entatio (L) Temptation; trial.

 Press play.

Title:

Tentatio (L)

Temptation; trial.

 

(A lone voice whispers)

Belial

Came to me late last night

Just after three 

With Faustian promises

Of riches

And such auspicious

Delights

But as I prayed while he talked 

As my faith 

Shimmered but never 

Once swayed

A beautiful bright light

Suddenly appeared

And came my way

A soft voice

Spoke gently and 

Held me hypnotised 

As it whispered as the tiny molecules of golden light

Which surrounded its form

Defeated the encroaching darkness 

In every way

Listen not

To Belial 

The Lord of the Flies

But to me

The divine messenger 

From the Most High

Bend thy knees 

And pray 

Follow my decrees

Belial might promise you 

Promiscuous sins of

The flesh

Riches

Beyond all the eyes 

Can see

I simply offer freedom 

Beyond this lifetime 

A rebirth 

On the silvery shores and golden cities

By the blessed Holy Sea

Be careful what you wish for and choose 

You hold so much

Which you could so easily 

Lose

As the clocks through midnight ticked

As each soothing voice echoed deep

Within the many recesses 

Of my mind

I came to the realisation 

What my choices will cost

Resisting temptations 

I chose to make in this lifetime

I'll accept as payment 

When it's called

In time

For all choices I chose to make 

Will only be mine 

Free from the trials of temptation

As I played my earthly role

Every step I make

I will pray and stay in control

For I now 

Know 

I have something too precious to lose

My eternal soul which doesn’t want to wander 

forever lost 

In the Bad Lands 

Of Belial's

Burning Black Coal

(C)

Copyright John Duffy 

The Cursed Writer

Am I cursed like Orpheus?

To just wander through life

Wasting my time

Cursed by the three crones to now write rhymes 

 For just you

 For only

Two invisible pennies

 Or dimes

 Because my Goddess 

 Divine 

 Has called

 In all my sins

 With this as punishment 

 For all my eternal crimes

 Every night

 Or at the break of morning 

 I'm now doomed

To write

 Sometimes 

 In darkness 

 Sometimes in light

 Writing for my soul

 For my freedom 

 To really see

Unlocking old mysteries

Within me 

Using secretive newly found keys 

To mysterious occult doors

To traverse through 

My inner kingdoms

As I now speak to you

The silent viewers

Hiding cleverly amongst life's many moors

 Hidden in the vastness of 

 The Universe 

Or simply forgotten kin

 Or quiet fallen watchers 

 Parading silently

 Through my paradigms of words or simply perusing 

 In my inspired biosphere 

 Am I but one of the many cursed

 To walk at the front or simply following

 Coerced beyond belief 

 To seek continuous relief

Is that why I always now write

For sleep doesn't come easy 

Walking these precarious tightropes

At midnight

Filled with such unknown delicious 

And sometimes devilish 

Mysteries 

 Now cast me

 My two invisible pennies 

 Or dimes

 As I serve my penance 

For my earthly crimes 

 For my otherworldly experiences as you read

With unrestrained greed

For all our crimes 

Are to be judged by our own Head Watchman 

Our own judge and jury

When it's our time

And it’s why I now saunter through life

Perpetually seeking salvation to be un-dammed

Before I meet

The Tall Man 

Copyright John Duffy

Beloved Memories

We come in the dark

Shot like silents arrows

To the heart

For excessive memories about us

Leave wounds

In the flesh 

That can never be suppressed 

Even if it causes pain

When that invisible dressing

Is undressed

Copyright John Duffy 

Lost Love

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 Foundation of the piece:

Have you broken up with a previously strong relationship, only to get back together, to be stronger than ever?

Title:

Lost Love 

I had to let you go

Bet you 

Didn't know 

For if you really

Love someone 

You sometimes 

Have to set them 

Free

If she loves me

Maybe she'll come back

She'll knock on my door

With her sweet kisses and touch

Whisper

She still loves me 

Too much 

(C)

Copyright John Duffy 

A lone ghost whispers

 A lone ghost whispers

Surrounded by these

lit white candles 

As I sit here 

In this great stillness 

Filled with such proud grace 

Allowing soft tears to glide like the Egyptian Nile

Crocodiles

And

embracing the sentimental  comforting sanctification 

Of the salty water

Washing gently over my face 

I bind my mind to meeting you 

On that unforgettable afternoon 

Last June

You wore Gucci 

In black and gold and matching leather expensive bag 

The new moon whispered of such new beginnings 

But now 

When I see myself in this ethereal two-way smoke mirror 

I always see the tragic shadows of that old life and how it suddenly ended

Driving 

And smiling going home 

Then that deer jumped out 

As I stopped breathing and my heart surrendered

My Funeral 

The wake 

Then the silence 

As my name slowly receded from your worlds auditory radios 

We in here 

Listen to 

For our name being spoken 

To remind ourselves we are still remembered 

And I thank you for calling to me

For total silence means we are forgotten 

As so many sadly are 

When people get busy and all you are 

Is a familiar name at Christmas or on your birthday

So now I wish to stimulate that silence 

Reinvigorate it 

Into such a vibrational state

That our old devotion

Loveliness and harmony 

Reaches you on Monday 

Our first anniversary

Allowing myself to find the space and grace 

To slow time down and reconnect 

While sending my manifestations out to take effect

I wish to spread our old love 

Like the beautiful scent

of Jo Malone's natural Bees

Coconut and Soy wax

Unto others 

Through this two-way scrying mirror 

To those from my old life

Who still calls to me 

Sometimes 

In the great silence

On our interdimensional radio

In the hope that they too will feel our once-treasured love magic 

Before it all ended 

So tragic

And through them 

She knows I still miss her

So praising the four elementals 

Earth 

Air 

Fire and Water 

For their incantations to cross the constellations 

And create Way Stations 

In the hearts of others 

Sealed with these soul-lifting revelations

I now blow out these twelve white candles 

Lit before me

Dry my eternal eyes

Stare out into the sacred space between us

Releasing the intentions of my now still grey heart into the wild 

Thinking of you 

A red rose in the concrete 

Who always appears before me 

In black and gold 

Standing before my mirror as a living child in exile 

Slowly 

Alone 

Growing old

And with these words 

Ego semper amorem meum exspectes.

Ita fiat fiat 

(I'll always be waiting my love.

So mote it be)

I go

(C)

Copyright John Duffy 

.

Would you sell out?

 

Need inspiration?

 

Own me. Control me.

 Title:

Meum

Imperium

me

Ita fiat illud

Be (L)

(A soft seductive voice, whispers)

In this

The darkest hour

In the Great Pit

Where I wield 

Total power

Sitting beside

IT

Read this 

In this very moment

Silently and patiently

For your soul

To be deliriously deflowered

Meum

Imperium me

Ita fiat illud

Be (L)

By me

The Un-Hallowed Queen

Of all sinful slaves

Just lurking

Tonight

Like a funnel-web spider

Waiting to bite

From the Great In-Between

When The Black Gates open

And I am allowed 

In

Meum

Imperium me

Ita fiat illud

Be (L)

Copyright John Duffy

Latin translation since I know you read the open invitation: 

Own me

Control me

So mote it

Be

Images shared under fair usage policy. 

Like all things, duality exists in poetry.

Duality introduces us to things having two parts, sometimes with fundamentally different meanings.

Similar to peace and war, love and hate.

Good and evil. And so on.

And as poetic and romantic as poetry can be, it too can have two sides to a metaphorical

coin.  

Light poetry and dark poetry.

While exploring themes linked to the darker aspects of the human experience.

From the macabre, personal suffering, death, and other dark themes. 

A few renowned poets still resonates today.

If one seeks to deep dive into the mysteries of the human condition.

You may wish to enter their realms and visions.

I've just listed a few below for the inquisitive.

Salute.

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)

Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867)

Sylvia Plath (1932-1963)

Anne Sexton (1928-1974)

Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1891)

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

The Letter

 

The Letter

Mon Cheri

We had a good time while it lasted 

Just remember that

Remember I took your soft hand in the mist

Tried to kiss those soul eyes with a touch of intimate bliss

So now 

Just think of me like this

Like it was a holy Decretum

Think of me like a loose-leaf blowing in the winds of time 

Who once landed on your white window sill

Like a feather sent from heaven

And brought you 

A brief sense of freedom 

Through exchanging rhymes 

For we were briefly baptized by those who never cry

Before the winds of time

Picked up

And the Leviathan's lightning

Struck

So saith 

I

The bold poetic profit

Walking in rivers of deep reeds

Followed by the great dragon that lieth in the midst of so many swirling rivers

Where I'm sent

To appear like a leaf

On a window sill 

To help another swimmer 

From becoming a marked sinner

(C)

Copyright John Duffy 

Image shared under fair usage policy.

Profit as in benefit

Benefiting from helping.

The phrase "mon chéri" is French for "my darling". 

All poetry is open to the readers interpretation.

So I added these notes for clarification.

Thanks for the questions.

Salute

Monologue of the lone poet

 

I first met you in my childhood

In the library 

And I can still remember

When I used to look out of that bedroom window

While reading Shakespeare 

When I was younger

Just thinking about you

Madam Poetry 

I think you already knew

That deep down

I've always known you

Maybe we're starstruck lovers

Who knows

But

My mind even my family and friends

Now that I'm older

Constantly still send me cryptic coded messages

Warning me to always resist

To step outside 

Into the real world 

To try to convince me to forget that you even exist

But I always listen to my higher-self

And write

As it knows strands of an ancient greater truth

That still today persists

You injected yourself into my humble existence

In a subtle but quite mischievous way

Stimulating me to look inside and analyze myself more

No matter what other folks may ratify to think or say

What they didn't know though

All their words of unwanted advice

Just expanded some more of my repressed emotions

To but dream even more of us

One day,

Swimming together in poetic emotions 

Bluest of oceans

I can't quite comprehend what to deduce of you

Or even to think whenever I smell that familiar old scent of your favourite perfume

Called Stanza 

As I remember

The last time I saw you a few years ago

When you walked through my minds front door

Narrating wild themes linked to propaganda and extravaganza

To be read from here

In Kansas 

Worldwide and Uganda 

Whenever I hear your name

It just drives me crazy with continuous questions

Linked to poetic stories 

Thinking if you could give me the one

I once prayed and asked God for

Maybe that's why I'm just blindly drawn

Like a moth to a burning flame

For you were always so striking compared to so many others

Did you know

An old recently deciphered occult truth

Found hidden deep inside a centuries-old Azerbaijan cave

In a scroll

Simply stated

when translated from Aramaic

Poetic Love is like a huge red blanket

For when it covers you

Your four most primitive of emotions

Happiness sadness fear and anger

Can feel totally smothered

With only brief bouts of feeling tranquil 

When expressed in Poetry's secret language 

Maybe that's really how I feel

Laying here

Thinking about you and wondering

And writing 

Is this what other poets feel

A true calling to rejoice in a love above all 

That's real?

Copyright John Duffy