. The Elders appreciated Melancholy and the gift of the youngsters but at the same time wept the passing of their youngsters and their gift that they so wanted to return and have their youngsters healed by the Elixir. It seemed like Melancholy was indeed a place of paradoxes.
Agnes Obel - The Curse
Petals multiply
In intervals of breathing
exhaling essence
My heart reaches out
seeking out the knowing mind
hidden in the eye
With careful fingers
I unveil the flower’s core
Myriads of colours
There are silent trees
tall yet minute they resume
growing in my heart
Winding through mazes
they teach me the wise lessons
of imbued stillness
We wait together
for the peace that was revealed
in branches of light
Reading of the poem:
The Valley of Dreams - Stive Morgan
Written in the context of Ronovan writes weekly haiku challenge using the words “wait”, “wise” and their synonyms. For more information on the challenge and other artists’ work, please read here
Shine on bright
shine on me your light
eyes witness
vibrations
they pulse through the throbbing mind
seeping out of lids
The pathways
they twirl and spin on
through neurons
redesigned
in memory cells rewind
black of my matter
Conquering
the new dominions
the lashes
in flashes
set the ground for dilution
integrating me
Reading of the poem:
The winds carried me
delicate wings fluttering
in ascent of skies
Dark clouds gathered tight
In graceful touch of the night
while the moons surged sleek
The days’ rise upturned
sunlit landscapes glittered white
The tides washed the beach
Sparkling sugar straits
reflections of sandy slopes
swell under the sun
Bright eyes stretch inwards
gathering the suns rays’ kiss
irises spotless
The sea progresses
my body in solemn vow
meets dizzy waves’ pull
Reading of the poem
The down on her lips
bristled at the sight of them
they coloured street lights
Her peach lips curled up
her face mask of amazement
her blushing cheeks taut
Her muscles strained locked
moving into position
her body knelt down
Every fiber lit
she tore through blooming flowers
fresh grass met her feet
She watched them fearful
her cheeks aflush from the run
her hair in cascades
They reached out to her
features glowing in the dark
heads covered in fuzz
Reading of the poem:
Ed Sheeran - Bad Habits
Written in the context of Ronovan writes weekly haiku challenge using the words “peach”, “fuzz” or their synonyms. More on the rules and other poets’ contribution here
She was on a ship to be sold
Pirates around her swarmed anew
Cuts in her skin were quite a few
So ran her blood like liquid gold
Streaming to write stories untold
The pen inked bloody red wrote long
Her heart kept its pulse ever strong
On went her heartbeats with a throb
Her throat retained many a sob
They rang at her temples a song
Reading of the poem:
Pranamystic - Shaman’s dream
Based on challenge by Ronovan Writes using the word “Gold” in line A of the decima.
In brief, for a Décima, there are 10 lines of poetry that rhyme and there must be 8 syllables per line.
There is a Set Rhyming Pattern we must stick to: ABBAACCDDC or ABBA/ACCDDC.
For more information or to view other contributions, please follow the link here
https://ronovanwrites.com/2021/05/05/ronovan-writes-decima-poetry-challenge-prompt-no-56-gold-in-the-a-rhyme-line/
You can also view a full explanation regarding the Décima here
https://ronovanwrites.com/2020/04/16/how-to-write-an-espinela-or-decima-poem/
The birds chirp outside
their hymns a mortal lace spun
across my eardrums
Heart favours sunset
when the call of birds subsides
nightfall slows their trill
Mind sings to quaver
an echo forms its tendrils
while the dusk falls through
My head seeks not sound
eye reaches out for twilight
ensnared by evening
Birds’ lilts in decline
a chirrup within mindscape
follows afterglow
The mind now shines bare
silence gained within the core
the soul sits so still
Reading of the poem:
Swan song - lana del rey lyrics
Written in the context of Ronovan writes weekly Haiku challenge using the words “Chirp”, “Twilight” and their synonyms. For the rules and other poets’ works, please follow the link here.
Curse lifted
Waters seeping through
the tendrils
fluttering
My heart and mouth uttering
secrets of the soul
The hands joint
invoke better days
They falter
in defeat
Whisper of reunions
calm them in solace
The mind stares
through the passing waves
Removal
in springtime
of the slow wavering rhymes
unwinding in eye
Reading of the poem
