. Poetry from The Great In-Between

Sunday, July 27, 2025

The love letter to Germaine

 


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Foundation.


Relationships are so complex.

Arguments come and go.


Some intense, but when all seems lost, if you're with the right person, the light of hope to reunite > sometimes seems to shine.


Have you nearly broken up but then got back together?



The love letter to Germaine


You may still need time to heal and

I’ve only just figured it out


Only God can put us

Together again


I may need

To kiss that old fantasy


My treasured dream with a final

Goodbye


You see

I gave you my heart and soul

And everything in between 

I once owned


But now I’ve walked through the long, dark night of the soul

Past all the illusions

I've seen through it all


Past all the black and white


If there were a second chance at loving you

I'd take it right away

Starting today


But Father Time played his painful cards


In seconds and minutes

These tears are still going to fall


Have we gone too far this time


For when I look in your deep, dark eyes

I can see there’s

No common ground


They're telling me it’s over

Yelling at me to

Leave


To go

I know how it goes

We can never make it


 So I'll retire alone to grieve for

God doesn't love us


It's a deep truth 

I may now come to know


Too many lies you think have seemingly been

Spoken


Too many sacred

Oaths now lie on our bedroom floor

Scattered into so many pieces


Screaming as we cry out in pain

Totally broken


But I still don’t want to leave


For deep inside

At my very core


There's still only one truth

I cling to that, I truly believe


Your love is all that I need

To really help me breathe


(C)

Copyright John Duffy

Saturday, July 26, 2025

Sunday thoughts

 


One of the mesmerizing qualities of reading or writing is slowly entering strange landscapes filled with unknown possibilities, and enthralling characters.


And when your own magical cinema switches on, in doing so, enabling you to see all those beautifully written words spring into life.


It’s sometimes too difficult to switch off.


So free your mind this Sunday.


Read or even start writing.


A great way to relax.Peace, quiet, and tranquility, depending upon your selected choices, of course!


Have a wonderful day filled with inspired thoughts.


P.S.

Do you enjoy reading?

Who's your favorite poet or author?


The Mirror


 

The Mirror


(A lone voice whispers)


If Humanity looked in the mirror and could see its real face.
Would it end this destructive race?


Would it put an end to endless wars and demonizing those deemed less?
Those labelled with perceived flaws?


If Humanity looked in the mirror and could see its real face.


Would it change and lift us to a higher place?
Its self-obsessed power struggles, slowly disappearing without trace.


A dreams a dream until we dream it into being.
Many have tried before to knock on Humanity's door.


Maybe this time around it will be different.
Maybe this time, Humanity will be less belligerent.

(C) Copyright John Duffy

Belligerent" means aggressively hostile, eager to fight or argue, or engaged in warfare. It can describe a person, group, or even a country.

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The Monologue of Monique



(A lone voice whispers)



Have you ever wondered why it is you are born alone

Alone with no memory of who you really are 


Born for someone

A stranger to name you something they deem worthy

Thrust into a new realm of understanding

New emotions


A new horizon overflowing with Lovers and manipulative 

Haters


Judgemental and if you're lucky


Some kind souls, but ultimately new experiences

And then, when you eventually die


Hopefully surrounded by loving friends


You return alone to share your brief life

To the fellow travellers who wait by those alabaster gates

You once walked through so long ago


There are two strong groups waiting on the other side

So I have been told in deep dreams


The Haters

A collective term for the fallen souls 

Hatred and jealousy on their many levels


People who have endured hardship

Loss and whatever else, and willingly sacrifice kindness for callous judgment


To stand by the Devil


The people who would rather argue and fight

The despondent who seeks constant conflict

The game players and manipulators


And the Light

Kind companions

Who has walked tragedies hard, stone-cobbled pathways and still

Shine a light of friendship without an ulterior motive


People who seek a means to rejuvenate you without anything in return


People who try to help when help is needed

It is a strange sensation hearing these thoughts.


People may think in their judgmental shadows

I could be a dark creature in my deepest core, as they

Lean back and judge 


But if one doesn't explore the depths of light and dark experiences, as the voices whisper in the half-light


What is the point of only sharing the goodness in the world without recognising the darkness?


These times are awash in the great unveiling.


It is the Age Of Aquarius


Maybe when I die and in fifty or even a hundred years

People might see that I was a conduit sending a light 

Channelled from the Red Church to help strengthen those in need


Do I seek love and connection with the viewer

Did the many before me


All we seek, so I have been told

Is to plant a seed


A seed to question more

Be kinder

More compassionate


I am currently feeling the strength flow out of me

Old age and endless days of hardship 

But still, I fight the encroaching darkness

Especially at night


I am only one of many voices in the world.


Before you leave, though

One question


What will you leave behind if you suddenly passed away tonight

Money 

Wealth or love


Or even better, a legacy for some to be inspired by

Is that why you, too, should be brave enough to write


Unafraid of the world's many haters, and instead seek to reach those who love to share their light


If you don't leave anything

Have you ever wondered

In a few years


Regardless of your relationships




Something deep to ponder upon.

Salute.



The Monologue of Monique


(A lone voice whispers)



Do you only want to be a few lame messages on social media on birthdays or Christmas?


With cheap flowers on an ornate headstone, a few tears, the three-letter affirmation of repeated weakened Love as the years pass


R.I.P


Copyright John Duffy


The name Monique is a French feminine name, derived from the Latin name Monica, and ultimately meaning "advisor" or "counsellor". It is also associated with the meaning of "wise". The name is thought to have gained popularity through Saint Monica, the mother of Saint Augustine, known for her unwavering faith and spiritual guidance.

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Thursday, July 24, 2025

Reflections

 


Foundation.


History is littered with endless broken relationships.


The question is:


Does the Darkness play a part in unravelling the hopes and dreams of the two?


Creating scenarios to break the bond through temptation or other sins?


Has the Darkness crossed the boundaries to ever reach you?


Title.

Reflections.


(A lone voice whispers)



I can remember how we had such fire.


Aphrodite much have sighed with deep desire. 


The smiles and sweet kisses day and night.


Holding hands.

Standing proudly in our own circle of light.


Praying together, our love wouldn't take flight.


But beyond all things that prowl at night.


Crossing boundaries to reach us by means no one ever sees.


Two dreamers died and drowned at sea.


Two beings never to be the same.


But even now, deep inside my heart, that once shared love still remains.


And even though we're so far apart, sailing new seas.


The vision we once shared still haunts me like a familiar ghost.


For it still reminds me of a time I loved the most.


Before Dark Principalities. 


Crossing hidden boundaries to reach us by means no one ever sees.


And tore our hopes from pillar to post.


And two dreamers died and drowned at sea.


Like Megara and Hercules 


(C) Copyright John Duffy


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Tuesday, July 22, 2025

Have you been under the influence?

 


Foundation.


Have dreams influenced your previous or current paradigms?


Title.

Have you been under the influence?


(A lone voice whispers)


Although sleep, you may fight at night when Puck calls.


To play in your deep dreams while performing a strange fairy dance.


Put those fears to one side and sleep unfazed. 


And play a game filled with unknown chances.

 For what you might dream of whilst in The Great In-Between.


After that mischievous fairy, sprite, or jester.


Whispers and bade you enter.


Might conjure up incredible heart-touching prose or wild visceral stories.


No one has ever read or seen.


With your name standing proudly front and centre.


Just another dreamer replaying glories.


Once witnessed on Morpheus's Dream Screen Projector.


The immortal carrier of The Four Keys who tempts new suitors or suitresses.


To carry out their own sorties. 


Be it in realms controlled by Judas Iscariot or even Confucius.


Drinking tea or creating vivid poetic stories.



(C) Copyright John Duffy


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Monday, July 21, 2025

The Lost Soul in Dante's Dark Woods

 


Foundation.

A dash of Gothic Poetry.

Title.

The Lost Soul in Dante's Dark Woods

(A lone voice whispers)

Lost in these unlit, creepy, dark woods

Past the moonlit Shimmering Lake

Standing here as I speak, this despair I always feel, which makes me weak

Tells me love is a thing that is so real

It's all I now know as I stand awake
In this new state

For the brokenhearted, don't sleep or weep

And when the mysterious singers in this darkness call out to me with sweet, mesmerising voices.

Each filled with such inescapable power

My pain slowly rises in my soul, hour by hour

As I'm watched by the eyes of strange creatures dressed in blue

Standing in crooked but neat lines

On the crumbling translucent walls of The Great Watchtower.

Who just loves to send me Red Raven notes that simply say:

Come over to us to renew

The Diamond Door is always open.

Be one of the Nixs
Follow our ways
To find the new you

Come climb the Great Watchtower walls

To drink deep from our wish-fed fountain and see past all the Black Mountains

No longer filled with urges to fight for love and light

But to become a lone Watchman of the Endless Night

I used to think I was strong

But these endless dark nights are so long

Is today the day I will wonder

If I'm wrong to fight the Nixes' many invitations

And go along to the Diamond Door

Beneath The Great Watchtower 
And knock 

Asking to join their mix

For nobody in The Great In-Between knows, I still miss you.

This swirling grey air and smoky fog make you look over your past life

In time

Causing parts of your mind to speak only in rhymes, and once it starts

The forgetting begins

It's why they think I need to be set free

By sending Red Ravens every hour to me

To be like one of them
The Nixs

Guardians of The Great In-Between

Bounded by a sacred oath to stand as Watchmen on the Great Watchtower

Unseen

(C)
Copyright John Duffy


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Sunday, July 20, 2025

Autonomy

 


Autonomy


(A lone voice whispers)


Is your soul littered with hot and cold fragments of your own ideas of heaven and hell?


But are you too metaphorically blindfolded to ever really understand? 


Just another human being living within and under its light and dark, magical spell


Slowly unconsciously waiting for the spiritual comprehension 


As it returns from the ashes of your intimate universe's dust


To really then see

All that your life will see


While praying to your Lord of choice 


The one you trust 


A Great Almighty who will try to set you free


To then be

All you can be 


Reflected in the endless unregulated themes found gasping for air


 In that six-letter word you cherish—called poetry 


(C) Copyright John Duffy 


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Saturday, July 19, 2025

Love

 


(A lady whispers at Saint James.) 


Our love has always connected us, two sacred souls defying the dust of immortality. 

We met slowly in school, missed the ride, but fate brought us together again. 


We then loved fiercely, refusing to be lonely. 


We crossed the point of no return and got married.


Stood in the final circle of poetic vows and declared boldly, "I do." 

Then I kissed you. 


You passed away what seemed like yesterday as the setting sun set. 

And as I sit here, with our three children, on Sunday.

I refuse to forget, while I still breathe. 


For you are the only one, I’ll ever need.  


(C)

Copyright John Duffy


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Friday, July 18, 2025

Song of Calliope

 


Song of Calliope


Shall we begin?

Amongst the murky misty encroaching images


A surreal scene: the creators of Casablanca, would have been proud to call their very own


My new muse, Calliope 


Wandered and appeared, walking like a real siren


Stepping straight into view


Wearing a stunning Fashionista's white dress 


She appeared right out of the blue 


Bent and with tasty red sweet lips


French kissed my soul back into life 


Watched by cautious eyes


Who had sent her to help me get through


By dwellers 

Who stood hidden in the crescent glow 


Of the Full Strawberry Moon


Which hung high in my mind's purple-hued sky 


Like an unearthly tribute to mortal pain 


Where all those suffering 

Made her a seat and bade her welcome 


Into their bedroom 

In the falling night rain


I now seem to reach out earnestly to crave her soft touch 


As those old emotions of being alone 


Systematically kneel, submitting to be slain, like a reborn Cain


My Calliope came gliding in majestically last June 


Riding on the backs of handwritten messages


Exchanged through spiritual friends one glorious day 


As they discussed my story and all its many open and well-known wounds


Notes that said I was available now I've found freedom from old sacred vows of fidelity


Once spoken 


In hushed verses, that someone else had recently foolishly broken


We now stand firmly upright whenever we meet


In straight lines in new lands of holding hands whilst we're walking


Enjoying talking and telling each other funny stories 


Like meeting each other was foretold to be our calling


At this very moment, as I sit here 


By the attic window by this old Riverside Cafe 

In the Parisian winter cold


Looking out in quiet confinement and contemplating how my once sad life


Suddenly turned to gold


I still in these quiet moments of soul-searching reflection


Embrace my newly found harmonious serendipity and all these treasured moments and intimate reunions


Where two newly introduced souls with such effortless proclivity  


Merged together as if guided by a strange sense of supernatural compatibility


Was I carefully scrutinized by those Hidden Watchers? I sometimes wonder 


Angels

Who stand on blue milk crates in those black unknown voids


Fluctuating between time and space


Trying to find ingenious strategies and heavenly constructs to illuminate 


I hope my much-cherished and treasured face


Who knows, but now I've found a compatible world


A fascinating realm replenished endlessly with laughter


Celebrated and baptized at midnight by soft wanton lips through ink 


Which collide together so passionately


Forever I hope in close proximity, whenever I think 


I may never know all the answers, but in poetic scripture 


Song of Calliope says


Use me as a guide 

To reveal your heart's pain


As a sacred meeting place where love and pain can be resolved again and again 


Until it's nullified, for with you walking at my side


Our love can help you renew to feel more self-satisfied 


©John Duffy 

Life