Soledad (S)

(A lone voice whispers)

In silence

On Kings Street 

I once found my second heartbeat

Wrapped in paper blue

Selling roses

Stacked in red and pink lines

Of two by two

My love climbed out of my skin like a supernatural ghost

Knocked on her hearts door

And pleaded to be let in

Her soul said yes

And we lived blessed

We shared speeches on sunlit beaches 

Reached heights of such magnanimity 

Its beautiful frequency must now hurtle like a ray of light

Throughout eternity 

We sat on front porches 

Watched the world stroll by

Smiled as the honeysuckle sun

Rose to scorch us

Two burning candles 

Emanating such light

Until the air force of mosquitoes

Came out to rule the night

We raised our hands 

In unison

Entwined fingers

Adorned with two matching golden rings

And retired 

As the choirs of garden

Crickets began to sing

Slept with peace

In the same bed

Now we were wed

But then came

The Narley Man

Came in silence

To Kings Street  

Looking for a second heartbeat

One wrapped in paper blue

Selling roses

Stacked in red and pink lines

Of two by two

Sent his love like a supernatural ghost

And

Knocked on her hearts door

And pleaded to be let in

And so I'm left to carry on in silence

Filled with thoughts of emotional violence 

Such is the power to destroy

Wrapped up in paper blue

Selling red and pink roses

Stacked in lines of two by two 

On Kings Street

Who shattered all that once mattered 

By the three red letters

Which spell sin

(C)

Copyright John Duffy 

 

Image shared under fair usage policy.

Soledad (S)

A Spanish word meaning lonely.

Are you anointed by concupiscence to write?

(A lone voice whispers)

Are you anointed by concupiscence to write

Until your death

With time found

To exhale and express your soul's sacred breath

To be surrounded by Creativity's exquisite perfume

As your soul

Now blessed

Stands joyously naked

In any given room

I hope your answer is

Yes

(C)

Copyright John Duffy 

What is the simple meaning of concupiscence?

Strong desire.

Dreams of Lily

I can only pray

My Lily of the Nile

You'll sleep For a short while

To wander through Morpheus's Incredible Keeps

As I'll kneel to pray to appear in one of its many unknown rooms

 To defeat Death with a game of hide-and-seek

 As I reach out my spirit Beyond my tomb

For I can only call for Heaven’s blessing

 To let me Live and breathe

Into one Of those dwellings

So sleep For a short while

To wander through Morpheus's Emerald Isles

And Incredible keeps

And I'll kneel To pray to appear

In one of its many rooms

To defeat Death

With a little game of hide-and-seek

As I reach out my spirit 

From beyond my tomb

To hold you once more

Like Anthony Held Cleopatra

Or Frank Sinatra held Marilyn Monroe

So I can only call For Heaven’s blessing 

To let me Live on

In one Of those dwellings

(C)

Copyright John Duffy

The Conversation

 

(A lone voice whispers)

Teacher

There's still a magical circle I wish to find

Said the lonely old Preacher to his mentor 

Father Time 

As they both stood looking at history's many intersecting blue lines

It's a place where true love resides 

In a loop called Once in a Lifetime 

I read about it a thousand years ago 

Before I was recalled when my Golden Bell chimed

And to find it through all of lifes puzzles and paradigms 

I now know after opening so many old books

You have to truly encourage your heart and soul 

To embrace its magnetic flow 

And some say

You have to be willing to sacrifice everything and give up all self control

Sometimes O Father Time

When I look back over the thousands of years 

At my chance of 

Once in a Lifetime 

I can still remember I came so close and that in itself is a crime

For I too once knew a wonderful soul 

My own Red Rose of Jericho

She was so beautiful and as gentle as falling snow

But like all things that came to pass

I lost my way in the grip of the shadowy abyss

And never got to feel her sweet gentle touch or soft velvety kiss

But now I'm a part of you, O Father Time

And as I look back taking up your so very long reach

Using your supernatural telescopes 

To look at old hopes and dearly once loved folks 

I can still see her waiting, sitting there patiently reading

Fluctuating heartbroken throughout the many distinct time frequencies 

Streams

Thinking and dreaming about the one 

She so wanted to love and teach 

But who was suddenly snatched by death 

Beyond her reach

The book she's always holding and reading

When I zoom in 

Is a collection of her own poetic sad words linked together tragically 

In broken stories of her life of waiting  

Lost 

On the outer edges of a grey world

Regaling her only thought 

That I would arrive like a hero from the ether of time

And fill her life with magical moments of such soul-changing happiness and glory 

That so many people would be so surprised and beguiled 

But as I still see her from in here 

Hiding and crying at midnight 

Using your Scrying Mirrors

In this Dark Tower which connects all things and places

Lost in one of history's many bands of low resistance 

Awashed with new and old sinners

I still know that is the only place one day I pray I might reach 

When I have paid my dues to you 

And after going back through time 

As I appear out of the fluctuating ether and blue

To wipe away all her soft wet tears

Maybe then 

We can both be happy to clasp our 

Once in a Lifetime

To then walk upon the soft yellow sands

And smell the life-changing winds

Blowing across that circle's secret beaches 

And then in the realisation of that long lost dream

We may both just smile 

As we finally fade 

Into just being another part of your secret anthologies of love stories

For to find inner peace and divine glory  

To know what that real devotion can bring

You have to fight to reach it

For that's one of the many secrets to what true love is

(C)

Copyright  

John Duffy

No claim to image.

 

Existentialism Dreams

(A lone voice whispers)

Grief maybe like falling Autumn leaves

Praying for some snow

Hoping with its life giving waters 

They will grow

But just before 

They land and

Their only hope disappears

They see the rising sun

And in that instant 

Know

Life

Love and them

Above all the silent deaths 

By a thousand cuts 

Will live on

Even if they turn 

To dust 

Tomorrow

For their love for someone special

Will flourish 

In beloved memories

Of someone special

Who they were born

To trust

For sorrow can be conquered

By love

If only one person

Remembers

You tomorrow 

(C)

Copyright John Duffy 

Canto of The Soul

(An old soul sings.

 Surrounded by Lillie's in a now empty hospice, which was full three days ago. 

As the lovely nurse goes to do the paperwork, to increase his morphine.)

Is quintessentially

To live

To essentially

One day accept 

Defeat

That when your life's about to be obsolete 

You better pray like a God faring priest

Associated with your beliefs

That you don't

Wake up somewhere 

New

Like in Dante's 

9 Levels of Hell

Walking it's mean streets

From Limbo to Treachery

Lost forever 

Under crimson clouds of molton lava 

As hidden drums 

Beat

(C)

Copyright John Duffy 

Canto used in this context.

Canto is an Italian word coming from Latin which means song or singing. 

Source: Google.

Foundation of the piece.

My late father went through the Liverpool Care Pathway. 

No food or water. Only increasing doses of morphine via a syringe driver, and sedation.

Can you imagine what they must think as they are rushed to life's greatest climax?

Salute.

A Graveyard Shift Monologue

 A Graveyard Shift Monologue

(A lone voice whispers)

She came at midnight

You know

Last night

In red dress that whispered of new dreams

Knocking like a reborn Anne Rice 

Lestat   

At my heart's window

Pleading with my soul

To cross the threshold and be let in

But I the stone warrior

Whose dear love had departed

Turned and walked back into the darkness of loneliness 

Broken-hearted

For when true love once calls

In your lifetime 

And is then suddenly recalled like a severe blow

To the amygdala

All one can do

Is wallow in limbo

For true love is like the holiest of dreams

One of The Universe's best documentaries

Memories

Forged by Brigid to endure

To be kissed 

And be revisited 

Filled with lovers and even enemies

And consumed in any rare moment

Like expensive Hennessey

Bright white candlelights

Providing light 

In a new darkness

And a holy flame to warm any soul 

On any given night

As it clings on to memories of all the people you once loved

And all the things you used to do

To ride through and hold back any new storms

Like my faith in Jesus Christ

(C)

Copyright John Duffy  

Anne Rice Lestat:

A famous vampire in a novel by Anne Rice.

Amygdala:

Your amygdala is a small part of your brain, but it has a big job. It's a major processing center for emotions. It also links your emotions to many other brain abilities, also links your emotions to many other brain abilities, especially memories, learning and your senses.

Source: Google

Brigid:

She is associated with wisdom, poetry, healing, protection, smithing and domesticated animals.

Cormac's Glossary, written in the 9th century by Christian monks, says that Brigid was "the goddess whom poets adored" and that she had two sisters: 

Brigid the healer and Brigid the smith.

 This suggests she may have been a triple deity.

She is also thought to have some relation to the British Celtic goddess Brigantia.

Source: Google

Marked by The Devil

Are there some people so weak, they're always influenced to think:

the grass is greener on the other side?

Is history, film, relationships and life in general, littered with them like cheap wedding confetti?

Title:

Marked by The Devil

(A lone voice whispers)

There were times
I wish the Lord

Had intervened and I should have stayed the course

Used the power
Of true judgement

So I wouldn't feel this remorse

And shown up at that appointed hour

After work

And not been
Where I was seen

Shouldn't have hid my wedding ring

In The Wine Bar
At Charlie's

When the Devil whispered
She's nice

Compelling my libedo
To sing
For a taste of his sweet pleasurable sin

For when that eight lettered oath I once made
Was spoken

I love you
At church 

In Downtown

Manhattan was broken

That fateful night
And you left
Soon afterwards

Heartbroken

All I can do now is refect
On a sad path
Once taken

And all these black books of grief
It has awakened

I now kneel
In Saint Peter's
Every Sunday

Every Sunday
And pray for atonement

But this pain won't relent
In any known way

So I now live alone
For I'm now one
Of the tainted

No longer
Innocent

The once Sunday church man

Who was drawn like a helpless moth
To a flame

Now tries to hide
From the Devil
With prayer

For it knows his name
And follows him
Everywhere

So as the these blue clouds overhead
Flow

As the blue oceans
Below
Churns

Those old mistakes I once made

Still deep down
Inside
Burns

But will I ever learn

You see
That Devil of mine
Still whispers

Everywhere
I turn

Been married
Eight times
In five years

Since she left
Abandoned each one

On how that Devil
Must laugh

At all he's done

But this time
It's gonna be different

Just told my
Katy

Wife number nine
Everything will be fine

She's the one

Now all I got to do
Is not listen to that old Devil

Who's always saying

Be a rebel

Keep them coming
Cheatings always been fun

(C)
Copyright John Duffy

Image shared under fair usage policy.

Have you been on Love Patrol

 

Have you been on Love Patrol searching for love?

Title:

Love Patrol

(A lone voice whispers)

Tonight

Still on on parole 

On love patrol 

In the storms 

Of life

As things spiral 

Out of my control 

I pray Love comes into sight

To make me 

Whole

While my heart is beating

Like a lone drummer 

In the middle of the night

In Summer

As I wear my heart on my sleeves

Haunted by Father Time's 

One thousand thieves 

Wondering 

In this wet silence

As I stand outside

The box

In steadfast defiance 

Will I still be praying 

Come November

With this moon still as bright

 

That the missing part

Of my soul

 

Will come into sight

And help me 

Remember

L'amour apparaît quand on s'y attend le moins. Car tous les papillons ont besoin d’une flamme.

(C)

Copyright John Duffy 

Transition:

Love appears when you least expect it. For all moths needs a flame.

Image shared under fair usage policy.

Tuatha de Danann Dreaming

With timeworn

But stubborn like a six-inch

Jerusalem thorn

Dreaming 

Forlorn

Tonight

Of Halcyon Nights 

When memories waterwheel slowly turns

And midnight candles burn 

As my inner film projectors play

I also remember Halcyon Days

Spent with the now dearly departed 

Yearning for moments only 

The Tuatha de Danann can invoke

Pulling back 

My true love

From Hades 

Swirling grey smoke

(C)

Copyright John Duffy

The Tuatha Dé Danann are described as a supernatural race, much like idealized humans, who are immune from ageing and sickness, and who have powers of magic.

Source; Wikipedia.

Image shared under fair usage policy.