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NaPoWriMo Day 21

On By WinstonIn NaPoWriMo, Personal, Poetry, Self Awareness, UncategorizedLeave a comment

I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night so figuring out today’s poem took a little more brain than usual. Turns out, lack of sleep can be its own reward… or at least its own inspiration… I think reward may be a little strong. Enjoy!

On Lack of Sleep

Come sleep, long sleep, deep sleep, blessed.

Please sleep, more sleep, must sleep, rest.

 

No more restless longing nights.

Filled with tossing, turning fights.

 

Long sleep, deep sleep, sleep at last.

I pray sleepless nights are past.

 

Staring at my ceiling still.

Cannot sleep and doubt I will.

 

Dawn gleams on my window pane.

Time to rise and shine again.

 

No sleep, don’t sleep, can’t sleep now.

Stay awake and work somehow.

 

Home and pray for sleep once more.

Sandman visit at my door.

 

Cheers, Winston

NaPoWriMo Day 20

On By WinstonIn Dark / Gothic, Lovecraftian, Lovecraftian Poetry, Macabre, NaPoWriMo, Poetry, UncategorizedLeave a comment

So…. ummmm… this is a little more different than usual. Also, a lot longer (which is why I didn’t finish it yesterday). If Lovecraft had written in rhyming couplets, he probably still would’ve had too much self-respect to write this. Regardless… enjoy!

On The Hidden God

“Come in and see! Come in and see!”

He cries out with a grin.

“Behold the ancient magic ones,

They wait for you within!”

 

The paint is peeling from the door,

The glass cracked in it’s frame.

A sign above so faded that,

I can’t make out the name.

 

I turn to walk away and then,

He catches at my arm.

“No charge for you today good sir,

Pray what could be the harm?”

 

“I only ask when you have seen,

The mysteries waiting there,

That you will tell where you have been,

And all your visions share.”

 

I think that I will walk away,

But then I think, “Why not?”

I did not know, but even then,

I was already caught.

 

I let the hawker guide me back,

I stand before the door.

It swings in on a squealing hinge,

Now all is dark before.

 

I step into the gloom and feel,

A moistness underfoot.

There is a smell of dank decay,

And long forgotten soot.

 

The darkness fades, a lesser dark,

And now I dimly see.

I look around and realize,

There’s no door behind me.

 

I’m standing in a larger space,

Than what there should have been.

Where massive shapes loom all around,

More sensed than truly seen.

 

Perhaps the dark is caused by smoke,

An opiate I think.

Or someone slipped a mickey in,

The tea I bought to drink.

 

I start to walk, to seek a wall,

A door back to the street.

And realize there is a sound,

A deep, abyssal beat.

 

It is so low, more felt than heard,

It fills my soul with dread.

My every thought to scream and run,

The pounding fills my head.

 

As suddenly, the beating stops,

Now silence takes it’s place.

A moment’s warmth upon my cheek,

A breath upon my face!

 

Yes, now I scream and now I run,

From what I do not know.

Just run until I cannot breathe,

No further can I go.

 

The beating comes again but now,

It sounds more like a heart.

Some monster of antiquity,

Raised up by darkest art.

 

The panic comes in blinding waves,

My mind plays tricks on me.

I think I see some movement there,

And strain my eyes to see.

 

I stumble forward gasping still,

Must know what horror dwells.

In such a place impossible,

The terror in me swells.

 

A piping wail, a droning chant,

Now join the steady throb.

They baffle and confuse my mind,

Of me, my wits, they rob.

 

I’m closer now can see for sure,

A chanting, piping crowd.

While far ahead the being whose,

Heart throbbed ungodly loud.

 

Impossible! My mind screamed out,

Such things just can’t exist.

Yet every time my eyes are closed,

Those images persist.

 

One hundred meters high or more,

And more than twice as wide.

A sickly iridescent gleam,

Upon its blotchy hide.

 

A thousand grotesque tentacles,

Obscenely writhe and coil.

They crush the closest of the crowd,

Their corpses left to spoil.

 

Uncounted eyes, their lidless gaze,

The windows to it’s soul.

But do not look! There’s nothing there.

A howling, sucking hole.

 

I notice now I’m chanting too,

I’ve joined its soulless choir.

This endless paean to my God,

To sing my one desire.

 

I’m closer now, one tentacle,

Grasps me and lifts me high.

I gibber in my terror as,

I gaze into its eye.

 

I stand once more before the door,

It’s flaked and peeling paint.

Looks faintly iridescent now,

As from some demon’s taint.

 

“You like the show?”, the hawker asks,

With empty holes for eyes.

“Remember you must tell your tale,

He’ll know if you tell lies.”

 

So now I know the truth of it,

I’m bait that’s why I live.

Instead of taking just my life,

Take all that I can give.

 

I am a prophet of my God,

Lead others to that place.

By writing this, those fools read,

Begin to seek that space.

 

If you still want to meet a God,

You’ll find a certain door.

It may not be the one I found,

There are so many more.

 

But just be sure and just beware,

Before you make that choice.

That if you live, you’ll be it’s slave,

Like me, its human voice.

 

Cheers, Winston

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NaPoWriMo Day 19

On By WinstonIn Education, Global Issues, NaPoWriMo, Personal, Poetry, Society, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Once again, I am writing a day behind. It seems to be my new standard, but at least it’s done. Only eleven more to go.  Today’s offering is about believing in your dreams regardless of what “everybody knows”.

On What Is Impossible

It’s true that wonders never cease,

More happen every day.

Impossible is just a word,

Those with no vision say.

 

Next month SpaceX will launch a ship,

With astronauts to space.

Impossible so many said,

No way they’ll win that race.

 

In Mexico a neighbourhood,

Of 3D printed dreams.

Impossible or so they thought,

Quite possible it seems.

 

A place where are all are free to live,

And be just who they are.

Impossible? I pray it’s not,

Still sometimes seems so far.

 

Eight billion mouths and more to feed,

Then better crops design.

“Impossible! I’ll never eat,

those GMOs malign!”

 

For every wonderous thing we do,

There’s shouting from the wings.

“Impossible! Impossible!

You cannot do these things!”

 

The solvers and the dreamers know,

This secret sweet and true.

Impossible is just a word,

Let none take that from you.

 

Cheers, Winston

 

 

NaPoWriMo Day 17

On By WinstonIn NaPoWriMo, Personal, Poetry, Self Awareness, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Once again, life has conspired to delay a post. I’m still in the fight, but some days it’s lions 47, gladiators 0. Yesterday was one of those days.

On Being a Night-Owl

Bright and blessed the day may be,

But sacred is the night.

Life’s labours done beneath the sun,

But sacred is the night.

When work is done and darkness falls,

‘Tis then we truly pray.

At end of day, in darkness wrapped,

‘Tis then we truly pray.

We run all day, our brains a-whirl,

Our refuge is the night.

All rush, all work, no time to pause,

Our refuge is the night.

Our minds and bodies seek the sun,

But souls embrace the dark.

We rush through days of light and sound,

But souls embrace the dark.

We live our lives beneath the sun,

But sacred is the night.

We sing the praises of the day,

But sacred is the night.

So still your mind and still your voice,

Embrace night’s velvet peace.

Now rest your soul in dark stillness,

Embrace night’s velvet peace.

Cheers, Winston

NaPoWriMo Day 16

On By WinstonIn Enlightenment, NaPoWriMo, Personal, Poetry, Technology, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Originally I had written a totally different poem tonight. Then a system crash wiped it out completely. But there’s a lesson in everything we experience. That was today’s lesson.

On Perseverence

A terrifying thing to see.

A screen so blank and white.

As I sit here staring blankly,

My thoughts flit round in fright.

I finally begin to write,

My fingers fly along.

The verse I write about the joy,

I find in each bird’s song.

I write so fast, I write so true,

I finish in a flash.

But wait what’s this it cannot be,

Oh no! A system crash.

My verse is gone and so I stare,

Once more at blank white screen.

I know it would have been a hit,

If anyone had seen.

So now I write this doggerel,

My hope of greatness crushed.

The time grows late the deadline looms,

That’s why this new one’s rushed.

So now I bid a fond goodnight,

To all whom my words reach.

For on my phone I’ve set this verse,

That is what I would teach.

When everything you’ve made is lost,

And hope’s in short supply.

Just don’t give up, there’s work-arounds,

You’ll find them if you try.

Cheers, Winston

NaPoWriMo Day 15

On By WinstonIn Environment, Loving Life, NaPoWriMo, Nature, Personal, Poetry, spring, UncategorizedLeave a comment

I was supposed to post this yesterday, but sometimes life happens. Another one will magically appear in due course. Hopefully before the end of the day 🙂

On Missing Nature

A long and winding country road,

A field of high, sweet hay.

Ten billion stars above my head,

To gaze at where I lay.

 

A lazy stream meanders through,

A wild wood nearby.

It flows down from the ancient hills,

Bare shouldered ‘gainst the sky.

 

I wander through the woods and hills,

Sip from a hidden spring.

With every step, much closer now,

To nature do I seem.

 

I pause to rest and start to doze,

Beneath a willow tree.

With gods of hills and woods and streams,

All watching over me.

 

This is a dream I often dream,

While urban life I live.

To capture just a part of this,

Who knows what I would give.

 

Cheers, Winston

NaPoWriMo Day 14

On By WinstonIn Dark / Gothic, Ghost Stories, Macabre, NaPoWriMo, UncategorizedLeave a comment

I love a good ghost story. This isn’t that, but it is today’s theme.

 

On The Ghost’s Lament

I walk about my home and watch,

the years roll slowly by.

I know there was a reason once,

Now can’t remember why.

 

The people come and then they go,

but I still linger here.

I know not if I stayed for joy,

or if I stayed from fear.

 

I only know I cannot leave,

Forever in this place.

While roaming through these rooms alone,

Eternity I face.

 

Though people come, they see me not.

They think I am not real.

A bump they hear, a whispered word,

a sudden chill they feel.

 

I try and try but cannot touch,

Can’t reach beyond the veil.

So I remain forever lost,

Against this fate I rail.

 

I will go on and on and on,

To nevermore be free.

Whatever brought me too this pass,

There is no peace for me.

 

So if by chance you should come here,

Know that I walk here still.

No matter what I try I fear,

Forever more I will.

 

Cheers, Winston

NaPoWriMo Day 13

On By WinstonIn Global Issues, Mars, NaPoWriMo, Science, Society, Technology, UncategorizedLeave a comment

I’m a huge fan of “Cosmos”, both the Nat Geo series with Neil Degrasse Tyson and the book by Carl Sagan. This poem is an ode to them and also to “The Mars Generation” and it’s founder Astronaut Abby.  Enjoy!

On Going to Mars

I walk across a dry, red plain,

Towards a distant hill.

My feet kick dust untrod ’til now,

Explorer’s greatest thrill.

 

The sun a dim and distant disc,

Seen through a reddish haze.

Upon this rock, so far from home,

Is where I’ll live my days.

 

They asked me why I’d want to go,

So far from all I know.

The answer is I’ve always known,

That I must someday go.

 

My soul was born to bear this dream,

To carry it afar.

I’ve carried it to Mars so far,

Some day, someone, some star.

 

You ask of us why would we go,

Truth is we cannot stay.

If we stay tied to just one place,

We’re bound to end one day.

 

But as we spread beyond the Earth,

Each falt’ring step we take,

Will buy our species one more chance,

A better world to make.

 

Cheers, Winston

NaPoWriMo Day 12

On By WinstonIn Loving Life, my blessed life, NaPoWriMo, Nature, Poetry, spring, UncategorizedLeave a comment

It was a beautiful day today and I spent some time in my backyard watching the birds and squirrels and listening to the geese calling in the distance. I love the spring!

On The Beauty of Spring

Once more the air is filled with chirps,

Not heard for far too long.

Our migrant birds back home at last,

To share with us their song.

 

The squirrels chatter happily,

While dashing high above.

Now spring is here and all around,

The world is filled with love.

 

The trumpeting of inbound geese,

A welcome, joyous sound.

They lift my spirit and my soul,

Bring happiness unbound.

 

Now everywhere you look is green,

New flowers peeping out.

A sense of hope, of better days,

The winter’s done no doubt.

 

So raise your head and see the truth,

Each day a brand new start.

Now let the beauty and the warmth,

Of Springtime fill your heart.

 

Cheers, Winston

NaPoWriMo Day 11

On By WinstonIn Humor, NaPoWriMo, Personal, Poetry, Uncategorized, writer`s blockLeave a comment

At least once each year, I hit a point where I can’t think of a single thing to write about. This invariably leads to something like the following.

On Writer’s Block

Another day has come and gone,

And here I sit once more.

With keyboard and an empty head,

I’ve been through this before.

 

There is no verse inside my head,

No trick to make this right.

I greatly fear the truth is there,

Shall be no post tonight.

 

I could resort to tricks of old,

Write that I cannot rhyme.

That would be cheating I suppose,

But still there is the time.

 

In thirty minutes give or take,

Tomorrow will begin.

And then with two to write, my God,

The mess I will be in.

 

So for tonight, this boilerplate,

Of simple thoughtless rhymes.

And then to sleep and hope the dawn,

Brings more productive times.

 

Cheers, Winston