A lone voice whispers

What if you're living your life all wrong

Conditioned at a young age to read all those school book pages

Cleverly driven to be someone in the world

And end up ten years later

Materialistic

Ego driven

Judgemental and so much more 

But when you have that mid-life crisis 

Oh I hope you do have one

Will you realise 

All those dreams you were carefully conditioned to chase

Were all based on conjured lies

We in The Great In-Between

See through so many Astral windows

Watching 

Sad souls working themselves into an early grave 

Just for a wage or a dream

Greed and self-ego rampant with this new look at me 

Instagram or Facebook logic

We can only watch and muse about it

Oh how those poor souls will regret it when they finally get in here

And see they were born just to enjoy life

To be kind

Compassionate

Loving

Generous

And the list could go on

Which are you

I hope you cherish your family and friends above work or money

For in the end 

Honey

When you hit that last earthly breath

You'll suddenly realise in that pivotal moment

Love is all that's left before you transcend

I know

For I've been a part of that crazy show

You might know me

My name was once Marilyn Monroe

Copyright John Duffy

The Voice from The Great In-Between

A voice once whispered this as I typed.

Do I have a gift like my beloved mother?

Press play and let the emotional music wash over you as you read. 

Salute.

For all the ones lost to someone special, in these dark times, especially this year.

(A lone voice whispers)

+++++++++++++++++

Although you cannot see me

I am still here
Just now free
In these new lands of no fears

Nothing scary has happened

I am now just at peace

All my dreams I had about the Afterlife

have just come true

So I'm just visiting from here
Just to see you

I can see your beautiful eyes
Which still twinkle

I can still see the real you
Beneath all those tired old
Wrinkles

For the power of true love

Compels us to see all

It's that simple 

Just never forget me but
Speak my name at Christmas

And every other day

For you invite me to revisit
And through old memories
Play

Just remember me

Or I'll forget to ever
Call this way

For you see

All my friends and old family
Wait beyond this great divide

My time is taken with retelling old stories

Hearing new ones and enjoying their
Newfound glories

Don't forget me

Not but even for a day and I promise
I will always appear your way

I appear in many forms

A Robin
A Feather
A reflection
A voice

It all depends on me

For it's my divine choice
But I'll always try to revisit

To lift your heart that breaks
And help you to rejoice

To always try to stand beside you

For a brief moment or for eternity

Above all of life’s noises

To hold your soft tired hands
As old memories are enjoyed

Don't you dare forget me
With times passing but invite me by name

And I'll call

Through all harsh winds
And the pouring rain

Say my name and I'll appear

To see the one
I still cherish and hold dear

Just don't forget me with the passing of time

Just remember me as you hear this rhyme

And I'll revisit 

Until your bell too
Begins to chime

And we are together again

In heavens
Eternal sunshine

Until then
I'll just keep visiting
And calling by

To remember all those wonderful moments

When
You were just mine

Copyright John Duffy

Have you read Mea Culpa?

 

Press play and let the music wash over you as you read.

Salute.

(A lone voice whispers)

++++++++++++++++

Although you left me

One night for another

Leaving me forever to sit alone in the dark

Castaway to wander lonely streets

Always forsaken and painfully apart

Even though your golden wedding ring

Still adorns my finger

And tendrils of our beloved treasured

Memories still linger

Despite through stealing the heart

Of a younger stranger

You left me

Heartbroken

Feeling rejected

Like an adolescent teenager

Mea Culpa

It was all my fault

I just loved you too much

Copyright John Duffy

Covid Dreams of The Dearly Beloved

Some say sad poems make the best reading.

What says you?

Whispers as I retire.

Salute.

Press play before you read.

It adds such an evocative edge.

(A lone voice whispers)

Take me in

From the grey ashes

Blowing like an early breeze

Within the deep cold recesses of your many

Hidden red rooms

In your fast-flowing mind

Lullaby

My once well-loved name 

As you quietly 

Sit still and try to breathe

Take me in

Eagerly

Lovingly

Once again

With your arms wide open and keep me real

Close

Even though 

I still silently

Sleep

Deep 

But carefully hidden from watchful or inquisitive eyes 

Maybe all around

Don't be so scared

As I'm forever going 

To be with you

For I'm now reborn to be eternal

I'm not one of the

Lonely 

Internally 

Bleeding dark emotions

Just walking around

Dreaming of 

Living but soon to be dead

Lost and wandering all

Alone

But

Within those crimson

Fires of distant memories

Like the legendary

Phoenix

Of Amu Mansu

I will be reborn and

I will rise

Forever

Don’t cry

And burn in strangers or friend's 

Undertows and always

Feel their projected pain

But instead, look within treasured memories and old photographs

To rebirth me 

Again and again

So take in these last words

In this

My final hidden love letter

I leave within my will

Now I'm too ill

As my final angelic 

Evocations

Before I forever surrender

To heaven 

Dreaming and murmuring about your beautiful green eyes

And long shimmering 

hair and spiritually

Captivating charms

For I'm 

Now but a soon to be gloriously illuminated 

Being

Still living

Without fear of 

Any earthbound

Limitations

Deep and forever tumbling

In a wild kaleidoscope 

Of broken shattered mirrors

But still always living eternally 

I hope

Deep inside of you

For to replace me

In time with another

Would just be a pale and cheap imitation 

When I see God and he asks me why I'm still smiling

As we stand together

In the Silver City by the Altar of Mortal Confessions

When I seek final  forgiveness for all my earthbound and physical sins

I'll just say 

I'm simply thinking about that fascinating young lady

Who once held her

Golden violin lovingly upright

Under a great old oak tree

In good old Long Island 

And who lovingly played a beautiful poetic tune 

Upon it 

Just for little old me

Copyright John Duffy 

I hope you enjoyed the whispers.

Until the next time.

Salute.

Mistress of the Shadows

Are human relationships, still complicated as from the time, humanity began?

Did Lilith bring something controversial to the New World, when she rebelled against Adam?

As written in some old scriptures and books? 

Is she the.................................

The Mistress Of The Shadows

 (A lone mesmerising voice whispers)

Am I the sacred answers you

Still forever just seek

Could I but be your own embodiment 

Of a glorious heaven or a perverse hell

Some say I’m the sweet lullaby dark angels sing

Whilst reading secretive grimoires of my so enticing spells 

Soft sonnets of unforgivable damnation or intense sexual mental pleasures for the soul

Seducing it to lose control 

Am I but the luscious green garden

Everyone wishes to walkthrough

Before they leave this land

To trespass to who knows

In here

One of the glorious hidden fifth kingdoms

We in the know

Just call

She’ol

My weapons have started and ended many

Historical or personal wars

 Am I but the all-consuming sharp knife 

To pierce the hearts and lonely minds of those who just linger lost

Below the long shadows

Just seeking something to reignite their dark desires

Or who fight for the light

I have been called many names

Like the life-force of all living creatures

Untamed or just walking and surviving

Broken

 

Endless ancient woodland groves

Still sing unheard pagan songs to me

In the darkness

For my names are many but only two really remains

I live eternally

You see

Tasked to visit shamefully darkly lit places

Opulent incensed fused palaces of loquacious

Worlds of flesh and physical sin

Bedrooms

Woods and hotel rooms still carry the scent of my many

Visceral soul tainting visits

They all silently pray for my return

For I am but the darkness hiding in

So much light

Holy sustenance your soul needs

To truly feed and breathe

In plain sight

For once you are firmly within my grasp

I will own you for all your remaining

 Days and nights

For once you’ve tasted my sweet wet liquor

And sampled my priceless red wines

I’ll always own you as long as your light flickers

For I am ancient

Born into life with Old Adam and before my successor 

Called Eve

Now just forever stalking you

Within your Gardens of This Ages Creation

I walk through all countries

And my name is still carried

Upon the wet lips of the Seduced

Within every one of these new worlds many ever-growing nations

For I am the glimmer and mysterious shine

Whilst lost in the darkness

And knee-deep in the temptations of the Black Sun

The giver of reconciliation or damnation of the soul

The emotional Sword of Damocles

A knife-edge upon which you may perpetually balance

And unknowingly dance

Do you know my full esoteric name yet

 I'm simply the two edge sword bestowed to all living creatures from so High Above

As they walk through Lifes gate

 

My full esoteric name is simply

Love Hate

Copyright John Duffy

The Dark Oracle, Speaks!

 

Press play before reading. Salute.

(A lone voice whispers)

+++++++±++++++++++

Oh

Hear me

Oh

Inquisitive One

For I'm The Dark Oracle 

In the Lost Temple of So Enticing Temptation

In the darkness 

The multitude  

They sing and cry at midnight 

Praying before their time to die to see and feel

The deep visceral rhythms of loves red light

Those tormented but loved ferociously 

By one of my emotional life seductive presents

Called Sin

Who I bless to always help their poor souls 

To always think they can deceive to win

The Fallen who kneel daily

Starved of love

Those who pray for mercy in the darkness

From high above

What they do not know

What I try to cloud their judgement to deny

That there is still hope  

For my enemy did not die

But the fools  

Who I claim worldwide as mine

Don't believe he lived  

Beyond the bet of a dime

So I can maybe take my chance and time

And lead them to my desert of desolation

With a soft tender kiss and a trusting hand

That tempts them to take it

To begin our eternal dance

For my name is on another level

If you're into rhyming

You might already know my name and where I live

It's simply an inversion of a place

The enlightened know as Heaven

The old King or Queen of so sweet Temptation

Who just loves to embezzle

For I take on all physical seductive forms 

Male 

Female or just both

Who the righteous few know as their adversary

My name is known worldwide

Glad to meet you  

My name is your friendly rebel

The......

Now let me light your life up with sins like lit gasoline

So kneel and dare say after me 

Sin is good

Especially at Halloween 

Blessed Be

Copyright John Duffy

If Catharsis could speak

(A lone voice whispers)

If you were worth nothing or rich beyond all compare

I would still stand beside you and just try to love you anywhere

If you were scared frightened or just weighed down with life and all its tragically acquired baggage

I would gladly rush in to help you carry your burdens

So you could perhaps better manage

If you were mad heartbroken or just simply sad

I would quickly reach out with empathy overflowing with an electrifying passion

To just embrace you in a hug of complete literary compassion

If you needed some love and light

In the middle of a lifetime

I would just simply appear through inspired lines and prose

To hold you tightly
Simply to remind you

All your feelings of guilt or pain are also mine

If you needed anything profound beyond my care or abilities

I would just try to simply love you through simple or exquisitely structured words

For ours is but a silent union dear reader

Free from physical excesses but entwined and spinning endlessly

Lost in the spiritual cosmos beyond time and space

Serenading our opened third eye

As we ride over the many landscapes of the blue and green

Visiting newer realms unseen as two

Are you ready to pick up that pen phone laptop or tablet

So we can begin?

Copyright John Duffy

 

My Old Love

Press play before reading. Salute.

(A lone voice whispers)

A long time ago

By the Hiwassee fast-flowing river in Tanasqui

I met at a mysterious meeting place

A wild-eyed beautiful crow haired Cherokee

Her name 

If I remember right was Ghigau 

Who's inner beauty shone right out

A courageous beloved war woman 

Bestowed with so much community and family responsibility

That she beat death more than five times just to give the Devil 

A wide smile and a big bow

To keep her tribe safe

We sat talking as Father Time 

Stopped every second from walking

Discussed life

Magic

Love 

And so much more 

But then Father Time invoked every second to go back stalking

And as we were forced tragically to part our ways

We both held each other's bleeding hands and swore a blood oath to carry through time

To remember how we first met 

On that very day 

And to never forget that something special we started

That was in 1584 when I was only twenty-four 

Ghigau left and found a new life upstream 

In the mighty Appalachians

As part of one of the Great Nations and I sailed North 

To rebuild a new life

With stronger foundations

Now I'm immortal and can look back through Times many portals

I can still see Ghigau smiling with her stunning horse

White Glory

Strolling through the fields of green 

By the Hiwassee fast-flowing river in Tanasqui

I can only hope she's happy

In here somewhere

But sadly still lost to me 

In this Great In-Between 

As she too because of our blood oath

Still thinks of me

Copyright John Duffy 

Cancer. The collector of so many beautiful souls.

 (A lone voice whispers)

Although you left me
One tragic night

Forever my beloved mother

Leaving me heartbroken with a deep pain

From which I hope time doesn't heal and I never recover

I'll always look to the bright stars

Looking for a divine sign

Like a shooting star to bring hope to me and so many others

Who in silence may still suffer

For losing a mother is like looking at life 

In black and white
Without the colour

Especially in summer

My memories of you will always come before all others

For you were with me in the very beginning

And I was with you at the very end

And as I held your soft lukewarm hand and watched

As you gave out your last breath as you stared into my sad tired red eyes

When you gave my hand a final squeeze

In that single pivotal moment

I knew you had been reincarnated

Especially when that beautiful blue and yellow butterfly

Suddenly out of the blue landed on our clasped hands

And its wings gently fluttered before flying in three circles and disappearing

My message to you
Dearest reader

Treasure your mother if she's a good soul

For the impact of losing her will last forever

If the Tall Cancer Man

Decides it's time to call and collect her

Copyright John Duffy

The last message sent to Arabella, by Jacob.

Press play before reading. Salute.

(A lone voice whispers)

Whenever I pause in these quiet tranquil moments 

Sat in here 

By the moving rocks and swirling grey smoke 

That would make any living person choke

Now I'm a fully paid-up citizen of The Great In-Between 

I sometimes still think about all those long hot summer nights 

When we once walked by the Hawaiian blue sea and we were totally unafraid to be seen

I still get drenched by the sweetest thoughts of you and me

Memories of a fierce love which shone like a lighthouse 

High above the hot yellow city lights

Of an extraordinary time, where we held each other's soft hands 

And everything seemed to be just alright 

But like a pale white vulnerable feather

Blowing carefree in the Four Winds of Change 

I then always remember 

How you foolishly surrendered to the whims of the Gatherer of all Temptations

And like an act from the Devils favourite playbook

Our intense love was viciously ripped from our carefully constructed cross of truth 

By slanderous accusations 

Spoken by jealous crooks

To then be slowly and tragically forgotten 

And in turn depressingly by so many newly enabled others 

Casually dismembered 

With their judgemental narratives singing sad songs of theres no chance of redemption

Now I guess when I reflect

We were like two painful characters from a dystopian fantasy called Twelfth Night

A terrible version of a classic Shakespearean Play

No one cares or even wants to remember

But I'll still treasure and carry those beloved beautiful memories everywhere now I'm free 

Recollections of four footsteps walking in unison 

By the Hawaiian blue sea

Where I get sometimes drenched and soaking wet by the sweetest thoughts 

Of just you and me

Memories of a fierce wild unrestricted love

Which still shines so bright today like it once originally did

Towering all above the hot yellow city lights

Of a time we once held soft hands 

And the future seemed so full of auspicious things which resonated with so much bright light 

Beloved memories of us entwining to make love by candlelight 

To keep warm throughout all those cold but soul-thrilling 

December winters nights 

When the world seemed so still and perfect 

And all the gossips and racketeers were carefully hidden

By Life

Out of sight

I still miss you 

My Arabella

If only to just hear your lovely voice 

In this neverending twilight

If you know Arabella de Santiago 

Dear reader

Will you please just tell her

I still and will always miss her

Copyright John Duffy