Press play.

 

Mortality

Press play.

 Foundation of the piece.

A theme many don't consider until it's too late.

People taking people for granted, thinking they'll be around forever.

Title:

Mortality 

(A lone voice whispers)

My name doesn’t matter

Only one question matters

Who would you really miss

If you could only give them

One last mortal goodbye kiss, tomorrow 

Which one of your family

Friends or relatives 

All beloved folks in your Houses of Representatives

Would leave you wallowing in true sorrow?

For as true as the cock crows 

No-one is promised a date with Lady Tomorrow 

(C)

Copyright John Duffy 

Have you ever been in love?

 Press play.

Salute.

Lucid Dreaming

I dreamt I was once a priest

And holding a sermon was always my calling

Especially to help those in the dark

Lonely and alone

Who feel like they are

Forever 

Falling 

(C)

Copyright John Duffy 

Based on a lucid dream.

Vague details are below!

I dreamt I was in a gigantic church.

Like a football theater. Dressed like a priest.

Another priest introduced me.

Asked if anyone had any questions for our new speaker of the night?

A lady then stood up, reading her question from a book regarding sin.

I answered. 

Something like this to that lady and that gigantic audience.

Everyone sins at some level, for only one man was perfect. 

And if we show remorse

humility and a form of reconciliation with God again, for our transgressions 

We still have a chance to dance in heaven.

I went on to explain I have no formal training. Don't know hymns by heart but hear God everyday as I pray

Then the dream ended with the priest encouraging the audience to stand and clap.

Lucid dreaming is said, by some, to project your soul into other realities, you exist within.

Could I be a priest in another alternative reality?

Maybe it's true. 

Quantum physics are undoing a lot of previously unknown mysteries.

The strange laws of synchronicity might be at play.

A few years ago, I was asked to start my own online church.

Would you listen to one of my sermons 🙏🎈? 

Sending best wishes to my silent viewers.

Mr John Duffy 

Priest in another realm

The Nightwalker

 The Nightwalker

(A lone voice whispers)

They 

Call me Ramon

The nightwalker looking for her

The one who summons me with her faint calls of

Dépêche-toi mon amour

Dépêche-toi mon amour

(Hurry up my love)

And when I finally appear

She disappears smiling and whispers

Pas ce soir mon amour, laisse le grand jeu continuer. 

Cette poursuite passionnante est tout ce que nous avons maintenant. 

Ne gâchons pas ce rêve mystique de The Great In-Between.

Que la poursuite continue.

(Not tonight my love, let the great game continue. 

This thrilling chase is all we now have. 

Let's not spoil this mystical dream from The Great In-Between.

Let the chase continue.)

And then slowly glides like a vampire clad in black and gold

With long crow black hair 

To where I can never go

As I lament with

Tasanna

O, my love

My Lylak Queen

O, my love

A potent power of living

Breathing carnal sin

Born from the Babylonian bloodlines

Freed once more

By the Deep Well

To entice 

All in view 

Who dare pine

To be put under

Your spell

When you arrive

Like a new Cleopatra 

Dressed to the nines

In gold and diamonds

It's why I always wait

Like a faithful follower

Forever in the shadows

Hidden on the sidelines

For how can I win

Against such a goddess of potent sin

Elusive

So intoxicatingly 

Seductive

I feel blessed by Pāgānus

If Pāgānus was a god

For I'd walk the two hundred miles of

The Four Pillars of Zanzibar

To see your smile

Swim in the hazardous Pele Waters

At dusk

Just for a taste

Of your sensuous hypnotic musk

For obsession is a crazy horse to ride 

To dark places

Where low men scoop fire into their laps

Praying their clothes will not get burnt

As they wander 

Lost 

Like Bedouin Prince's

In the deserts of the mind

Walking the wet shores 

Of the Lylak

Looking forever 

For your silhouette

Never to ask for help 

Or to go back

It's why I wait

Here

In The Great In-Between

Fearful of abandonment 

Since the first day 

We met

For chasing a love like yours

Is like playing a crazy game with Diablo

Like Russian Roulette

Sometimes as I hear 

The footsteps

Of another arrival 

And when the Great Golden Trumpet blows

In that moment 

I always wonder

Is that your omnipotent power

With one kiss

Is one doomed to chase

And

Cursed to crave

To never forget 

To then ride to 

The wet shores of the Lylak 

To dark places

Where low men scoop fire into their laps

Praying their clothes will not get burnt

As their souls

Cry out in thirst

Dépêche-toi mon amour

Dépêche-toi mon amour

Hurry up my love 

(C)

Copyright John Duffy

 The Nightwalker

Image shared under fair usage policy via Pinterest.

Tenebris Oculi (L) AKA Mr. Dark Eyes

 A long occult gift for the inquisitive

Tenebris Oculi (L) AKA Mr. Dark Eyes

(A lone voice whispers) 

To all the mysterious souls just lost beyond my second sight and long reach

Maybe even you

Who are perhaps my number 2 from a pack of 7

Hiding somewhere unknown in Father Time's long silver grass

Watching my every move like Loki the Norse Raven

Lying scattered across all the oceans and before all the greatest of Antarctic lakes

Below (אֱלָה)

Quietly reading this and trying to compose inspired poetry

Beseeching your inner mind's great portico to quickly open

And spill forth

Secretive words only once whispered long ago and spoken in the darkest of carved out corridors 

Celebrating the Festival of Karneia on the Fourth

By the Pythia to bathe within its spectacular potency

In ancient Apollo's candlelit yellow temples in Pompeii

In cold winters nights

May these channelled words find a way 

To weave a magical spell to beguile your own inquisitive mind and everlasting soul 

To be slowly opened up with Apollo's ritual athame 

Carving poetry with Apollo's knife into your deep mind many kingdoms 

Everywhere you go

For you to then find the courage to breach your own inner great gates

To finally find and drink from that mystical ever-flowing well 

Found in the centre of all things 

To know how infectious Apollo's power is

Beyond those inner great gates

By only the true believers like maybe you and the many seekers of the profound truths 

Found 

In linking expressive verbs like daisy chain necklaces

Seeking to taste whatever their spirits really desire and then hoping to hold their nerve

And make the return journey home

Filled and sated 

With smiling faces

Wildly mentally dancing to a new sound

Announcing the arrival of their life's only holy obligation

Like a true gift at Christmas 

To then write profusely 

Be it at midnight or throughout the long days

Recalling and narrating the many sacred strands 

And complex explorations of the many layers of human emotions 

From Love

Hate

Life and Death

And whatever else

That comes smiling or snarling their way

From those just hidden beneath all blue and green seas

The Great Old Ones

In the deep depths 

Of the Final Abyss 

Hidden somewhere in the fluctuating waves of the Fram Strait

A passageway taken by those who deep dream 

Seeking that rare gift

Somewhere in the deep of the Arctic Ocean

Seeking their own Beginning

A journey into the deepest depths of poetry also known as The Exposition

For within that setting

At that time and place

They build like master masons

Characters and plots to beguile the watching world like a reborn Dante Alighieri

An occult philosophical theory found in the foundation stones of music and stories 

Poetry

Awaiting to be consumed by a new Adam and Eve

In the form of a tempting rust red cherry

Escribe como debes No dejes que tus expresiones se conviertan en polvo.

Write as you you should. Don't let your expressions turn to dust

(C) 

Copyright John Duffy

Image shared under fair usage policy 

Revelations

Press.play.

 An ode to that deep inside, which carries and leads us, towards the light.

If we try to do what's right.

Salute. 

Have a great Monday.

Title:

Revelations

(A lone voice speaks from The Great In-Between)

Have you ever really thought

How delicate yet courageously brave your eternal soul must be 

As it swims daily

Upstream 

Conquering painful struggles 

Day and night

Heartbroken dreams 

and encountering 

obstacles and people

As they come into sight

All frayed at the seams

In the deep sludge 

Of humanity's soul purging Black Sea

(C)

Copyright John Duffy 

Image shared under fair usage policy 

 

The Love Gambler

 Fragments of an unusual dream from last night.

A strange conversation between two lost souls, it seems.

It makes an interesting monologue, though.

Oh, the joys of visiting, Lucidity City!

Salute.

Title:

The Love Gambler

(A lone voice whispers)

Did you once truly love me

Like I loved you

For I need to know

If we were once 

A

We

Or is it still just another darkly lit daydream

Illuminated by shadow birthing white candles 

I habitually cling to 

In my self-imposed darkness 

One where we find true happiness and togetherness

Buy a house

Have four children and sit happy in contentment 

Did I claim a part of your once unapproachable soul

As you once preached

A place

Where now 

No one

No longer knows

For it's beyond their mortal reach 

When on that sad but memorable day 

In Los Angeles

You quietly told me 

Standing by The Four Ladies of Hollywood

To go

Was I just a childish

foolish dream to carry you 

On a crimson stretcher of unrequited love

To safety

Beyond some deep emotional pain 

You were going through

Am I now just discarded 

Like a drained paper Costa coffee cup 

Since you said your unbearable goodbyes

When you embraced

On that fateful day 

Before we went to Los Angeles

All your family and kin 

Sweet backstabbing lies 

Will I rise up to face any upcoming storms

Within these winds of change 

I feel like soft and sharp feathers on my skin

As it blows over, my prayers of positive new horizons 

Watching me standing

Like Ulysses

Here at the beginning of the world's many awakening United Nations

Or will I fall like one of The Watchers

Headfirst into the blood-red snow of self-flagellation

But as I pause and look back at my once thought complete life

Like the doomed wife of Lot in The Book of Genesis 

And meditate over its sad unique highways and unrequited byways 

I hope 

Deep down 

They are replenished with self-growth 

With blessings from a man who once died on the cross

On a hill with others

in Golgotha

With a roll of these lucky soul-transforming 

Black and white dice 

Called Transmigration

I now toss

To avoid the musky scent and dark gifts of Self Damnation 

Which could turn me like Lot's wife

Into a pillar of salt

Brought from Hell's mythical vaults 

To me

By a black flying albatross 

(C)

Copyright John Duffy 

Image shared under fair usage policy.

The Broken

 

(A lone voice whispers)

With reflection
In this
The midnight hour

I light a white candle
For the one

Who once held me
Under her miraculous power

Driven by loves
Powerful painful desires

For us
Two of The Almas Perdidas

(Lost Souls)

Maybe like you
One of the Left BeHinders

Who wallow and wade through griefs tiring wailing waters

With a brokenheart
After love says 
Farewell

To then become new drinkers
From Depressions deep well

Praying love returns
With a ring of a lone red bell

To see true love
Once more and say

Stay
Please

Please
Don't go away
And melt my heart

Stay
So we are now

No longer
Torn apart

But like all pilgrims seeking the reach of God
In their own particular way

We know that red bell will no longer ring

We know our hearts will never heal or sing

So we live
In a living version of Purgatory

Dying with each breath of decay
We take

As we watch and wait for our call

To join others
Now living beyond
Purgatory Great Gates

Enduring the greatest of falls

(C)
Copyright John Duffy

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The Silver City

 

I can still remember when we waited all night long 

Last October 

In winter

As a lone blackbird sung her early evening song

Sat holding hands 

Together

Before our time together 

Splintered 

Watching Luna ride her white chariot across the night sky

Sally

Your palliative nurse had dressed you in white and gold

Brushed your hair

Applied light makeup 

As a surprise 

For when you 

Woke up

We gazed for hours

In total silence, 

Looking deep into each other's eyes

Before we said our final goodbyes

Of only

I love you 

As your Midazolam tired eyes closed 

The hospice was cool and quiet

And the stars shone even brighter 

In that moment

The twinkling lights in your brown eyes

Went out forever 

And you laid cold and high

Due to continuous subcutaneous infusion 

And in all that following confusion 

When I cried

Holding your soft hands

Finally 

Realising you had died

Swimming in and out of the clouds

Like grey smoke 

Came a noise

Like a deep voice 

That made me choke

It said

Don't cry for the dead

For in the seconds they say their final goodbyes 

They wake again

In a new place

Where there are no more hospital beds

And people no longer die from poverty 

Cruelty or bloodshed 

But meet old loved ones

Like newly-weds

So take this from me

The communal processing officer of the now dead

Those that pass wait blessed by God's Head and with family and friends

In a Silver City that never ends

So dream easy

Stop crying

For those now dead or soon to be dying 

In dreams, they can soon visit from The Great In-Between 

Then the voice stopped as a shooting star shot across the now black sky

I asked Sally if she heard that voice or noise 

She looked intensely at me for a moment 

In that now quiet room and said 

Yes,

I thought it was your wife talking 

And that made me laugh

Laugh every day even though it might seem strange to strangers 

For in that second, after that loud voice 

I heard my Samantha say

Live well my love

Enjoy every moment of your time

Travel 

Spread hope and compassion 

And when you're ready

Laid in a hospice bed

Like me

Wear white and gold

The gold being our wedding band

And in that very last waltz with Death

When you take your last ever breath of the living dust

I will take you home to the Silver City where there is only love and no pity

Filled with people you can trust 

So I write this note

As I leave for Italy 

Here in this café for someone like you to read

The dead l

ive on forever

Waiting to be reunited 

In The Silver City

If you just believe

Beyond the realm of the living dust

(C)

Copyright John Duffy 

Are you a poet?

 I think I already know the answer.

Keep writing for someone, somewhere needs to read, what you're writing!

(C) Copyright John Duffy 

Reflections of an old Coal miner

(A lone voice whispers)

I leave this

Behind

My beloved painting by my old shaking hand

Now I'm ninety-three

For my children and grandchildren to see

For soon 

I'll be with my wife and their mother

My beloved Annabel Lee

A painting so they can always remember

That I've climbed into all sorts of dirty pits

Starting many years ago

When Ma gave me my first snap box and sent me to work in late December

When at fourteen 

I got one of my many work permits

And since that first day, I've scrubbed for hours

To clean my decent hard-working soul

To be healthy for my family before I went home

After spending all day and night

Just digging deep for black coal

I was born just before Gas was crowned as king and all generations went into the pit

Like all baptised to do so before us 

If we were forced to admit it

Men and boys who we soon knew forever would be our kin

Going into the light or darkness to earn a few bob

Following all our own fathers and grandfathers

When our time too came 

When they asked casually over breakfast

Are you, ready son

And we all replied over hot coffee with a silent nod

Remember me

My name was Samus O'Mally

From Gods Country 

In County Donegal

Where we chased the mad black stuff like it was our lives bounty

Those courageous strong Irish men

Who like me 

When we heard the call

Willingly sacrificed our brief lives

Chasing fools black gold

So all our families could eat and be insulated from all weather 

But particularly the cold

Until it, 

Black Coals Ghost

Finally stalked us down wherever we lived and hid like a wild hyena

Rewarding us with a fatal kiss for years of servitude and service

With a black medal in the lung called after something so tragic, I now know as emphysema

To then stand watching us all silently but bravely 

Fight its deadly embrace as we all grew old

Coughing up blood like we were living in Hiroshima

Forever now just tainted like so many others 

From brave fathers and mothers

For foolishly chasing the glories and stories linked with mining black gold 

So their families could stay warm and conquer the cold

Copyright John Duffy

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As Above. As Below.

 

My early morning post relates to the courage to embrace who you really are.

Many avoid doing so, and must fall endlessly in the void, as they trespass through this life.

Title:

As Above 

As Below 

Do devils and angels huddle around their monotone radios and quietly listen

As silent prayers are expressed and confessed

While waiting to help the weak 

Corrupt or the oppressed

Do Devil's eyes glisten

As young and old fools gather 

While devious deeds are goaded and corruptions sweet pills

Are simultaneously swallowed

By some as they quietly suggest

Do Angels wait to be invited in 

To bring more hope

Instead of sin

For those needing something else special 

To cope

Do they all stand around wherever they are

With some praying and some laughing to see 

Who'll win the bet

Do we all involuntarily shudder 

Caused by this complex life we contest

While we carry invisible tokens of our inevitable unseen guests

Linked to the good and the bad

The path may twist

As you stroll through its ever-changing strange roads

The toll booths may still need its payments in kind

The unearthly radios may relay your lamination's and prayers

But just walk on beneath their jubilant stares

They can but wait above or below

Until you get there

This life was never meant to be a paradigm

Filled with the realistic or fair

It all depends upon the attitude you wear

In all weathers 

When the clouds break and the bright lights herald a touch of a new dawn

Embrace all you are and why you were born

To help others

And yourself

And try to only listen 

To those angels with wings of white feathers

Not those 

Whose red eyes glisten 

Copyright John Duffy

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Being a Storyteller

 Some people sometimes ask me if my works relate to me.

I just answer:

A Storyteller

A realm of deep mystery

For the inquisitive 

(C) 

Copyright John Duffy 

The letter

 

Foundation of the piece.

A writer sending a love letter overseas to a love he has never met.

Do love letters still exist in the 21st Century?

Have you ever sent one?

The letter to Sophia 

Is it nearly midnight

My love

I can only hope those invisible tears aren't falling again 

As you dream of me

And making you numb

Is it supernaturally quiet there and do the streets beneath your darkened bedroom windows

Run empty and do all sinister shadows stand up straight 

Naked and bare

As you enter these narrative black gates

Does the seductive scent of a new escape with me from an old oblivion

Follow you everywhere

A new Heaven together 

Above an old Hell

A welcoming haven for us to hide within

Rolling like twin stones in its long sensuous green grass

Hiding from judgemental society within its long shadows

Except for the beating

Of your heart

And the vibrations of your breathing

Can you hear any other sounds

For I have seen you dreaming of me

In my sleep

Felt your beating heart and tasted the soft sounds of your breathing

Again and again

Do you still dream of us 

Been together 

We

Some class as forbidden

For we are wild untameable horses of obsession and yearnings

That needs to be experienced and ridden

Do you just crave a sweet taste of my red wine

With your soft red lips upon mine

Shall I whisper your name to the four winds and claim you in rhyme

Will you give me all I need

In time

For I know the sweet visceral taste of us embraced in fields of green

Will forever linger like a divine tasting honey

And our minds

Merged

Will cry out in elation

Reaching deep realms 

And keeps

So I just want to know

Will you send me something in return

As I wait inside these wrought iron old gates

In these so real lucid United Nations

For if you do

I will rush to you

In spirit 

Through all the falling raindrops

Like Paris to Helen

Caress your soul before all who stop to see

Touch you wantonly spiritually so you will never want leave

It’s what I believe when I close my eyes

Beyond the sacred old ruins of Gilgamesh

Beyond the grey skies of Emersha Amu

I just can't see you

With my eyes open

Only when dutifully closed

In prose

It's then I can truly worship 

And hope you feel my reverence

Touch you

As you caress my thoughts in rhymes 

For I need you

Like a moth to a flame

Like a living being

Needs a name

I am weak for you

My Goddess 

My eternal wisdom in the overgrowing darkness

Let me drown forever

Lost and spinning like Helicopter seeds

Tempestuously in your deep pools

Hypnotized forever within your dark eyes

As I stumble

From the stroke of midnight to early sunrise

As I wait for your letter

Let me feel your

Every drop of pain in words

Pain from old situations that still lingers and burns

So I purge them away with my own cleansing rain in return

For I am your own rain

For this purging rain has always been foretold

It has just lain with the old Crone in the deepest ancient unvisited woods

Waiting for the right moment to awaken and be understood 

Like now as we are finally ready

 

To enter that old wood

Listen

Do you hear that

Noise around you

It’s me just calling

For I can see you in my silver scrying mirror

Any time

Any place

In the middle of the day or night

Beseeching or taunting

Or just teasing with dark promises of unknown deep pleasures

Do not be afraid

Shy or inhibited 

For our ancient souls know

No set boundaries or red tape

No laws or treaties

No teachings

For we are untameable

Indomitable and wild

For we are truly free 

In here my child

You now know how to access my realms of In-Between

You now know where to go

Where I’ll meet you by these wrought iron old gates

In prose

This is our underground stream

A secret no one else knows 

Even when they dream

We’ll meet here ecstatically

In love letters

Like the blameless who are but truly pure

And we will lay underneath the indigo umbrella of the stanza falling rain

Expressing love with abandon in those new lands filled with no more pain

But tonight and tomorrow is but a long way away

Before you get my letter

So when you do

Do you still want to go beyond these wrought old iron gates to play

To lay blissfully under that indigo umbrella of expressions and get totally soaking wet

With lines and verbs

You will never forget 

To French kiss in deepest desire with literature and Walt Whitman

To relight new fires and put out old pyres

Before you get tired

And retire

If only I could carry your hand from your world into mine

But it only makes it sweeter

Only makes it more cherished

These delicious exchanges whilst we are apart

For we are just living masterpieces using written metaphors as our communication

As our refound old art

I know your heart may still be ravenous

Your mouth still parched

Thirsty

Your arms may be empty and forever still 

Reaching 

But my Goddess 

I have you to myself every night in those mysterious dark swirling isles

I receive

Just through those wr! ught iron old gates of verbs

You send

In lands where we will lay

Underneath that indigo umbrella

Where it always 

Always

Still rains just Love

Whatever the outcome

And hopefully 

We no longer feel numb

Whatever may come

(C)

Copyright John Duffy 

 John Duffy 

I am The Crow

Press play.

My secret name comes from Babylonian mythology

Where it never used to snow 

Are you lonely and want to escape to my Chateau 

Where the buffalo and elk hide in time

In its long shadows

Just look in that bathroom mirror 

Light a red candle and whisper

Come for me at three

Yuyu Hakusho

Take me through time to Babylon 

To your Chateau

Where it never used to snow

Show me what's behind this world filled with so many 

Visiting corrupt bordellos

Their last picture show 

Take me willingly 

For I have a deep desire to really know

And I'll come 

Like a flying crow

From through time

From my archipelago 

In Babylon

Where it still doesn't snow

If you're ready like a domino 

To fall to the floor 

When you hear my footsteps 

As I open up your bedroom door 

(C)

Copyright John Duffy 

Image shared under fair usage policy 

Need inspiration?

 Press play.

Universal Change 

The world is changing so fast and tomorrow, hopefully, will be better than today or yesterday.

If your self-belief lasts.

Did you know the Lord, whatever your faith, gives you three things to survive in life?

A bright electromagnetic light to lead others out of the dark

An invisible shield 

And a metaphorical sword

The light is your bestowed unyielding belief in doing something good

That lays within you

In every single sinew

The shield

Is your faith magnified to be the cornerstone of your belief in the goodness of your light

And the sword is the strength to use the light and shield to constantly try to defeat and dispel the darkness 

Whenever it appears, 

If it follows you 

No matter where

You're stood 

I’ve obviously just created this just to inspire you to keep moving forward, with positivity in your life. 

Regardless of your fears

Instead of wallowing in deep pools of fast flowing soul tears

I don’t know you and you don’t know me, but universally, shouldn’t we just try to inspire each other, and others?

Instead of using negative narratives?

Have a wonderful upcoming week and keep those three things close 

For you'll never know when they are needed the most 

Salute.

(C)

Copyright John Duffy 

Unable to let go

 Foundation of the piece.

Is life just a purging of the soul and to ascend to a higher plane of existence,

do you have to let go of everything and everybody you once loved or knew? 

To do so?

Or would you wait to be called to join them if separated because you couldn't let go of your old life?

Title:

Unable to let go

(A lone raspy voice talks in the fog as it slithers in - to a hidden audience)

I crossed over

In March 

On the fifth

In the year of our Lord

1902

And all these sad years 

I've sat 

Patiently waiting for her

I've watched 

Our old beautiful world

Burn

Through the blackest of fire filled nights 

Through two world wars

Witnessed hearts bleed

With incomprehensible need

Seen corruption and illusions unfold 

Hand in hand

With greed

Out in the warm and cold

As the seduced welcomed evil into their strongholds

Watched shining stars fall

Sat thinking of my fate 

As I wait

Pining asking myself 

When will she call me to walk and join her through that silver gate

That I look to

Down this dark road

Every second 

Whenever I think

Of her

For I've looked in

Old memories that once beckoned

Explored all the seconds and who knows

Linked to being found guilty of sin

Chased paper boats

With endless time 

Just hoping

She's coping

In Heaven

And not broken in two

Like me 

In this Deep Divine

But still

Perched 

Upon this rock 

Chained like Prometheus

I

Wait

Even though the Mendli

You lot listening 

Think I'm crazy

But my old Love 

Still cuts me open

Making me cling to an old  life

With wild dreams of a new beginning

So angels

Forgive me

But hear me

Quick

Take my hand

And lead me home 

To her

Give me the Star Fire

If this can't happen

Or you can't do it

For I fear

I can no longer

Wait 

For the opening of that gate

So let me cross the burning sand barriers

Step straight through the eternal fire

For is waiting for true love

The price 

Worth all this pain

As one 

Moves on

And one remains

Show me a happy couple

And I'll show you the fire that ignites 

And it's that light

That I pray

Keeps carrying me

On horseback 

To my beloved wife

Throughout

All these 

Endless nights

As I fight Father Time 

To return to that old life

(C)

Copyright John Duffy

?

The River

As Goddess Aphrodite

With her dark eyes

Emitting a hypnotic aroma

Of almonds

In her flowing white gown

Stood on the ominous

Invisible broken banks of שְׁאוֹל

Unspoken grounds of an

Unseen Sheol

Just perched on the edge of humanities

Peripheral vision

Far from the silvery fields of Elysian

As torn carcasses

In its red waters flowed and

Floated by

Ruined misshaped

Corpses

Of outright Racism

Subtle hidden whispered outtakes of Hatred

Enticing strands of coveted Jealousy

Green envy

Or homophobia

Embedded by

Apollyon

In the many silent

Watchers deep souls

Dire Despair and Hopelessness

Being one of its many followed

Old pagan Leaders

She cries to you

Instead

Reader

As she holds up

In shaking alabaster hands

Her divine golden

Jewel encrusted goblet

In the swirling white smoke

And speaks to your

Higher self

Will you

Fill up my cup and bring

Love back into the world

To help the many

The deemed

Unfortunate

The homeless

The broken

Who I can hear so viscerally

Who still to me cry

Wherever they be

Or would you too

Just follow the multitude

And see me

Standing here on the broken

Banks of Sheol

As you too

Perish and die

Without hope and

Float by

To forever dwell within

The Fifth Dimension

Where you will forever

Wander blind

Never again to ever see

Ruled over and into the deep gates of

Eternity

By the

Lord of the Flies

Mephistopheles

Copyright John Duffy 

Country Dreaming

(A lone voice whispers)

 I can still subliminally feel 

All those sad fears

Rhythmically swirling like sharpened kitchen knives

Within all your world crazy choices

Which cuts me so deep

Like cold Tamahagane steel

Above all this new

Life's 

Now old noises

I can still just see you 

Sitting there

In your darkened bedroom

Somewhere

Oversea

Dressed in that familiar soft white lace

With translucent tears

Running like the Nile 

Down 

Your beautiful face

Thinking of me

As a lone crone

In a faraway forest

In triumph 

Sings 

Dances a wild jig 

And rejoices

Overjoyed by her spells

Creating such paid for turmoil 

Of fake excuses and tragic surprises

In you

For

I know

It's not fair

What you're going through

But trust me

I'm 

Going through the fire 

Too

For 

This thing we started with a match 

This inexplicable magical thing

This molten fire that still burns so deep

Like it's taboo

Since we parted

Reaches so deep

Inside

I can't sleep

Can't work

Can't recall

How many times

I've cried out 

Brokenhearted

For I remember

Those sweet salad days

In 2021

Before our love

Painfully crawled away and died 

Like a silhouette in the setting Autumnal sun

When we parted ways

Walking on the beach

With the girl next door

Who came to me

Unexpectedly

Like a serene gift 

From The Holy Sea

Gently fluttering by

To say hello

Like a rare beautiful Glasswing Butterfly

But now

We're but  two 

Lost souls

With nowhere to go

Just wondering round

In familiar sad round circles

And looking into 

This purple haze

The very mouth of this black abyss

Before me

Looking at the mistakes

We once made

In my scrying mirror

As our tarot cards 

Were first laid

When we unexpectedly first kissed

While we walked

Its tired pavements

Lost in its maze

I pray and hope you still

Think of me

The ghost

Who still loves his beautiful rare Glasswing butterfly

And all the games we once played 

From the Realms

Of The Great In-Between

Sent to love you

To remind you

You're so special

An astral envoy

Sent like a 

Spiritual Kestrel

To inspire others 

Especially those

That suffer in silence

So turn that Southern Country music up high

To drown out your world's violence 

For a light like yours

Must shine

Smile and remember me

And it's why

This old ghost

Can never say goodbye

For our old love

Lives beyond

The seas of this black abyss

Forever 

Spinning

In my memories

Of our

First poetic unexpected kiss

(C)

Copyright John Duffy

Image shared under fair usage policy via Pinterest. 

Need some poetic motivation?

 Need some poetic motivation?

Do you sometimes make promises to yourself to keep going

Regardless of what everyone else is doing

A promise to take all things as they come 

For in the long run

Worrying about what could be

What could happen 

Will simply stifle dreams 

So as they say in Latin

Carpe Diem 

Seize the day

Be that vision of success

For all to see

(C)

Copyright John Duffy 

Questions for the inquisitive mind

 Questions for the inquisitive mind

Press play 

(A lone voice whispers)

Above all, have you ever wondered if poetry is but, a tree full of rebellious fruits of insubordination

For the few to shine their light

Away from the mundane landscapes many choose willingly to live within and sustain

Worshipping the dark Gods of consumerism kneeling in their carefully guarded pews

To be used and perused as an instrument of grassroots resistance 

To help maintain happiness and subdue pain

And to find a form of balance in a crazy world of finding your souls role 

In the great halls of existence?

(C)

Copyright John Duffy 

Have you experienced poetic Jouissance?

 Press Play.

(A lone voice whispers)

Have you emptied your soul late at night

All alone

Wrote words to lay on top of the white marble altar of poetry's grey tombstone

If you have

You're not one of the crowd who follows fashion and directions from secret social conditioners

For in that hour of self awareness 

You embrace something so magical 

 While in that quiet solitude

Alone in that room

Solitude 

Not to be confused with loneliness

For you are surrounded by The Spirits of the Twenty-Six Letters 

Who waits for the call to start swirling 

Seeking rebirth on paper

Or other forms of scrying mirrors

A new life for eager eyes to see

To maybe treasure

From land or sea

Wherever they be

And to you 

Death will never conquer, for your words will echo like ringing Christmas bells 

Into eternity 

In the Vast Halls of Apollo 

For in time 

All poetry is constant and collected

In a great never-ending room in the Akashic Records 

The Past 

Future and the Now

Hum to drums playing pagan tunes of happiness and sorrow

For the hordes to read poems at their leisure for pleasure

To find just something they need in whatever they read

So fear not

Rejection or criticism 

Fear not

Judgement or lament

For the gift you share

Is heaven sent

Passed down like a golden trophy from The Spirits of Twenty-Six Letters 

From the gilded Halls of Apollo 

In a gentle breeze 

For they can feel your intense need

Sweeping down their misty plains and green wild hills

Like the last charge of Genghis Khan

For them to answer

With hidden scrolls

Filled with clues to write poetry

To satisfy the thrilling call of illuminated souls

Seeking

Jouissance

(C)

Copyright John Duffy 

Noun: 

Jouissance

Physical or intellectual pleasure, delight, or ecstasy.

Source:

Google.

The Vow

Press play.

(A lone voice whispers)

I'll buy a white silk ribbon
Tonight

From O'Mallys
My love

On our golden wedding anniversary

Lay it on your favourite glass dresser

The one we bought in the snow

A few months ago

Light one of your white perfumed candles near it from Reardon and Sons

Visualise all our cherished memories

Together
Within it

Then tie it
Into a sacred white bow

And gently kiss it and put it under

One of your favourite blue pillows

That way

We'll sleep together
Every night

Especially tonight
Real close

Even though you're gone
Like we once used to do

For our love is still stronger than death

And lasts beyond the grave
And it's how I

Now a lone survivor
With Charlie

That beautiful dog
You once bought as a birthday surprise

Wait
Praying for you

In one of God's
Repentance, grief filled Caves

Continue

Continue in absolute hope
With our beloved happy memories of you

Lighting our way
Through this firefly-lit blackness

Like one of those white perfumed candles in our bedroom

With all the crazy things
We once used to do

(C)
Copyright John Duffy

Image shared under fair usage policy)

The Oracle of Necromanteion

 The Oracle of Necromanteion

(A lone voice whispers)

He who walks without the most holy of ways

Will never return

Until they have learned not by sin be swayed

As true as new trees are made

By lay played

In so many wet insidious ways

By those hidden in the chasms

In the faraway stars

For people like you gathered here should be careful 

For without faith

In any form 

The nearby Darkness can always open a small gateway to sin

And if that abyss is opened

Revealing 

Desolation's

Fatal sandstorms

It gets so much harder 

To let hope crawl in

So O ye

O Ye 

On the yellow beaches

Beseeching

O ye 

Gathered round me

To the worthy few

I summon by the power of the Purple Flame

Virtue 

By the Divine Will of your choice of God

To guide you

Amen

Through Acheron

To the blue Stargate 

So you can 

Once more

Run

(C)

Copyright John Duffy

Art by

Adolf Hirémy-Hirschl in 1898. 

Will you join my Children of Poetry

 Will you join my Children of Poetry?

(A lone seductive soft female voice whispers)

Will you follow me blindly 

Into the very darkness dear one

Of the labyrinths of The Eternal Mind

Where all precious things merge in rhymes 

For there is no time

To sneak past the Old Fallen Watchers from a dark Past

Into my gardens of the unseen

Or unspoken 

Mankind 

And all things that seem in your world that will never last

For in time

They'll all shatter to be broken 

My lonesome child

My divine one

Will you call to me

And whisper

If you're lonely 

Seeking fun to reveal yourself in poetry

For you've always 

Known me

Deep inside

If you're one of the anointed few

If you once called for my gift

To express yourself and maybe others to lift

For I live deep inside and follow like a rare nightingale in flight

And all I ask of you is write

To let out your light

To be courageous 

In front 

For all to see

So 

Come and accept me

And on that very day 

In every way 

Early morning or night

I'll appear and be the first and last thing you'll see

In whispers of words

As you walk

Neck deep 

Into sleeps many domains 

Then into my ancient

radiant still deep waters

While Mother Moon smiles as you are consumed

And as those translucent soul rousing waters covers your head

You will join my Children of Poetry

In one of my many side stanzas filled rooms 

To dance round my pagan pyres 

As my rhythmic music and a symphony of voices

Singing in poetry

Surround and regale you

With a never-ending fire

With wild stories of

Sadness or glory

For time will die and expire like a hunters' doe on my arrows

In my endless lyrical forest 

As your soul 

So hungry 

I try will nourish 

So will you summon me and whisper

Come to me

Calliope

Open my eyes

Share your precious light

Tonight

And then enter my eternal Midsummer's Night's Garden of Surreal Dreams

Where everything dances to a new tune

Dressed in red 

Gold and blue

To my poetic tunes

In my mythical realms

Of The Great In-Between

What says you 

Reader

Will you acquiesce 

And say 

Yes?

(C)

Copyright John Duffy

Image shared under fair usage policy 

Saturday Musings

 Somewhere 

Someone 

Needs these words to lift them when they feel the world has drifted and left them

You're not alone 

Pray and God will always try to answer your call on your ethereal telephone

(C)

Copyright John Duffy 

Broken Relationships

(A tired voice whispers)

And so it ends

We are now silent strangers sat watching each other

Alone

On the midnight train 

To our spiritual home 

(C) Copyright John Duffy 

Foundation of the piece.

Do you still see or are compelled to see, how an old flame is bearing?

The Muse, called Masseen, whispers.

 Hey

You do know there is still so hope in your world

As time commences
Consolation in understanding

That regardless of how low you might be feeling

No matter the
Consequences of

Politics
Worldwide situations
Economies
Or misunderstandings

The Burning Eye of Heaven will still rise again tomorrow
Offering kind rays of rebirth

A new chance of freedom
To explore its wide open road on earth

To offer a sweet form of liberation

For at some point
We all need hope and salvation

To embrace its divine melodies and sensations

And to burn bridges to our once painful past

From old memories and experiences that may seem to linger and last

For your inner Continents of Contentment

Count on it
Or pain could still walk past
Smiling

So peel back those layers of self-doubts

Explore

Take your life and share your love to the broken
With your heart wide open

If all else fails
Here's a free gift

From I

To help you be born
Again

Masseen
The Shadow Queen from The Great Beyond

Light a white candle in silence

Feel the energy of the flame
Tune out your worlds noises of violence

And repeat three times to your God of choice

Oh, Lord!
Hear my prayer

For I am worthy

Show me guidance
Give me forgiveness

For I am worthy

Offer me a drink of strength from your spiritual cup

When things turn blue

For it's why
I always return to you

For you always in prayer
Make me feel worthy

Amen

(C)
Copyright John Duffy

Automatic Writing

(A lone voice whispers)

Don't forget me

My beloved Gabriella

For I'm where The Seraphim's 

Now sing

For I've found a new seat in Heaven 

A place I can slow down and say

I've found inner peace

After my soul's confession

To the Keeper of Keys

Peter

The Soul Reader

 

So don't weep for me

Don't cry yourself to sleep

With deep depression

For I still now wear our golden eternal wedding ring 

Even though I watched you Watch me get buried 

So I want you to rise each morning with a wide as a country mile smile

And strive to stay strong

For Time is but a slow wheel

A brief interlude into the throes of eternity

So know we'll meet again

Just on the other side

To carry on loving each other 

In a new ride

Within a serene place

In The Great In-Between

Where Angels pass you smiling dressed in long cloaks of bright silver

Golden sleeves and halo's of white 

In luscious fields of emerald green

For there is no more day or night

So wipe away those wet tears

I see on your beautiful face

Through this

My scrying mirror 

For I'm not alone

Alexandria and William

My spirit guides

Are always with me

To welcome me home

Now I have no fear

And all that old pain which once plagued me

Has finally disappeared 

And I'm no longer visually impaired

For I can see such astonishing things on the electromagnetic spectrum

That humans can never see

Things walking around you all

Unheard 

I guess I must have been once good and not totally impure

For Jesus to have wiped my slate clean 

When he gave me this new visiting card

To speak to you 

So take your time coming 

Enjoy what's left of your life

For I'll always be waiting

Within the swirling grey smoke you'll see 

When you first arrive

Clears

For something may seem worse than some first feared

But I'll be there to hold your hand once again and wipe away your happy tears

But until then

Cling on to my memories

Those special ones you still hold dear

And I promise with the Lord as my witness 

I'll wait patiently until you too appear

My beloved Gabriella

That beautiful young woman 

Who I first met 

Thirty years ago

Standing outside Billy's Bar

Dressed in white and blue

On 856 River Avenue 

Enjoying the hot sun

In the Bronx

Somewhere in New York 

On 10451

(C)

Copyright John Duffy

Image shared under fair usage policy 

The Midnight Visitor. Underneath the Crying Moon.

 (A lone voice whispers)

I stood over her luscious form

Bathed by the cool glare of the Crying moon as 

The Ancient Mother pretended to sleep but watched as she slept

Listened to her slow breathing and

Watched her twin mountains

Rise and fall underneath her white silken sheets

I knew

She did not know that I was there

For

She slept so innocently and soundly

That mysterious lover of mine

With the long crow black hair

Slowly I eased back the silken modesty protector

Gorged my hungry eyes on her sensual body

And witnessed once more

How

She was so beautiful under Mother Moon

The Ancient One

As she laid bathed in the pastel moonlight

Naked as the day she was born

And stepped into the light

I knew why I waited so long

To touch her

Fear she’d run

But courage was with me that night

Tentatively

I leaned over her majestic mountain peaks

And ran my soft tongue across her luscious lips

For a sweet taste of her soul

Her eyes

Even though closed

Fluttered and she muttered something so low 

It was hardly audible

It was then

I knew

In that instant

I could cross

The hidden boundaries between us

From my world to hers in the physical 

Because tonight everything was metaphysical

For with Mother Moons pagan blessings

Anything now was possible

I reached down and drew a heart shape

Upon her soft cheek

 Then bent low and introduced

 My luscious lips

To her mountain peaks as

Her breathing increased in tempo

I knew what I had to do

Before

The Ancient One

Bade me go 

I ran my hard fingertips from the soft nape

Of her seductive neck to her ankle and back again and

As a faint aroma of

Almonds

Appeared from nowhere

As I looked down at her

My living breathing book

Filled with so many

Stories music and poetry

I silently thanked the Almighty

For answering all my nightly prayers

Running my tongue over my lips

As lightly as I could

I tasted ambrosia

So delicious

It made me feel so

Eager and amorous

I kept my eyes upon her face

My warrior princess with the long crow black hair

As I trailed my index finger as light as a feather across her hips

A groan of pleasure escaped her throat and crimson red lips

I marked her forehead in the sign of the cross

With wax from my white candle

I always carry

The Joining of Spirits potion

Given to me by Her

Who lives in a mysterious hut

Hidden from all

But the true seekers

Across the Pacific’s many deep oceans

I smiled in the darkness of the room 

As I knew when she awoke

I would be with her forevermore

No longer dreaming for this is now real

I reached down and held her hand and

Drew

The sign of the cross in wax

On her soft skin

As I kissed her hard

I tasted sweet heaven and knowing that my Mark connected us deeper still

I knew she would always return

To me

In the longing hours

Even going against her own will

I watched her breathe me in deeply

As I seduced her mouth and

With a deep sigh

She started to cry

Don’t go 

She whispered in my ear as

Her eyes suddenly opened

But Mother Moon had called me home

From that bedroom

And all I could do was savor Her taste

Her ambrosia

Knowing I would return and all

Her curves and desires

I will be granted the time I

Need

To truly consume

That was yesterday

I just left her with a simple line

I WILL RETURN

Copyright John Duffy 

The Monologue of Saul

 The Monologue of Saul

(A lone voice whispers)

Do people 

Maybe even you 

Who have ever been broken in two 

By love

Sometimes sit wondering 

What was I thinking of

Was I seduced by a dark dream from those hidden in the byways and half ways 

In-between 

By Pagan old kings 

Jealous queens and their armies

Whispers of spells from their invisible lips 

To see false things which might seem true

Only to drain 

My love away 

With every sweet touch and kiss

By gesturing old fingertips 

From daybreak and into the awaiting night

For is to love

Just a sweet game of chance

To let the heart dance

The passionate Milonguero

To risk all 

Even the fall

To sit one day 

In silence 

Wondering

Oh, why did I risk being cracked in two by love

Only to sit pondering 

Like so many other broken in two souls

What was I thinking of

Was I seduced by a dark and dangerous dream 

Linked to love

From those hidden in the byways and half ways 

In-between 

From below 

Or above 

By Pagan old kings

Jealous queens and their armies 

Whispers 

Creating spells from their invisible hungry lips 

To drain away my love 

With beckoning gestures 

By old fingertips

As my heart silently yelled 

Ringing an unheard 

Red alarm bell

 

With every sweet touch and kiss

Inviting me 

Like Dante Alighieri

Into an old hell

From daybreak and into the awaiting night

Mesmerized 

Under pagan old kings and jealous queens

Spells

But deep down

I now know

As I go

To love

To live and love in any given moment 

To taste any form of love

Might be a mystical game of chance

A chance to let the heart dance

The passionate Milonguero

To risk all even the fall

To sit one day wondering

For I now know

With experience 

All beautiful things in sweet exchanges once lost

When each moment is remembered 

Those sweet tranquil ones

That one still treasures

The most 

To risk all and even if only the heart briefly dances 

The passionate Milonguero

In the arms of love 

Is always worth the cost

Even if you end up feeling 

Used up 

Lonely and lost

(C)

Copyright John Duffy 

Milonguero:

One example of the 5 different styles of dancing the Tango.

Image shared under fair usage policy 

The Illumination of the soul

 Press Play 

(A lone voice whispers)

As a person, you must know

Deep down 

You're part of one of the most spiritually 

Illuminating 

Literary movements there has ever been

A gift sent to you for self-expression from The Great In-Between 

A means to pull down old towers with new or old siege hooks

Open closed doors

By maybe writing a blog or book 

To walk through anthills and moors

Of poetic stanzas

To find who you really are 

As you pause and really look

For above all things

Magic in poetry is real

A form of rebellion from the mundane

A resolution 

A Bonanza 

To push back boundaries in a form of grassroots resistance 

To power and social control

 

To be able to purge the destructive nature of humanity and the need to share its beauty

To those watching on patrol 

As they go 

For you are so gifted

So never be afraid to share your Illumination of the soul

For someone somewhere

Always needs to be lifted

(C)

Copyright John Duffy 

Image shared under fair usage policy 

The Invocation of Xo

 Press play.

(A lone female voice whispers)

Within these enticing words is a manifestation of magic from me

An incantation from my higher self

My spirit

For you to take to the crypt 

Beyond all your eyes can ever see 

Ven y quédate conmigo

For within these magical words,

I sign my secret name with this poetic invocation 

Deeply

Into your hypothalamus

Sweetly 

And

Slow

Ven y quédate conmigo

To unconsciously follow you 

Like a Little Hobo

Everywhere you go

Ven y quédate conmigo

I've cast this now you've read it as our own individual spell to allow you 

To carry me within your each and every breath 

Until our deaths

Ven y quédate conmigo

So I can see you grow

From Spring to the last Winter's snow 

From above and below

Ven y quédate conmigo

You’re inviting me in whether you know it or not

Ven y quédate conmigo

Admit our love

So this won't stop

Merge with me

So I can help carry you through any rain or tear drops

So say after me mentally as you read this

Ven y quédate conmigo

Come and stay with me

Xo

And I will come

With beating sounds of your heart's rhythmic drums

Ven y quédate conmigo

Come and stay with me

Xo

To be as one

Ven y quédate conmigo

(C)

Copyright John Duffy