The Prayer of the Outsider

 The Prayer of the Outsider

(A little old lady whispers all alone in the cold. Looking up at the rain filled sky.)

Dear God 

You brought me to life from nothing

To try to do something

To share kindness 

Compassion and a light for those in the dark

To follow 

Then to return home with stories

When my bell you ring 

To hear me stand and sing aloud 

In the Holy Circle 

About all the things I did when I was once alive 

In the living gardens of mankind

So keep giving me strength to keep doing so

As I go

Amen

(C) Copyright John Duffy

Foundation of the piece.

In a new society slowly receding away from praying, do those who still pray, only come from the expected backgrounds?

Example. 

The more mature generation.

Image shared under fair usage policy 

The Dance of The Lampyridae

 The Dance of The Lampyridae

We once danced like the glowing Lampyridae

Bathing in the molten heat of a new fire

While walking hand in hand 

Down loves panoramic highways

Flames of belonging and such sensuous fire 

Lit and consumed our aura's

But when the winter of our love season arrived 

With the familiar sound of jingle bells

Announcing our Oak wedding anniversary 

On that particular sunrise 

On December the fifth

That mesmerising spell broke like the mythical Sword of Elendil

And my world 

Shattered

So blue is my new season watching the midnight Lampyridae dance 

Alone

In the silvery moonlight

Like a young Gene Kelly and Rita Hayworth

As we once did

While my life slowly drifts

South

After I lost you

My world and the only thing that once mattered

Wandering lost in my mind's so many labyrinths filled with our hieroglyphs

As I stand alone on 

Death's high cliff

When I remember that first time we met 

On that beautiful night  

When our souls were ordained by God's light

 (C)

Copyright John Duffy

(Lampyridae: Firefly)

Images shared under fair usage 

The Wedding Vows of Lucian to his Poetess Silvia

The Wedding Vows of Lucian to his Poetess Silvia 

(A lone voice whispers)

Bind me not to only a taste of love

But to true divine friendship

Bind me not to only love

But to the warmth of our wet hungry lips

First thing in the morning

And last thing at midnight

Bind me not to your words of commands to embrace

But to the sweet tranquil noise of two crashing hips

Bind me not to a life of emotional slavery

But to the core of your very soul

Bind me to place

To live 

Inside 

Forever

A place no one

Else

Will ever know

Or replace

My words to you, 

My love

Bind me instead to the bow of your immortal ship

For we can then

Sail together

Into the everlasting

Sunset

And make a home

In a serene place

When our time

Comes

Only those bound

By spiritual wedlock

Can ever go

To hold hands 

To walk 

Barefoot through the falling

Heavenly snow

So don't just bind

Me to this

A golden wedding ring

Bind me to be your

Everything

So standing here

In our circle of true love

In front of our family 

Friends and our Holy Mother

Our twin souls

Can sing

And be finally unified by the grace of God 

For we both

Were never meant to be locked together 

By just gold

until we are old

By only the long reach

Of bondage

Linked to mortal sin

(C)

Copyright John Duffy

 

The voice of Emilien

(A lone voice whispers)

I once met the King of all Darkness 

In France 

As we played poker for my soul 

In a burnt out house

While Edith Piaf sang 

La vie en rose 

On a tattered radio

With no power

He carried in his pocket 

Causing the watching fireflies to dance

I remember asking the Tall Man where he'd been

He said

Paris

To cause the Germans and the Resistance some pain

And as we played in that falling smoke-filled rain

I cheated and won

The prize 

Reaching out through someone after my time has run

After my sunrise was over

Summoned by the setting Sun

In darkness 

To see if the world still cries 

Like it did before me

In 44

So I send this

For we played

Again 

Late last night 

Old Nick and me

And He won

The prize 

Taking me where

The sun don't shine

To be endlessly chastised

So this is my last message

For your eyes

Before your sun rises 

Look to the East

The low drumbeats 

Of World War Three are starting to beat 

For many 

There will be pain like 

Oradour-sur-Glane 

Something so evil

You should all remember 

Who and what you do

In whoever's name

Or you could be playing poker with the Tall Man

As Edith Piaf sings

La vie en rose 

On his tattered radio

As The East and NATO

Trade nukes

Compelled to do so

By the prodding of the Tall Man and the curse 

Of the male ego

Goodbye 

(C)

Copyright John Duffy 

Image shared under fair usage policy

The Eternal War

(A lone voice whispers)

Some Antenoraians

Pray

In uneven straight lines

With a new Caiphas

The dark priest

In the Lost City of Dis

In The Far East

For the world

To taste

A Malebolge sour kiss

The Sowers of Scandal 

Living spiritually 

By The Great Lake of Cocytus

The hidden gateway to a soulless Judecca

The dark wells of fire and ice

To their God

Who pays with gold

In the form of desire

Only to entrap those into sin

As the Great Battle

Continues 

Into eternity

As angels

Of Light

Led by Michael 

Slowly 

Win

(C)

Copyright John Duffy

Foundation of the piece.

No matter how dark it seems. There is always hope.

Image shared under fair usage policy 

The Watcher

 The Watcher 

(A lone voice whispers)

I live in The Great Casum

The in-between place 

No one knows me as I watch you all race 

Some of the blind call me god 

Some don't

But you know

Good for them all

For I watch and wait

You'll soon know my name when you walk through my gate

Copyright John Duffy 

Casum is the accusative singular of the Latin word cāsus, which means "a fall; falling down; accident, occurrence, chance event; end, termination; case".

The Midnight Gardens of Magadorne

 

The Midnight Gardens of Magadorne

(A lone voice whispers.)

In The Midnight Garden

In-between worlds

When the world sleeps

In a strange place, I now know as Magadorne

I see you

Walking 

Dressed in expensive white lace

With such grace

Surrounded by celestial white butterflies

Serenaded and summoned by the sound 

Of a lone mesmerising golden horn

In an endless garden 

Of twinkling flowers

Reborn

As my soul pines

For the smell of your so-familiar perfume 

A glimpse of our wedding ring

Your hair

Across your beautiful face 

Willing you to look

My way

So I can taste your lips 

And run my hard fingertips 

Across your soft hips

But you never look

Never see me 

As you and your heavenly entourage and butterflies 

Follow the twinkling flowers

Down to the river

Then to disappear 

Out of sight

This happens to me

Every night

In surreal dreams

When the world sleeps

As I find myself

Stranded

Like a new

Robinson Crusoe 

In The Midnight Gardens

Of Magadorne

Where Grief lives

In human form

And Mr. Desire

Stands and proudly blows

It's diamond-studded golden

Horn

To summon 

The celestial butterflies

So watching spirits

In the Ether

Beyond time and space

Can gather

With popcorn

To watch me

Walk my walk

With my incarnated form of painful

Memories

In their special interdimensional place 

Watching ghosts of the past

Pass by

With no expressions

Or emotional energy 

For they are the only fragments of my past

I treasure

A beloved memory of you 

I remember 

Whenever I wake

I had the pleasure 

To share 

Yesterday

In The Midnight Gardens

Of Magadorne

Where Grief lives

In human form 

(C)

Copyright John Duffy

 

The Succubus

 

(A lone old male voice whispers to his loyal dog)

She came at midnight

Last night

You know

As the fireflies outside in our winter garden

Glowed

In a red dress of moving red lips that whispered of new dreams

Knocking like a reborn Anne Rice 

Lestat   

At my heart's window

Pleading with my soul

To cross the threshold and be let in

But I the stone warrior

Whose dear love had already departed

Turned and walked back into the darkness of my loneliness 

Broken-hearted

For when true love once calls

In your lifetime 

And is then suddenly recalled like a severe blow

To the amygdala

All one can do

Is wallow in limbo

For true love is like the holiest of dreams

One of The Universe's best documentaries

Memories

Forged by Brigid to endure

To be kissed 

And be revisited 

Filled with lovers and even enemies

And consumed in any rare moment

Like expensive Hennessey

Bright white candlelights

Providing light 

In a new darkness

And a holy flame to warm any soul 

On any given night

As it clings on to memories of all the people you once loved

And all the things you used to do

To ride through and hold back any new storms

Or midnight visitors like that succubus last night

It's why I put my faith in true love and Jesus Christ

(C)

Copyright John Duffy  

Anne Rice Lestat:

A famous vampire in a novel by Anne Rice.

Amygdala:

Your amygdala is a small part of your brain, but it has a big job. It's a major processing center for emotions. It also links your emotions to many other brain abilities, also links your emotions to many other brain abilities, especially memories, learning and your senses.

Source: Google

Brigid:

She is associated with wisdom, poetry, healing, protection, smithing and domesticated animals.

Cormac's Glossary, written in the 9th century by Christian monks, says that Brigid was "the goddess whom poets adored" and that she had two sisters: 

Brigid the healer and Brigid the smith.

 This suggests she may have been a triple deity.

She is also thought to have some relation to the British Celtic goddess Brigantia.

Source: Google

A succubus (pl.: succubi) is a female demon or supernatural entity in folklores who appears in dreams to seduce men.

Source: Google

The Call to Venus

 

(A lone voice whispers as a ceremony begins)

Candles lit

In brazier pit

Like a reborn Prospero

Music playing 

As offerings 

Are lit

To summon the universe

And all who goes

To step in and commit

 

Guardians in

The Great In-Between

Guard us

And all our kin

From all unseen

Who flows

White lights

Bound

Around our homes

To guard against ghouls

From loosened tombs

Floating around like red balloons

We pray tonight 

For astral protection 

In all our rooms

As 

Candles lit

In brazier pits

Burn

With

Music playing 

As sandalwood offerings

And Christmas ferns

Are used as keys 

Of devotional angelic magic

To turn away

All who conspire 

And drink from the Devil's Urn

As we call to you

Venus

For protection 

As the Great Wheel

Turns

So

Come our sceptre-bearer of harmony 

And love to cope

Do ut de

Dum vivo 

Repleti spe

(‘I give that you may give.

As long as I live. Filled with hope.)

(C)

Copyright John Duffy

Image shared under fair usage policy 

Escapism. For the readers

(A lone voice whispers)

Within this deep clearing, a mystical sanctuary surrounded by the long trees of Time's perpetual symphonies, we meet.

Within this clearing, sheltered from Storms

Inside this sacred sanctuary, within this journey

A place beyond the Silence of Humanities long reach

A secret place where the bright blue Sky holds back the shadows of conflict and pains of Yesteryear

A place beyond duty, consequence, or fear.

Instead, immersed for a brief interlude

A time where we simply enjoy each other’s thoughts

Before pulling up our long grey cloaks of separation

And once again venturing forth into the cauldron of life’s ever spinning tapestries

Would you still follow me if I lit a red candle

In this final odyssey home 

Would you follow me willingly into the swirling dark

In this brief history of time

Would you grasp my coattails as we trespassed tentatively through all of life's scary parks

As we swim against all the fast-flowing tides

Will you tango and tiptoe past the Tall Man and all his worldly Minions

As we circumnavigate the globe

The new world grid and claimed it as our Dominion

For although we are but lost souls going eventually to She'ol

Would you still just blindly follow me past the awakening powers of a modern AI God

As we walk unashamed together behind the many new pale white political horses

To be wantonly unleashed within the unfathomable darkness as we surely conquer this life and all its occult forces

Forever tasked with painting new poetic masterpieces with apocalyptic energy like Vincent Van Gogh

And then every night

Hidden behind the many enemies money can ever make

Before we dream

Shall we plead to angels and owners of The Book of Secrets

To take us beyond the Black Darkness

We always see when our astral eyes open as our mortal eyes close

To use their invisible hands to tear away the rim before our ever-watchful twin pyres

To show us what truly lies beyond these Books of Lies

Everyone sometimes sees or reads from Television or Social Media 

For us to then venture into newer undiscovered lands

To a brave new world

To see the bright lights of two crimson suns and the quartet of multicoloured rainbows illuminating a purple-hued sky

A place where no one no longer dies

A paradise of ever-swirling winds of a whispered profound new Eden

Perpetually emanating from a deep divine so high up above

A sanctuary lost forever within the forgiving green reeds of a new millennium

A place to be reunited with dear old family or friends who never made it to the end

Where nobody no longer cries

To finally sit beside the Holy River to write poetry and sing 

And to joyously watch through a silver scrying mirror

As the real world slowly disappears

To walk through the luscious green grass to the Eternal City

To hear the greatest stories never told to human ears

To finally embrace a new realm free from all fears or pity

What says you

Will you come to run in this

 forbidden city 

(C) John Duffy