Need some inspiration?

 (A lone voice whispers)

Have you ever really loved your life

Even after you called it a thousand names as you fought through all its pain

Have you relived wonderful and sad memories which always linger and still to this day

Remain

All of those gifts are yours for they all reside deep down inside

Just buried alive

For you are an incredible illumination

Just born to feel irrefutably everything around and within

Even when you're humbled and feeling defeated

You may sometimes in quiet moments 

Feel sacred for you bathe unknowingly in the perpetual purple glow

Of a glorious unseen sun

For no matter how far you wander and no matter how far you run

Your inner sun holds treasures for the soul

The more you give the more you feel whole

Although you may change physically every seven years or so 

You're indomitable

For you unconsciously study the splendours of life

You celebrate the joys and endure all the pain

For your own inner belief and uncompromising deep  faith is truly formidable

You may be tethered and stranded to swirling rhythms and outrageous patterns brought about by Chaos

But you'll always rise to materialize to create a new sanctuary

A new glorious cosmos

Embraced and blessed with a divine symmetry

And within this new cosmos between powers of inspiration and sensation

Those slow steps into a new wild life is simply your own occult seance

Some may desire the paths you've once walked

Some may behind your back talk

But may the many side-roads streets and byroads

Be filled with happiness and love

Newer experiences and faces and may they still thrill you

Offering compassion and benevolence whenever you need

Learn to control your weaknesses and vulnerabilities found in your own Achilles' heels

Within your many worlds

For its fears are irrelevant

Celebrate in the curative power of intense pleasure

Satisfy your thirst and hunger within its revered well

Initiate that free intense deep dive to impenetrable depths

To find your own blazing strengths

Guide yourself gently from your crux to create new worlds

As your guardian angels watch filled with happiness as you unfurl

Let love and laughter elevate you

For you hail from an endless paradise

To create your own secretive realms and sacred sanctuaries

Pay tribute to your own true spirit

For its inner beauty is beyond beauty or compare

Write books

Indulge recklessly under the umbrella of life's great oak tree

Create great musings through the gift of expression found in cathartic poetry

But above all

Keep singing and smiling

For you're an original

Simply surviving

It's why I'd  like you to read this for you're simply mesmerising 

Copyright John Duffy 

Nikola

(A lone voice whispers)

Will you all still survive flocked together like starlings as one 

Before Tuesday 

5th of November 

With such interconnected surreal deep thoughts

Many in here ask 

In this great silence and whisper into its endless abyss 

Does will it last

Peace

This magical thing between so many others but only us when you read this

Echo in vivid colourful dreams while we stand still impatiently waiting

For that drunken call to summon us on the stroke of midnight on 5th of November 

While you all gather together in strange-looking masks 

To sing drunken pagan songs full of strong oaths or immoral convictions 

To try to still cling onto all those things you were brought up to respect and believe 

As you attempt to push back that congregation of darkness which will appear

With wide dilated eyes

Will you pray upon your now nearly bare altars of hope

 With just about anything used as a means to cope

As some of you kneel to pray to try to continually believe 

In political hope

Will the watchful eyes of our friend and one of life's many unspoken saviours

The Winters Sun 

Turn into sleet and rain

As it remembers the millions of lost souls who died in agonising pain

We in here can only pray she will still shine ever brighter

 To seed new faith as she still mourns and grieves

No one knows all the answers, my child 

Everlasting hope and some form of peace could arrive 

So you could maybe conquer this crazy new normal we all see

Or it could all go wild

And turn into a new savage garden which resets a dying society 

Where dreams and people are greedily consumed and repeatedly defiled 

By those in charge obsessed with creating constant streams of self absolved notoriety 

While the masses queue up alone standing two feet apart 

Defeated to believe it's conceivably the only way to survive 

Venturing around like tattooed indentured new AI-controlled slaves 

Or hiding lost in alleys 

Back rooms or doorways like unvaccinated exiles

All living blindly under the auspicious black red and white umbrella of a new world order

Called a Fool's Paradise

Will things change in 2024

Well, we'll wait and try to guide humanity 

For it still has a fighting chance for it's never too late

Copyright John Duffy

Amy

 Press play. Salute.

(A lone voice whispers)

Remember me

For I've been trapped in a dark place

Beyond painful thoughts and loves many war crimes

But still, I’ll rise and begin to climb

I’ll climb higher to a new place through this burning fire and melting ice

 

Past my old pain whatever comes

Whatever happens 

 

Right past all the friendly liars

Whatever transpires

 

I'll say my faithful goodbyes to all my worldly deniers 

For I've heard so many sad things and sung drunk and danced alone to some famous love songs

Filled with my heart with sorrow and gin until it nearly broke and relived so many wrongs 

Which echo and sing deep inside as I wander and think throughout this grey swirling smoke

My old friend

Mother Depression shows me those painful signs still lingering within my mind all the time

Signs of my once lived life's true reflections

But I’ll survive and I’ll rise even though I may feel down

For I've acted out my life on so many big stages

Throughout its crazy life-changing ages

But I’ll grow back to how I used to be

To be brave enough to face the new world and whoever I’ll see

I might still feel trapped in that dark place

Beyond anyone's thoughts and crimes

But still, I’ll rise and begin to climb

For when this grey mist finally lifts

I know I'll still be remembered as one of life’s twenty-seven priceless gifts

Just this time around I'll be climbing higher

 

Climbing higher to reach new places hidden in time

Where I can unashamedly stand proud and recall a previous lifetime that was once all mine

Before I go on to an original place where I’ll be free

Wherever I look as far as the eye can see

Just remember me for I’ll soon be better

No longer hiding but just singing a new melody

This is my hearts love song and glory

As I'm now free to tell one of my life's many stories

One where I'll sing endlessly when I enter that new day spent no longer crying

You wait it's my life's only decree

For I'm now rising higher

I might have been once trapped in crazy drug-fueled places

But still, I’ll rise above all crimes

Just you wait and see

For there's a new life’s that’s waiting just for me

In here 

Now I've accepted I'm just another soul 

Living in the hidden realms and grey swirling smoke of The Great In-Between

Copyright John Duffy

The Beguiled

 

(A lone voice whispers at 3 am)

There was always something so controversial and medieval about exploring semi-clothed in the dark shadows

All the deeply hidden essences of you

But I guess it's just one of the many unspoken reasons why I stepped into your view

Just unconsciously attracted when you appeared right out of the blue

Copyright John Duffy

A wild woman called Gipsy Lee

Press play. Salute.

I once came upon a dangerous woman with no limits in a rundown bar

Somewhere wild in downtown Sans Francisco

And her seductive magic cleansed and captured my souls' sad spirit

When she danced into my life in that wasteland of old emotions

Under a moonlit road

Way past midnight in that bars lit up disco

Singing such a sweet Motown song which mesmerised my soul if when I'm pushed

I'll admit I tried not to hear it

But when she pirouetted with such elegance unworthy of this world as she twirled

And her dark hair swirled and draped across her shoulders on that deserted candlelit dance floor

When I saw her crimson red lips move to engage all who looked

Penetrating deep down to their innermost sensuous core

I just knew she would be the heaven-sent gatekeeper and owner

Of the fire, I was born with in that front bedroom on my ma's farm

In good old Kentucky and the eventual bringer of such heartbreak

If the moment came when we were tragically condemned to wander alone like loners at closing time

When I had spent all my drinking money

I can still remember her eyes shone so luminously like twin Philosophers Stones

And in that unmarried glimpse which started all of this

We started a metaphysical short dance in a mysterious statement of feral love

With an introduction of wet lips which ended in a fateful goodbye French kiss

For as I thought our free hearts had melted together

Combined and into merged into one

But at that very moment

I can always remember her saying softly

Breaking my heart forever

Now I'll always own you and mister

I'll permanently be the sole woman you'll always pray you'd won with that only kiss

For from now to until evermore

You'll only dream of me because now you're done

Copyright John Duffy

My Child

When my beautiful Marylou died

 

And the once garden bound butterflies gathered and paid a fleeting visit and surrounded her open casket

When the Blue Queen landed on her now cold lips to give her a farewell kiss

We found inner peace as we embraced the exquisite thought

It's not only us 

Who would of her miss

Copyright John Duffy

(Image from a recent poetry prompt)

The Tramp

 

 (A lone voice whispers)

I was dirt poor when I was born many moons ago

I the now blind man speaking to you

One of my new silent audience  

  

Who I can feel that you've survived watching and listening nearby

Everywhere I go

Now just listen as I continue

I came into this world naked and small without a suitcase of money gold or any forms of riches

A big house or even a flash car

I always expected when my time was due

I'd take that same familiar road North

The one invisible to your human eyes but a shimmering road in this half-light

I still see so well

I always knew I'd walk proudly for even though your eyes might only see strands of my darkness and cheap rags

Those sad symbols of degradation that some in society use to see and judge whilst raising hell

For when my time was eventually called and my flesh and blood ultimately fell

Corrupted and maimed continuously by the lice and vermin of lamentations

Heralded into life by outrageous curses

Cheap lies and wicked spells

I saw with my own semi-darkened illuminated eyes

My greatest stories reborn in all who truly knew me as they still once breathed and stood tall

Tales of strength compassion and endurance

Hope empathy and kindness

Oh how I smiled when I swam that final nautical mile to the Silver City

Under the bluest of all skies

My immortal lines of never judge a book by its cover

Or the many beautiful chapters hiding inside its jacket might never recover

For they might just be an old heartbroken lover struck down in their full glory by life

A deserted husband or abandoned lonely wife

A lonely brother or sister

Lost and wandering looking to life to re- kiss her

All just searching for new reasons to mend old tainted wounds

Linked to severe trauma relived in countless internal rooms

Who might just need an encouraging hand

To help release them from unwanted friends hiding in deep purple emotional balloons

Those lines above I once said to the many spirits who gathered at my passing at Manoir de Ban

In Switzerland

On December 25  

1977

Will always echo into eternity forever in heaven

I might have been dirt poor when I was born but I always knew I would swim home rich

For I was never a tramp

And now will always be a reborn soul whose ephemeral translucent skin no longer itches

Like so many of those still alive who willingly sell their souls for cheap riches

I may have once pushed a trolley full of junk before you

But to me

I'm still the richest man in the whole goddam Galaxy

Just once tasked with struggling there on Earth in temporary agony

But deep down inside something used to whisper that soon, I'd be reborn to stand valiantly

To then wander free like a returning soul stepping off the old boat and entering smiling with a new passport

Into Gods Eternal Country

And then the lone voice vanished as though called back by powerful representatives

Hiding in the ether

Those who speak in broken languages through the many hidden frequencies

In-between the silence

I sometimes hear in random early morning realities

Conjured by a strange form of medieval alchemy

Who pass me by like a fast-flowing breeze

Speaking about their lives and all its many strands of happiness and sad entwined tragedies

Copyright John Duffy

The letter left behind

 

(A lone voice whispers)

So many soldiers suffer from the trauma of theatres of warfare.

I recently watched a sad film of someone reaching out but struggling to reconnect with his wife. 

It inspired this voice to whisper it seems. 

Salute.

The letter left behind

Will you just try to smile for me

As I still ride one of this life's many wild and untamed immortal ponies

So two can never really feel lonely

As we both try to embrace the spiritual which is so holy

And fulfil some of the signs which in deep dreams

Have been shown to me

To be the love songs of so many doomed soldiers 

Who once sang together 

Covered in the wet mud or dark coloured sands 

From here in Iraq in The Middle East all the way back to Gallipoli

Some may still choose to sing feverish old pagan gossip songs  of disown him

Leave him and his mental health issues

But have they ever had a friend like me 

I can still remember when I was once unjudgemental 

An easy ear to listen to

A shoulder to lean on and I can relearn all those traits if only you'll wait

For in this life it's never too late 

Even though it's not always physical but mostly remotely 

Will you just try to smile for me as I still try to ride one of this life's wild and untamed immortal ponies 

A testimony of slowly accepting the feelings of being emotionally damaged through continuous exposure to physical and spiritual physiological warfare 

Caused by fighting for my country 

To never recognise that deep down it's just one of those sad reasons why I always feel lonely 

But still, I'll stand strong holding out this invitation

Waiting for you once again 

To climb upon my wild pony 

And hold on as we ride together like a fearless Geronimo 

Throughout what remains of this life  

Through hell and high water 

Until we meet the metaphorical shores of the blue Caribbean sea

So we can once again turn friendships golden divine keys

To embrace all that comes hand in hand 

Whatever it be

I can only pray you'll still want to ride with me 

As I try to stand faithful and strong before this new war

Filled with not grey or black bullets or incendiary bombs but of emotive fires and volatile storms 

I can only pray you'll hold me real close

In the middle of the night 

And try to love me totally and keep me warm and whisper everything is going to be alright 

So I can still smile for me so two can never really feel lonely

As we both embrace the spiritual which is so holy

So we can ride together to try to find true happiness 

Like we once had and shared when I was so much younger when my mind was free and I was open to everyone who cared

and into that oncoming sunset 

Clinging on to one of this life's many tragic ponies

All I can hope for is a second chance and you find it in your heart to forgive me and know that I poured my heart and soul into this and really mean every word

Copyright John Duffy 

 

The Two-Faced Maiden

 

Now burnt and alone
Broken she watches the world
Searching for some kin

#Serenyu

Copyright John Duffy

The Saint whispers once more

 A lone voice whispers....The Saint speaks...

Press play. Salute.

Faith once so many years ago filled an endless number of its many ceremonial sacred cups and left a drop in them all

For me and so many others to drink from to believe 

Before being born a man to lead those to salvation who were being wantonly persecuted abused or deceived 

Faith once bowed to no one as it embraced excruciating pain and torment as its flesh and limbs were torn and mercilessly bent

Scourged before all watchers with some smirking whilst it wept being bathed in its own red falling rain

As it courageously knew it had to lay down its life for me and you to find a new means to renew

Faith once walked whipped and nearly broken but still stood unashamed

All alone praying for rest

Down the long Way of Sorrow to climb before crying crowds and smiling thieves 

To meet a fateful date at Calvary where many would pray heartbroken on their dirt ridden knees

All this Faith did dutifully 

To invoke God's will for all to have a chance to be free if they accepted his love 

And to then live their lives full when all sins are declared and confessed as they are rigorously consciously addressed 

Faith once cried to secret angelic watching eyes in storm-filled skies in old Golgotha

As it looked down from the bloodied wooden cross adorned with a thorny crown and sharp nails  

So I would have hope that forgiveness for me and you would never fail but through this act of selfless sacrifice 

A warm invitation into a new heaven would instead wait and last for decades 

A free entry into a new world where we are all no longer slaves

Faith once rose after three days for me and you and said

 

You are all my gathered witnesses of these great things 

For I once said I would come again to save you all and lead all the willing into a new spiritual prosperity

If in me you do believe

And so it came to pass

Faith and love was reborn in me when I finally called out into the encroaching darkness 

For God to save and help me to truly see

It's why I share this as I now live in here forever

Just joyous throughout all eternity

 

Copyright John Duffy 

 

Gwenevere

Let me in

I whisper to your old feverish memories in this semi-darkness

Between these two great voids

Separating me and you and so many others

By ethereal panes of shattered glass filled with tangible strands of much-loved recollections

So I can once again cross the deep oceans of Hippocampus

Flying for days and nights under its episodic sunshine and rocky shores

So I can warm you with my old love

For I will never stop and as you listen to this wherever you are

My hearts whispered secretive spells will forever yell

To reach that forbidden place to the living

That stays hidden as it holds you in its tight grip of a new seclusion

I can only pray my words are carried to lay before your new eyes

By this grey smoke gushing from my incense candle in these rushing four winds

Which will find a way to bind you to me again

So we can continue what we once found in this lifetime

A beautiful treasure called a meeting of similar minds  

Copyright John Duffy

Annabelle

(A lone voice whispers)

From the very moment, I first saw her in that tainted vision

Walking unashamedly lost in the molten glowing ashes of sacrificed angels

Who once fell and visited the abandoned city of Sippar

In the middle East

Is this the only reason why I'll always now be doomed to just miss her

My Annabelle

Whose velvety ship I used to love sailing in

When we got wildly drunk and under the watching audience of applauding stars

Entwined for hours with no thoughts of regret or remorse in earth moving litigations of sin

Copyright John Duffy

The Cop who whispers through my scrying mirror

 Press play. Salute.

The Cop who whispers through my scrying mirror

If I hadn't met you in this life's ever-changing silvery mists

Filled with dark secrets and unknown or expected unwanted  reckonings

I never would have known the true distinct price

Of the goddess of love

Lady Aprodites sweet soul all-consuming kiss

I wouldn't have known the deep thrill of running like reckless wild young daredevils

Through all the green fields

Covered like a huge yellow blanket of impatient daffodils

Hand in hand in the middle of Spring

Filled with youthful dreams of rightful victories and short poetic stories

Where we both would be heroes and we'd always win

Past all the lonely women sat unsatisfied

In white painted windows

Surrounded by falling white feathers

I sometimes see with my supernatural gift

When I still look beyond the reach of the irregular white lightning

That breaches the dark skies when the clouds and rain start fighting

Invisible to most like wondering ghosts

As it searches for new victims to strike

To bless and anoint them loveless to wander untethered unripe

Until they die

We once challenged Zeus and all his gods

Uttered wild oaths to discard all bonds to his secret fraternities and unspoken unions

Raised hell when the  moment needed its energies to break all spells

But like a thief in the night

Following us like a mythical warrior bounty hunter

Time and his cousin, Salomon caught up and separated us

Like junkyard dogs as we slumbered and took you away

My life's only lover

One day when I transfer into another lifetime

Past the gates of heaven and when I find that red familiar house

You swore you'd once again build on the corner of Whitechapel in Heaven

On the left

I know we'll forever be together

And as when we slowly dissolve into the everlasting purple ether of the endless continuum

With our last ever sweet kiss

We'll both know deep down inside

We have beaten death

But until then even though fate may have separated and broken our trust

I'll never stop playing lollipop in dark nights with my service revolver

Just for that courageous loud moment

When God will reunite and absolve us

Copyright John Duffy

#Gaza

 Press play. Salute.

(A lone voice sings for

 freedom. Can you hear her?)

I can only pray

Some day over the storm clouds  

Men won't use bombs

To settle old scores 

To restart old wars

So that some day over the storm clouds

Children will grow up to be all they can see 

So happiness can take seed and everyone can be free

Some day over the  storm clouds

I pray dreams will come true 

To help us all 

Find a way to get through

A new world of no hungry children 

No more walls to climb for liberation 

In any nation 

No more freedom fighters 

Having to use bullets like Dylan uses lyrics

As a new form of  critical thinking to divide us

So one day over the storm clouds

I pray all can be equal

So people can learn to share

In a new world 

Covid free

Where everyone cares

So somewhere over the storm clouds 

Even though we all may pray

This could be just a dream away

If we all keep the faith 

It will appear one day 

A place where hate will be replaced with hope

And love will prevail

So always remember

To pray for some day over the storm clouds

So men won't use bombs

To settle old scores 

So some day over the storm clouds

Children will grow up 

So happiness can take seed 

And one day over the rainbow 

Dreams will come true 

To help us all get through

A new world of hope

No more walls to climb for liberation 

In any nation 

No more bullets used like lyrics

As old forms of rebelling 

So one day over the storm clouds all will be equal

To learn to share in a new world where everyone cares

All this may just be a dream away

But if we all keep the faith 

It will appear one day 

A place where hate will be replaced with hope

And love will always prevail

For just one day over any rainbow

I only hope and pray this isn't another fairytale 

But it's just some day waiting to come our way

From over the rainbow

This could one of the greatest reasons 

Why we should all pray

Just for some day

Copyright John Duffy

Is this why you're a poet?

 

In the graveyard shift

Do poets seek profound words 

To help the lonely soul residing inside to atone

While the rising Wolf Moon smiles and watches 

As time and spiritual essences are consumed

Copyright John Duffy 

The Flight of the Eagle

 Press play. Salute.

Underneath these storm-filled clouds 

I feel you as we once more walk these lonely roads 

Together filled with pain in this everlasting spiritual falling rain

Once again

Shall I lean on you like so long ago 

Even now although your name still rings hollow

But deep down I'll always remember

I'll always still need you and you'll always need me 

To get through this life

Like we once used to do

I know you're scared and your world seems alight

And sleep won't come easy in the middle of the night

But just try to remember that memory from way back in last November

When we slept sated as the world around us screamed and wept 

And we swore to each other 

Our deep love we'd never surrender

For if you do 

Together in spirit, we'll get through

Like we always used to do

For where you go 

I'll always follow

Beyond the green ivy and wild temples of Apollo

From Greece to deep down into all those lost red valleys of Colorado

I know you're thinking no one has ever loved or cared

And you're still drowning in stillness 

That black cloak that appears at midnight 

To announce the arrival of Father Depression 

Who lives in grey castles 

Just hidden in the creeping darkness

Don't be scared

I know you can't see the light

But it's gonna be alright

Just lean memories of me

And we'll get through

Like we always used to do

Just remember that memory from last November

When we slept as the world wept

And together we'll get through

Sometimes it's all you can do

For where you go

In spirit 

I'll always try to follow

Beyond the green ivy and wild temples of Apollo

From Greece to deep down in good old  Colorado

Always remember

The eagle flies

Still looking for that old love that in his heart

Will never die

Copyright John Duffy

Dante Speaks in 2021

Press play. Salute.

What if when u die and you get to finally materialise on top of Mount Helion

And are asked by the gathering hordes below the ravaged ridges and ageless plateaus

Screaming and swelling in their endless millions 

Dressed in white shawls or naked trying to hide their opaque corrupted faces

All begging and asking what was heaven like on Earth

When you were once birthed by two of the multitude of the ever-changing races

Did you find love or chose to rebel outrageously with sin like one of us

Blindly led by the Almighty's fallen six-winged felon

How would you answer their crying questions

And share the essence of your time and spirits progression 

All those deeply mystifying souls defining secrets

Of all those sometimes happy or sad painful moments or transmigrational souls lessons

Did you evade the nine circles whilst on your life's work

Its sacred and only divine mission

From the first circle to the last

Did you knowingly avoid been allocated

Depending on the results which are worn permanently for eternity 

By everlasting bright shiny eyes which forever see through all your soul's many ever-changing masks

One of the hottest places in the Inferis 

That is devoted for those foolish in times of great moral crisis

Who choose to defend their all with an air of self-importance and impartiality

While avoiding sharing their love for all life

Wherever it be

Like it was a sanctified oath of their choice of Gods morality

Copyright John Duffy

(All images shared via fair usage policy)

 

#Friendship

 

The Invitation

Press play. Salute.

Let me in

I whisper in the darkness

Across deep blue oceans and rocky yellow sandy shores

To warm you up my new love

For I'm so hot

Let my whispered dark spells

Carried by grey smoke in the gushing four winds

Reach those once frozen tears

Falling from those beautiful eyes and reach deep into your lonely heart.

Feel its raw flame

Crimson like its one true colour 

As it engulfs you with total ease

Hot to the touch like fire

So addictive and seductively consuming

But beware

When it touches humans

Some are forever emotionally ruined

But like a rare expensive bottle of red wine

Bestowed from the dark places unvisited 

Let me melt those cold glaciers that surround you with soul-warming fires

Burning and spinning within my endless dark eyes

Feel the heat from my hands on your breast

The breath of my mouth

Tasting each word as your soul opens up 

Its dark doors and pleads to confess

No more to wait

But to climb my red ladder out of the darkness of Naamah's endless grey void

Before your beautiful soul is tainted and stands in line 

With so many others who make a mockery of emotions

Before they are destroyed 

No more to lie frozen under heartbroken spells

Conjured by dark shadows from leather-bound grimoires from the Lesser Key of Solomon

As you bathe in deep silence under a darkened purple-hued sky

Let that flame that once flickered so low but never really died

Those discarded old dreams which once laid forgotten in old days and lonely nights

Come back to life 

As I force back Damballa's darkness with my shining Astral knife

Are you kneeling naked and vulnerable in your red room

Awaiting my soft touch

Can I baptise you like Saint John The Baptist

To walk knee-deep into new seas of Galilee

Is that low spark of Longing

On fire in your very centre

Your precious divine spiritual altar

Aflame and burning so bright

Are you ready to get drunk on this lascivious potion 

I always carry

Stolen from the encampments on the perilous mountains of Asmodeus called Mother Temptation 

Will you drink and feel the burn

To melt as all those old once hidden feelings 

Slowly return

Will you then sleep unfrozen as they creep in

Is it then you will ask me

In hushed soft whispers to take you under and whisper new red love spells

To listen as you then slowly confess 

As your soul no longer weeps 

Just say yes

And acquiesce

My new muse

I'll be that willing shoulder and ear to listen

As all your previous fears  have a means to be expressed

As your new eyes shine in an exotic half-light and begin to come alive and glisten

Copyright John Duffy

The Seducer From The Nether Realms

Press play. Salute.

(A lone voice whispers)

Before you enter Summerland

From my cold winters filled with songs corroded with drum beats and electro-funk

Filled with strands of the sinister 

Will you frolic and dance before all

I know you're here reading 

For I can see you steaming through my words

Will you follow me wantonly and blindly to another world

I can feel you 

I just wana know

Will you come to a new winter storm in Summerland

Will you take my soft hand and willingly go

For we’ll be reborn 

In lands of purple and gold

For I’m but a stranger now in these mortal lands

For I'll always shrill and still seek you in the sharpness of all your deepest of lucid dreams

For you are my sacred feminine

My own Mother Nature

For where you are now

In whatever dream state

Lightning will take me there

And I will explode into flame

Can you hear me call your name

For in here the darkest of nights

I still call and endlessly whisper 

For I am a son of the Light and Dark born into creation

And you are my undulating ocean

Will you take a sip of my love potion

For I'm like a new reborn Prince as I seek a taste of you 

My own drop of divine ambrosia 

Will you take me with you

Oh yes

Let's go

Copyright John Duffy 

If Desiderata was a person

Press play. Salute.

If Desiderata could Speak

(A lone voice whispers)

Like my name Desiderata means

Things wanted or needed

Are you ready to go willingly into the spinning grey void

That eternal karmic Kaleidoscope that announces the dissolution that comes at the very end

With a taste of everlasting joy

Resounding in all your inner vestibules with such profound pace 

In this or any other given moment 

If you are suddenly pulled from this life you desperately and materialistically chase 

And are then forever retired from its rat race

You do still have time you know 

Time to embrace that feeling of finding a sense of tranquillity or peace 

Before you go to a place where nobody knows 

So try to end all physical or emotional wars 

So that they can wither and be left in thousands of invisible pieces

So others, and more importantly you, may live 

As unwanted negative emotions surrender as they are depleted and defeated 

So send out your words bravely and confidently 

As your illustrious envoys

Carrying within them like loyal and faithful bannermen 

All your positive inner truths and not fake lies echoing within the hidden rhythms of your voice

Always with courage choose to embrace or ignore others as is your sovereign right 

For you have always been betrothed a rightful place 

At your choice of Gods glorious tables in The Great Silver City

A sacred place to sing and tell old much-loved stories of family and friends

Into the endless night

But until then

Always remember you are a child of an untameable universe

 

An embodiment of all its spectacular unique might 

So elect to resist mirroring yourself to others 

For that in itself can herald and give birth to a multitude of distress 

Linked to bitterness and jealousy

Two of the original sins known in some circles 

As the encroaching

Darkness favourite fathers and mothers

Celebrate instead your own life as an everlasting testimony of being alive

A rare enjoyment denied to so many scattered through poverty and war

Pleading for help  worldwide 

Even though they courageously diligently and quietly strive everyday life to survive

Take precautions when looking for true love and take care in all your worldly affairs 

For even in this self-evolving world

A fluid fast-moving place where even your soul may thirst

There are still many people tarnished with devious strains of mischievous deceptions

Just reborn again from the old cities of Sodom and Gomorrah 

One of the original Babylonian versions of the first

But take friendship and kindness graciously in 

Whatever form it beckons with a gentle hand

For brave souls just hidden inside many good people 

Still remain

Kindred souls who'll freely

Without any invisible agendas or programs

Try to guide you through this life's sometimes depressing falling rain with nothing to gain

Above all 

Be you for no one else can

See those old falls and drumbeats of failure 

Those sad scars you still and forever will wear deep down inside from many old wars

They are your spiritual purple tokens and golden medals

Trophies on gilded shelves where no one feels or sees but you 

All metaphorical symbols from past difficult times 

From significant moments once conquered or still mountains to climb 

To help you get through 

For you are you

Your own version of your empires and kingdoms

Your own king or appointed queen

And like all rulers of vast dominions 

You should always explore advice 

So seek out those without sharp knives for they can guide you to newer plateaus

So your life can once again begin 

As new relationships or much-needed things unfold 

And those old tattered 

figurative brown suitcases you carry upon heavy shoulders

Filled with old sins or fears are thrown away to be vanquished and relinquished

In quiet moments of introspective solitude 

Let not overthinking destroy your mood

For by doing so 

Fear and loneliness can suddenly appear

Causing happiness and joy to be forced to stand down 

To eventually over time 

Slowly deteriorate and sink

And then like a talented magician performing on the world stage 

Chose to disappear before you can blink

And finally

At the end of all ends my friend

Strive to look back on your life with a wry smile that you never willfully left any true friends or family behind

That you never lied and tried to destroy their reputation or name

That you gave more than you could ever ask for 

Whenever you appeared out of the blue at their front door

That you were true and genuine and not just driven or motivated by addictions connected to sin

So you can be at peace with the deep thought that the good memories and favourable stories linked to you will never cease

And that you always held out the golden lit torch of friendship 

To all the kindred you could find whilst walking life's many diverse and multicultural streets

So be in unity with your life and always remember

This life is like a Shakespearean Midsummer Night's Dream

Many new adventures still remain unseen where you'll forever run free

When your time is called to go through that other silver door that connects this life

To The Great In-Between 

But until then

Love your life and live

Use these words to find the courage and strength to be you 

For all the watchers

The many incredible friends or devious narcissistic foes to see 

For you have so much more to still give

For in the end 

It's all you can be

It's why you're still alive

Don't live a fake life like one of the condemned on social media 

Who just love to pretend

Copyright John Duffy 

A piece inspired by Desiderata by the American writer, Max Ehrmann from the early 1920s. 

 Salute.

St Mary

Floating through the many wet rivers of my cerebral cortex

She hangs in silence as I drink in the many strands of living

Just filled with a sense of profound elation and happiness at being at the very centre of her fast-flowing life

Her life source and energy which swims and comes alive

Seeping into every room of my inner fortress as I'm eternally forgiven

My savour who I now know personally as the legendary Mary

Copyright John Duffy

A dash of creativity on a rather wet Sunday at 7 am. 

Channelling JFK from The Great In-Between

Just press play.

Salute.

When the climate is right, I will release the full version.

Salute.
 

The Sad Emperors Confessions

 

Press play. Salute.

For my Messalina as I, Claudius from Rome. 37 AD. Speak down through history.

From all those sad love letters left behind

I still sometimes read whenever I feel the deep need

All those special poignant ones which still call to me

In the whispering darkness like faithful acolytes

Even though they always cut so deep afterwards like a sharp butcher’s knife

Those dark ones

Which salivate as they smother and conquer my every heaving breath

All those secretly treasured ones which still stink and reek with delicious samples of your Machiavellian so tempting perfume

Tinged with a mischievous seductive glint of guilt

Which I always see like lonely people engulfing each and every corner and dark shadows of this

Our old bedroom

A tranquil tangible scent

A subtle hint of all the wild memories of upcoming salacious sin

We once so wantonly engaged within victoriously

Yes you know the ones

All those French kissed pacts

Old whispered saliva sealed symbolic symbols

Of our impervious brush from on high above

Where you once said so delicately and so evocatively

I love you and painted a magnificent priceless portrait

In sweet kisses

So visually compellingly the legendary Michelangelo would have cried

If he had bared witness or tasted a drop of it before he died

You stated so bravely to the congregation of shadows and to the watching Nether World

In this life and above all its many claps of thunder

You'd be my mine forever

You'd stay to help me conquer uncharted wild treacherous mountains

Unruly blue and green waves and be my one and only wife

In this version of our new lease of life

But I suppose presumptuous deeds done in the Basking of The Witching Hour

After the stroke of Midnight

Especially when the Full Wolf Moon looks down hungrily and roars in silent smug victory

When young impish minds once cognitive and free from devious outside manipulation

Lie so drunk on white wine and divine lines of lazy cocaine as it outside rains

Totally sated on true human emotions in every vibrating form

But still so vulnerable to mystical dark visceral interventions

Of dark beings beyond the mortal norm

Where they can slowly but tentatively use dirty magic to introduce those carefully rendered unconscious

To step on to those dark pathways

Towards their badlands of Immorality and Ruination

But I guess those who choose to get wildly drunk or even high

Those who choose to go blindly and willingly

Or to be even manipulated subtly and convinced to utter wild oaths of fidelity

Way past midnight into the lonely witching hours should always be forgiven

This is my only wish as I stand here watching my old world burn

From here to eternity and back

As I remorsefully remember our first kiss that sealed our now unholy pact

Which announced to the watching shadow people and the Nether World

All our willful undoing

For you  

My vision of perfection

A Goddess Incarnate

I will always still wait

Just like another cursed fool

A now patient resident just condemned forever to stand still in this crazy asylum

Many goyim call Mother Gaia

With you as my cruel cold owner

My own ice queen who now sheds no more tears

My everlasting painful cherished spiritual addiction from who I always long to pray to hear

To free me from these rusty chains which keep me a prisoner in old lands

Where we were once free and never had any fears but looked forward to conquering all upcoming frontiers

Before secret unseen societies tore us apart and left me with this

A sad token of their misdemeanours

A red and golden medal which lies pinned deep above whatever I try to wear

Just sometimes a visible token of my dammed emotional state

I once to hide

Using expensive bright clothes and fake smiles to conceal from the watching world

My now broken heart

Copyright John Duffy

An Angel called Faith

Press play. Salute.

(A lone voice calling herself, Faith sings)

Let me purify old memories 

To be purged

For I alone 

Own all sacred keys

To embrace all vulnerabilities 

So you can be reborn 

With new responsibilities 

A whole new identity to be earned

To set you free

So you can be

The best 

For all to see 

As your new life runs 

To go so far

No more prisoner to tears 

To treasure the deep divine 

No longer to worship sin

No longer to taste more tears

Just let me be there

When you want me to hear you call 

Before you fall

Love infused with honesty 

Merged with trust and loyalty

For all the watching world to see

For we are friends 

Till the very end

Whatever this sad world dares to bring

Just let me in

To be the reason 

As your heart prays for something

Whatever the year or season

For I'm that one thing that has saved endless queens or kings 

And countless broken and destitute

The many the rich love to prosecute

Who I listen to even more 

Wherever they sing

Will you let me purify old memories 

That need to be purged

For I alone own all sacred keys

Just pray to call for me 

For my name is Faith and I'll appear to follow 

To help you break those chains 

To set your soul free

Copyright John Duffy 

For the courageous

(A piece for a recent online group)

 

Press play. Salute.

This is for You

Oh yes

I know you're struggling for I've been there too

And that's why I'm just writing this so you know

You're never alone

Even though I've no personal connection centred around really knowing you

The truth is we've all in some way shared the same sad path 

Oh yes

Me 

You and so many others

Fathers, daughters, sisters, sons, mothers and brothers

Even though this river of seemingly endless pain we all swim through daily

Seems so deep and in the middle of every night 

We all sometimes cry and pray for the peaceful salvation that comes from a deep sleep

Even though we struggle to walk and our tired limbs and all our joints 

May creak as they painfully ache whenever we feel weak

And our tired eyes may leak as we deep down inside

Lose strength and unconsciously weep

Take strength for that pain you and me have endured doesn't last forever

The better days will soon arrive

It may just take a while

The days and weeks may fade into months but that better day will eventually come

When you can finally walk or ride out 

Into the bright sunlight and look at the blue skies and courageously shout

It's great to once again be alive

This is why this was written for just You

If you ever needed a drop of advice

Oh yes, I know you've been struggling for I've been there too

And that's why I'm just writing this so you know

You're never really alone and if you feel lonely just always remember

There's always someone who'll listen and try to answer any questions

In all those wonderful groups

All you have to do is just pick up the tablet

Laptop or phone

From January until the very end of every December 

To help you begin a new year 

Filled with a renewed strength 

To bravely face the world without any fear

For there are so many caring friends in here who understand anything you may ask 

It's why they too joined to be part of one of those online wonderful community centres

(C) John Duffy 

The Transference

As we bade our final goodbyes when the sun even bowed its head as it saluted from the skies

We knew we'd see you again when the armies of ants surrounding the dandelions suddenly stopped and looked up

Copyright John Duffy

(Image shared under fair usage policy)