Submissions by Tallquietguy
POEMS AND SHORT STORIES
Poet Introduction
Can you call yourself a poet if you only write when the muse beckons? Sometimes I feel as if someone else is writing the words & I'm just the one putting them on paper. Schizophrenic or just plain weird?
OBSERVATIONAL POEM
Published
30th Jan 2021 10:54pm
30th Jan 2021 10:54pm
Spring Rain
A gray curtain of falling rain feeds the thirsty trees,
greening leaf by leaf in the early spring afternoon
The ground is littered with dogwood blossoms
as the suckling buds are pelted by the storm
Oblivious to the deluge and with no umbrella in hand,
Squirrels play tag in the yard, scampering to and fro
Occasional rolls of thunder interrupt the hypnotic melody
of raindrops on the tin porch roof
I’m lulled into a peaceful sense of timeless beauty,
these same droplets likely having nurtured the heroes of old
Winter...
greening leaf by leaf in the early spring afternoon
The ground is littered with dogwood blossoms
as the suckling buds are pelted by the storm
Oblivious to the deluge and with no umbrella in hand,
Squirrels play tag in the yard, scampering to and fro
Occasional rolls of thunder interrupt the hypnotic melody
of raindrops on the tin porch roof
I’m lulled into a peaceful sense of timeless beauty,
these same droplets likely having nurtured the heroes of old
Winter...
#trees
#animals
#rain
#spring
#nature
298 reads
2 Comments
OBSERVATIONAL POEM
Published
30th Jan 2021 10:51pm
30th Jan 2021 10:51pm
Silence of the Heart
Don’t tell me when you’re hurting
I don’t want to know
My life works fine for me
Yours is yours to lose
Don’t tell me if you’re leaving
Please just let me be
My prison serves its purpose
I don’t want to be free
Loneliness is a Silence of the Heart
No one to love …
No one to hate …
No one at all … just you
“Where ya gonna run?
Where ya gonna hide?”
The disease is in the people …
but it’s also here inside
When you reach out and they turn away,
There’s no escape while you’re still...
I don’t want to know
My life works fine for me
Yours is yours to lose
Don’t tell me if you’re leaving
Please just let me be
My prison serves its purpose
I don’t want to be free
Loneliness is a Silence of the Heart
No one to love …
No one to hate …
No one at all … just you
“Where ya gonna run?
Where ya gonna hide?”
The disease is in the people …
but it’s also here inside
When you reach out and they turn away,
There’s no escape while you’re still...
#depression
#dark
#death #despair
#death #despair
269 reads
1 Comment
SELF POEM
Published
30th Jan 2021 1:53pm
30th Jan 2021 1:53pm
Why Must the Morning Come?
As evening fades to black,
I escape into dreamless sleep
Why does it have to end?
Why must the morning come?
Sol ascends his throne
The play begins anew
But the story never changes
Only faces & names cycle through
Life was once held a virtue,
worth endless striving & strain
The curtain fell, the lies were revealed –
All is empty and vain
Why must the morning come?
Why can’t darkness & silence reign?
What fools we were to believe the con!
The evidence proves we’re insane.
Is it...
I escape into dreamless sleep
Why does it have to end?
Why must the morning come?
Sol ascends his throne
The play begins anew
But the story never changes
Only faces & names cycle through
Life was once held a virtue,
worth endless striving & strain
The curtain fell, the lies were revealed –
All is empty and vain
Why must the morning come?
Why can’t darkness & silence reign?
What fools we were to believe the con!
The evidence proves we’re insane.
Is it...
#depression
#loneliness
#dark #emptiness
#dark #emptiness
265 reads
1 Comment
SELF POEM
Published
30th Jan 2021 1:53pm
30th Jan 2021 1:53pm
Ashes
Burn my body to ashes
Then scatter them to the wind
Don’t chain me down in sorrow
Just let my prison end
Turn my body to ashes
The flames will set me free
Don’t waste your time on sorrow
Just let my memory sleep.
Then scatter them to the wind
Don’t chain me down in sorrow
Just let my prison end
Turn my body to ashes
The flames will set me free
Don’t waste your time on sorrow
Just let my memory sleep.
#dark
#death
#disappointment #emptiness
#disappointment #emptiness
331 reads
1 Comment
OBSERVATIONAL POEM
Published
29th Jan 2021 3:44am
29th Jan 2021 3:44am
Don't Ask
Don’t ask me how I’m doing
Don’t ask about my day
Life’s for living, not thinking
In the end I’ll be okay
Don’t ask about tomorrow
The future doesn’t exist
It’s a creation of poets and fools
Right now is all there is
Don’t ask about the past
I’ll say just look at us here
We’re the sum of all that’s been
Reflected back in the mirror.
Don’t ask about my day
Life’s for living, not thinking
In the end I’ll be okay
Don’t ask about tomorrow
The future doesn’t exist
It’s a creation of poets and fools
Right now is all there is
Don’t ask about the past
I’ll say just look at us here
We’re the sum of all that’s been
Reflected back in the mirror.
#spiritual
#TruthOfLife
#philosophical #karma
#philosophical #karma
312 reads
2 Comments
SELF POEM
Published
29th Jan 2021 3:43am
29th Jan 2021 3:43am
A Meditation
I am here,
The time is now
Nothing more
I need to know
I breathe in
I breathe out,
Inviting my spirit
to join the Tao
I sit in silence,
empty and alone
Facing the shadows
that hide the unknown
My thoughts and desires
do not define who I am
They’re clouds on the breeze,
driftwood in a stream
Holding to the past,
we chase invisible ghosts,
Refusing to accept
our illusion of control
Wherever flows this river
that carries me along,
I surrender to the current,...
The time is now
Nothing more
I need to know
I breathe in
I breathe out,
Inviting my spirit
to join the Tao
I sit in silence,
empty and alone
Facing the shadows
that hide the unknown
My thoughts and desires
do not define who I am
They’re clouds on the breeze,
driftwood in a stream
Holding to the past,
we chase invisible ghosts,
Refusing to accept
our illusion of control
Wherever flows this river
that carries me along,
I surrender to the current,...
#Buddhist
#spiritual
#TruthOfLife
#Taoism
#philosophical
393 reads
1 Comment
SELF POEM
Published
28th Jan 2021 4:11pm
28th Jan 2021 4:11pm
Disappear
What do I have to do
to simply disappear;
To fade into the night
like I was never here?
Optimistic promise of youth
becomes the disappointment of later years
The story digresses in a thousand ways,
its purpose was never too clear.
I’d gladly cede my life
to a worthier soul than mine;
I have neither will nor courage
to face the ravages of time.
The energy in this body
would be so much better used
as the colors of a rainbow,
the lilting melody of a flute.
Transform me into light,
to...
to simply disappear;
To fade into the night
like I was never here?
Optimistic promise of youth
becomes the disappointment of later years
The story digresses in a thousand ways,
its purpose was never too clear.
I’d gladly cede my life
to a worthier soul than mine;
I have neither will nor courage
to face the ravages of time.
The energy in this body
would be so much better used
as the colors of a rainbow,
the lilting melody of a flute.
Transform me into light,
to...
#depression
#dark
#MentalHealth #disappointment
#MentalHealth #disappointment
504 reads
2 Comments
SELF POEM
Published
28th Jan 2021 4:10pm
28th Jan 2021 4:10pm
The Passage
Standing on the threshold of tomorrow
‘tween what’s been and what might be
I pause for a moment to find myself
both happy and sad with things I see
One eye looks forward with a nervous glance –
imagination lights the way
(It) reveals a thousand possible dangers
and just as many dreams
By chance and design,
left to fall wherever they may
Another eye’s drawn back with longing
and perhaps a hint of tear
To other times and people, too
who’ve come and gone in recent years
Time is quite the enemy…
strikes...
‘tween what’s been and what might be
I pause for a moment to find myself
both happy and sad with things I see
One eye looks forward with a nervous glance –
imagination lights the way
(It) reveals a thousand possible dangers
and just as many dreams
By chance and design,
left to fall wherever they may
Another eye’s drawn back with longing
and perhaps a hint of tear
To other times and people, too
who’ve come and gone in recent years
Time is quite the enemy…
strikes...
#hope
#inspirational
#LifeCycle #nostalgia
#LifeCycle #nostalgia
394 reads
0 Comments
DARK POEM
Published
27th Jan 2021 3:52am
27th Jan 2021 3:52am
If - Since
If I could die tonight
I wouldn’t have to worry about tomorrow
I wouldn’t have to remember yesterday
Or live through anymore todays
If I could die tonight
No one would remember my name
after a generation or two
No one would mourn for long, not even you
If I could die tonight
I could escape being human —
always wanting to have and be
Something more than what I have and am
(or something other than what I’ve been)
If I could die tonight
I could join the stream of time
Maybe sleep a dreamless sleep ...
I wouldn’t have to worry about tomorrow
I wouldn’t have to remember yesterday
Or live through anymore todays
If I could die tonight
No one would remember my name
after a generation or two
No one would mourn for long, not even you
If I could die tonight
I could escape being human —
always wanting to have and be
Something more than what I have and am
(or something other than what I’ve been)
If I could die tonight
I could join the stream of time
Maybe sleep a dreamless sleep ...
#depression
#loneliness
#dark
#despair
#emptiness
372 reads
1 Comment
SELF POEM
Published
27th Jan 2021 3:52am
27th Jan 2021 3:52am
My Dream
Ah, to sleep and never wake
This is a journey I long to take
Is it really too much to ask,
Is it such a monumental task?
How dare you force me into life,
this prison of pain and endless strife
Tuck me in, then go away
Don’t bother to wake me, come the day
“Oh, to sleep, perchance to”… sleep!
No dreams are needed to keep
me distracted and confused
Just blissful repose with no ado
Waking life is not for me
Nonexistence is what I need
Until forever and again
Until the cosmic time clock ends.
This is a journey I long to take
Is it really too much to ask,
Is it such a monumental task?
How dare you force me into life,
this prison of pain and endless strife
Tuck me in, then go away
Don’t bother to wake me, come the day
“Oh, to sleep, perchance to”… sleep!
No dreams are needed to keep
me distracted and confused
Just blissful repose with no ado
Waking life is not for me
Nonexistence is what I need
Until forever and again
Until the cosmic time clock ends.
#loneliness
#rejection
#disappointment
#emptiness
#boredom
309 reads
1 Comment
OBSERVATIONAL POEM
Published
26th Jan 2021 5:28pm
26th Jan 2021 5:28pm
Salute!
Lower the flags in honour
Bow your heads in prayer
I heard another hero died today
How much sorrow must we bear?
‘Justice will be served’ is bitter comfort
for the wife, brother, parent, and child
Let us never forget the courage
or the sacrifices made in their lives
The thin blue line stands strong
It may bend but will never fail
Tho’ each heart may bleed for the fallen,
it always soldiers on to answer the call.
Bow your heads in prayer
I heard another hero died today
How much sorrow must we bear?
‘Justice will be served’ is bitter comfort
for the wife, brother, parent, and child
Let us never forget the courage
or the sacrifices made in their lives
The thin blue line stands strong
It may bend but will never fail
Tho’ each heart may bleed for the fallen,
it always soldiers on to answer the call.
#death
#TimeHeals
#LifeCycle
265 reads
0 Comments
SONG LYRICS
Published
26th Jan 2021 5:27pm
26th Jan 2021 5:27pm
When Home Leaves You
I left home at eighteen, but I didn’t stray too far
Wasn’t quite ready to find myself, I was still just a child
Tried again at nineteen, took the path that many do –
Defending our country’s freedom, but I was still just a boy
The changes going on inside, they run deep and they run slow
What turns the boy into the man, we’ll never really know
One day you’re chasing lightning bugs on a sultry summer night
The next you’re chasing dreams as they fade slowly out of sight
..
..
I took some time at twenty-three to fall back and regroup
I’d...
Wasn’t quite ready to find myself, I was still just a child
Tried again at nineteen, took the path that many do –
Defending our country’s freedom, but I was still just a boy
The changes going on inside, they run deep and they run slow
What turns the boy into the man, we’ll never really know
One day you’re chasing lightning bugs on a sultry summer night
The next you’re chasing dreams as they fade slowly out of sight
..
..
I took some time at twenty-three to fall back and regroup
I’d...
#childhood
#death
#LifeCycle
#aging
#nostalgia
332 reads
2 Comments
DU Poetry : Submissions by Tallquietguy
