(Part 2)

The monsters find a way.

Those precious years that followed 

Were summer fields of fragrant flowers 

Where dreams, thought long forgotten

Had returned to fill the hours 

We had a princess of our own

Kept the witch & the goblins at bay 

For, if they knew we had an heir

They would, surely, take her away!

But, somehow, they found her Mother 

Cr...

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(Part 1)

I remember you saying

Back when we were young

That sometimes you felt

Like a song left unsung

That reality was fake:

Our dreams held the key

And there lay the truth

Of how life should be

You were the princess

And I, the dashing knight

who saved you from the monsters 

And a pit of endless plight

Down to the woods I'd go:

A ...

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Happy new year to write out loud!

A poetry site standing tall & proud

So much versatility & lovely folk

I can assure you all, this site is no joke!

So, all the best for the year ahead 

And we toast to those in their heavenly bed 🥂

Let's hope next year your wishes come true

And peace, love & hope is the light that comes through.

All the best 

Stephen x

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The sky shed tears, on that day

The day the wind took you away

The thunder of time, rumbled on

Playing a melancholic song

The lightning splitting my heart in two

A piece for me, 

                           a piece for you

One day we'll stitch it back together 

And then, my love, 

                                 we have forever 

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There was such a tenderness 

In the beating of her heart

But, such a terrible wailing 

To go unheard 

Her hand lay open & empty 

Her eyes

Mostly closed

A smile could occasionally flicker

Like the flame of a candle 

Dancing before it becomes smoke.

On that last night 

When the rain poured

And the moon hid

Her hand slowly closed

Her cheeks dimpled with ...

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She had gemstones 

masquerading as eyes

And tears of diamonds 

upon her porcelain face

Her ruby lips whispered 

pearls of infinite possibilities 

      And there stood I:

Cubic zirconia, nickel, and clay

But somehow 

she made me her equal.

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I wish upon 

A Shooting Star 

Then, turn around

And there you are

Wrapped up in shimmering 

Cloaks of moonlight 

Your starlit smile

A celestial delight

And in my arms 

I feel you there

The warmth of you 

Through cold night air

Your lingering scent

Warms my heart

So cold, since yours

Refused to start

I want this moment

For ever more

But soon it ...

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On Prebends bridge I caught the evolution of twilight into dawn.

Watched shifting hues of shadow and light brightening into colour.

And, for a moment, I thought I saw her 

looking up through the morning mist.

Her pallid, frail frame accentuated by the glistening blue ocean of her eyes. 

But, she faded. Like the mist itself

And all that I was left with, once again, 

was the sh...

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I watched the ship break

under the biblical rage of the sea

The mast creaking into splinters

The greedy waves taking bites of bow & stern 

I listened 

as the wind, howling like a wolf,

carried the wailing away 

under a sky of trauma 

But then, 

her hand broke through a swell

Alabaster against grey

I cried out

Tried to crawl

but too soon 

I would be ca...

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She plucked a sunbeam

one fine day

And fashioned it 

in such a way

A lighthouse man

came to say

He thought it would 

keep ships away

He took it with him

in a jar 

And there it shone

bright as a star

And all the ships 

from near and far

Flashed masthead lights

just to say Ta!

And it shone so bright

through storms & rain

A shield a...

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I hope you'll love what's left of me

After life has had its fill

I hope you'll see in those old eyes

There's love & laughter still

I hope my skin of brittle parchment 

Can be traced by loving fingers 

I hope this weary sheet of braille 

Shows an epilogue still lingers 

I hope our hands still intertwine 

Like stars cling to the sky

I hope we waltz through amb...

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Love doesn't care what you look like

It can flutter your belly with a conversation 

Make sunshine from a smile

Or, find your forever in a passing glance

Letting your heart get all funky

And your soul do a soulful dance

💗🕺💃

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The woody petrichor

tingles my nose

as she brings me coffee

under the dimming lights

of a pergola

The rain has calmed the air

And the dawn starts to crack the clouds

with shards of yawning sunlight

She smiles

Her eyes twinkle like morning dew

I watch her saunter away

 And take a hot, comforting sip

of coffee 

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I sat on our favourite 

park bench

Holding the echo

of your hand

Catching your smile

in glimmers of sunlight 

The cherry blossom tree

crying delicate tears

of soft petals

brushing my skin

with gentle kisses

I closed my eyes

and saw you shaking that tree

Blowing all those little kisses

over to me

Your smile like the sunrise 

Your eyes of sapphire blue

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After you were gone

My heart fell apart

A jigsaw without structure 

A mess of lonely parts

I think you took me with you

My breath, my life, my soul 

For all that remained 

Was this deep & vacant hole

One day I fell into its depths 

Without thought of return

Crumbling to a waste of ash

In my own neglected urn

But, I awoke blinking 

At the sun's ...

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I asked God, what is my purpose?

There was nothing, but the stillness of time

I asked Allah, what is my purpose? 

There was nothing, but the stillness of time

I asked the Buddha, what is my purpose?

There was nothing, but the stillness of time

I asked my daughter,  what is my purpose?

She said, with a wrinkled brow 

To be my Dad, of course 

To have met & married my Mam

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As we stroll,

the dusky pink of a morning sunrise 

turns the fields to candy floss. 

We get sticky and wet 

from the sweetest dew.

I stifle a yawn, 

and the softness and scent 

of moisturised skin 

briefly brushes the redness

of my sun-flushed cheek.

She smiles,

all dimples & eyes of blue serenity.

And, for a moment,

there is no world but us.

Later, w...

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I wonder if you

Ever got to hold

the starlight in your eyes

In the palm of your hand 

When you left

I wonder if you

Spin candy floss

from passing clouds

And siphon cider

from the sun

I wonder if you 

Weave blankets from dusk

And yawn 

the colours of dawn

I wonder if you 

Shower in rainbows

And shake the colours 

upon waking flowers

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Do not weep
My lonely love
I'll find ye
in the heather
Within the garden
of our souls
Where we
shall join together 

Like days of old
My lonely love
We'll bathe  
in amber light
And be preserved
My lonely love 
'Til time
bids us goodnight

Painting by Aaron Geraud

https://youtu.be/UrsNxVsu1ao

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We 
       fell
             together that night
Under golden shards of starlight
Skin glistening with sweat & tears
A caress to hide our deepest fears
We trickled down like teardrops
Made mercury under a brightening moon
Lips Softly touching 
Hearts merging
The anticipation 
of the life we could have 
        If not for life itself
There was one last look
Through glistening pools of...

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On a cold winter's night

They sat, hand in hand

Ravaged by time

Old in design

Two dinosaurs

In a digital age

Still in analogue love

Upon a wireless hub

Sitting on a park bench

Beneath a full moon

At the end of their time

Bodies poised to resign 

As frost gathers around

They glisten as one

Hands intertwined

Old parchment defined

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If ever I fall will you catch me

And sing me a sweet lullaby?

To stitch up my heart when it's broken

For I've never been good at goodbyes

Would you weave me a story of wonder

To light up my mind when it's cold?

And chase all the darkness & thunder

From the emptiness of my soul?

If ever I fall

Would you pick me up in your arms

And take me back ...

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Will this new year

be a new year?

Or, the same as the old?

I guess, patience is an essence of time

As we wait for what unfolds

So, goodbye to covid 

Goodbye to crime

Goodbye to war

Make peace in our time

Goodbye to jealousy

Goodbye to rage

Let love be the sunlight

And, Earth, be its stage

Goodbye dictators 

Goodbye to greed

We're under on...

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In the bed, she lay

So tired & so frail

Like the room itself

So colourless & pale

At least, through the window

She could see the snowflakes dance

Falling in a serenade

To a winter's night romance

Her bed sores burned like hell

In this purgatory of self

A forgotten thing called living

Lay dormant on its shelf

But the snow fell so dreamlike

...

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Why can't we find a place

Where no rats are in the race

Where only idle things prevail

Where, together, we could sail

Upstream from all the madness

So far from all the sadness 

Serenely would it lead

To a place where we are freed

To be as naked as at birth

Just us and Mother Earth

There, we'll dig ourselves a hole

And bury deep our sou...

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She had moonlight in her eyes

Starlight in her hair

Her smile became the sunrise

That burned away despair

She took me to the clouds

Weaved rainbows from the grey

And showed me all the colours

That life had on display

And under starry skies

Where galaxies unfold dreams

We ran into the cosmos

To find its hidden seams 

But I lost you to the star...

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In the morning I held you so tightly

As the dawn light drizzled our bed

Wondering if your dreams fluttered lightly

From the kaleidoscope in your head

Did the rays of the sun come and catch them?

And filter a rainbow of dreams

Then gently release & dispatch them

Into shimmering rivers and streams

Did the water taste like sweet nectar?

To the ones who drank ...

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I think it's the third twinkle down

(Alioth)

In the constellation of Ursa Major

Where she sits

All sparkly with stardust

And cheesy-gobbed from moon food

Gran said that God had came and 

plucked her right off the earth

A car was an odd choice of plucking

But, that's what he chose

With all her beautiful smiley curls of gold

And shimmery eyes of sapphires

I t...

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Do we do nothing

But stare at the sky?

Do we do nothing

But avert our eyes?

Do we do nothing

But stifle our cries?

Do we do nothing

But conform to lies?

Or, could we become

All we can be?

And settle the wake 

Of this turbulent sea?

And rise above waves

And rise above fear

And shout at the sun:

"Look! we are here!"

A...

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I passed by a window

Where an old man smiled 

and misted up the dirty pane

Behind his eyes the sadness showed 

of every steep & rocky road

He'd had to climb

Next day I thought I'd call on him

And out he came

So pale and thin

-but with that smile

And graceful guile 

He said

Son, 

in my mind, 

I'm as free as a summer breeze

A...

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(re-edit)

I came upon a man, unsettled

Wandering a barren land

He'd lost his hope and joy somewhere

So, I took his trembling hand

I told him I had lost my heart

And my soul had flown away

But, together, perhaps, we could find

A better place to stray

We came across a weeping girl

With skin of obsidian black

Her flesh was torn and gaping red

Where the wh...

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Granda's slouched 

In his fave comfy chair

A Christmas cracker party hat

Hides his four strands of hair

His wife always said:

'Get the buggers cut!'

But he wasn't quite ready

To be a total baldy nut! 

He wishes she was here now

Nagging at full pelt:

'If ye eat or drink one more thing,

yer gonna burst your belt!'

And Sophie's eyes sparkle

L...

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On a cold winter's night

They sat, hand in hand

Ravaged by time

Old in design

Two dinosaurs

In a digital age

Still in analogue love

Upon a wireless hub

Sitting on a park bench

Beneath a full moon

At the end of their time

Bodies poised to resign 

In a gathering frost 

They glisten as one

Hands intertwined

Old parchment defined

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One day I looked 

inside my head

And there I found

words left unsaid:

Make haste
No time
Forbid
Hate love
Always shout
Never listen

So, I put haste in the waste
Told No to go!
Put a lid on bid
Locked hate in a crate 
Gave shout a clout (until it ran out)
And
Got rid of never, forever

I'd like to think
That what remained
In all of us 
Is preordained:

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I

and I alone

upon my bed of cobbled stone

Ponder

   As my flesh weeps into gravel sheets

I ponder what it must be like

to be whole again

   To feel I had a soul again

This dessicated shell

crumbles like mountain scree

down, down to the hungry, black sea

lapping and licking at the feet of my bed

dragging out, with the tide, 

such meagre light from my hea...

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Your hand unfurled

Revealing stars 

You'd captured while out dreaming 

They drifted skyward:

Little wisps of hope

Reaching out like ethereal streaming

I breathed them in 

As dawn brightened 

The stirring sea

And downloaded all the wonders

Of what you and I

Could, one day, grow to be.

NB.

(Ethereal Streaming is not available via Netflix)

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The fading embers of her mind

Drift away to a long-ago time
To shrouded visions of some young girl
A time of wonder, a world to unfurl

Through fields she would dance humming a tune
Losing herself amidst the sweet scent of bloom
A fragrant-filled-feast for her lungs to consume
Within the wonderful freedom of nature's playroom

And as the shimmering Sun went down
She would dance throug...

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She'd been told with much conviction

How the window was a shield.

For outside there lurked a wicked thief

And her breath this thief would steal

But, her family stood beyond the pane 

A daughter, granddaughter & son 

Who'd send out smiles like rays of light

And through the glass they'd come

She blows them kisses, and shakes her fist

In case this thief's about

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