(Micropoetry) Awaken

Image credit: Fotokostic/shutterstock.com

Image credit: Fotokostic/shutterstock.com

Do you awaken
to this call?
Spread red gold wings
Shake off your history
and rise
for the dawn of this
brave new aeon?

(C) Helen Valentina 2016

Posted in Fire, Poetry | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Narrow

Image credit: GoneWithTheWind/Shutterstock.com

Image credit: GoneWithTheWind/Shutterstock.com

These streets are as thin as an old man’s arteries
and so they should be in this narrow, narrow town
where secrets hide in shadows
blessed by sunlight falling
on buildings so close, so close
All is hidden here, it is by choice
by architectural design
The fathers of this town knew well
the value of privacy for they had many
dark and dangerous secrets
and so few places to hide them
in the open air

We were but patients stretched
on an implacable gurney
all those summers ago, I remember it well
though the impact was meant to cloud
such revelations from my sight
I stressed inwardly, pressing deep
to hold the secrets I was not allowed to keep
And even rehearsed them in my sleep
my cold, my lonely sleep

One day I swear I will return to the narrow
passageways of this ancient town to find
the architects of misery
On seeing them once more, face to terrible face
I will rise and recite the litany
they put within the blackened heart of me
And the streets will be too narrow
far too narrow for their escape

(c) Helen Valentina 2016

Posted in Fire, Poetry | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

The Enemy

The enemy arises
from withered pages
So long ago
silent, stealthy warfare brought
a new world of antipathy
Stirred within the ego’s walls
Here where poisoned raindrops fall
on cobblestones of pedantry
that none could ever see

He wears a mask designed
on all these years of bigotry
A pretender’s antidote
to diseases of antiquity
In deepened caverns dark eyes gleam
Being nothing like he seems

Their paper-mache passions
Spitting words upon the broken floor
Are well rehearsed but may as well
be in a language foreign
so alien to us all
For even as our sharp invective falls
we make no sense at all

The prophecy was clear
from peace the darkness rises
full of cheap deceit
and worthless prizes
One for every child
So none may see the coma
into which we all may fall

‘It is not that at all!’
they may yet cry
to the yellow, growling
but still indifferent sky
The time has come for battle cries
But fat, defeated we arise
Pathetic, wounded before the battle
even has begun

Make no mistake
No accident has brought us
to this worthless crossroads
The genius of the enemy is this
He came to soothe our worried minds
with entertainment unrefined
So making all of us so blind
till we stumble in the wind
and twist within the gyre

Broken children trembling,
reciting words we have been taught
uselessly preaching
our very higher natures captured
in confusion to bring us down
and leave us reaching
for a home too long gone
and our country non existent
under his cruel, implacable sun

(c) Helen Valentina 2016

Posted in Fire, Poetry | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Feathered

Image credit: Valentina Photos/Shutterstock.com

Image credit: Valentina Photos/Shutterstock.com

Such feathered things
The winged sings
This ancient wisdom and
All it brings

To cut the skies
And claim the prize
To give it all
Without surprise

A birdlike grace
And sentient face
The angels fall
To be replaced

Such feathered breeds
These demon seeds
Are all that we
Will ever need

(c) Helen Valentina 2016

 

 

Posted in Air, Poetry | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

(Micropoetry) Weep no more

Image credit: Karuka/Shutterstock.com

Image credit: Karuka/Shutterstock.com

Tide’s caress
lost to solitude
Memories wash away
in calm, bleak
morning
Weep no more

(c) Helen Valentina 2016

Posted in Poetry, Water | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

(Micropoetry) Pure

Image credit: Siberia-Video and Photo/Shutterstock.com

Image credit: Siberia-Video and Photo/Shutterstock.com

Such simple hope
Pure moment
Pure embrace
Challenging time
Winning in the depth
Of a mutual smile

(c) Helen Valentina 2016

 

Posted in Earth, Poetry | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Autumn Delight

Image credit: Subbotina Anna/Shutterstock.com

Image credit: Subbotina Anna/Shutterstock.com

Autumn’s beauty
Precious creature
Golden red and brown
sun-kissed foliage
A goddess’ headpiece
crowning the glory
of the last gasps of colour
before the chilly grey
of winter descends

Autumn’s perfection
At the trembling moment
before death, nature
arises to beauty
as a remembrance
of the gift of life
To herald the little sleep
of winter’s cool
embrace

(c) Helen Valentina 2016

Posted in Fire, Poetry | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Degradation

Image credit: Krivosheev Vitaly/Shutterstock.com

Image credit: Krivosheev Vitaly/Shutterstock.com

Meet me in the darkened places
The city streets
Purged and empty
In the small hours
Before the merciless morning

Meet me in the cloying shadows
Lurking by the roadside
Beggars crying
Restless in sleep
Stolen by interminable hunger

Meet me in the desperate wilds
Which the city vomits
Void of life
And beauty bereft
Only jangled electric light

Meet me with the madmen
Who dance as dervishes
On bitumen paths
Let us sing
Of degradation we embrace

(c) Helen Valentina 2016

Posted in Air | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Royal Road

 

Image credit: carlos castilla/Shutterstock.com

Image credit: carlos castilla/Shutterstock.com

This royal road
Purple strewn
Magenta majesty
All seekers find
This path
Repentant fall
Before the tree of life
And weep
For days and deeds
Stolen by time
Never to be undone

This royal road
Bloodline calls
A siren song
Its mystery
More ancient than
The roots
Of the glorious tree
As it stretches
To a heaven
Long gone

(c) Helen Valentina 2016

Posted in Earth, Poetry | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Seven: Pride

Image credit: PathDoc/Shutterstock.com

Image credit: PathDoc/Shutterstock.com

 

How do I love me, let me count the ways
I love me every morn and every night
Each day I wake, I’m held within my sight
And dance my dance arising from my grace
I love my heart and more so if it strays
To lesser souls, to make their shadows bright
In this I freely put the world to right
And bask in open, well deserv-ed praise
Self love is passion put to highest use
I mend old griefs and raise my soul so high
I am the winner now with nought to lose
And my brilliance yet will make the angels cry
I’ll live my life now only as I choose
And love me better even when I die

(with apologies to Elizabeth Barrett Browning)

(c) Helen Valentina 2015

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