I watched from afar
The ghoul who haunted me
From the wild seas of humanity
It came like so many others
To experience The Grey Rock
Method
Birthed by so many unlucky mothers
To spread profanity and then to endure Grey Rocking
Those to kindness
Unwedded
Who never stopped talking
Copyright John Duffy
(A lone voice whispers)
If you need something to read
To try to avoid the last waltz before a mental defeat
For things to settle down and become that bit clearer
While thinking about life
In a quiet moment
Surviving all your obstacles
From dams or brooks
Read on and
Slowly sit and look
In that mirror
When everyone seems to have your name
Written in black capitals letters
On their charge sheet
As you petition
Like a plaintiff in error
Look deep into those tired eyes and remember
When you were young and brave
When no one stood in your way
And say to those pallbearer shadows
Roaming deep
Be on your way,
Return to thy keep
For my fate
All my works in progress
All my hopes and dreams of love and success
Maybe false or may come true
Or melt away like something deliquesce
Into the blue
But the one love I keep with me deep
Is the love of my pilgrim soul,
Who greets me
Wherever I sleep
For I'm but a wayfarer in life
Facing challenges
Wherever they come
Standing courageously on life's battlefield
With my higher self
And all things hard or sharp
We cut in two
With bravery as our spiritual knife
For together
Me and my eternal pilgrim soul
Will never yield
(C)
Copyright John Duffy
Theme:
Infidelity and what it can drive you to do.
How far would you go for revenge?
Title:
The Confession of Charlie Spanwick
(A lone voice whispers)
There was a time when I had no need to pretend
For I
Through visiting church
With my newly found Mary
Had discovered my illuminated friend
Who brought such bountiful faith into my life to help me keep breathing
Brought yellow bales full of hope
To keep me dreaming of a future with a wife
A house
2 children and trips to the seaside and country fairs
All the beautiful things from God's Island
But like all things
Shining and gleaming
Like rare expensive diamonds
There was a price to pay
If from the Lord's path
One swayed
So I now walk step in step
With those from the deep depths
From the long grass
No longer dreaming
Just another lost soul earning his keep
For those sitting on crooked thrones that never sleep
Pray for me
My name was Charlie Spanwick
My crime
I broke one of the seven deadly sins for a man who took my beautiful wife
And I nearly got away with it
Until the cops found my old Pa's favourite knife
For nothing breaks a person deep inside than those who cheat
And takes them on a false ride
But today
I went to church
And found my illuminated friend
When I prayed and said
Forgive me Lord
Save me from the Devils slave trade
For I'm just a man who once got played
Give me a second chance
And I swear I won't get swayed
And go rushing blindly in
Like the charge of the light brigade
(C)
Copyright John Duffy
(A lone voice whispers)
I can remember now I'm seventy-five
In this nursing home called
The Atonement
A surreal time
When I felt so alive
A pivotal moment in my life when happiness blew
Like a magical ruby red seed within golden leaves
Through my soul garden
Where nobody grows
And slowed and stopped to paint a priceless picture like a young Picasso
I thought would last forever
When we caressed
And would never die
Up high
In our now twin minds,
Midnight sky
A tapestry of two hearts beating as one
Entwined in mind
Where in time
We spoke in rhymes
But like all golden leaves Once green
Sent from The Great In-Between
The gold heralds a time to grieve
So now apart
We silently cry
Me the daylight
And She
The crow
Who flies at night
With ruby red lips
Bestowed with a kiss
To sink so many ships
And in this mournful hour In this precarious night
As I write
Before Saint Peter
Calls me home
I leave this letter to her
Infused with powerful memories of those happy days and hours
So she knows
I'll always remember the day we first met
And each willingly received
A red rose from the sacred tree
All lovers see
In each other's enamored eyes
When with eight magical letters
They bind forever
With a sweet romantic line
They utter
I love you
Before their beautiful relationship breaks down and stutters
(C)
Copyright John Duffy
(A lone voice whispers)
Oh, poets who write by pen or quill
Young or old
Hear me
Does the long night bring stories of the new
Or memories of the old
Creeping in
Calling to be written by you
By the Eternal Temptress
Hiding somewhere
Supernatural in the cold
On some unseen Capital Hill
Do you bind them up by your will
Like a chained up Prometheus
To your wild green
Hills of Creativity
Hold them to account like a reborn form of Socrates
Before releasing them through your choice of quill
Until they can whisper no more when they are spilled
To be still
And lay satisfied and sated
Asleep for ages
Like an insomniac after taking a strong sleeping pill
On some pages
Until those
New or old voices
Waiting and whispering
Out in the cold
Call no more
But watch like sirens
Watching Ulysses
Standing on your luscious green hills of creativity
Bound by your will
Waiting for your sympathetic ear
Day and night
All year round
On the wet slippery shores
Of your minds
Right Hemisphere
(C)
Copyright John Duffy
The right hemisphere controls creativity, spatial ability, artistic, and musical skill.
Source:
Google.
(A lone voice whispers)
Some say to be free
And avoid being played
By anyone or anything
Consumed and discarded like a cheap bottle of lemonade
By the charge of those drinking warm bottles of Kool-Aid
From their brown bag of tricks
You have to open your eyes real wide to see
To try to see what they plan and say in the shade
To see what they really know and places they go
To hear the true sounds of the bells they ring
And in that moment
As you watch with bright eyes aglow
To hear what songs they sing
As their record plays
You will know where their loyalties lay
And know
If you're being played or betrayed
By those dark souls
Who hide
Like members of The Lost Crusade
Amongst the dark shadows of humanities deadly nightshade
Called politics
(C)
Copyright John Duffy
Image shared under fair usage policy
(A lone voice whispers)
I met my first love in June
When the full Moon
Ruled the night sky
Like Zeus
And those sweet memories will always remain
Even now,
Since she's gone and I feel such pain.
The Heavens light
I know
Will shine soon again
Lighting up the Moon
As we once more are reintroduced
Like on that beautiful day
We first met in June
And even though this pain follows me
Like a ghost down every lane
In the public and spiritual domains
Offering me dark fruits
Like Hera
I still march on
Carried by the memories of walking hand in hand
In such fun
Fancy free and footloose
Down so many unforgettable side streets
And that's why
Even now,
After 22 years
Of painful mental abuse
I can't say goodbye
For as I look up into the night sky
Up high
And see a full Moon
I still cry
Inside
Asking
Oh,
Why Lord
Did my true love have to die
(C)
Copyright John Duffy
Press play.
America 2024
The people gathered
In their thousands
Like resilient members of a secret survivalist group
Day and night
To watch the main podium speaker
Preach to their audience and sing
While red and blue flags
Adorned with Stars and Stripes
Fluttered like butterfly wings
As the ignited ones
Looked to the one
Who promised to change
A million and one things
(C)
Copyright John Duffy
Image shared under fair usage policy
Is to write for public consumption
A call to attract members of The Querulous Tribe?
(C)
Copyright John Duffy
What does it mean to be querulous?
Meaning of querulous in English
Often complaining, especially in a weak high voice
