Strange Appeal

I have seen the child in the man
And the man in the child
The wild in civilisation
And the civil in the wild
The falsehood in sincerity
The whiplash in the smile

I’ve seen hunger in satiation
And fulfilment in such need
The grasping behind kindness
Generosity in greed
And even in the simplest things
Conundrums here indeed

The mirror reflects back the face
The reflection is what’s real
It isn’t what we say or do
It’s rather what we feel
And in the dark denial here
I find a strange appeal

© Helen Valentina 2013, All Rights Reserved

Posted in Air, Poetry | Tagged , , , , , , , | 14 Comments

Tarnished -for Prompt 23 – Anais Nin Quotes

Tarnished Lined Trinket Box

Tarnished Lined Trinket Box (Photo credit: Heartlover1717)

“Love never dies a natural death. It dies because we don’t know how to replenish its source. It dies of blindness and errors and betrayals. It dies of illness and wounds; it dies of weariness, of witherings, of tarnishings.” Anais Nin

This was irrefutable and immutable
A devastating but so simple truth
The realisation, slow awakening
to the murdering of a dream
A death so calculated and awaited
Planned in darkened rooms to soothe some pain
you carried from a youth long left behind
but not forgotten, I was pinned,
the butterfly to the wall of your revenge
You saw my innocence, the lack of guile
as opportunity, a feast to be ravaged
by your shadowy, dissolute tastes, you saw
the open heartedness with which my eyes
met yours, you made a choice
and hid there in that dread decision for so long
A troubadour you sang your beauteous song
to trick me and to fool me like the child
you might have been once
back in those days before the deluge
of your pitiable adolescence
I am not your tormentor though you cast me as such
Not your predator, though you set your nets
as though to trap me by seeming to be caught
You were skilful yet I know within
you hoped somehow to fail, to prove it all
just forgotten debris like the tarnished, withered form
that was your already broken heart.

(c) Helen Valentina 2013, All Rights Reserved

For mindlovemisery’s prompt – see the prompt and her wonderful writing at http://mindlovemisery.wordpress.com

 

Posted in Poetry, Water | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 16 Comments

Still

Category:Wikipedia requested photographs of ph...

Category:Wikipedia requested photographs of photography (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Still photography terrifies
Pinned like a butterfly
To the wall
A moment in time
Captured forever
No hope of revision
Excision
To this perpetual vision

It was but a moment
Fleeting expression
Trace of a smile
Just gone
And the shadows fell
Portentous
On my cheek

I’m in the headlights
Not just flash lights
And all that’s coming
Down the tracks
Is reality
In its sheer cruelty
No escape now
From the facts

© Helen Valentina 2013, All Rights Reserved

Posted in Air, Poetry | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Chef

Chef

Chef (Photo credit: Vanessa Pike-Russell)

The chef pauses for a moment
Before stirring his creation
Weighs the virtues and the limits
Of the spices here arrayed
This is artistry of the moment
Flavours mixed like a devotion
And there’s more than just mere chemistry
In the creation here displayed

A red weeping of tomato
Orange depth of pumpkin rich
And a sprinkling of paprika
Like an exclamation point
The chef knows his true vocation
Feels it deep within his bones
Like he hears archangels singing
He’s the one that gods anoint

The chef lives within the flavour
And the colours on his plates
All the careful decoration
To accentuate the taste
Let us gather in his kitchen
Let us see the master work
So not one drop of this true artistry
Is ever left to waste.

© Helen Valentina 2013, All Rights Reserved

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

I Cared

I shunned you once
You came to stay
I cared for you
You went away

I turned my back
You called my name
I called you back
You never came

You are perverse
You turn the screw
The opposite
Is what you’ll do

I cared for you
You stood apart
I once more shunned
To break your heart

© Helen Valentina 2013, All Rights Reserved

Posted in Air, Poetry | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Friendship

Friendship

Friendship (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Friendship eternal
Growth through years and tears
Hands that clasp
We never ask
For explanations
Of hopes and fears

Friendship strong
The bonds that will not break
To give a gift
Returned in full
Forgive all slights
And lost mistakes

Friendship true
Of wisdom and love combined
A gentle word
A warm embrace
When only loyalty
And truth you’ll find

© Helen Valentina 2013, All Rights Reserved

Posted in Fire, Poetry | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Heart Shaped

favorite ring :D heart-shaped Ruby

favorite ring 😀 heart-shaped Ruby (Photo credit: Rubyran)

She wore a heart-shaped ring
On her middle finger
In dusty coffee shops
She would dream and linger
She was just a song
Sung by another singer
Wearing her heart-shaped ring
On her middle finger

She had a heart-shaped sign
On her vintage t-shirt
It matched the blood, blood-red
Of her peasant skirt
As though these were talismans
Saving her from hurt
Her heart-shaped sign
On her vintage t-shirt

She has a heart-shaped scar
Deep within her soul
And it never will heal
And she’ll never be whole
Despite all the virtues
That her fashion extolled
She wears her heart-shaped scar
In her heart-shaped soul.

© Helen Valentina 2013, All Rights Reserved

Posted in Poetry, Water | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Whenever I Love

White Dove Flying

White Dove Flying (Photo credit: knowhimonline)

He said that the walnuts
Looked like a brain
Defiant, built sand castles
Out in the rain
Divined all the mysteries
I couldn’t explain
But unlike that last winter
He won’t come again

He seemed like a man
But was only a child
My friend of lost youth
So brilliant and wild
And we dreamed of the roads
And the mountains we’d climb
Before sad sickness took him
And left me behind

He said that the clouds
Were angels in disguise
He made each day a wonder
A precious surprise
But I saw the light dimming
In his kindly brown eyes
And his efforts were slipping
However he tried

I miss my old friend
A true gift from above
He made the fantastical
Just what he could prove
But I see him still winging
In the flight of a dove
And I hear his sweet singing
Whenever I love

© Helen Valentina 2013, All Rights Reserved

Posted in Poetry, Water | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 19 Comments

Slither

Serpent-and-egg

Serpent-and-egg (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

You are susseration
Serpent slithering
Softly, silently

You ask supplication
Service and servitude
Suiting your sin

Such solace in solitude
Somehow so sinister
Soothsayer’s song

You are susseration
Serpent that slithers
Silent assassin
Seeking serenity

© Helen Valentina 2013, All Rights Reserved

Posted in Air, Poetry | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 17 Comments

Jubilee

We all arrived for the Jubilee
Where entertainment was for free
The day so celebratory
The wonderful, wonderful Jubilee

We came to hear the crooners sing
After the wedding see the ring
We loved most all and everything
Whatever the Jubilee would bring

We left the crowds at end of day
No more to dream, no more to play
We wouldn’t want to, anyway
The Jubilee had gone away

© Helen Valentina 2013, All Rights Reserved

Posted in Fire, Poetry | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments