Touched

Lady Lost

She stands there
Pale face framed
by long lovely black hair
billowing as if
blown by eternal wind.

She moves so fluidly
like the mists that seems
to enshroud her
it its every shifting spread
of white simmering cloud

She moans ever so low
as if hurting from deep within
her smouldering body
shifting and reshaping
in the dim twilight

Nobody knows who she is
but she comes every night
to the gazebo in the garden
tears simmering in her face
as she moans and cry

She will be there yet
until the time come
when angels trumpet
calls for her to move on
into the light. 

365 days

You're here;  
your spirit, 
your essence and perfume. 
  
Your call echoing, 
stealing the voice of the wind. 
  

'Till death when they parted



you could tell the place was old
by the nicotine stains that showed through the light blue paint work
and the funky smell that all the detergent in the world
couldn't quite hide

I scanned the room to get an idea
of how long i'd be stuck in that death trap
see who the competition was
for the few doctors working the night shift

reckoned it was the baby girl breathing through a tiny oxygen tube
taped fast under her nostrils, but even if I was called before she was
I'd have given way in an act

I barely noticed the aged man slumped on a chair
trying his best to stay invisible
because he knew there was no hope of him leaving
and was just hanging on for a collar
to claim his soul

I was fascinated and tried to work out
whether he was really brave or hopelessly alone

before I could make up my mind
I saw him suck in his last breath,and when he exhaled,I could swear
There was the makings of a faint smile spreading across his lips


I watched a young man
step out of the aged body slumped on the chair
took a good look around the room
and I saw a beautiful woman dressed in an emerald green ballroom gown
beckon his hand
they danced to the background music playing on the old wooden speakers
nailed to the wall
I saw them stall in front of the baby girl and all three smiled

and all three left

I wanted to hug the baby's mother whisper to her not to cry
tell her why the tears dropping from my eyes
had no taste of sadness
when they entered my mouth

I probably should have and probably would have
if I had thought the woman
was in any fit state
to hear the ramblings of a changed man

wasted years spent on pigeons and bread


in the midst’s of daylights dark
my soul sits comatose
on a stoned cold bench,
pigeons dig trenches around me.
the snow is beyond freezing
against my fingertips and toes
remembering the sound of your voice
i so desperately want to hold
in this moment as i toss the breadcrumbs
and they land wherever they may fall,
and you say “Pigeons are dumb!”
i laugh, but then i want to cry,
but nothing escapes my eyes,
they are stone cold like this bench
and i am so pissed because it’s wasted
years spent on pigeons and bread.
true, I have a few loose marbles rolling in my head
only because it’s been a year and  
i can’t believe you’re dead, or maybe
because i can’t believe i’m dead without you?
i sigh, and glance up at the sky, you're somewhere nearby.
a threat of first light threatens to push through,
you coo, “Toss me another breadcrumb, will you?”
i say, “I love you, and I miss you too.”

Lizzy


In this house are fated souls strewn on empty canvases,
they dwell between barriers still bloodied in virgin white are
nothing more now but still verdigrises harboring deathly secrets.
For in this house happy lives were once spent then abruptly ended,
broken and unmended they became forced apparitions
contending unfinished businesses, scorned witnesses,
she burned her bridges somewhere along the path
of the righteous and the wicked.

Thank you all for your entries.  7 hours left.

Tired visit


Hard to imagine or sculpt for your imagination
the guest that I unwillingly entertained.


Another night of tossing for comfort;
burning every cold corner of the pillow.
My breath becoming my haunting soundscape,
long breaths, short breaths, none fit for sleep.

Finally I feel the lead on my lashes
dragging my eyes into black.
Breath becomes the background music
singing me off, to sleep.

Suddenly a presence rips lead from my eyes,
and I can't seem to close them, or want to.

Hands as fists under the douvet clenching
though I know this cover lays idol.
I can't see or hear a single thing
but I feel it closer than life.

I decide to stand and go for the light,
but I'm forced into concrete.
Panic sprint's up my spine stimulating
every attentive nerve.
I try to speak or scream a threat
just dust and air vacate me.

What holds me here without touch?
"Who or what are you?" I think.
Hoping not for a reply

My nerves calm as I accept my situation,
I surrender to what I can't see.

After a while(time of no relative sense)
I was able to sit and to calculate.
I couldn't see and couldn't hear, but
felt an entity mocking my fear.
No real evidence, no actuality.

I know I was awake, wasn't I?

Wait with hope

I sat in your old room
Ran my fingers along
your naked pillow
Happiness vacated
In the still oxygen
I hear you breathe and
forget to breathe myself
Erratic and aimless
I slump to my feet
and drag them
to your shirt draw
Take out a red
the colour of loss?
I smell your old smell
Blue heart beats faint
I blow a whisper
beyond this realm
To crease your eyes
and steal your smile
All that is left
is a clouded past
Memories engulfed
in a shade of misery
Engraved in my soul
by the mason of mortality
is a tainted green reminder
A green to reunite

Sometimes I have dreams
Peculiar and irrelevant
Wakened by a flash of smile

Then I start to wait...


(Old poem, may be a square peg in a round hole)

Great competition everyone!

Eamonn hit the nail right on the head with his entries, particularly his second, but both were fantastic.

Idryad posted a cold and creepy tale of a lady that really chilled the air.

Lightbaron entered two solid pieces rich with symbolism and depth.


Congrats, everyone, for such amazing entries!

Congrats Eamon.

Hey Thanks Madman! Great concept for a comp. I found it very inspiring.

Wow so many great writers entered this I am chuffed to bit's (stoked)

Thanks Steve.

fair play to yous'e Grace and Lightbaron