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The Way the World Ends

This is the way the world ends.
Not with a bang, but with a whimper.
Do not fear the light of the dying star for it will yield no pain.
It is mortal, it is ended.
Fading out like the dimming of the candle, then extinguished, forever.
No light shall ever again grace these barren lands
As dust forever billows across its scarred surface
And drinks its voluptuous seas.
Like a standing ovation,
...

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EarthUniverseEndDeathPoetryProse

Battle of One

To the death, we say,
Breath licked with flame, spits to my face;
His face.
Racing temples pump furious blood
Through ferrous veins,
Manes rise, eyes blister with relentless rage;
Eventless.
Then, clenched fists draw clotted blood
Through plum knuckles.
My neck buckles,
His neck,
Cracking bone like tinder,
The interweave of puffed ribs and scarlet skin
Glisten with fetid sweat;
I rea...

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depressiondemonsmental healthbattleturmoilpoempoetry

The Moth

The moth, she knows the flame will burn
But back again, again she comes,
Her velvet collisions dress the air,
Sparkling against these tempting embers
Where she throws herself over and over
Upon the most flickering of fascinations,
Such senseless self-immolation 
Strips her to a carapace, 
Leaving her scorched, naked, undressed, undone, 
Beneath the tragic unravelling of her world.

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Mothpunishmentaddictionlovedeathnaturepoempoetry

Should We Walk By?

Should we walk by the waters edge
Or swim against the flow,
Where men in oceans, stained with red
Live shortened lives below?

Should we walk by the waters edge
Or break against the waves,
Where women flounder where they fled
In watery graves?

Should we walk by the waters edge
Or thrash against the tide,
Where children drown in sunken beds
Whose parents made them lie?

Should we wa...

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PoempoetryRefugeesSyriaTerrorismWar

No Matter Where

No matter where your hatred stems
Or where you spread your lies,
Beneath your feet the earth condemns
These lands you terrorise.

No matter where your hideouts hide
Or where your burrows bore,
Pointless is your suicide;
Baseless is your law.

No matter where your masses chant
Or where your fighters flock,
Immaterial is your rant -
Unnoticed is your shock.

No matter where you instil...

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BelgiumBrusselsDeathHatePoemPoetryTerrorism

Liberté

Thy pen; no mighty sword here preach
Where words, metallic, fall.
On blood-ink lines; stained city streets -
Oh time, thou horrors crawl.
Wrought freedom flits, it waxes, ebbs,
Whence censored bullets rain,
But fallow not among the dead
Doth liberty remain.
 

Copyright © Simon Austin 2015

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Charlie HebdoJe Suis CharlieParisPoemPoetryTerrorism

When All The Laughter Stops

When all the laughter stops, when it abides,
And all the tears of joy begin to dry,
When all the world looks up from aching sides,
And all the breathlessness allows a sigh.

A light, so brightly shining starts to wane,
But hidden out of sight, battles in vain.

When all the smiles are full, when they recede,
And straighten out into a furrowed frown,
When all the life in vibrancy concedes...

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CelebritydeathDepressionLossPoemPoetryRobin WilliamsSuicideTragedy

Four Floors

Her face was peppered with white powder,
The prouder part of her slender frame
Lay still, a weary head on a pillow
By an open window four floors away.
Eyes of glass catch hazed reflections
From the direction of London lamps
Lighting themselves one by one,
But she does not smile at their amber gleam
Whilst the seams of her soul come undone.

Vague melt solidifies natures crime scene.
Unh...

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deathlondonpoempoetrysnowsuicide

In Infamy

Yesterday, a day which now, will live amongst us for all time,
For history has changed its path
And we must fall in line.
For we at peace, with guarded arms, we chose to watch this from afar,
But we, deliberately attacked,
Must no more stand apart.

An Emperor, through wicked lies, convinced us of continued peace,
But sickening deceit was this,
As they slipped underneath.
For yesterday ...

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pearl harbourpearl harborwaramericapoempoetry

Kennedy

Around the shadowed corner, wicked lies,
Through telescopic lens and focussed eyes.
The autumn trees encapsulate the path
And crunch beneath the wheels they idolise.

The building crowds descend before the knoll
To catch a glimpse of this passing idol.
He, showered from all sides with the applause
And peppered from above by seasons fall.

Idyllic is this scene to which he greets,
As smi...

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americaassassinationJohn F kennedymurderonassispoempoetry

September Sisters

Twin sisters, both alike in majesty,
In New Manhattan, where we set this scene,
From arid lands flocks an old enemy,
To scorch the earth of this, a western dream.

From fateful skies the fatal flights descend,
But none the wiser to their pending fate,
The man and child, to happy affairs tend,
Their future sealed beneath a veil of hate.

Through vacant city clouds, their path...

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9/11americadeathpoempoetryseptember 11terrorism

She, Mourning

She pressed her hand against the marble, felt its words,
Ran her weathered finger through the crafted names.
Many faces that had long since adventured,
Left for others lingering to bear the pain.

The autumn sun caressed its face and warmed the stone,
She drew it through her skin and let it stay a while.
Her silver head was bowed, her company her own,
To spend a few more moments...

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deathlossLovemothermourningpoempoetrysoldier

Oh Darkness, Sweet Darkness

With my acuminous arm
I saved her wretched soul, like the others,
I drew the blood through clotted veins
And lay her down upon the blackness.

I cleaved the meats from her ivory.
He knelt with me and watched her filth, her poison
Pour through the cobbled streets
Into welcoming drains.

Plucked from the cadaver,
Her vessels of virility are no more;
The erroneous allocatio...

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poetrypoemkillerDeathDarknessMurderLondonRipper

Mortality

I see him at my window tonight.
The moon, full and bright
Casts his dark shadow onto an icy wall.
A familiar silhouette, unmistakable,
Pressed against the pane.
The cold melts his breath into feathery diamonds
Running in thin veins down the thick glass.
His face, hidden and veiled in black
Glances my way and nods;
I nod back
Acceptingly. Suddenly,
The glass no longer divid...

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poempassingfearlostlosshumanitymortalityDeathpoetryreaper

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