A figure slumped beside the road, a heap of ash and thread. No face, no shape, just heavy cloth, and eyes that looked half-dead. “Who are you?” asked the wrinkled one, with voice both calm and kind. “I’m Sadness,” said the shape, half-formed, “the one all try to bind.” “They turn from me,” the figure said, “as if I bring disease. They smile too wide, deny the weight, pretending th...

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In The Fury of the Fragile, the clash between compassion and cruelty takes center stage. Inspired by Rev. Megan Budde’s call for mercy and Donald Trump’s harsh dismissal of it, this poem wants to explore the tension between empathy and rage. It paints a portrait of a leader who wields words as weapons but crumbles when confronted with the very kindness he scorns.

Budde called for mercy, kindn...

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Beneath the aching winter’s shroud,

A child walked mute through the bustling crowd.

Her feet, bare whispers on the frozen stone,

Her ribs a harp of hunger’s tone.

 

She carried a box, her treasure, her thread

Of tiny star-sticks, sulfur-fed.

She called to the rich, the hurried, the gray,

“Buy one, kind sir, and light your way.”

 

But no one paused, no coin was tossed,

...

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My friend and I have just been reduced to tears by this scene in a video.

 

A charming girl of three years old,

makes a beautiful request,

a scene of wonder then unfolds,

in which the world by her’s then blessed,

‘please can you play Imagine’;

how like a nightingale she sings

with words of charity, compassion,

hope to a suffering world she brings.

The world and I beh...

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Beauty lies in the sight 👀 Hate lies in the mind 🧠 Love lies in the heart 🫀 Which give rise to an art. ✨

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I pull the black dagger

From my heart

The weight of my armour

Now a fluid mercury 

Not a poison to me 

A release 

 

I steep to one knee

Chest free

A pour of soft gold down your slender arm

Sheds the silver mercury away 

Fills the wound that I 

Cast upon myself 

 

Your fingers brush me

As though they are lillies in my garden of Eden 

Lustful inhale of...

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https://youtu.be/iTV6F3lTU7o

The accompanying video is of Emma Kirkby (an old family favourite of ours) singing “Dido’s Lament”  by Henry Purcell. It’s one of the saddest pieces of English music I’ve ever heard, and so, is most appropriate.

I’ve modelled my poem around Dylan Thomas’ “Do not go gentle into that good night”, on the premise that the night we currently face is not, in any sense ...

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I travel across this phenomenal path, a path that trails me to justice, a path that unites me with the lofty dome of the human establishment. From these broken shattered glasses of the dome, I gaze upon the increasing influence of insecurities among these humans. One of the sides of this dome had an air of fear and vengeance while the other parts here repres...

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Each time he gave voice to pity, to waste –

'Abstract values' in a certain parlance –

Some people would turn and say: ‘That’s no good;

You have to take sides, find someone to blame,

Separate the good guys from the villains,

Find a flag to wave, learn a proper chant.

Your words should sting like a pointed finger.’

 

He understood the lure of a world

Of certainty, where al...

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My original intention had been to write a humorous poem around the proverbial swallow, and words such as pint, summer and lies etc.

But with the UK now being in a world of deepest doggy-do, and with a Starmerite (his dad was a tool-maker don’t you know!) purge of genuine Socialists under way, I thought I’d try to write a sonnet whose tone reflects the dire straits in which British cit...

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Forgiveness ~ an act of Self Love 

When I talk about Forgiveness,
I am not talking about you sitting down with an ex or whoever,
and telling them you forgive them for whatever they did to you
so they can feel better, No.
The Forgiveness I Am talking about is done for the Self,
it is an act of Self Love, meant to remove the
burden of Anger/Sorrow from Your Soul.
Done in the privacy of You...

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Mis-Match of the Day,

Tories; Truth and Compassion.

Wife-beaters; Knighthoods.

 

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All these people are walking into my heart.
Sidling up casually,
Loitering inconspicuously,
No wonder no-one notices.
All these people are falling into my heart.
Not watching where they are going,
Momentarily distracted,
No-one notices.
Tall ones, small ones.
Old ones, young ones.
It's a great big party going on,
Still no-one notices.
All these people arriving in my heart.
All these...

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Where now you keep your things
Shall all be empty.
Where cleared for you, a space,
Shall be an eerie gap
In all our lives, when you move on.

The essence of your favourite spray
Shall linger, strong;
A poignant reminder of where you used to sleep.
The sadness and the gladness are as one;
Knowing that you'll leave here to be free.

And so it is with all the memories;
Each individual, t...

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We didn't know it was all in our mind.
We didn't know we were being unkind to ourselves.
How we let ourselves get bad.
We didn't know that we were cruel
To ourselves.

Why couldn't we forgive our own mistakes,
Like we did the ones that others made?
We never practiced self-defence,
Unless it was to wrap us round in chains.
Why couldn't we be good
To ourselves?

We didn't mean to hurt...

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the psyches living in the presence shine
shine with fires of deep compassion
that flashing, pulse, like a strobe
to transport hearts about the globe

their secret is not hard to find
but every novice must commence blind
until an occupant descales their eyes
their boredom hides angelic skies

 

 

 

© Brian Hodgkinson Jr. (aka) Limericist 2021

 

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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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When talking about rights, we often mistake rights, as something only humans can possess. But rights are nobody's property. Human being is not the only organism on Earth. We mustn't forget that we share Earth with numerous other species. Hence, every organism has got rights. But we don't respect these rights. Here's a poem that depicts the feelings of a few animals who've been captured and oppress...

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Roots of Love

Ones moon rises as the others descends.

The Sun brings their identity as they unlock their worlds.

One gusts into the world as Air.

One ignites into the world as Fire.

One love’s expressing through intellectuality!

One’s motivated by inspirations and aspirations!

The moon is the Soul of their identities.  

One’s Soul reacts to experiences,

with discernment ...

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So many thoughts that swirl around my mind, this feeling I've captured I dreamed to find.

It flooded in by a destined fate, the time had come after an unknown wait.

The moment we've now captured was overdue, naturally we entwined and knew what to do.

The days pass us by and the feelings grow high, the realness that shines creates an eternal tie.

I've never believed in the concept forev...

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Do you need someone?

On this World Mental Health Day

Does someone need you?

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To learn everyday was what taught to me,
Sinking in an ocean, moving steadily;
It was the ocean of knowledge and believes,
Suddenly the world changed, and power came to cease.

'Look at him, look at her', comparing to the whole world,
Trying my very best, to win in every word.
Becoming a good son, a dear brother and good friend,
But that 'I', was lost in the end.

I became what you want,...

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Sometimes you just have to give yourself a break from feeling bitter and give yourself a chance to love something. This isn't just about romantic love.

The best kind of love

Is without conditions

No doubtful suspicions

Or painful omissions

There is no one reason

For the feeling

Never defending 

Or pretending

It just is

With No Ending

 

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You & Me

                                   

 

Together we may see the Devil Dance

& together we may see God cry in vain

How Our typical eyes

So often only notice the typical guise

 

 

Like so many on this sphere I know

You’re undervalued

Lost like a sailor in the vast ocean blue

Come along with me

Let me make you feel new

 

 

I’ll caress every ...

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She’s a bright star, within the unlit night 

Guiding others through, the tough thing, that we call life 

Her strength is beyond admirable to all 

And even if she should ever fall 

She would somehow, pull though 

The things, that to others, it would inevitably un-do 

Her beauty and grace, isn’t just a way to save face 

She's had to fight great wars, every single day 

Even wh...

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I was not there when he was made
I was not there when he was born
I was not there for his first birthday

I was, there to guide his first steps.

I was there when his mother voiced her disdane and pushed him away.

For the tantrums that felt eternal

The sick days that became my sick days

I was there as his father began a new family and forgot about his last.

When he had no food to...

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I hope that around the world

people, everywhere

are trying to look through

another's eyes

taking another perspective

opening up

and showing compassion

and understanding.

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Our skins are different colors
But we all bleed the color red
Be compassionate 

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words

            no man should know

            or say

words

            no child should hear:

            parent, pray

            to be spared.

as he sat with his sons at home

and struggled to find

words:

he knew

            she will never return to us

he knew

            she is too ill

 

In a time when she was strong

for them

as her body weake...

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I am a ShaakieraS, A mature, respectable and sophisticated woman, with a massive vocabulary and a passion for words, which borders on obsession. Strangely quiet and reserved , an introverted extrovert yet can be surprisingly witty, accommodating and very outgoing depending on the situation and of course the company. Highly intelligent and sharp-minded choosing to express myself largely through the...

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What does "Freedom" mean to you? Personally I believe its not only enjoying basic human rights but celebrating actual freedom everyday. The downside being that it is an everyday thing for us that we tend to forget the significance of it and reduce it to "ordinary" when in fact its the most extraordinary,most divine God given sanctified gift we have. Our free will so precious that our Creator Almig...

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Open

Openness, in a time of terror,
It's not easy is it?
News story after sensationalised 
News story,
With just one aim- 
To drag us in,
Scare us witless, 
Send us down,
Stop our daughters from going out,
Just what they wanted, perhaps,
Cancel that trip of fun planned,
Throw blame at misinformation,
I'm talking to everyone, 
Holding their nearest and Dearest,
That little bit clos...

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A winter bite that

mocks the spring, pincers its cocoon.

A life supported?

Cease one's internal decay,

Even ice melts. Love's fluidity.

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I feel like I'm at a crossroads,

a path I do not know.

The future's looking complex as a vortex

as I continue to grow.

 

Do I wait in frantic futility

brazenly biting my lip and learning humility?

 

I see you stuck in Stockholm

waiting for the day that you finally come home.

 

Destined for greatness

yet thwarted by gravity and quicksand

...

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"John"

 

What worlds turn behind your almond eyes, that ready smile,

that childish innocence that lingers long when you are gone?

I feel your warmth through chubby hands and stubby fingers

of a child. You will not make old bones in this cold life

of sticks and stones and superstitious fears. Some careless god

cut short your years; played blackjack with your chromosomes

in a game that ...

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