Smoky Kiss - A Poem.

Ghosts of the past,

sigh in smoky bliss;

Hot moments cease to last,

as crimson flames fizzle & hiss;

Misty illusions are cast,

locked in a sinful kiss...

*****

Image : pinterest

Erotic Chaos - A Poem.

Erratic heartbeats flutter

in breathless precipice

of capricious immensity.

Melodramatic feelings mutter

& glow in mind's edifice

in calm intensity.

Erotic sighs utter

a radiant song of bliss,

in chaos of captivity.

*****

Image: pinterest.

Winter - A Poem

Twilight skies

sprinkle silver snow,

embraced by frozen leaves;

Stark beauty smiles

in winter glow,

to brighten desolate eves.

****

Image: pinterest

Dialogue with Nature - A Poem.

Embrace the distant horizon,

when the mind is filled with fog;

Entangle perplexing puzzles in aversion,

as intellectual obstruction does unclog;

Engage the cloak of thought in abandon

with wondrous nature in deep dialogue.

***

Dawn - A Poem.

My sixth tribute is to Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822), who was one of the major English Romantic poets of the 2nd generation.

He was regarded as a fine lyric, as well an influential & philosophical poet in the English language.

I have used some prompts from Shelley's Poem, 'The Triumph of Life' to pen my verse.

Awakened Earth

Mountain snows 

Kiss of day

Smiling air

Melodious dew

Sweet dreams brood

Sleeping tempest

***

Celebrate 'The Triumph of Life',

dispel darkness, destroy strife; 

Get inspired by P.B.Shelley, 

pen verses of verve, in a volley...

***

 DAWN

Ravaged by freezing mountain snows,

the leafless trees lay bare;

The sleeping tempest is devoid of her throes,

sweet dreams brood in pre-dawn prayer;

An awakened earth shrugs off her icy shroud,

and welcomes the kiss of day with flair;

Famished nestlings chirp clear and loud,

Melodious dew sings, in the smiling air...

***

Images: 1. Pinterest 2. Deviantart

Companion : A Poem.

When hurdles arrive as a battalion

& raging tempests form,

we all crave a companion

to help us weather the storm.

To jump in joy or suffer in gloom,

to brave boredoms of numbing norm;

To share a hug & balance on a bloom,

we need sunshine to smile after the rainstorm.

***

Image:Ajar Setiadi

The Lady of Shalott - A Tribute Poem.

This poem is my fifth tribute to an English poet. This is in memory of the haunting lyrical ballad by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809 -1892), 'The Lady of Shalott'. 

'The Lady of Shalott' tells the story of a young noble woman imprisoned in a tower on an island near Camelot. She can only watch the outside world through a mirror and must weave what she sees. She has heard that if she looks at Camelot directly, she will be cursed. 

This is one of Tennyson’s most famous and beloved poems. It was originally written in 1832 and was published in 1842.

***

A medieval maiden near Camelot,

is cursed beyond repair;

In hues of reflected images sought,

weaves perpetual webs of despair;

The lonesome lady of Shalott

seeks redemption fair;

Loss in battle of wills well-fought,

a cracked mirror doth impare

From her tower, she departs distraught,

pale attire she doth wear,

Embarks she, on journey untaught

a quest beyond compare

A buoyant boat, she floats for a naught,

heavy heart barren & bare;

In whirls of water she is caught

clutched in a quagmire's glare.

Freezes she, in grasp of a deathly draught,

long before she spies a lair.

Found she is, her skin taut

& eyes in sightless stare.

They bow in grief, bereft of thought

& bow their heads in prayer.

A quandary she stays, in poetry wrought,

eternal in her story unfair

A paradigm of Providence's pitiless plot,

a memory, in millions' minds aware

And thus remains the Lady of Shalott

a testimony, to Tennyson's matchless flair.

***

Images: deviantart & slideshare.net

Heavy Heart - A Poem.

The remains of love

rot in a coffin of betrayal,

murdered by lies,

buried in memories of distress.

Morbid petals mock

as muscles of melancholy

inflict a crush of death,

to remnant hope in duress.

A heavy heart

breathes its last,

smothered by the weight

of its own emptiness.

***

: Derek Hess.

Flamenco - A Poem.

Devoured by flaming fire,

in boisterous beats of a crescendo;

Winged limbs refuse to tire,

ensconced in embrace of a hero;

Twirled in circles of desire,

as arms of steel, tango in a flamenco...

***

Art: Hamish Blakley.

The Curse - A Poem.

A sinister moon casts her noxious curse,

ominous clouds mock in menace above;

Treacherous thorns, cross from bad to worse,

spine-chilling death adorns the alcove;

Betrayal-cloaked monsters, darken the dove,

stagnant passion begins to ebb;

Smothers the soothing shelter of love

& ensnares, in a mummified & mysterious web…

***

Image : Pinterest.

Sinister - A Poem.

The blaze of a sinking orb, sets free

embodied ravens in her soul of sins;

The vengeance of her brokenness begins,

crossing the facade of her ecstasy;

Baring the beast within the beauty

is a sinister stem of scaly skin;

Majestic in spirit, winged monsters within

unveil a beautifully shattered travesty.

***

Image: Pinterest.

Turmoil - A Poem.

My fourth tribute is to Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834), English poet, literary critic, philosopher and theologian who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets.

I have chosen these prompts from his poems, to use in my verse:

Ceaseless turmoil

Caves of ice

Demon lover

(Poem: Kubla Khan)

Phantom Light

Smothering weight

Dallied with distress

Luminous mist

Smarting wounds

Bitter grief

(Poem: Dejection: An Ode)

***

Inspiration in a volley

from Coleridge's Dejection;

Spill of melancholy
in poetic suffusion!

Turmoil.

In the phantom light of a luminous mist,

Bitter grief shalt hover,

A smothering weight on soul, doth exist

Resonant memories, beneath a moonlit bower;

Ceaseless turmoil, within cavernous caves of ice

in the heart, shalt ne’er recover;

Dallied with distress, ensnared in games of vice,

smarting wounds, left by a demon lover.

****

Image : Natalia Drepina , DeviantArt.

An Ode to Solitude.

My third tribute is to one of the most favorite poets of my childhood, the nature poet, William Wordsworth (1770-1850).

I have chosen these prompts from three of his poems to pen my verse.

Act of stealth

Troubled pleasure

Silent water

Trembling oars

Measured motion

Sparkling waves

Tempestuous time

Tenderness of thought.

Benign is Solitude

(Poem: The Prelude)

Vales and hills

(Poem: Daffodils)

Melancholy strain

(Poem: The Solitary Reaper)

I have written this ode in the Terza Rima rhyme scheme of poetry. I first read about this scheme in a famous poem by P.B.Shelley, called ‘The Ode to the West Wind’ and was compelled to attempt a similar scheme for one of my own poems.

In a terza rima poem, the first and third lines of a stanza rhyme, but the first line of the next stanza rhymes with the second line of the stanza before it. So, the stanzas would look like A-B-A, B-C-B, C-D-C, and so on, with each letter representing the rhyming words. 

***

A flow of ink,

for Wordsworth's Prelude;

To marvel & think

in poetic magnitude!

An Ode to Solitude

An act of stealth, in troubled pleasure

amidst vales & hills, on a moonlit night,

a quest for peace, an intangible treasure;

Sparkling waves, no horizon in sight,

rising tides, the boat doth slaughter,

adrift eastward, sails in flight;

A churn of memories, in the mind’s mortar,

the heart seeks harmony, all in vain

but all is tranquil, in silent water;

Tempestuous time, wreaks a melancholy strain,

shining waters sliced by trembling oars,

toss of tempests in the brain;

Singed soul, in voiceless roars,

plaintive pursuits of a pensive mood,

no conscious memory of distant shores.

Measured motion unearths quietude;

the weary will discovers tenderness of thought

for in blessed nature, benign is solitude.

***

Image: YouTube.com

Nemesis - A Poem

My second tribute is to William Blake (1757-1827), the poet, painter, imaginative, mystic & intellectual visionary. A seminal figure of the Romantic age, he has been deemed a major poet & an original thinker.

The prompts I have chosen from his poems are:

Dark secret love 

Crimson joy 

(Poem: The Sick Rose)

Seize the fire 

Immortal hand 

Dread grasp

(Poem: The Tyger)

***

Spilling poetic ink 

for William Blake; 

Letting words spin & link, 

as verses arise & awake! 

Nemesis.

A dread grasp

of an immortal hand,

doth seize the fire of gloom,

deceives in pitiless ploy;

A burn of betrayal,

hard to withstand

writ on the faithful plume

of her heart, t'was but a toy;

A dark secret love,

of sinister strand

blackens the bloom,

poisons petals of crimson joy;

A deadly duplicity,

is quiescent quicksand

nemesis rages in doom,

profound passion, it doth destroy.

***

Image: XiNature, Google.