The Shadow Walker Speaks

 

My name is irrelevant as I only speak of something

I once had

But lost as I passed over

 

 

So speaking just between us and no one else

 

Do you like

Subtle questions for an inquisitive mind

 

Just try using the power of your profound imagination

To answer my questions as I begin 

So your icy river of curiosity can melt

Can finding any form of love define you on so many levels 

Beyond rhyme or reason

 

And does your mind wander because of this

Like a seasoned traveller

Throughout the ever-changing seasons of the rising sun

 

Dwelling on epic adventures previously run

Alone or with great people 

Or just trying to understand life and all its subtle meanings

 

Are you

My visitors and viewers 

Just relatively speaking

 

All but travellers trying to rebel

Against a mundane life

 

Like it's high treason

 

Trying to become light-bearers for others

I can only pray and hope

Through sharing some love and light

Kindness but more importantly 

Attention to help them cope

And are we the unknown poets

Even from in here 

The Great In-Between

Simply members

From some long-forgotten legions

Appearing at night

 

To with guile create mysterious worlds for you all to step in

The blessed few who in the twenty-first century 

Still likes real talking and society watching

 

From every region

 

As our stories or poetry parades symbolically

Throughout all seasons

 

Creating a liturgy of words

A symphony

For beautiful people like you to enjoy listening to

Or just reading

 

For are you blessed and anointed to be the addicted

And are we your much-needed dependency

For humans are all programmed on a deeper level to just be addicted to something

To take the silent pain of living on the edge away

With its cleansing rainbows 

 

In this fast-moving life

 

Where the true secret is to pick wisely if you really need to know

For most choices will only hurt you more

And cause more unwelcome pain

Wherever you go

Which surely will cut deeper

Later in the low hours

Like any sharp knife

As you wander

Lost mentally

 

Throughout the slow falling rain filled with disdain 

 

For you all need something

To help fill the deep void of need that you are all born with

 

And it's not something to be ignored

But to be graciously implored and

Explored

 

 

For what you receive in return

Simply reflects what you give

 

Some choose drugs

Cigarettes

Alcohol

Or just love

 

Some choose sports or even just fights

Some just choose music or to simply write

 

To them whatever their choice of poison

 

Is it how they choose to get the Light

Truly out

 

You

Does writing or just reading

Reflect essences of your immortal soul

 

And is a love of reading anything including poetry

 

A part of your earthly role

 

Mirroring a part of all your intimate

Dependencies

Driving you to create

 

Whilst covering up

All your own inner transparencies

 

Well

It has been a ride up to now

Filled with such revealing thoughts

And deep-seated questions

 

Do you want some more glimpses

Of the sideshows

 

Running through the dark theatres within my mind

 

Do you want to hear some more of my kin

Indulge you

 

With more profound suggestions

From in here

Our beloved prison

Between our dimensions

 

I can read your mind you know

Just say yes

So we can be together everywhere you go

That's why I'm waiting for you to acquiescence

And to once more allow me to step inside the dark labyrinth within your soul

Copyright John Duffy

The voice of Lou Henry

 **The voice of Lou Henry**

(A lone voice whispers)

As I stood one sad afternoon

By The Mighty Digotee

The deepest of all rivers of fast-flowing dreams

Standing alone in here

In The Great In-Between

An image of a golden-haired girl

Drifted by and disappeared so fast

 

Reflected in the black waters 

Ever-twirling serene reflective screens

Giving me a reminder of the sweetest image I've ever seen

So beautiful 

Cosmopolitan 

And who I knew would speak like a princess or queen

Even the great Cleopatra would have been so jealous 

Her sparkling blue eyes 

Would have turned emerald green

Then up came another

Floating quickly to the dark surface as the deep currents 

Paid lip service

 

Showing her grown-up adult face

An incredible picture of her 

Dressed from head to toe 

In sophisticated white lace

Fighting life with a wry smile as it tried to take her with its sharp knife

As her pulse still raced

But like all things flowing in that fast-flowing river of deep dreams

The one we call the Mighty Digotee

Anybody standing by the Weeping Willow Tree

Will see sights of what could have been

If only they took a chance and conquered all their vulnerabilities 

As I walked away due South to the second river

And watched the fast-flowing surface of the next one called The Fugentee

The river flowing with things that have eluded many

I suddenly remembered what that beautiful soul used to call me

But that's a story for a different day 

As I watched that gentle river flow beside me

Filled with wondrous sights of what I could have been

I'm Lou Henry by the way 

Filled will all things you could lose or cause you to feel empty

I always think

Is that why I keep seeing images of my beautiful first love

Called Jenny

The one who got sent by God and I left holding my brown suitcase 

When I was foolish and just entering my twenties

Copyright John Duffy

The Mandate Kings and Queens

A lone voice whispers....

With vacant empty stares and desolate soul crushing goals

They who love to stand on podiums to talk and preach

Those who'd like to paint the globe in anxious red paint 

Creating drum beats of suspicion to all within their reach

And then instruct mandates that could make a sane man faint 

For people to comply for their own safety 

With a straight face 

Pretending they aren't tainted 

Corrupted or even classed as crazy 

But in reality

The masses now wilfully mesmerised and gleefully enrolled

Are just restrained like prisoners in orange jumpsuits

By those they've put in control

Because of this and their devoted followers  

Who through social media 

Feel they can openly criticise whilst on patrol

 

This continuous talk of death and fear 

The threat of shedding so many unfortunate tears

Makes them listen to those issuing instructions even more

But beyond the limitations of all that seemingly hypnotising Fear

There is still hope

 

Hope in the divine knowledge 

Of a new freedom

Once we go outside their strict walls and rigid ramblings

Breaking free from their cleverly crafted paradigms 

Linked to isolation and confinement 

Trying to imprison all those poor souls listening 

As they read from their new Dead Sea Scrolls 

We can each still create a new kingdom of our own

By keeping our faith and looking between the lies

Whilst tearing up labels and testimonies from those corrupted dark trolls

Just following hidden instructions 

From the ghouls 

Who are really in the know

Members of secret societies whose motto is simply  

Money and greed

What they do not know is 

"Radix Malorum Est Cupiditas" 

A Biblical quotation in Latin 
Which means "greed is the root of evil" 

Which will be the mantra of the Devils Men when they come

And all they'll hear when their time is called 

And to 9th Circle be driven by the hell hounds as they are recalled

Where they'll suffer into eternally

When their pitiful souls over hot coals are hauled

Keep the faith
Better days are coming your way

Your life has never been just another commodity 

That can be easily bought and sold

If you never agree 
to put it up for sale

Copyright John Duffy

Musings as I watch the world spin in free-fall.

Santiago the Seer speaks to you

(A lone voice whispers)

A long time ago

With some blindfolded or tied to old green wooden stakes

They loved to stone or just burn us

Blinded by pure jealousy or incredible hate

Such a tragic mistake 

Just because they thought we were different

Since they lived in an unseen primitive world

Overflowing with such shameless mindless ignorance

We who once danced and sang to Old Mother Moon

Or just spun carefree under the mystical Sun

Maybe in our own woodland grove

Celebrating how our life was run

Or simply around luminous fires on secretive moors

As the cycle's of the world

Slowly ebbed and flowed

Always staying hidden from all

On the mainland's busy main roads

We the old and new singers or poets

Music makers

Authors and storytellers

Or just folk pushing through the mud of humanity to bloom like the Lotus 

Well known or still unknown

But still brave enough to stand tall and courageously

In front of all the world haters

For we are all representations of The Old Seducers of the Hive Mind

For we are all world shakers

We who have always fearlessly walked

All those strange roads

Wherever our Fate took us

And today we are all reborn

But now unafraid to live our true way

For all our ancient ancestors

Now just live and stay beside us in the fast-flowing flux

Leading us forward to celebrate our impulses

Like one of my old friends called JFK 

Is there a wild light within you too my child

A strange beacon which is always lit

That whispers to never quit

No matter how you feel for your God-given talent is real

Driving that deep need to write

Sing or just produce something special that can be constantly reused

In the face of groups who might gather and chant abuse 

Using all those all remembered God-given talents to truly seduce

To help others sailing in paper boats across humanities ever-changing and dangerous oceans 

Which around us all still flows in perpetual motion

Which could easily drown you 

In its many deep and conflicting emotions

For we are all human not sealed up shells

And so we are all baptised to feel that we are real

No matter how loud the brutes in society yells

So maybe one day you'll remember 

That you once with strength and conviction

Willingly kneeled 

To be blessed and baptised before Apollo's altar

The Greek God of creativity in but another distant lifetime

To then stand unafraid before all to see

As you turned the key to set your soul free

Bravely standing in a straight line

Whispering Blessed Be

And is now like many years before

Your right time to shine

I think you know all the answers

Now go and play a part with freedom

In this

The greatest of all games ever designed in God many kingdoms 

Copyright John Duffy 

The Sins of the Beloved

 (A lone voice whispers)

From all those sad love letters left behind that I still sometimes read whenever I feel the deep need

All those special poignant ones which still call to me like Odysseus sirens

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

Those dark ones which whisper as they smother and conquer my every heaving breath

All those secretly treasured ones which still reek with your Machiavellian

So tempting perfume tinged with a mischievous seductive glint 

That whispers of unspeakable deeds and ominous rules

Which I always see engulfing each and every corner and dark silhouette of this 

Our old bedroom

Subtle hints of all the wild memories 

Of salacious sin, we once so wantonly engaged within

 Yes you know the ones 

All those French-kissed pacts

Old whispered saliva sealed symbolic acts 

Of our impervious brush from high above 

Where you once said so delicately and so evocatively 

I love you

And painted a magnificent priceless portrait in sweet crimson kisses

So visually compellingly the legendary Michelangelo 

Would have cried if he witnessed or tasted 

A drop of it before he could paint it 

Before he died

 

You stated so bravely to the congregation of shadows 

And to the watching Nether World 

In this life of thunder and all its many conflicts

You'd be mine forever

You'd stay to help me conquer uncharted mountains and waves 

And be my one and only wife in this version of a new life

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

After the stroke of Midnight

When all emotions lay naked and bare 

As the fine line between truth and fantasy 

Fluctuates and swirls

Especially when the Full Wolf Moon 

Looks down and roars in silent smug victory 

As its eternal energies are transferred

Those who choose to blindly or subtly 

Utter wild oaths of fidelity past midnight

Should be always forgiven

For I will always forever into eternity 

Remember our first kiss 

That sealed our pact which announced to the watching shadows and the Nether World

Our binding act 

For you my vision of perfection 

A Goddess Incarnate

I will always still wait just like one of the many cursed foolish souls

Made of only flesh and blood

A now patient resident

Just cursed to walk to a standstill 

On this crazy mud called Gaia

With you as my cold owner 

My own ice queen

My everlasting painful cherished spiritual addiction

From who I always long to pray to hear from 

To free me from these rusty chains 

Which keep me a prisoner in old dreams where I wake up numb

Dreams where we once danced free and never had any fears 

Or shed any painfully sad tears 

Before society cast us into the desert of isolation

And left me with this 

My red and golden medal of Tristitia 

Which lies pinned deep but invisible above whatever I wear

Attempting to hold me together to keep me from falling apart

As I try to use expensive clothes to hide from the watching world

My broken heart

Copyright John Duffy 

From Gaslighting To Freedom

(A lone voice sings)

Did you know I was

Going to really truly leave

Just another of life's seemingly 

Many lost souls

Full of indecisions

And strange decisions

But 

When constantly pushed

Full of new wisdom 

And newer transitions

Oh 

How I bet you wished

You hadn't pushed all

Those buttons

Told me strange stories 

And convincing lies

Said it's your imagination 

You're seeing things 

That aren't there

To help me make

Those seemingly unconquerable 

Decisions 

To finally find

The real strength to 

See-through the mists

Maybe now that I'm free

I can grow and bloom

 

Those old chains are now 

Truly broken 

And I'm no longer living 

In your own

Medieval

Inquisition 

I’m now free from your

Gaslighting

No longer unhappy

Or constantly fighting

No longer delusional

But walking with happiness and peace

Reunited

My futures bright

For I’ve seen the light

You’re now never welcome

For

With this song

I cast you out

Copyright John Duffy

Inspired by the endless number of sad shows I've viewed on Netflix, as I recovered. Salute.

Question for an inquisitive mind

(A lone voice whispers)

Have you ever stepped inside

The cleansing purple transformational circle of emotional fire

Some call it a mid-life crisis

Some a new awakening 

And been absolved of all your worldly sins

Been burnt metaphysically and spiritually 

To be purified of nearly all your old personal whims

Are you now baptised and reborn to live past twenty twenty-two

Past all the seas of relentless fear trying to drown you 

But still drinking warm new Costa coffee

Swirling just lost down lifes seemingly never-ending routines

Do not fear the future but now chase all those old dreams

Which you still unconsciously nurture

For you can create your own version of heaven and then still serve her 

Are you still on the road seeking new stories as they are quietly being told

Are you into emotional music reading or just deep poetry

As you still walk under this life's great old oak tree

Are you glad to be alive

Well, here's to you

Keep finding the strength and determination to always rise

For whatever you're enduring

Just remember to be proud 

You still have a chance to find true happiness because you're still alive 

Because God built into you all the tools 

You'll ever need to help you survive

For the next twenty-five 

Copyright John Duffy 

Dare you READ the BINDING SPELL?

To the new muses reading these lines.... 

Press play.

Can you feel me 

For within your mind I now walk

Can you can hear my sweet voice as I now talk

Can you feel me slowly creeping  

Like a new force 

Through those cautious unexplored or unvisited emotional 

Corridors of your mind

As I pause invisible by your side and shamelessly 

Hypnotise you to 

Whisper this binding rhyme

For You are now mine

So says King Solomon

You may pass it 

Away as a sensuous 

Strange wet dream

You may convince yourself 

It's only your fertile 

Imagination 

Sending impressions from a deep place where I've broken the seal

But believe me

It's real

And you will see and 

Embrace it in time

For you are now mine

So says King Solomon

From the hidden passages

In my Black Grimoire

Stolen like a common thief

From the Devil's Black Keep

I invocate this binding spell

To force you to love me as you sleep

So dream of me

Tonight 

Just past midnight at a quarter to three

Until we meet

I've cast your name

To be petitioned and burnt

Into the ritual cauldron and now there's no one else

To blame

Don't question yourself when you unconsciously start tasting my name

And counting down the dogeared days

And seemingly endless nights

Tossing and turning

Restless and filled with angst

Until we meet in the Great In-Between 

When your soul

To me is summoned 

To take flight 

For you are now mine

So says King Solomon

So be it

Copyright John Duffy

An old Coal Miner speaks

  Press play. Salute.

(A lone voice whispers)

I leave this

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 so 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 weathers 

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 year's 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

I'm just one of the lucky ones who through the Lords blessings

Managed to grow old

Copyright John Duffy 

If Mr Grief could speak

A lone voice whispers in the dark at 3 am.

I'll never kneel to pray no more 

Because I won't idolise anyone this way anymore

I can't hold back my souvenirs of fears any longer

Though my tears still stain this grey uniform I dutifully wear

As I continuously look for a new sanctuary to rest

So my soul can repair 

I've got to take all those heartfelt condemnations with me

For with you

I've smiled

Shouted and screamed in joy to last for a thousand years

Constantly pushed to live the illuminated man's hidden underground dream

But what I wouldn't do now

Just to be with you

I know I must neglect all those painful memories

And try to go on and find the resilience I need

To let you go free

Just like a midnight lantern

Filled with good wishes and introduced into a New Year's Eve

To step away and shut that badly worn door

And let my existence go on like Adam

Who once loved Lilith prior to Eve

Before they went outside the Greatest of All Gardens 

And all his first love for her

He silently always grieved

Would we be better off if I had pulled all my barriers down

And let you in so totally and in all my hidden tributaries

Swim

Maybe

But I reckon we'll never know

So I'll let go of my claim with this

My final kiss under The Great In-Between's neverending mistletoe 

But you may call down someday in the near future unknown

Like a rolling stone

In the falling rain or snow

For this painful love we once beautifully shared

Will keep us safe throughout the blinding of the heart

The silence of the mind

For this love we once experienced in the darkness beyond the light

In the greatest of schemes

Will go through a new phase of rediscovering

Rewriting our tragic love story like a modern-day

Fyodor Dostoevsky

For humanity is sometimes incredibly

And intensely in lust with all forms of suffering

And love in action is occasionally a brutal and tragic commodity

Beyond all forms of cognitive psychology 

And only sometimes can be painted in words 

For love in motion is like a beautiful boat sailing through poetry

In a wishful dreams

For true love of any kind is never low key as it seems

Copyright John Duffy