The Voice in the Silence

 

The Voice in the Silence 

(A lone voice whispers)

From beyond the sorrowful games, people say. 

Inside, buried under their coal, hiding their very soul.

I see their truth.

Their pain and suffering projecting their inner reflection.

I saw this in the first temples of Cain. All the way back to Alexandria.

And here I am again.

A player in someone's sad experience, just like before.

So I'll just step back and disappear into the folds of time before they attack out of pain. Trying to pry open my soul's door.

“Adiós para siempre mis musas.”

You'll never hear or see me again.

(C)

Copyright John Duffy

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Desolation Wood

 

Desolation Wood 

(A lone voice whispers)

There's a place I sometimes see when all seems dark in my own Selva Oscura.

 Whenever I feel weak in my deepest, darkest of dreams.

 A sparse place where the skylarks and robins no longer gather to sing while nearby rivers empty, deflowered by mountain streams and sin.

A low place beyond the cry of morning delights or the shriek of the lone rooster announcing the start of a new day.

After a long night.

 A place where darkness plays as old photos litter the way and ominous shadows stand up straight and sway.

A cathedral of tired old memories and barge boat journeys between A to B.

 Where no living creature breathes any air as far as the eyes can see. Then I see you.

Standing, wearing dirty old black shoes and torn blue jeans. Wearing a black coat in The Great In-Between.

 

 Looking at me with all the sweet anger you can give, but as my dead spirit guides once told me as I lived.

Channeling what Mark 11:25 said:

 “… If you hold anything against anyone, forgive them so that your Father in heaven may forgive you.” 

Is that why I still see you, a reoccurring ghost, when I sometimes dream after all these years in the Great In-Between?

Where I'm left constantly wondering?

Who's blessed enough to forgive who?

Me or even just you?

Or are you just my soul's only true follower in Desolation Wood, like a reborn Mary Magdalene?

Or am I caught in a relentless dream sent by the Nazarene or the cunning forces of the mephistophelean?

(C)

Copyright John Duffy 

A poem about carrying someone into the darkest inner places where the speaker doesn't know whether forgiveness would heal or destroy what little truth they have left.

By not knowing whether they are being called toward grace—or punished by memory.

And until that is resolved, they remain together forever in The Great In-Between.

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Whispers of Lord of the Khemenu

 

(A lone voice whispers)

Beyond what tired minds pass by as memories, fires, and embers fade.  

 Beyond what the missing say, while fluted pipes play.  

 

As in deep waters you wade as life slowly fades and Mother Darkness calls your way.

 

 Just look for the magic while your resolve holds as everything unfolds.

And try to empty the cold and all it tries to remold.

(C) Copyright John Duffy 

A poem portraying a spiritual crossing through grief and dissolution, guided by ancient wisdom, urging the soul to seek meaning and release despair before it reshapes who they become.

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Peter. The Keeper of keys

 

Even if belief, hope, literature, poetry, or art is doubted or mocked, its purpose is still to try to keep people alive, creative, and open-hearted in shining the light or stepping into the dark.

And sometimes remember, fiction can sometimes seem real. That's the magic of imagination. Salute.

Title.

Peter. The Keeper Of Keys.

(A lone voice whispers)

Some may call me a charlatan.

A new, reborn follower of a King.

From somewhere totally

Glorious.

It's so Cosmopolitan.

A seducer of fragile minds.

Who might choose to hold me upright? 

As I baptized another poor sinner.

And try to bring an end to all their tragedies.

Solidified in written oxygen.

Whatever the consequence.

But my message is simply this.

Try to live for happiness and a loving muse.

Paint touching emotional pictures through stories.

Photographs.

Music.

Art, literature, film, or poetry.

Using them as your own golden lyre.

And then lay them gently in green fields and upon velvety avenues.

So those who want to read or use them.

Can never ever be refused.

Try not to lament old age.

As it tries to freeze your spiritually youthful body in those dark moments of living.

For it's forever deemed to be so beautiful and lithe.

With a profound strength.

To swim through tributaries of anxiety, which may seem so unforgiving.

From all that red pain to eventually finding newer beginnings.

Your heart may seem heavy, and you might lose hope and feel all emotions.

Linked to losing happiness or love.

But look me in these eyes.

Watching you.

Within these words, and be lifted up in Dawn's rose-flushed arms.

To truly live.

Then look into life's deep silvery mirrors and always remember.

You have so much more.

To still give.

So just know when that grieving whistle blows.

When that hope of love seems to disappear at night.

When the darkness appears.

I'll always be here.

To hold you.

For even though some may call me a charlatan.

A new reborn follower of a King.

From somewhere totally.

Glorious.

It's so Cosmopolitan.

A seducer of fragile minds.

Who might choose to hold me upright? 

As I baptized another poor sinner.

And try to bring an end to all their tragedies.

Solidified in written oxygen.

Whatever the consequence.

But my message is simply this.

Will you let these words breathe through you? And calm the storm inside.

As I try to keep your fire alight.

Throughout all these upcoming dark nights.

For I hold all the keys.

To the Kingdom and one day.

I

 hope and pray.

I'll let you in.

When your astral eyes open and Me.

You'll see.

(C)

Copyright John Duffy

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The Vampires from Dis

 

A poem about being hunted for your inner truth, surviving spiritual predation, and emerging permanently changed—not saved, not healed, but standing.

The Vampires from Dis 

(A lone voice whispers)

From beyond the crying, wet moors they came.

The indentured silently crying out in pain.

Crying out from behind blackened trees and never to be seen.

But still my candle burnt as those hellish creatures whispered like jinn in the Arabian Deserts.

Spill your truth. Spill your truth and be torn apart from all from Dis.

Tell us your magic and IS.

Let's eat your despair. It's only fair. 

But when the swamp dwellers arrive, hidden behind swamp trees and lies.

I always remember the day the old me died and the new one found the strength to rise.

It was June; the wet moors were wet. A sad day I'll never forget.

Under the Moon after a harsh afternoon.

I was changed forever by the vampires from Dis.

(C)

Copyright John Duffy 

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Cancer Prayers

 

What kind of presence answers sincere prayer with silence when so many have prayed to no avail?

(A lone voice whispers)

Many nights I've kneeled and prayed.

I kneeled and prayed for better days to return as my beloved lay sick as her life candle burned.

Prayed so whole once more they could return and stay, but within that blaze.

Within its purple haze laughed the Tall Man, who whispered,

"Go join the back of the sad queue of those fools praying and dreaming of Halcyon days.”

(C)

Copyright John Duffy 

In memory of praying endlessly before cancer took my beloved sister. 

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The Shepherd

 

A piece about trusting a quiet guiding presence—whether you name it God, faith, conscience, or purpose—while moving through a dangerous, morally complex world. 

Simply expressing:

Live kindly.

Create honestly.

Walk forward even when the debt feels impossible.

You are not alone, even when control feels invisible.

Title.

The Shepherd.

(A lone voice whispers)

There's a shepherd I know. He follows me everywhere I go.

Come rain, wind, or snow. 

He whispers:

Go show the world. Sing your soul's very song. Be kind and compassionate, and I will always follow along. 

And so it is as this I give.

While I pause in green pastures to restore my soul beneath the still waters of my goal.

To reach Heaven beyond the shadows of death when I have paid life's unpayable debt.

To get my feet wet in rivers of righteousness and forgiveness as the shepherd is with me.

A voice that comforts and guides.

As time flies by while he protects my soul and prays to deliver me, perhaps like you, from evil and Sheol.

And those invisible principalities in control.

(C)

Copyright John Duffy 

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The Pact

(A lone voice whispers)

There are strange things man should not see.

Mythical creatures hidden in the half-light glow of dark places below, where it's too hot to snow.

Wild plays of rebellion and submission.

Far from church pulpits or crescent glows from so long ago.

I still can remember the deal I made when it-I into my house bade.

What was I to know when The Elder contract I did sign?

Only to hear my angel bell no longer chime.

So here I sit by the sea at a quarter to three, waiting for the thing man shouldn't see.

Will thou pray for me?

(C)

Copyright John Duffy 

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The Dearly Departed

 

Does sudden love-loss turn life into a living afterlife—where the body survives, but the heart remains buried with the dearly beloved?

Title.

The Dearly Departed.

(A lone voice whispers)

How sad am I when inside I remember the painful day I cried?

Where I stood when I received the call that my raven-haired bride had suddenly died.

Every star seemed to dim, and happiness waved no more as sorrow washed up on my shore.

Oh, why does it have to be this way when you're left alone to cope, when love has breached the Dead Man's Slope?

And all you can do is pray to dream—you'll meet again in some eternal time stream.

To once more glimpse their precious face, which brought such tranquility and grace. 

But now that God's deep voice has whispered its divine choice.

And stated its life-changing decision, which cannot be rejoiced.

All my old love has turned to pain, as I no longer cry in vain but now just walk on in an invisible rain.

No more to love. No more to feel anything that's real—except the sharp blade of grief's internal steel.

So now I'm cursed to walk in the Dead Man's Tide until I walk by her side.

Cursed forever to remember the day she died.

The beautiful woman who once whispered yes when she was my fair bride.

Then left me forever.

To wander the lands of the Watery-eyed.

(C)

Copyright and John Duffy

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Is this a curse of living?

 

Senryū

5/7/5

(A lone voice whispers)

Did you cheat on me

Untrusted relationships 

The curse of living 

(C)

Copyright John Duffy 

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