For this week’s prompt, write a forever poem. The poem could be about things that last forever, take forever, or play on the concept that nothing lasts forever. So many possibilities exist that I’m sure some poets could write on this prompt forever. However, I promise a new prompt next Wednesday.
Here’s my attempt at a forever poem:
“Postage”
I’m still paying the 2007 rates
on stamps. The packaging says
Forever, because they can be
used on simple envelopes as long
as the postal service operates.
The prices just went up one cent
this week, and I think what a great
investment–these stamps, these
beautiful stamps that I never send.
*****
Follow me on Twitter @robertleebrewer
*****
Check out previous prompts here:
- Write a fragile poem.
- Write a measured poem.
- Write a poem titled with the phrase “If I Were (blank),” in which you replace the blank.
*****
Only 2 days left…
…and only 7 kits. Time and supplies are running out, so this deal really won’t last forever. Click here to learn more about the Getting Started in Writing premium collection.
ghost print
by juanita lewison-snyder
long after
this body has sprouted mushrooms and truffles
in a woodsy area on some long forgotten hill,
that painting i loved so much –
the one in the blue-green oils
and crackles of swirling white sky,
will have suddenly appeared
in a far corner stitch of haunted canvas,
my ghost print
— along with a dozen others
proof of our existence beyond
this mahogany stained frame,
adoration, measured
forever immortalized
in a museum or private collection
hundreds of years from now.
© 2013 by Juanita Lewison-Snyder
YOUR LOVE
Eternally…will it really last?
At night I cry myself to sleep
And wonder is it real, an illusion, or is it true?
My tears illuminate like the morning dew.
Nothing matures, nothing comes around
The world is in a turmoil, silent, where is the sound?
It’s become a mere habit as I also shed a tear today
Though I bridle my tongue I yearn for you to stay.
Each ounce of freedom is locked into a morsel of potential
Webbed by a blanket of entanglement
Censored by hugs and kisses
Christened by a pillow of comfort.
LaSteph
Life Cycle: Ad Infinitum
One well-timed glance, I would have caught the act
while sitting in my second story aerie,
enjoying homemade muffins, culinary
dreaming. Instead of viewing the attack,
I woke from tasty musing slowly: hawk
atop—what’s that? Bright green head. Mallard prey?
So why do others of the species stay
near him on shore, paddling in place? Get back,
fools—your time’s coming! But I’m guessing three
apt grounds for ducks to court more jeopardy.
They mourn. Perhaps their group has total recall
of, say, ten seconds, so the real, sensed peril
that was felt, now isn’t. Or Bird Who Eats
is full. Me? Just not hungry after all.
SHADOW OF THE RAVEN ~
“fear not for the future
weep not for the past”
the only advice my mother ever gave me…..
if she had known what i would do in the future
she would surely have wept
as young as four
i radiated a charisma
heralded as divine
i followed my intuition
never seeking permission
i prayed with wolves
to grant faith and understanding to humanity
i consulted with ravens
about omens and mysteries
i felt no need to conceal my actions
my father dismissed my beliefs as fantasy
my mother pretended nothing was amiss
some were certain it was deception or at least delusion
there were those who whispered it was daemonic
others worshipped me as though i were a god
indifferent to them all
i immersed myself in the arcana of the universe
until i understood my purpose
i bade the ravens fly around the world
to gather every shadow, high and low
having no choice but to accede to my destiny
i swallowed the shadows brought to me
including those belonging to the ravens
until the darkness disappeared
and me with it
leaving the earth in light forevermore
Forever
The illusion of forever, gives the insight of the never ever.
But, trying to figure out where life ends is impossible when it bends in.
Like a roll of toilet paper, box cars, or skyscrapers.
Or, housing projects that line a nation, and railroad tracks with many stations.
What ever the inclination, I am bored with this contemplation.
It is with faith that I believe, that there is such thing as infinity or an eternity.
I watch the endless horizon looking for enough time to spend, finding my
beginning and end.
I am the planet that spins. A globe of curves at all ends.
I circulate and ovulate. My calendar is a twelve month rotating trend.
I will always be a dizzy swirl with the sun and moon fighting for the girl.
I will go on forever like my oceans, and stars in heaven.
I can’t stand the thought of being alone, forever lost in a black hole,
full of a desolate never ever.
I DON’T GET NO, LIKE, SATISFACTION
“Like is, like, lazy,
“like” is, like, dumb;
“like” drives me crazy
and makes my mind numb.
“Like” is annoying
when used all the time;
it sounds so, like, cloying
and drives one to crime.
“Like” can stop speech
stone dead in its tracks;
it opens a breach
that begs for an axe.
“Like” can be stopped
with this rule of thumb:
its use can be lopped
with an “er” or an “um,”
but these days, it seems,
some like to be clever
and use “likes” in streams
that last, like, forever.
From Millies to Maisies,
from Sparkies to Spikes,
I don’t like the lazies
who like all their “likes.”
Forever
Forever
A moment frozen, cerebration, forever?
A feeling, a realing, a healing, forever ?
Distance, resistance, existence, forever?
A heartbeat that’s inside the heartbeat, –forever?
Everything is changing- so what is forever?
Changing and changing, that is forever—-
PriyA Jane
Late to the party, but better late than never, no?
SONNET FROM A GRAVEROBBER
Digging in the mud this cold day long
Hoping to find some long forgotten lore
I come upon the fragile bones line songs
Struck by the beauty, try not to think “score!”
The same sun shines on me that shone on them
Though we’re both a bit older than these youths
They hold each others hands, bones mixed like gems
Love their eternity, cold cash my truth
It’s a shame to disturb their hallowed grave
But cash keeps the heart beating more than love
I’ll document the site, their embrace save
And some museum will preserve them, sort-of
But when the dark falls and the money’s spent
There still lies eternity’s sentiment
~:D
I have found myself at a crossroads,
sandwiched between folds of cloth
and yards of flesh.
Do I gently tug or do I begin to disappear?
A silly thing, flesh.
They say it is the greatest organ,
and when pressed so rightly,
when stroked so tightly,
it does sound a homily,
glancing the narthex and singing its praises
to God.
God.
God what I want to do to you
under the yards of flesh.
I want to practice ingenuity.
I want to stitch and sew myself to you.
I want to become that which is filling this void
between us just so that I may inch that much closer.
And closer still.
I can feel your breath on my breath.
I can see your eyes in my eyes.
This distance is driving me mad.
SPEAK ALREADY!
I am ready to listen.
I am ready to listen with my calloused fingers,
which stand crossed at the lower of your back,
and wishing, God, wishing there were some way
I could feel more of you at once!
Can we just get on with it?
I stand/ sit/ puddle, suspended
from your fingertips,
waiting and wishing for this time to end
so we can finally
see what it means to fall.
I am melted and you are the artist.
This space between us stretches and pulls
at my muscles, moulding me and sculpting me.
This one moment,
this one time where we become joined
cannot take but a moment.
But, you, in this halcyon dream,
forget time.
And because we are sewn together,
I forget time too.
Forever
He promised
to love me and only me
forever…
he lied.
He never said
he’d still be boffing
his secretary
on the side.
Forever (Double Acrostic)
For my love is great, I will shelter you with a rooF
Of stars over your head and the crescendO
Rising through our lives will run like a riveR
Emptying into a basin for the next adventurE
Verily singing our story with a changing improV
Exchanging hopes, dreams and ideas, yes my lovE
Remains true, strong and for you, always singulaR.
Busses take forever to arrive
and longer to get you to where you are going
Taxis never satisfy at
achieving linear harmony for their passengers
Jets are too much trouble
unless you are a business traveller
with nothing really important in that briefcase
Walking is the only sure way
to travel with your feet on the ground.
`NUFF SAID
“I say,”
Confucius said,
“Mankind’s evil will end
on the day after forever
plus one.”
Auto Pilot
When “I do” was zapped of color
under the glass of time and the glare
of fiery moments, the quicksand
of broken bank, dreams
and faith buried love.
Good times were snapshots
framed by a rearview mirror
in our aging vehicle. We went
forward for the most part
facing opposite sides of the road.
Smudged windows were always
rolled up. O the dry and bent
vegetation, stripped of gala
their gowns!
I don’t remember the time,
because I lost the only working
watch I had, but fatigue
had tangled my hair, beliefs,
and wishes way too long.
I turned to look at the profile
of the brown and silver bearded
man whom when I first sensed
a strange stirring, desperately
searched for a restaurant
he passed many times
because we were starved
and on a first date.
Somewhere in our important
papers file there was a big envelope
containing the day forever began,
though the dna of marriage
was in our will. I asked my
tired husband: “are you hungry?”
“Yes.”
He made a U-turn
and headed home.
*stripped of gala gowns*
Forever
F ather, forever is a long time and worth whatever preparation it takes.
O pen my eyes to what I need to be doing here on earth.
R emind me that this life is temporary and that heaven is my real home.
E ternal life is mind boggling to think about. And very exciting. The
V ariety of things you can do if you live eternally is awesome to contemplate. And
E verlasting love, joy, peace, all things good. No sickness or death. No worries about
R ight and wrong and guilt. Help me acclimate to heaven now by loving You and others.
Forever Young
Looking into he light
where he once lay
he used to be her braken dawn
he used to be her day
Scented flowers that lay by her side
tears that fell to far
touching every part of where
used to fall his arm
Spoken words that once filled
a fun filled room
now that nothing was there
only a slight scent of perfume
Holding the past in her arms
holding him close
knowing who she was then
would never be close
looking at his picture
deep in the granite stone
words scripted in time
this man she once held
never ever crossed the line
Wind blowing slightly
moving memories away
he came to catch her hand
as he light filtered out the day
As her families salty tears
filled the room that was once filled with fun
she had now gone with him
to the run the pathways of the sky
where they would dance and feel the love
that was once in each others eyes.
Forever Cake
Take cake, just as an example.
Forever is a long time. Do you
really want to eat cake
that long?
Seemed wrong to me, to just eat that
and nothing else, that forever –
but she thought it was quite
okay,
To forever after never
eat more than cake. Heaven’s sake, said
I, no fruit, no veg, not
a wedge
Of bread, no pasta, no meat, just
sweets forever after? She roared
with laughter: carrot cake,
fruitcake,
Pineapple upside down cake, bread
and butter pud, minced meat pies
and creamy layer cakes.
And then
Her eyes glazed quite dreamy as she
breathed, Cheese cake and butter cake, and
she ate cake, and only cake,
forever.
Forever hangs in the air
Like musty, rotting leaves
It laughs at our mortality
the dying and damaged
Yet the joke is on her
Perpetual motion does exist
It is love
and love is forever
Beautiful!
Love this! The other as well. Very refreshing.
Two women smoking beside a wall
escaping a January thaw
Hair blowing sideways
as hoods hide cigarettes
They laugh at the realization
forever doesn’t include them
I like this.
Forever Is…
Forever is
the time it takes
The doe to draw
her last breath
after being struck
By the bullet
fired from
The hunter’s rifle
After he sights her
through his scope,
Lines up the crosshairs
Squeezes the trigger
very quickly as his
breath escapes
a beat too fast
And he hits her high
- in the throat
Instead of
in the heart
As planned…
Happily Ever After . . .
They lived happily ever after
the divorce. Battling
it out non-stop, incessant
advice from law and in-laws
increased bitterness
between them, as lawyers
sat opposite each other playing
monopoly with their lives.
Each vowed never to marry
again, but never can be shorter
than you think.
Walt and Marie, I’m stuck on Mementos! Better than chocolate, I guess.
The Beast Within
“That kind of pain feels like forever.” Mary Craver
Deep suffering helps us to know
pain has its own body
fierce beast
its claws and gnaws relentless, slow
its power sharp, godly
fear’s feast
Sometimes when it sleeps, we are free
to tiptoe through our mind
light breath
and whisper through our teeth that we
have hope to leave behind
grim death
Eternity
Eternity was set in me
by hands that I have never seen,
but they bear the mark of me
just the same.
What hope have we
when even the world won’t last?
This sold rock beneath our feet,
thankfully,
will be here after we’re gone,
but eventually,
even this firmament will shatter and shake,
and fall ineloquently into the steeping inferno.
But a whisper,
a pure, breathless whisper,
can drift in and out,
and in and out,
until the whisper becomes a conversation,
and the conversation becomes a
shout,
and the shout becomes a revolution,
spinning around and around and around
in perpetuity.
This earth, this sold ground beneath us,
won’t spin that long.
But, the voice that is created
will multiply and scream,
wailing at a thousand miles per hour
to the nearest ear.
Then, and only then, will we be like gods,
distant and disconnected to the myths that built us.
Forever
Today was the day that I did not need.
I had to go in for that dirty deed.
All women need it at a certain age.
I knew it was bad, but questioned which stage.
I wanted to know how much time I had.
There were things I still wanted to do with my kids and their dad.
In the coming weeks we did what we could.
We had a great time, better than we thought we would.
The time came when I had to go.
We told the kids, they had to know.
They knew that they could feel me wherever.
It was just my body that wouldn’t last forever.
Universal Law
Stars expand, release energies
Into voids, creating new potential
For greater stars than themselves,
Never moving beyond their orbits
Of the Universe’s center and its well
Of gravity strewn satellites.
For all of time that man relates,
The Universe has moved out,
Away from itself, leaving behind
Peeks at its working, its beginnings,
And its wonders to behold;
Defining for us eternity.
School Spirit Night
Thirty short minutes
Chick-fil-A
feels like forever
So true.
This poem won’t stink forever
(chant)
I tried to plant a poetic seed
and although I feel I did not succeed…
This poem won’t stink forever.
I’ll try and tweak it here and there.
Please do not fret, do not despair…
This poem won’t stink forever.
And although, I confess, I don’t have a clue
what to add or change, I promise you…
This poem won’t stink forever.
These words of mine that you now endure
will be revised, so rest assured…
This poem won’t stink forever.
Very nice.
TIME
Tick-tock goes the clock
Continually measuring me nonstop
From a second to a minute to an hour,
I am being multiplied to an infinite power
Amassing many years, months, and weeks
And just when you think I’m done, my cycle repeats
Tick-tock goes the clock….
Forever.
Don’t say forever to me;
make no promise you cannot keep.
Forever exists in the mind but not the heart,
for hearts are fickle and false.
Forever is only for stars and space
and things we do not understand.
Forever is the time
I have waited for love.
Forever passed by me laughing
knowing it rhymes with never.
Don’t Blow Out the Candles
Forever’s exactly how long
you want the cake to last.
Icing
on the cake is not your swan song.
Stop looking to the past.
Spicing
things up with a dash vanilla,
nutmeg or ginger can
convince
you you’re The Most Happy Fella
or maybe Peter Pan,
long since.
###
Thank you, for the prompt and sharing of your poem, Robert.
My angle: “We each determine what our forever and ever will look like.”
http://wordrustling.wordpress.com/2013/01/30/choices-we-make/
Smiles to all!
DREAM DOGS
Last night, again, I dreamed of old dogs
long-gone. Which dogs?
Where are they, to come back without notice,
to find me in a dream?
From over the mythic Rainbow Bridge?
As if they couldn’t wait for me
to die, to find them on the other side.
It’s still dark, I’m somewhere between
dream and waking – wondering if those old
dead dogs have found Forever –
when I’m knocked full awake by full-live
Loki shoving her nose
in my face, demanding I get up and walk
outside. By faint daylight
she leads me to the great buckeye. What
is this she shows me?
a den among boulders – fox?
And in the barnyard, look! a newborn
lamb. But nothing in this life’s forever.
Loki looks me in the eye
and rushes out of sight. Is she running
with those old dead dogs?
Back and forth across the creek, water
so fluid between worlds.
Gone Forever?
He is gone forever!
My grandmother wailed
Inconsolably sobbing with
Grief dripping
wall shaking might
I felt so badly for her
because he came to
tuck me, tickle me
and whisper a quick
joke just like always
right there, plain as day
every night
Bygone Days
time slips away
memories fade
a face, a smile
a touch once remembered
forever gone,
like time
that slips away
Sea Talk
He held me in his arms
Jumped the waves
As my feet locked
under his ribs
my face in the crook
of his neck
and in the bright
sun brillliant day
asked with three
year old coquetishness
If he would love me
forever
“Yes” he smiled
he would
but I would
find another
to hold me in
the sunshine
I said I wouldn’t
But of course
I did…
Four – Ever
she was only four
when she was found
her sundressed body
in the wooded ground
forever the cat
slits eyes in emerald wisdom
knowing nothing is
winter moon captive
between Zenith and Nadir -
forever love dream.
lovely!
Forever Shrinking
Forever was a long ribboned road
stretching toward a hairline horizon
that quite suddenly looms large
a long ribboned road… I can picture that!
Beautiful imagery!
School bus starting
Today they have big mirrors
to see little children
like Sean who dropped
his lunch box and bent
to pick it up
as the bus rolled
over him leaving
only his new sneakers
for kindergarten
peeking brightly
from the rear wheel
forever
Almost Forever
Science spoils poetry, you say,
stars sequinning the night.
Romance
forever frightens facts away—
stars die and lose their light
bright glance.
Lie back and watch the heavens sift
stars, gaze into the face
above.
Eons reflected feel like gift,
already gone, no trace,
but love.
Oooooh “the heavens sift” …
So deep! So beautiful!
“Eons reflected feel like gift” – I love that!
It makes me want to write a poem about your poem!
oooh, thanks. Go for it, addi. Thanks, Pearl.
Four Ever?
Will there ever be
the couple that we can see
the other two that will complete without fuss
the two-some that is always us
At the edge
He lied on a field
of snow white
sheets for a
week in summer
That hot swirling
summer
He lifted eyes
in morphined slumber
to symphonies playing
in my childhood memory
in perfect syncopation
Time spun backward
until he was raven
haired, muscles rippling
smelling of turpentine
and clean sweat
lifting me against
his pounding heart
to look at fresh oils
on canvas
And in that paletted summer-time
I sung “one of these days
you’re gonna wake up …”
as he stood
in our shared minds eye
and as my voice drifted
silent – I knew that he was
standing on the edge
on the crest of the Universe
just blocking my view
of forever
before he stepped
For-ever!
My printer was only 6 months old—still
under the warranty. I had changed
the ink cartridges, and it kept
giving me this weird error
message—ink system failure.
So…
I re-installed them, several times.
I made sure the print-heads
were clean. I rebooted the
printer. I re-booted the computer.
It wouldn’t let me run a diagnostic—all
of which took for-ever, because
I was in a hurry.
So…
I called the printer help desk,
and got put on hold for-ever—and
each time the muzak repeated
the same 36 measures of
whatever it was, for-ever got longer.
So…
when the tech finally answered,
we couldn’t understand each
other, because while she might
have indignantly claimed that
English was her native tongue,
she sure had me fooled. And, each time
she had me try something else
(which I had already tried and it hadn’t worked)
she had to put me on hold again,
which lasted for-ever-er.
So…
after just under 2 hours of this torture,
she finally got her supervisor on the line.
He had me try 3 more things (which I had
tried already—you see where this is going?)
After which he was ready to pronounce
that the printer was defective.
Gee.
So…
we made arrangements for him to send
me a factory re-furbished printer,
to be covered by the balance of the
warranty. And it arrived 10 days later.
But after having already been to
forever and back,
it felt like special delivery.
Ellen Knight 1.30.13
hahah Ellen – this is just delightful and I suspect authentic!
Treat me as your oroborus.
Devour me tail over head.
Taste me and destroy me.
Wrap me in your cocoon,
driving me through and out your nostrils,
digesting me from the outside.
And keep destroying me,
and keep destroying me,
and keep driving me further and further
into your sevenfold stomach.
Where shall I go, then, knowing that
my head is your head, that
my tail is your tail,
that we share the same beating heart
and thinking mind?
The problem comes when there is nothing left.
This infinity problem becomes more than just a problem
and becomes more real than the sun,
transforming us both into
eclipses.
How does it taste, knowing that every bite you take
takes you that much closer to your head?
I guess we shall dance and see.
You and I,
adrift in this endless loop,
wrapped around a figure eight
and falling deeply into the vast
center of the universe,
shall one day
part ways,
both half-eaten and raw,
and find that this dreadful repeat
has an end.
And then, when you remove me from your mouth,
shall we once again discover peace?
Alright then … haven’t read too many today… but have read many on many days…. This my dear poet is a definite, an absolute, a certifiable WOW! Divine, classic powerful poetry. BRAVO!
RUN TO THIS POETS SITE AND FOLLOW! …. I just did and cannot believe that you have just put up your blog. I call PL of the future if you continue here and if this poem is any indication of all that is to come … Welcome!
Oh my – apologies this poem had me so over the moon that I misspoke – of course you’ve been up and around for a while – …. takes nothing away from my obviously unbridled enthusiasm!
I could see the center of the universe when reading your poem.
Thank you so much for your humbling words. We, as poets, know to what we are able to speak. Thank you.
“Until the twelfth of never”
he was my friend
one of the gang
tennis sweater
and Canoe cologne
he was my friend
one of the gang
until with trembling
fingers one night
he lingered and
from a crisp khaki
pocket pulled
from that humid
summer night
an ankle bracelet
with our initials
he was my friend!
one of the gang
“until the twelfth of never”
he had been humming
it for a week
his seventeen year old
version of forever
“Valentine Sonnet”
Until forever pauses, be my love
or ’til the stars decide to hide their light.
Our time and place may fit us like a glove
but should we trust the future’s fickle sight?
Oh, no, I’ll hold your hand in this place; Now!
Now is the only place to grab such glint;
such mischief that I see in your eye’s vow;
reflected in the sparkling smile you sent!
Old Time has saved some Loves that will not die
as Romeo to Juliet, his sun.
But relics in the light of day may lie;
become a tarnished gem ‘fore its begun.
Forever holds the brilliance of romance;
For Now, I’d rather expedite that glance.
Where have all the flowers gone?
woven crowns upon their heads
eyes sparkling in elysian fields
cotton gauze on boys and girls
where have all the flowers gone?
marching barefoot in the streets
passion pounding in sweet dreams
of peace, flags and banners
signs and such
where have all the flowers gone?
some live on in fragrant mist
within hearts calm beat mature
others flown on breezes past
some ground into concreted dust
memoried hallowed ground
bones of soldiers young then
now old reborn
where have all the flowers gone?
as the beat keeps marching on…
Haven’t read – but Walt – your song jumped off the page – so this one’s for you
Forever
Such lovely sentiment on the postage stamp,
no monetary value marked,
soon to be outdated, requiring
a run to the post office,
where I’ll nab the one cent-ers
left dangling
in the stamp machine.
Instead, each stamp bears that motto
“Forever”
right beneath William Carlos Williams
or Isadora Duncan.
Only by trial and error do I learn
the sad truth: how long
the letters take to reach the addressee
if I dare to use those stamps—
Forever!
Hahaha – Delightful Nancy – especially after my running melancholic rant prompted here !
Infinity
No name,
no identity
only a
spark of
energy, marking
a drop in the
universe—like
an eyelash.
Ellen Knight 1.30.13
although the image of ” a drop in the universe – like an eyelash” at first read does not seem to have an heft with which to fall … this line drew me back again and again and I do believe that the sense of an eyelash dropping into the Universe is a brilliantly visual and unique expression of infinity -
Agreed!
Forever
It’s how long it took me to find
You, truly see You. It’s the space
between who I am and who I hope
to be. It’s the me far from mirrors
and doubts and tearstained dreams.
It’s the shredded seams of scars
long healed, fear concealed. It’s
the beat between my tired heart
and heaven’s open smile. It’s the
mile I still need to walk in some
-one else’s dirty feet. It’s the win
and the lose and the breath held
in between. It’s this sapphire sky
and my constant why and every
dying leaf falling on an empty mum
-bling breeze. It’s my husband’s
faithful, laughing face; Your
astounding love, painted in grace.
.
“this sapphire sky
and my constant why”
just beautiful!
still loving the feet – in this case walking a mile “in someone else’s dirty feet” a poem filled with true grace.
Oh, my…breathless…this: It’s the
mile I still need to walk in some
-one else’s dirty feet. ” and ALL…
De, just beautiful and heart written.
Ditto x3. ^^
forever is now,
this January evening -
our “now” forever.
forever is now,
this January evening -
our “now” forever.
DEEP SKY
As I crest the hill
my flashlight scans the night sky,
another wan star
wanting to touch some far hill
where it might find anchorage.
I like the idea of scanning for anchorage.
winter moon captive
between Zenith and Nadir -
forever love dream.
Adriana Dascalu
MAN’S BEST FRIEND
(a shadorma)
Those sad eyes,
lost and forgotten,
begged for a
second chance.
How could he resist? She’d found
her forever home.
Ahhhh! Diana and Paula, there surely is nothing like a woman’s touch to brighten this place up. (And NO I did not call you Shirley!)
^_^
Awww Paula – her “forever home” I can see those sad eyes…
Forever I
In a moment of zazen
I contemplate the universe.
From myself, seated and silent,
my soul soars upward,
my mind’s eye sees me,
in my house,
in my neighborhood
surrounded by others like me
and by other lives; flowers, trees
dogs, cats, birds.
And outward from there,
I hover over the desert,
and above that I soar,
mountains, plains,
further and further, until the landscape
melts
into a sea of green, brown, gold
white capped mountains
stormy seas,
the continents below me
and above, endless sky.
Wars battling below,
One side victorious,
destroying the others,
carrying them away.
And further I rise
until the marble of earth
lies below, the glimmering
moon along-side.
Sun, planets moons,
and beyond the solar system,
galaxies.
Who knows what lies without?
The universe awaits.
***
Forever II
In a moment of zazen
I contemplate the universe
from myself, seated and silent
my soul soars inward.
My mind’s eye sees me,
and inside me, the organs
and bones and muscles
that make me tick,
that give me life.
And then I explore the blood,
the fluids, lymphatic fluids
tears, sweat, spinal fluid,
the way they
interact, interrelate,
feed and nurture each other
and me.
Wars, battling inside me,
white blood cells
attacking invaders,
other cells carrying off
broken waste.
And deeper still,
my cells,
each with a purpose
and a plan, lent by DNA’s
double-helix
spiraling in and down,
mitochondria,
and the cells’ nucleus
atoms
smaller still,
nutrinos.
Who knows what lies within?
The universe awaits.
Diana Terrill Clark
So Zen of you! I really like it!
So Zen! I really like it!
Diana – wow! beautiful x 2
Woweeeeee …. zinging, zipping from out there… to in here… Terrific!
Aw, thankee Pearl!
I look at the poems so far, and I’m hearing “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” playing in my head. Ladies?
I am Forever
The Alpha and Omega
I am all you need
Funny how this one rolls right off the tongue.
FOREVER IN BLUE JEANS
I’m not a dressy kind of man
of that you can be sure.
You see,
I take each day the best I can,
my style has its allure.
That’s me.
Fine pressed slacks will not make this man,
you get me as I’m seen –
no flair!
This casual look is my plan;
forever in blue jeans?
I’m there!
Adorable and you have started the music playing
Between “Forever in Blue Jeans” and “Where Have All the Flowers Gone”, I should have you walking with a song in your heart for the rest of the week, Pearl. Be thankful I haven’t started on “Finnegan, Begin Again”! Great offerings top to bottom, good Doctor!
Forever
F orever is a time we must prepare for, so
O bey the voice of your innermost conscious
R esist the desire to follow the world
E valuate each and every decision
V ictory is yours if you stay the course
E verlasting life is yours for the asking
R ely on the Lord and forever is yours
Forever is real
That is undeniable
For all who believe
I Was Told…
My mother once told me a long time ago
“Your face will get stuck like that forever.”
I’m sure glad she was wrong
My English teacher used to often inform me that
“Punctuation will prevent forever sentences.”
Now I like to punctuate
My Math teacher was quite adamant of this fact
“Pi is a number that goes on forever.”
Spent hours trying to prove him wrong
My friend asked me when I was 26
“Are you gonna’ stay single forever?”
He was my best man.
My kids exclaimed on a trip one day
“This drive is taking forever, Daddy.”
But we got there
My wife once told me about my office
“I’ll take you forever to clean this place up.”
I think she might be right.
Earl, per that last line… they’re ALWAYS right. Mine’s resigned herself to my messy desk. Good pieces, my friend!
Yes, they are ALWAYS right. I learned that a long time ago. Thanks.
Delightful rhythym in this one – Really enjoyed
I’m probably not going to do any better today than the facebook rant with which I started my day:
It takes forever to boil water on our stove
Dear American home small appliance makers:
An electric kettle is not a waffle iron or a pasta maker.
It is not a plastic show pony to be pulled out once a month.
An electric kettle is a hard-working, lunch-pail,
ten-a-day, blue collar piece of tempered steel.
If you can’t make a kettle that lasts more than four weeks
in our kitchen, then GET OUT OF THE BUSINESS!!!!!
(I need caffeine)
Dear Andrew I hear that your kettle is
not up to muster nor mettle
Hard to believe that in this sea of gadgets
Pots and such
You will not find one you will come to love
So very much
Perhaps you in frustration shout “No Never!”
But I in wishful positivism intone yes forever!
And in respect of your frustration avow that I
am not attempting at being merely clever
(Good luck and keep us posted!)
Pearl, this is awesome!!!
Welcome to Wordy Walt Wednesday – AKA the Poetic Asides Wednesday Prompt. I’ll keep the door unlocked.
Wow, Walt! You’re on a roll today!
Yeah Andrew, it’s a good day so far…
FOREVER HOLLY
Buddy, we hardly knew you,
but your music fills our lives.
An influence that inspired,
never sounding dull; tired.
It’s so easy to fade away,
but you did not. You’ve stayed
in our consciousness without
us knowing for the music you made
keeps getting played and remade.
We share the day, I’m proud to say
listening to your rocking din…
you went out when I came in!
“I can’t remember if I cried
when I read about his widowed bride.”
I was born on the day the music died.
Long live Buddy Holly!
LIVING FOREVER
Living forever has a key,
and isn’t very hard to see.
For to live this never ending rhyme,
you take forever one day at a time.
To heed these words, you really should
live forever. So far, so good!
FOREVER MANANA
Yesterdays are left for those afraid
to live their lives through plans they’ve made.
We have our pasts, with futures unsure,
and much more life for us to endure
to flood our memory cascade.
Tomorrow is the choice we’ve made,
the first day of this cavalcade,
living thoughts; these dreams of yours.
Yesterdays are left for those afraid.
Raise your flag in life’s parade,
carried proudly, words unsaid,
always looking straight and sure
toward each tomorrow to endure,
standing sure; stoic; staid!
Yesterdays are left for those afraid.
true and beautiful!
Yes I heartily second Addi! Motion passed?
FOREVER AND NEVER
Your face has not graced my place
since April ’09 and that’s fine
under the circumstances.
The chances were slim
(as were you) that the true
nature of love would carry
us. It lasted as long as it needed to
and you and I both knew.
A forever love keeps giving
only as long as we’re both living.
And the fact that you’re gone
is never lost on me. You’re free.
and through you – “she” need not even be named … she has stepped into the forever consciousness of all who read you – immortalized and loved still.