#requested poem

by Wisława Szymborska tr. Joanna Trzeciak

Out of every hundred people

those who always know better: fifty-two.

Unsure of every step: almost all the rest.

Ready to help, if it doesn't take long: forty-nine.

Always good, because they cannot be otherwise: four — well, maybe five.

Able to admire without envy: eighteen.

Led to error by youth (which passes): sixty, plus or minus.

Those not to be messed with: forty and four.

Living in constant fear of someone or something: seventy-seven.

Capable of happiness: twenty-some-odd at most.

Harmless alone, turning savage in crowds: more than half, for sure.

Cruel when forced by circumstances: it's better not to know, not even approximately.

Wise in hindsight: not many more than wise in foresight.

Getting nothing out of life except things: thirty (though I would like to be wrong).

Doubled over in pain and without a flashlight in the dark: eighty-three, sooner or later.

Those who are just: quite a few at thirty-five.

But if it takes effort to understand: three.

Worthy of empathy: ninety-nine.

Here it is!

I can feel my

skin itching

In this

Dead carcass

Of a body

That is "mine".

I find that

as I speak,

This voice does not

Belong to me.

It is not mine, and I can't find myself in it.

And so, I take the kitchen scissors

And with trembling slashes

I snip my "luscious locs"

And

"Being" feels

A little

more

true.

I know this was mostly a joke, but I had fun, I tried giving it a sort of hip-hop/rap vibe, but I’m not a lyricist and I think only the first verse truly captures that flow. I wrote it in the “typical” eight Six bar verse, Four bar chorus (repeat)

Lake O’ Love

I drown in your poison

Your pond of passion

Passionately passing

My prime presumption

Of what you are,

A loving party

Your lights, and your sounds

Flooding my senses

Feeling me with glee

As I dance carefree

You take my breath away

Brush against beating

Burning blushing faces

Breaking at your gaze

When eyes meet mine,

I refuse to flee

Your lights, and your sounds

Flooding my senses

Feeling me with glee

As I dance carefree

You make me a glutton

Mouth agape gawking

Gazelessly at glinting

Gold glowing against

Your soft thick lips

Tasting tempting me

Your lights, and your sounds

Flooding my senses

Feeling me with glee

[Prompt by @yeah-but-is-it-legal]

Look me in the eyes.

Look at what you've done to me.

Look at the scars you've left.

[Poem by connorspoetry]

When you look me in the eyes,

do you see all the destruction?

Do you see the pain and the tears?

Do you see the reflection of the sun,

that has disappeared to me?

Do you see the salty water,

you see it rolling down my cheeks?

My eyes sparkle, like tiny little stars,

because my soul is burning behind.

My skin is pale, like the moon,

because you sucked out all my blood.

My heart has cracks, like the walls at our old school,

(Yo this hit close to home, albeit not in the way I wrote it. So I absolutely HAD to do it! :D)

Every day

Every

Day

I think of

You

And I miss

The sight

Of your smile

And the touch

Of your hand

Every

Day

I read the texts

You sent me

And I remember

The sparkle

In your eyes

And the feeling

Of your lips meeting mine

Every

Day

I see the pictures

Of us

And I remember

The tears

As we parted

And the sound

Of our last

Goodbye

I woke to snow softly planted

as a shield o'er naked skin --

not an ounce of cold

within,

just the warmth-cascading hearth

just the augment upon the earth.

Be it frost or weary bones,

these trees still rise --

still thrive, atoned

for any loss from bitter past

'cause naught a hardship ever lasts.

For with you,

I am free --

free as the cardinal,

the heated red,

the still-warm

Sitting here I recall the things you said,

Words you uttered to convince me, to console me,

And now I'm afraid they all seem hollow,

For you promised to never leave,

And yet you left,

Perhaps to save yourself,

Or rather you were better off in your world,

Where I was not particularly welcome.

You didn't even realize,

My sensitivities were engulfed in a grief so strong,

Couldn't pick me up for the fall was too hard,

Broke me without saying goodbye,

The heart that became hopeful,

Is only left to rue now.

Confidence that gripped me like a pillar,

Is shattering with each passing day,

Why did you have to leave I do wonder,

Not getting any answers,

I don't even know how to reach you.

Will you come back some time,

My heart is still anxiously waiting,

Or is it just another wait with no return,

For I can feel myself slowly withering away.