Poetry is Fuel for the Soul
"Poetry is thoughts that breathe, and words that burn." - Thomas Gray
I firmly believe that poetry is fuel for the soul. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't feel the overwhelming urge to either compose a poem or to read one. They make the world such a more beautiful place. I hope you enjoy these poems I have selected as some of my favorites. If you know of any good poetry that I don't have on here, please contact me and I'll be sure to post it. Enjoy!
On Alum Creek
Our boots slide on the solid creek,
frozen waist-deep water. A sycamore
is dying, its branches of white horn
fading in the sun. The roots trail
to the creek edge, where each day
ice gathers around the nubs,
surrounding and breaking and forming again.
We are one man and one woman.
It is the shortest day, the solstice,
and already we feel it passing on:
the flickering of sun, the colder
absorbing air disguised as breath, brushing
onto our faces, our ankles. You glide far
onto the ice, onto the deep shadow
of the sycamore, walking stick discarded
on the bank. Your breath follows you,
floating up as you shout, "Come on,
the water's fine!" I edge out, uncertain,
my stick tapping its tattoo before me.
Heavy yellow boots anchor your feet
as the sky presses down, the ice
trembling beneath you, water rushing through
the crust when he creek turns its corner.
Even when we came this way, a fading wind
washd over the fields. The bare crust of snow
broke beneath our boots, the numb earth
rose in tufts of brown grass and leaves
as we followed a dry gully down.
I stand ready to hear your cry,
to reach out when the ice divides
against you. I know you will fall.
I can see it in the slow ripple of the crust
each time you turn, push off, slide;
even as the ice cracks you dift away
smiling, daring me to follow.
-Ann Townsend
Have You Really Walked Away
The night has come,
I’m sitting here all alone,
Waiting for you,
To walk through the door.
The clock is ticking,
The rain is falling,
But I hear no car,
Puling up the driveway.
The night has come,
I’m waiting to hear,
The voice,
That I loved so much,
For so many nights.
Cars passing by,
Lights flicking and shining,
I wonder where you are,
Right now.
Are you going back,
To this place,
Where you used to stay,
Or are you going somewhere new,
With a whole new love,
With a new heart,
New bed,
For you to love.
Have you really walked away,
Or am I just thinking,
The worse of our love.
I haven’t seen you for so long,
I wonder what have,
Happened to you,
What have happened,
To your love for me.
The last time we spoke,
You told me,
You wanted some time,
To be alone.
Is that mean,
Our love has come,
To its ending?
Have you really walked away,
And are leaving me here,
All alone,
Wondering and thinking,
About you,
While you are with your love,
Celebrating,
Having so much fun.
I can hear the laughter,
I can hear you laughing,
With your love,
But why do I always hear,
The sobbing,
Of a lonely bird?
-Unknown
Have You Seen Me Cry
There was a time,
When you promised me,
You would never break my heart,
You promised your heart to me,
That you will never make me cry,
I took those promises,
Because I loved love dearly,
But promises come,
Promises go,
Time took your heart away,
So did your love for me.
No matter how much love,
I showed you,
You did never care,
Of what was left in our lives.
There was a time,
When I was alone in my room,
Thinking about you so deeply.
Winter came with snow,
Flushing away the happiness,
Like the hundred and thousand,
Of falling snow,
Covering up the love we had together.
Spring came,
My heart slept away with winter,
Trying to not think about you,
Fearing I would remember the happiness,
And then cry,
Cry the tears of loneliness,
Sadness of missing you.
Have you seen me cry,
I don’t think you have,
Had you seen me cry,
You would never have,
Walked away from my heart.
Had you seen me cry,
You would have never,
Made all those promises,
Then one day broke them
Like you broke my heart.
Had you seen how broken,
I was without you,
You would have never let winter,
Washed away our memories,
Let the cold winter wind,
Freeze our love,
Like ice
-Unknown
Hold Me One Last Time
What happiness last forever,
Like all the loves songs,
There is a beginning,
And there is an end,
I thought for us,
It was going,
To last longer,
Than it started,
I thought for us,
Our love would last,
The end of time.
When I fell,
In love with you,
I didn’t ask for too much,
Because you were too special,
You were all I dreamed for,
I told myself,
Not to love you too much,
Because once that day come,
When your love runs cold,
You won’t see me,
The same way,
I told myself,
Not to put too much hopes,
And dreams in you,
Because once it ends,
It ends.
Then that day did come,
When you said goodbye,
Leaving me on the end,
Of the road,
Waiting for you,
I told myself it was over,
I should let you go,
Because you would never,
Come back to me,
I told myself,
To let go of your love,
Because in your heart,
My love no longer existed.
Now I want you,
To hold me one last time,
Hold me with love,
To feel the love,
I had with you yesterday,
Now I am all alone,
I want to feel you,
I want to be love by you,
But I know once,
You come back to me,
It might end up,
Like the last time,
And once again,
I will sit all alone,
Waiting for the tears,
To fade away.
-Unknown
Hold On To Our Love
Today we sit here,
One place,
One heart,
Two lonely birds,
Singing to the rain.
Today we watch,
The sun rises and sets,
Tonight we watch,
As the moon,
Shines down on our lonely hearts,
I will think about your love,
I will think about yesterday,
What would you be thinking?
The storms we went through,
When we were floating,
On the water,
Like the boats,
Just moving farther and farther,
We didn’t know where,
We were going,
But I believed in you,
I believed that we could change,
What was wrong with our love,
I believed in your heart,
I believed that we could be,
Together forever.
Yesterday I told you,
To hold on to our love,
Today our love has gone so far,
Out to the ocean,
Now we sit here,
Counting the days,
With our hands,
Never to go back to yesterday,
When we sang,
Those verses to our love songs.
I will forgive,
I will forget your faults,
But what will you think of me,
What will you be holding to?
Hold on to love,
Hold on to our love,
Like you will never die,
Hold on to our love,
Until your heart stops beating,
I will hold on to love,
Until the day I die,
Because I believe that,
One day,
We will go back,
To those happy summer,
Happy spring,
And relive that happy love,
That we used to have together.
-Unknown
Time Does Not Bring Relief
Time does not bring relief; you all have lied
Who told me time would ease me of my pain!
I miss him in the weeping of the rain;
I want him at the shrinking of the tide;
The old snows melt from every mountain-side,
And last year's leaves are smoke in every lane;
But last year's bitter loving must remain
Heaped on my heart, and my old thoughts abide.
There are a hundred places where I fear
To go, -- so with his memory they brim.
And entering with relief some quiet place
Where never fell his boot or shone his face
I say, "There is no memory of him here!"
And so stand stricken, so remembering him.
-Edna St. Vincent Millay (1917)
Love feels no burden,
thinks nothing of trouble,
attempts what is above its strength,
pleads no excuse of impossibility...
It is therefore able to undertake all things,
and it completes many things,
and warrants them to take effect,
where he who does not love would faint and lie down.
Love is watchful and sleeping, slumbereth not.
Though weary, it is not tired;
though pressed, it is not straitened;
though alarmed, it is not confounded...
- Thomas A. Kempis
Bei Hennef
The little river twittering in the twilight,
The wan, wondering look of the pale sky,
This is almost bliss.
And everything shut up and gone to sleep,
All the troubles and anxieties and pain
Gone under the twilight.
Only the twilight now, and the soft "Sh!" of the river
That will last for ever.
And at last I know my love for you is here;
I can see it all, it is whole like the twilight,
It is large, so large, I could not see it before,
Because of the little lights and flickers and interruptions,
Troubles, anxieties and pains.
You are the call and I am the answer,
You are the wish, and I the fulfilment,
You are the night, and I the day.
What else - it is perfect enough.
It is perfectly complete,
You and I,
What more--?
Strange, how we suffer in spite of this.
-D. H. Lawrence
