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Battle of One
To the death, we say,
Breath licked with flame, spits to my face;
His face.
Racing temples pump furious blood
Through ferrous veins,
Manes rise, eyes blister with relentless rage;
Eventless.
Then, clenched fists draw clotted blood
Through plum knuckles.
My neck buckles,
His neck,
Cracking bone like tinder,
The interweave of puffed ribs and scarlet skin
Glisten with fetid sweat;
I rea...
Monday 11th April 2016 12:02 pm
The Moth
The moth, she knows the flame will burn
But back again, again she comes,
Her velvet collisions dress the air,
Sparkling against these tempting embers
Where she throws herself over and over
Upon the most flickering of fascinations,
Such senseless self-immolation
Strips her to a carapace,
Leaving her scorched, naked, undressed, undone,
Beneath the tragic unravelling of her world.
Friday 8th April 2016 10:10 am
Should We Walk By?
Should we walk by the waters edge
Or swim against the flow,
Where men in oceans, stained with red
Live shortened lives below?
Should we walk by the waters edge
Or break against the waves,
Where women flounder where they fled
In watery graves?
Should we walk by the waters edge
Or thrash against the tide,
Where children drown in sunken beds
Whose parents made them lie?
Should we wa...
Friday 25th March 2016 8:10 pm
No Matter Where
No matter where your hatred stems
Or where you spread your lies,
Beneath your feet the earth condemns
These lands you terrorise.
No matter where your hideouts hide
Or where your burrows bore,
Pointless is your suicide;
Baseless is your law.
No matter where your masses chant
Or where your fighters flock,
Immaterial is your rant -
Unnoticed is your shock.
No matter where you instil...
Wednesday 23rd March 2016 9:22 am
Liberté
Thy pen; no mighty sword here preach
Where words, metallic, fall.
On blood-ink lines; stained city streets -
Oh time, thou horrors crawl.
Wrought freedom flits, it waxes, ebbs,
Whence censored bullets rain,
But fallow not among the dead
Doth liberty remain.
Copyright © Simon Austin 2015
Monday 12th January 2015 3:01 pm
When All The Laughter Stops
When all the laughter stops, when it abides,
And all the tears of joy begin to dry,
When all the world looks up from aching sides,
And all the breathlessness allows a sigh.
A light, so brightly shining starts to wane,
But hidden out of sight, battles in vain.
When all the smiles are full, when they recede,
And straighten out into a furrowed frown,
When all the life in vibrancy concedes...
Tuesday 12th August 2014 10:49 pm
It Is Nothing
But one single bullet, from barrel to throat,
Choked and opened the wounds of the world,
Unfurled in the seat of a phaeton,
Played on like the most tragic of tragedies,
Greek in essence but eastern in substance,
As Sophie wilts in the lap of Austria,
A single shot through the heart of a continent,
The blood racing fast to the carriage beneath,
Signals the start of relentless war lines,
It...
Monday 28th July 2014 11:51 pm
Four Floors
Her face was peppered with white powder,
The prouder part of her slender frame
Lay still, a weary head on a pillow
By an open window four floors away.
Eyes of glass catch hazed reflections
From the direction of London lamps
Lighting themselves one by one,
But she does not smile at their amber gleam
Whilst the seams of her soul come undone.
Vague melt solidifies natures crime scene.
Unh...
Thursday 23rd January 2014 12:02 pm
In Infamy
Yesterday, a day which now, will live amongst us for all time,
For history has changed its path
And we must fall in line.
For we at peace, with guarded arms, we chose to watch this from afar,
But we, deliberately attacked,
Must no more stand apart.
An Emperor, through wicked lies, convinced us of continued peace,
But sickening deceit was this,
As they slipped underneath.
For yesterday ...
Monday 9th December 2013 10:36 am
Kennedy
Around the shadowed corner, wicked lies,
Through telescopic lens and focussed eyes.
The autumn trees encapsulate the path
And crunch beneath the wheels they idolise.
The building crowds descend before the knoll
To catch a glimpse of this passing idol.
He, showered from all sides with the applause
And peppered from above by seasons fall.
Idyllic is this scene to which he greets,
As smi...
Friday 22nd November 2013 9:10 am
Retribution (From My Beautiful Lie)
(This poem is the second part to my previous poem 'My Beautiful Lie' http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=36793)
The lie I created I hid far behind,
Blind - vacuous and vapid, my rapid descent
Into madness was sealed, with gladness
The concealed face of my own lot was lost
And the cost of this deception was total,
Brutal at the very point of inception...
Friday 1st November 2013 9:58 am
Forever Let This Place Here Be
Forever let this place here be
A warning to humanity,
A cry of despair, suffering;
Death in total, unrelenting.
Forever let its soil be bare,
For life shall grow not anywhere,
This place, a scar upon the face
Of mans wickedness, mans disgrace.
Forever let this place here stand
As evidence of evil planned,
A barren wasteland, void of hope,
Where many left in clouds of sm...
Saturday 19th October 2013 4:10 pm
Purpose
She, born of the forge and cast from the pyre,
The fire of her birth soon vanished to iron,
Cold and lifeless, but still with a purpose
And then, from the worthless womb of coals
She falls.
Her sisters, countless in their tumble
Collide and stumble to the four corners
Of the earth. Rapidly consumed
Exhumed for a thousand years
Or perhaps two…
Here she, in the wood of ...
Wednesday 9th October 2013 3:09 pm
Hitman
I dial him up,
An unlisted number, of course
But easy enough to find
When you know where to look.
He speaks low, and slow,
I tell him what he needs to know,
No more. Not too much.
He books me in. Half-four.
Simple stuff - a time, a place, the door,
The colour, the number, the floor outside.
Then the target, to mark it,
Rough age, hair colour?
Height, weight, creed?
But...
Friday 4th October 2013 8:59 am
From Beyond a Dream
And pluck at scarlet fruits behind my eyes;
They pirouette in seven’s, eight’s and nine’s
Then drown in reddened lakes in twenty-four’s.
Their sodden tutu’s, drink them up through straws
And on their bloated bodies, here, do dine -
They make the most delicious cherry wine
So do not think their death was without cause!
Then from their shelled rema...
Tuesday 24th September 2013 11:35 am
In Limbo
Lost in limbo,
In these dark woods
Where we dare not go.
But I must find her
And bring her home.
She doesn’t belong here
Amongst the ravenous crows.
The moonlight spears
Like shards of blue glass
Through the thick canopy,
Piercing the black grass.
The trees block me
But I have a promise to keep
And I’ll push on through;
Miles to go bef...
Monday 23rd September 2013 8:57 pm
September Sisters
Twin sisters, both alike in majesty,
In New Manhattan, where we set this scene,
From arid lands flocks an old enemy,
To scorch the earth of this, a western dream.
From fateful skies the fatal flights descend,
But none the wiser to their pending fate,
The man and child, to happy affairs tend,
Their future sealed beneath a veil of hate.
Through vacant city clouds, their path...
Friday 13th September 2013 12:25 pm
She, Mourning
She pressed her hand against the marble, felt its words,
Ran her weathered finger through the crafted names.
Many faces that had long since adventured,
Left for others lingering to bear the pain.
The autumn sun caressed its face and warmed the stone,
She drew it through her skin and let it stay a while.
Her silver head was bowed, her company her own,
To spend a few more moments...
Monday 2nd September 2013 11:43 pm
Devil
Beware the shadow by the corner dark,
For there he waits for seven reasons sour,
His wicked tongue hath limitless remark,
Whilst therein seeking whom he may devour.
Be sober and be vigilant thy kin,
Thy adversary waits beneath the pyre,
Then walks about as proud as the lion,
To drag thy wayward souls towards the fire.
Thursday 25th July 2013 11:37 am
Come Me Hither I, to Die
Good people of this Christian land,
Here before you now I stand
And come me hither I, to die,
For by the law condemned am I,
And not a word in protest muttered,
Let not a ‘treachery’ be uttered,
These lands demand my soul depart,
By pain of death and muted heart.
For at thy King’s pleasure, ‘tis true,
I soon, to take my leave of you,
I pass not blame, nor beg for life,
...
Saturday 1st June 2013 8:00 pm
At the Beat of a Drum
At the beat of a drum,
The world changed,
Blamed on many,
Caused by few.
At the still of a heart,
The world stopped,
Spun by many,
Ceased by two.
At the loss of a soul,
The world cried,
Tears of many,
All for you.
Dedicated to the family and memory of Drummer Lee Rigby, born July 1987, senslessly taken from the world, 22nd May 2013
Friday 24th May 2013 11:03 pm
Sultress
All I have to do
Is tip her…
All over my lips, at first, then
She starts to go down
Better than the rest
Her wicked whip of joy cracks with a satisfaction
Unmatched
Snatched euphoria glitters on a crush
And then, oh the rush!
She slips to that place only she knows
My god, she knows where to go
And knows what to do when she gets there
Which, naturally, she does, so quickl...
Tuesday 21st May 2013 10:50 am
My Beautiful Lie
I hide behind a lie forged by my hand,
Before this chiseled frame,
Beyond the perfect shell they will not see my deceit
Thrown acrimoniously at their feet.
But they love the lie, the truth would only disappoint;
Disarray their shallow intentions,
After all, my invention pleases them
So why not let them drink up the joy
That it possesses? It impresses their eyes,
How the lies...
Friday 17th May 2013 3:26 pm
Animals
The Fury
Pitiful the morsels for the feeding of the rats,
Dished out unemotionally by vicious little cats,
Like vermin, out the rats they come and scurry back to hide,
Whilst all the while the fat cats feast voraciously outside.
The Persecuted
In the darkest corners of the high walled city streets,
The rank and rotten souls of human waste claw to compete,
Shuffling through th...
Friday 10th May 2013 4:17 pm
The Addict
It’s only one more
What harm will it do?
If you really loved me like I do with you
Then you’d let me just have it, no fussing or fighting,
Not sitting here giving me daggers, me lightning
And watching me suffer; I’ll make this the last,
I promise from this day forward I’ll fast
I’ll become a new man; just you wait and see,
But for now will you not be a bastard to me
And just h...
Wednesday 8th May 2013 11:12 am
Danse Macabre (The Dance of Death)
Oh streets, your weeping cobbles shine
Against the moonlight, wailing sirens
Beckon those that have succumb
To fill your guttered lines with souls.
Blistered, bloated, wandering lost
Through invalid eyes – flies feast
On stale skin, as deep within
The eruptions pulse to a deathly drum.
One by one they fall in line
Upon swarming sewer drains,
Stacked, like broken branches cau...
Wednesday 1st May 2013 11:15 am
Unto the Somme
Entrenched
Behind failing lines,
These curtains of shrapnel and sharp steel
Conceal my misery,
So seamlessly, absently
I go on, numb, alone,
For sensation no longer blesses me.
Relentlessly, I force back my fear,
The absent tears never reach my cheeks
And thick blankets of earth and sand
Choke my cries, damp, pitiful.
I fall to the boards clotted with death
As my bre...
Saturday 27th April 2013 12:32 pm
Broken Alone
The trees, so hidden well by thickened wood,
While senses hide behind the deep despair,
He, ridiculed by those that can’t but should
And persecuted by those that once did care.
As fingers point and clone the loaded gun;
They choose a victim crying on his knees,
To watch him beg for solitude, in one
And disregard his perennial pleas.
The rights and wrongs of progress bliste...
Monday 22nd April 2013 5:28 pm
For I am Gone
Do not look for me, for I am gone.
I am the silent songs of birds, the words
Of ancient etchings scratched off warm stones.
The lone tumbleweed on open sands,
Spreading nothing more across vast lands
And crashing into sparse trees.
I am the breeze on the path that is left behind.
The vacant mind of an elderly man captured
In a photograph. I am the white edge,
The ledge of a pr...
Wednesday 17th April 2013 2:57 pm
Untitled
Withered flowers fastened to a wasting bench,
Its plaque and pickled paint are weathered long.
The buckled slats curl flecks on harshest winter's freeze.
Where age defies intent to which it did belong.
As passers-by whom in their daily cues entrenched,
They, wrapped in woolen shields, look blindly on
And notice not the broken petals on the breeze,
Nor sense the echo of a parted...
Tuesday 26th March 2013 11:51 am
Humanity Lost
And fall to my knees.
The earth is cold tonight, my sight
Is sorrowed as I place my hands on its frozen surface,
No furnace to warm me, but bereft.
Here, on the borrowed hour
Of my death.
The frost seeping through my clothes
Chills my bones, I am lost here, alone.
The precipice in front of me is wide, and deep,
But full. I keep my head dipped,
Knowing they wat...
Thursday 21st March 2013 9:59 pm
Waves (A Final Letter Home)
I lie and let the waves wrap 'round my feet,
As midnight skies perform the second act,
Where black and blue so effortlessly meet
And force the waters cold around my back.
I feel the sand bequeath my buried toes;
To let the grit defy my sodden skin
And as the open door to my soul grows
I let the frothy waters trickle in.
The moonbeams push my head into a daze
And buckle up t...
Tuesday 5th March 2013 10:57 am
Amy
The breath had left her, not long ago.
Her face, pressed into the pillow
Drained black tears onto white linen.
Her fight had been lost; the long battle had ravaged her
And her iconic war paint scrawled ironic defeat in tracks
Down her pale skin onto paler sheets.
A motionless husk; as she lays there;
Her raven hair, unravelled from familiarity,
Fall's delicately on her back,
...
Friday 15th February 2013 2:27 pm
Lost
A face of steel is easy
When hidden behind.
Lost in false hope,
Drowning under memories
That my shoulders cannot hold;
They buckle in sharp flaws.
Watch me break at dawn
And vanish into dust.
My soul entrenched
Under a cotton shroud,
Unable to rise.
I will never again stand
So boldly.
Time, the only healer,
Has stopped,
...
Friday 1st February 2013 9:31 am
Sniper
I felt nothing at first.
Just the loud crack of a distant whip, the echo
Bouncing through the crumbling streets and fetid alleyways,
Painted with the stench of unintentional sacrifices
And scorched by the Middle Eastern sun.
He can see me, this one, even now,
Staring down the lens like a wayward sailor scanning distant rocks for Sirens,
Tempting him to death.
He’s watching me cr...
Sunday 27th January 2013 11:59 am
In Your Skin
It’s a funny place here, in your skin. Why do you keep it
So very pale? Like a sail left out in the sun
For too long and then flown at the turning of tides,
Though it glides across all of the seas
Its beauty is gone.
Such a strange place here, in your skin.
Like an ivory sheet thrown
Over sharp bones, pale tones and fingers
Pointing blame at passers by of unknown crimes
In ...
Wednesday 23rd January 2013 10:46 am
Oh Darkness, Sweet Darkness
With my acuminous arm
I saved her wretched soul, like the others,
I drew the blood through clotted veins
And lay her down upon the blackness.
I cleaved the meats from her ivory.
He knelt with me and watched her filth, her poison
Pour through the cobbled streets
Into welcoming drains.
Plucked from the cadaver,
Her vessels of virility are no more;
The erroneous allocatio...
Sunday 20th January 2013 12:25 pm
Mortality
I see him at my window tonight.
The moon, full and bright
Casts his dark shadow onto an icy wall.
A familiar silhouette, unmistakable,
Pressed against the pane.
The cold melts his breath into feathery diamonds
Running in thin veins down the thick glass.
His face, hidden and veiled in black
Glances my way and nods;
I nod back
Acceptingly. Suddenly,
The glass no longer divid...
Monday 14th January 2013 4:43 pm
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