#Senryū

 

Foundation.

Throughout life, family friends and people can leave a lasting impression.

Do you sometimes wish you could just hear their voice again, one more time?

#Senryū

Within these dark days
(5)

I try to hear their sweet voice (7)

For inside they live
(5)

(C) Copyright John Duffy

Image shared under fair usage policy

The Concubine

 

The Concubine 

(A lone female voice whispers clutching a photograph)

Sometimes 

I stand silent and still 

Just staring up at the blazing hot sun

Is there nowhere left

For me 

To now quickly run

No retreat or temple of Salvation

After all is 

Said and done 

No matter how you preach

Or shout

I've done all of this 

For you

Lived this old life

Swam the many emotional oceans

Walked 

The dark lonely wastelands 

As the passing grey clouds

Turned blue

But

When I stand silently still

Under the blazing sun

And close 

My deep green eyes

Even though inside

I see the shining beacon

An innovative revealing 

Of a deep inner truth

Even though 

The emotional 

Undulating oceans

Still whisper your

Still treasured name

This fate I've chosen 

To be your concubine

Numbs the fire and heat

And keeps me eternally

Frozen

My time may be near 

The grey mists are parting and it's all becoming rather clear

I need to leave to start living and to

Really breathe

But I can still feel 

You just running 

Through all of my pulsating veins

For all those old ways still haunt me 

Still

Visiting in the quiet darkness 

At three

They always remain 

Like gate crashing guests

But when 

The early morning sun rises

And I open my eyes

It burns them into tiny grey embers

Sending them up high

Into the blazing hot sun

And as I pause and bathe in its glorious undertow 

As I watch the Autumns

Golden leaves fall

And hope break through all my inner carefully

Compartmentalized walls

No matter where this new life

Goes

I really know

I'll just be ok

Because I know I'll rise

And no longer fall

No matter what

 gets 

In my way

Starting from today 

(C) Copyright John Duffy 

Image shared under fair usage policy 

Love of a lifetime at Lafayette

 

Foundation.

I took some flowers to the cemetery and saw a man in deep conversation 

And wondered what he might be saying?

(A lone voice whispers)

I once ran for a rare taste of true love

Ran like a school boy 

As God smiled from high above

And when now I think back 

Now that I'm old 

Thinking of all 

Those times we shared together 

Sheltered from the cold

Times 

Which heralded such great poetic rhymes 

Like the sounds of our baby's small favourite toys

Which danced around and chimed 

When found

I'll always remember you

Gabrielle

Dressed in red and blue 

In my dreams

While I dream in 

The Great-In between

My one and only queen

The most beautiful woman I've ever seen

Who once loved me 

For a short while 

In my life

The one who showed me kindness and grace within a single look

Whenever I felt strife cut deep 

With its sharp knife 

And needed Jesus's good luck

 I still see your beautiful face 

You know 

Laying on our bed on my right

Before you disappeared 

Like a moth 

Into the night

And I'll always love you 

Whenever I remember 

The one who appeared 

To love and console me 

Once in November 

On the greatest day of my life when we got married

And I finally surrendered

Goodnight my love 

My still shining light 

Who always keeps me centred 

(C) Copyright John Duffy 

Image shared under fair usage policy 

The Rise and Fall of Sun and Moon

 

(A lone voice sings by campfire)

Drifting on a lone cloud
I sing

Of things
Once seen
Within

With
The Sun and Moon
Who knows my name

For they too
Rise
And set

The world over
In pain

So I dream
Oh
I dream again

Whispering to them both

O tell me
O tell me
Friends

Will I dream alone
Until the end

And into solitude
Descend

Or will wisdom's spirit
Fly to me

So tell me
O tell me
Friends

Sun and Moon

Will I wander
With this hole

In my endless
Dark Night
Of the Soul

Or will my world
My Great Seal
Hear me

And help me
Heal

So
Tell me
O Tell me
Friends

Was all revealed
From beginning
About the end

When I caught
Her white feather
Spinning

So
Tell me
O tell me

Elemental Spirits and
Friends

I call to you
Both

O
Sky and Moon

Will I love once more
And open
A new door

To feel what's
Real
In this endless quest

As I try to pass
All tests
Once set

Or will
Whispers

From Sun and
Moon

Tell me
Wait

For
She comes

Riding
On waves

Of The Winter's
Monsoon

And to still sing
The lost echoes

Of this

A once-lost
Tune called

The Rise and Fall of Sun and Moon

For
She comes

Riding
On waves

Of The Winter's
Monsoon

(C)

Copyright John Duffy

Image shared under fair usage policy
#poetry

Aspire

 

(A lone voice whispers)

To circumvent the irreducible

To find a lasting legacy

To endure within

Life's ever so fast-flowing crucibles

Tell someone some stories

Make up some stories

In books or poetry 

Create the foundations of your own divine masterpiece 

Be a glorious priceless commodity displaying such incredible magnanimity

It's how you'll soar to newer heights from here to infinity 

Listen to me as I whisper

The old master of life's crucibles

Don't just be a daily ritual 

You adhere to

As you slowly search, 

Looking for a way 

To get through 

But be expressive 

Beyond excessive 

Be wilfully wild

Like an unruly child

And bravely say

Rules were always meant to be broken 

Or will you simply drift

Socially conditioned

To a dark place

Where dreams and possible stories 

And all their glories

Languish 

Forever held in check

Never to be spoken 

Chained to your minds 

Dark unparalleled 

Unvisited pillars 

Lying abandoned and unspoken, 

Or will you instead 

Rise

Like a phoenix 

From scorched remains

Embrace life and all you meet

Before the Dark Tall Man

Calls 

And stops you as your living soul has to silently admit defeat 

(C)

Copyright John Duffy 

Haiku

 

The boy sees the rain

His feet and hair gets so wet

Monsoon season love

(C) Copyright John Duffy 

#Haiku

575

Forerunner Dreams

 Press play.

Forerunner Dreams

To shake off darkness

When the pain comes creeping in

I still think of you

(C) Copyright John Duffy 

#Senryu

575

Friendships Beyond Time And Space

 Every time I come online, someone I once knew has crossed over.

So before we enter into the second month of a new year, here's a piece to ponder upon.

Salute.

___________

In time 

As the slow seconds 

Tick

We can sometimes 

Forget

As we wilfully enjoy 

Our lives

And all the ensuing 

Politics 

The family 

Or friends

We've always taken for 

Granted 

Might be unknowingly 

Struggling 

Or in a real fix 

So this year 

Break those chains

Of self-imposed bondage 

Acknowledge 

That they maybe 

Alone or feeling 

Despondent 

Remember 

To still visit 

Those friends and family you cherish 

With fondness 

For all clocks tick

And follow

A strange and

Mysterious dance

Remember 

To embrace their love and friendship 

 

While they're still alive

Whilst 

You still have 

A chance 

In 2025

(C)

Copyright John Duffy

Are we like the mythical Adam and Eve?

 Press play.

___________________

Are we like the mythical Adam and Eve?

(A lone voice whispers to his true love as Mother Moon watches)

My Sophia, are we like the mythical Adam and Eve?

Walking upon the grey shores of a lost planet. Hidden in the deepest of space.

Our true love holding us knee-deep in make-believe as if buried alive.

Where we will witness the birth of nebulae. Stars and rediscovered Old Gods.

A new Atlantis filled with wild pagan beasts and jealous old women and men.

Where we will stride beyond the reach of the Masters of the Masonic Temples. Erecting their secretive Light barriers.

So we can part the soft pink pages in our own Books of Exquisite Pleasure.

To be then perused and used at our inquisition and leisure as we watch the fall of the Matrix.

With the rise of the Cosmic Red Serpent.

Lying upon the yellow sands and shorelines as the new time of crucifixions begins again.

To see the visceral sights and smells as new spellbound disciples yell.

Palaces and institutions may burn and be aflame before us.

A new vision of a world consumed with corruption and sin.

For as we watch, we will know, we are lone riders of The Great Red Dragon once foretold.

We are some of the mythical poets and writers.

World and Empire watchers who never grow old.

We, me and you. My Sophia, my queen who collects the universe's many hidden stories.

For in time to be simply retold.

We just reborn as poets today, no longer citizens of any known countries.

Just sent again from The Great In-Between to release new thoughts and words like red balloons to float.

To encourage and nourish inquisitive minds

Which are perpetually hungry for enchanting new stories to rebel in this glory.

Contained and captured in this our everlasting promissory note, released like celebration balloons. Into new readers' minds to forever settle or float.

Copyright John Duffy

Infidelity

 

Infidelity 

l still miss that sweet voice

Whose noise used to make my heart rejoice 

But choices made need to be paid without delay

So the Big Old Church Book says

(C)

Copyright John Duffy 

Foundation of the piece.

The person who thought the grass was greener on the other side.