Memento Mori

Sun shone through the greying lace,

And highlighted her wrinkled face.

Dormant now, no signs of breath,

Not unexpected, a timely death.

Months of pain relieved by time,

Old age being nature’s ultimate crime.

A better place her soul now seeks,

Drying tears nestled on hollowed cheeks.

This disappearing woman faded from sight,

Unnoticed, she left us all...

Read and leave comments (0)

Her world once ran on her behalf, 

She freely enjoyed her stuff, 

Brushing the town so confidently, 

Proudly showing her beauty. 

Walking towards a long road, 

Her body broke, 

Pain spreading deep into her bones, 

Yet she holds on to hope. 

Inside her tiny little body, 

She carries majesty,

That's what is called a baby, 

A forerunner that will l...

Read and leave comments (0)

How Did It Get So Late So Soon?

The man who scared the ghosts away,

The woman who healed wounds with a kiss,

I think of them more nowadays

In sad and troubled times like this.

No longer there to hug the pain

From tired bones and broken hearts,

To shield you from the winter rain

That permeates where old age starts.

Another day of fleeting tasks

From rising su...

Read and leave comments (5)

Dear Mom... 

Every morning, the scent of warm rice from the cooker,  

Along with the echoing rhythm of your footsteps,  

And the sound of boiling water poured into a coffee cup,  

Never fails to wake me up.  

It’s a harmony I always long for,  

A melody I always wish to hear,  

It is etched vividly in my mind.  

Dear Mom... 

Your voice through the phone gent...

Read and leave comments (5)

Left

5:27 am

It is time to get up.

Airport.

Shower – I use the woman’s fancy shampoo.

Toothpaste, lotion, brush; done – in the black hygiene bag.

The woman enters the bedroom to check on me, “You have everything?”

“Yes,” I say, “I think so; if I leave anything, you could send it to me?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Okay,” I say.  She walks to the kitchen and sits down softly with ...

Read and leave comments (0)

Father told me, when i was young, that his mother told him ‘if you can fit pinky to thumb around your wrist you are too thin’. When I managed to grasp my arm half way up, pinky to my thumb, I saw success. It’s hard to see sadness when you are sick. Mother taught me forgiveness was not earnt, but expected. So, when you lied to me I knew what I was to do next.

         The cathedral was o...

Read and leave comments (0)

Her kitchen, quiet, layered with dust,

aged a decade deep,

Her table laid and draped in cloth

before she fell asleep.

The oven framed her bread of crust,

sliced up for all to keep.

Time unwound and ticked no more,

before she fell asleep.

Three shirts to dry lay mouldy, in a musty

laundered heap.

Her life had spun in cycle,

before she fell asleep.

...

Read and leave comments (0)

I dreamt of my mother’s egg-blue peg bucket

and how the clatter of rain

on the scullery window sent

her heartbeat racing.

I remember us scurrying

down the backyard

to free her hung dry clothes

from their pegged wooden captors.

She watched as we yanked disrespectfully,

faded jeans and t-shirts flailing

and the pegs snapping,

reluctantly letting go.

I remember wat...

Read and leave comments (4)

It was the copper-green crust on 

salt fingers that hinted

the well was dry.

It had been months, years even,

of arid unconscious blessings.

A ritual, like the quick of bitten nails,

formed in the dousing of us weans.

It had been our mother’s blessing, 

foreheads drenched on each departing. 

Her three fingered aspergillum

observed from the flickering neon.

Bles...

Read and leave comments (8)

Someone had to show me the way,

though much of the time I just followed mine

so you watched from the distance, I know.

But it’s clear to me now, wish I’d seen it somehow

and done more to make sure that you know -

your example means more than the whole world to me,

for you stood your whole life for what’s true.

Yeah, somebody had to show me the way…

Mom, I’m grateful th...

Read and leave comments (0)

The primrose with its glowing face held high

Brings promise of the softer days of Spring

And gazes up towards the wind ripped sky

Through branches to the sunlight, filtering

New leaves unfold beneath the solemn frost

Where clasped they lie and frozen to the earth

A voice like yours is permanent, not lost

The primrose glows to celebrate your birth

And now each year it brings...

Read and leave comments (2)

Today my friend buries her mother in a coffin she has painted by hand. Today my friend's father tells her that she has taken on too much responsibility in the matter. She tells me he made her feel like she did not have a choice. Today I will get my hair cut. Today by mid day my friend will have buried her mother. My friend is only twenty four. Her daughter is two. I ask my friend how she has been ...

Read and leave comments (1)

I am my mother's tethered umbilical cord

Read and leave comments (0)

So what do I like most about you

Impossible to know where to begin!

Your eyes, your touch, your joyous grin

Your Golden hair, your poor red chin?

The poet, the dreamer, the lover, the girl

The horse back hero, the Tinker Bell

The ducker, the diver, the girl with the plan

The believer in miracles, the Liverpool fan?

The swimmer, the fighter, the joker

The mover, the scous...

Read and leave comments (0)

There is probably
No one more 
I hate 
in this damned world,
Than the one 
I was supposed to love
More than anyone 
In this cursed world.

Read and leave comments (2)

Gracious as her title
God Blessed the earth with this noble warrior by name
Like oxygen to survive she is vital
Unique lady unlike any other
For Jane we are blessed Bright mother
Her heart dances and sings
Fine cut like a diamond
As golden as her rings
This lady is flamboyant as true as her beauty
She oozes style
Eyes sparkling like stars I see her soul in her smile
She cares and loves
...

Read and leave comments (0)

I want you to be

The one you used to be

Bright and fresh

And forever drinking tea

I want you back again

The one you used to be

Bright and bold

I want you back with me

It breaks my heart to see you now

Not the one you used to be

Now your thoughts are dulled with age

I wish I could set you free

I’ll always remember you as you were

The one you use...

Read and leave comments (3)

Sometimes I feel

I am alone,

None is there

But when I look at

The blooming lotus,

I feel I am among thousand

Happiness and

I am sparkled with

Merriment-

This lotus is my mother:

My muse!

Read and leave comments (0)

‘Ma’- the word sounds very little but

The world has not enough words to describe a mother.

 A mother is born affectionate.

The moon that had been illuminating the earth for so long,

It hid the face after mother was being created.

When a mother smiles, it seems as if the falling

Fountain makes a song of peace.

A mother is the garnish of life.

Life except mother is the ...

Read and leave comments (1)

you lay numb

hypotherminc, dying

the fire, it dances

taunting, flickering, in and out

like hope

hope that it may help

help to that your frozen fingertips

slow your chattering teeth

soothe, ebb the icy grasp of the violent, pulsing

piercing burning

that is your fear and your doubt and denial

the drowning, whispering, screaming

wave that comes crashing

beating ...

Read and leave comments (0)

you are drowning

swim, I know you can

you don't realize

the water

it will kill you

it already has

for, why don't you scream?

fight

but your voice is lost

not even 

the bubbles

reach the surface

Read and leave comments (0)

The Secret of the Sunflowers

is one that my mother knows.

How their gaze forever follows the sun,

the more that they grow

and glorious they become!

The late afternoon shadows lay forgotten behind,

they remind me of where our mother taught us

to always turn our minds.

Read and leave comments (0)

I’ve got a desire for a cheese sandwich on fresh white bread

Just like my mother used to make

I sometimes wonder if I’ll ever taste one again

You know, not any old cheese sandwich

But the ones my mother used to make

On cold winter evenings

She’d serve stew and dumplings

And her poached eggs on toast was a wonderful feast

Not ordinary eggs

But the ones like my mother...

Read and leave comments (5)

When they say to stay gold

Is it for bright days to sit between your ears?

All the cotton clouds, two or three, right there?

Or is it to find strength for your arms to pull you over the mossed edge?

Mama cried after every light accomplishment

Whether it be reinstated love or you set a day aside for treks and hikes

Or graduated from University

You seen Mama cry when t...

Read and leave comments (0)

Read and leave comments (0)

mother tongue is the
language
of ambrosia,
dip in it and sip the honey!

Read and leave comments (0)

The Motherly Sun

Ujjal Mandal, India

The morning weeps 
All night. 
When the white wind 
Helps to flow her thick tears more, 
The sun with motherly 
Affection wipes her wet eyes out.

Read and leave comments (0)

As we are born unto her
It is her fire that keeps us warm and safe
It is she who sacrifices all.

As we grow unto her
It is she we keep close too
It is she who sacrifices all

As we grow from her
She is never far from us

For she is our heart and our soul
A mother's love is a blessing to her child 
As The Lord intended

Read and leave comments (0)

I wish, I could take birth again
to hug my mom, want to become a child again.

She never speaks ill
only she doesn't get angry on me

She's alive and so nothing can bother me
whenever I step out, blessings accompany me

She'll hug tight if something happens
she always shelters her children

But someone got house, someone got shop
I was the youngest one in the house, I got MOM!

Read and leave comments (0)

"I want to tell you" she whispered

his heart cooled in the

sudden ice of their bed

"dont get mad" she urged

she'd been only fourteen with

a married man then

her mother taking charge and

from a long way off something about

a clinic

but what got him, sucked the love from him

was the tears

that claim of continuing loss

she'd even given him a name

no guilt

he ...

Read and leave comments (1)

Ujjal Mandal, India

Nothing is more precious than mother

As it blooms solely in heart's bright chamber.

Please keep her always, don't share

As she is such a rare flower.

Read and leave comments (2)

Maa*, the Maker of the World

Ujjal Mandal, July 4, 2020

Darkness pervaded the whole earth, 
Before our Maa came forth.
Today we are born, 
Yesterday buried we were like a cold corn.
Maa is none other than God
Whoever denies Maa, is convicted of fraud.
Do you know
Who made us? 
I am sure
She might be our Maa, 
Because potters know 
How to make dolls although, 
But fail to give l...

Read and leave comments (0)

Needles & Thread

I remember her sat at an old Singer sewing machine

Turning the handle in the half-light of autumn

Making dresses and skirts for herself

So that precious pennies could be invested in children

She made me a Lone Ranger mask

From remnants of black cloth

She had left from one of her creations

I wore it with pride and a whoop and a holler

When ...

Read and leave comments (2)

I see the world around me

Shifting from origin,

Natures and actions of people

Deviating astray with no precision.

Yet, among the chaos I seek and find,

The one soul who I thought I could easily leave behind.

Her eyes sparkling with love, and her heart, oh so kind,

She lifts me up with her energy, her voice revitalising my mind. 

She creates a symphony guided ...

Read and leave comments (0)

Like small children divorces are messy

Legal fees only add to the frustration

But perhaps the hardest thing of all

Is coping with an ex-partner's indignation

It's not easy but we must be fair to Belinda

She gave me the best years of her life

After all she is the mother of my kids

She was, all in all, a half-decent wife

Of course dear, you are my partner now

Bel...

Read and leave comments (0)

My Mother’s Kitchen

I’m in my mother’s kitchen

It’s a Monday afternoon

The oven’s heated up the air

The buns will be out soon

Everywhere there’s an aroma

Of cinnamon and spice

An apple pie sits on the table

I’m waiting for a slice

A black-leaded coal fire

Does it’s best to dominate

The heat and the smells

That the baking permeates

An old fridge hums...

Read and leave comments (5)

In Another Place

a soft breeze

drifting through an open window

hung with net curtains

the faint perfume

escaping

from an open book

the creak of a floorboard

cracking

above you

the shadows

caught dancing through the doorway

in a dim lit room

the taste of honey

clinging

on a teaspoon

the feel of a scarf

on your face

...

Read and leave comments (0)

Mam - Poem by Marie 

She left when roses ended bloom 
An empty chair a empty room 
Tears from the family fell like rain 
My mam died, I screamed in pain 

You knew we loved you, so why leave 
Mam do you watch us grieve 
Gone like the roses, dead life no more 
In my heart a pain I felt never before 

Why mam, why go I wanted you to stay 
Just like the roses god take you away 
Gone to...

Read and leave comments (0)

Read and leave comments (0)

legs crossed i lay, deep in prayer

as i enter her domicile pyramid prism with a rainbow flash

headspace filled with subsequent intrinsic peace and peachy afterglow, washing out wrath

sifting through the banks of her mind, i produce schisms, and visually metaphysical visions

visualization techniques split at the ream leaving a colorful flurry

scurrying across triangular entropy into ...

Read and leave comments (0)

You neglected me, 

didn’t protect me, 

abandoned me,

chose an abusive man 

over your children... 

I forgive you. 

I give you the

unconditional affection

never afforded me,

because I love you 

despite everything 

and I don’t want 

the past having 

power over me.

https://youtu.be/KtNYA4pAGjI

Read and leave comments (2)

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...

Read and leave comments (2)

I was a sexual woman

I was…

Until my consent and its importance,

I was robbed of.

This is the year where-

I rediscover her

In my coven

Friend to friend

My witchy woman tell me how to be-

A proud feminine,

Love bug again

I know, I know!

I will observe you in your glory

Take notes, mimic my old self and copy-

My memory

When i was classy, polite and dressy...

Read and leave comments (0)

I saw your face today

as I stared in the mirror

It was not before me

but right inside my head

Not me looking at myself

but you holding me in your gaze

The form was clear and true

You were alive to me

Your face filled mine

I became you

for a few moments

felt your mind in mine

the fear of your thoughts

and the power of your emotions

I know not why you

app...

Read and leave comments (10)

Mother

My son is late to night
A bit drunk
He may be staggering
In the dark.
God please return him back
Insulating  him from thug's attack.

Wife

My husband is late to night
In a bar bewitched by enticing eyes
He may be inviting a tart for a dance!

Please devil throw him to hell
He is enjoying himself
Under a spell!//

About the author

Alem Hailu G/Kristos
In The V...

Read and leave comments (0)

My mother was a purist
Material aspects did not appeal to her
Life performed in traditional ways
Hair imperfect, unkempt, unkept
Clothes plain, unadorned, undecorated
Ever since I was a child
It seemed that she was happy this way
Appeared
Then there was one night
This one night I couldnt sleep so I searched the house
There she was
My single curious eye peering beyond the doorframe
She ...

Read and leave comments (3)

Your warmth

permeates my skin

holding my  life

within your grace

The beating of your heart

resonates within me

a rhythm of life

that you bestow

Within Your breath

I am breathing  

without you 

I would never be

So I take from you

what you are giving.  

My life,My birth

My destiny 

Read and leave comments (4)

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...

Read and leave comments (0)

And I want to be a better man to you mum.. .

But you just don't agree with the things I have done, while I don't agree with having

to be socially accepted I need to conform, but you don't understand. 

I live for myself in a flurried world.

Where being myself is such a crime and I can't imagine myself alive, at the thought of  cheating my own mind... 

It breaks me apart!

Read and leave comments (2)

Note: there is some strong language in this. it's not too bad. it's not too excessive, either. one word in here twice, i think. and if you're wondering, yes, the colors mean something. and yes, im genuinely asking a question to you, the reader. and to the person this is about. but i pray he never reads or finds this. anyway, enjoy.

Am I selfish for wanting another hug? 

I handed you the...

Read and leave comments (3)