C.S. Starling

There will be an empty chair
On that day
Of joy and confetti
As I break one vow
To make another
Time was not kind to us
But if a white feather falls
Across our path
Or a soft breeze
Soothes our nerves
As we wait for the music
We'll know
That you are here
As you always
Dreamed to be
#vss365 #angel

All bluster
No substance
Yet beware the
Polished smiles
And relaxed #charm
Abundant and generous
A distraction
To obscure the thin veneer
That hides such ugly lies
They dismantle your will
Piece by piece
Until you eagerly give
All that remains
And they smile
Fully
Knowing that they
Have won
#vss365

White text on a black background that reads: Cosmic Melancholy I once scoffed at This notion of fated love That something could be Written in the stars We gaze up at Their flickering glow Mere remnants of Distant galaxies Long dead But in truth I've never felt such Cosmic melancholy More keenly than tonight I waited, denied Hid from you Thinking I would have time To become who you deserved Not knowing I would Never have the chance And so the stars mock me A glimmer of what could have been Had I believed you When you said I was enough And now all that remains is A shadow of your memory That haunts my aching soul As time pulls me ever further From your light

Cosmic Melancholy, my offering for today's #PoemsAbout #StarCrossed
@thebrokenspine.co.uk
@alanparrywriter.co.uk

Do you hear it?
That gentle #hum
A song known across
Time and space
In the pulse of the tide
Or the eternal waltz
Of the seasons
From the vast underground
Melody of mycelium
Down to the very
Quiver of an atom
Singing all that is
And all that could be
In the infinite symphony
Of the cosmos
#vss365

Golden, buttery light
Warms the earth at her feet
As she dances beneath boughs
Stepping between roots of old
A dangerous practice they say
But the #elm is a dear friend
A kindred spirit
Content with its contradictions
And the joy she offers in the setting sun
Collecting wood for the dead #vss365

“For someone who does a lot of public speaking, you have an astonishing lack of eloquence.” True, but what words could capture how he felt?
Perhaps he could attempt poetry, say her eyes were as blue as a #sapphire.
Who was he kidding?
They'd both hate that.
She brought him joy.
Enough said.
#vss365

What a burden it must be
To be known for hope and joy
Or good luck
The world rejoices
Projecting their own dreams
Only ever seeing
All you are supposed to be
And never who you are
Such a burden
Little #sparrow
One that we can share
So that on heavy days
Sorrow is never buried
Beneath a smile #vss365

The dried blood yielded to vigorous scrubbing, soon turning the water dark and ferrous. She emptied and refilled the bath again, scouring her skin until it was sore. Brushing her thumb over the #crimson crusted material, she threw it into the fire.
If only she could do the same with her soul #vss365

How keenly I feel this distance
Pressed #together in the rush hour crush
Distracted
Dissociated
Were we sold a lie
Or has connection always been
A dream we conjured for comfort
Our atoms dance but never touch
Warmed by stars long dead
In an ever expanding universe
That is more space than us
#vss365

Birdsong stills as the bruised sky darkens
Bracing for the first drop
Portending the torrent
That will #tear it open
With flashes of #violet, incandescent might
Unleashing its voice across leagues
Such beautiful catharsis
Unapologetic and wild
And then, in a gasp of relief
Calm reigns again
#vss365

How could you look me in the eye
And utter that empty #promise
Knowing the joy it would spark in my soul
Anchoring me to hope amidst the storm
Did you plan to find your conviction
Somewhere along the way
Denying it had ever strayed
I'm not sure it was I
That you were ever trying to convince #vss365

Why do you always slip through my fingers
Like coils of smoke
Intangible
Unknowable
An enigma of the ages
Or a secret only the smug few know
Perhaps I give too much of myself to you
Let you consume me
Define me
Until I am a stranger in the mirror
Chasing the impossible dream
We call #purpose
#vss365

Cynic, scientist, sceptic
Decry the notion of #spiritual
But every gut feeling and involuntary shiver
Be it delight
Or the urge to run
Threatens the fortress of logic and reason
Dismantling it brick by brick
Until all that remains is a question without an answer
At least, not one we can see
#vss365

What sorrow in your eyes
And their #onyx core
Windows to a many layered soul
Banded by memory
Hardened by a life not lived
As it had once dreamed
A girl lies far below
Crushed by the weight
Of all that has come to pass
If only we could invert time
And uplifted
Let her see the sky once more
#vss365

There's an unspoken sorrow
By a #wisteria in bloom
A sigh of lilac falling away from the sun
While others climb towards it
But there is beauty in the melancholy
The wistful even
A resilience to standing bare
In winter's grip
Impervious to impatience
Content she will blossom
When she is ready #vss365

I smiled when you said
I was more #mellow these days
As if congratulating the temperance of my spirit
That did not conform or
Complement your ideals
How bold of you to presume
That the fire is gone
Not honed and reforged
Now certain of its purpose
As you fail to see
The calm before the storm #vss365

There's a moment of beauty
Following the birth of an idea
When a spark has ignited
And pluripotent possibility is held
In the #innocence of a dream
So ephemeral, that golden glow
That warms stolen glances
And scribbled plans at midnight
A gift to be held close
For reality is ever the cynic
#vss365

They'd put it down to carelessness, then to forgetfulness.
They hadn't accounted for the #wormhole that had opened in her kitchen, nor the infinite nature of the cosmos, crafting her replica somewhere across the expanse of time.
A perfect copy in all ways, save for where they kept the keys #vss365

I sit on the wall, smooth with use, and admire the flowers Plentiful, I realise, hearing the hive that tends them
Over the years I come
Dressed in white
Overdue and impatient
Overtired and overjoyed
Alone
The bees formed a #vortex one day, swirling around me
They knew before I did, I think
#vss365

Ebb and flow
Tide and turn
A soft #susurrus of surf over sand
Shimmering lunar light
Dances in the dark
A ghostly glow of silver
On cresting waves
This plane of serenity
Masks such might
And a #realm of unfathomable depths
Of ancient life and aphotic horrors
Better left alone
#vss365 #poetry

The swinging pendulum of time
Conducts our beating hearts
Forward, forever
But depending on who you ask
This defining dawn
Was more of a birth than a bang
Or an illusion crafted to soothe our linear proclivities
For if then is now
And #primordial is present
The future is but a figment too
#vss365

Please do not mistake my tears
For envy of your joy
Or fear that you did not see
The ghost in the photograph
On the happiest day of your life
How could I blame you?
My presence was heavy
Too much, even
For my #self
Why do you think I hid
In phrase and fable
Better this way
For us all
#vss365 #poetry

Thank you, that's so wonderful to hear ❤️ It means a great deal

Play your part
Wear the mask
Ignoring the ugly tempest that festers beneath
Compliance is possible
If #self is forsaken
For this life of make-believe
Look closely and you'll see
It seep from behind false smiles
Or rehearsed joy
Freed only in lonely tears
As a world weeps
Behind closed doors #vss365

Satisfaction slips from my fingers
Again
Like a dream at dawn
Never mine to keep
For this was once a dream
I recall
How quick the colours dulled
And I itched to #shed my skin
To start afresh
Heedless of the scars
I've carved into bone
As I tell myself
This time
Will be the last
#vss365 #poetry

Fear not the clock's tick Conducting destiny's ever-shifting dance
We are #shape shifters
In every passing moment reborn
Moulded anew
So embrace the rhythm
Surrender to the tide
It does not serve you
To mourn the figments you leave behind
For you see
Change is but
Opportunity in disguise #vss365

I thought this one would be easy
The words would flow
Dancing in the lilting cadence
I have come to call my own
And yet my muse has wandered
Leaving me adrift
To wrestle and struggle
To #scratch at my psyche
Begging inspiration to pour forth
And flood this empty page
#vss365 #amwriting #not

I wear my smile like a second #skin
While my legs bow with the weight of a world
I cannot save
Not even summer's abundant glory consoles me
For what more will we have lost
Next time the roses bloom?
But no one wants to hear such despair
And so I smile, and say
Lovely weather we have today
#vss365

I wonder how the atom felt
When it was split
Not #small enough to be
Fundamental
Nor did it contain
The ultimate answer
To the universe
Yet what if we are looking
In the wrong place
And the soul was never
Emergent
But at the heart of it all

Matter only matters
Because we make it so
#vss365 #poetry

How odd, that the peonies didn't wilt, no music portending Death's arrival.
"Can I ask you a question?"
"Yes, I am #single," I teased. "You took my husband two years ago."
He smiled, his gaze pensive. "How would you feel if this was our last dance?"
"You have to go away?"
"No, dear. You do." #vss365