Losing You

Tags

creative, Distance, Fear, Losing you, loss, poems, poetry, separation, verse, writing

When did I first begin to start

Losing you?

Was it the note that you said I

Never wrote?

Or was it the favourite tune you

Couldn’t name?

Perhaps the day you looked away

At the trees?

Or when we passed upon the stairs

Like strangers?

When did I first begin to start

Losing you?

Was it when you looked at me and

Said his name?

Or was it when your lips forgot

How to smile?

Perhaps the day I was not there

Within your eyes?

Or when I felt the final cord cut

From my heart?

When did I first begin to start

Losing you?

 

 

© All original writing copyright Chris Nelson 2018

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Gone (Light and Dark)

Tags

creative, death, Gone, Human nature, Life, loss, poems, poetry, thoughts, verse, writing

I read the fickle words you wrote

Scribbled on a post-it note,

False sentiment caught in my throat

Made me gag and made me choke.

I heard the flowing eulogy

The standard one and not for me,

As standing there for all to see

You hung your words upon the tree.

I watched you talk of you and I

And look so meekly to the sky,

And as you spoke of when and why

To my replacement you mouthed ‘hi’.

 

I read the fickle words you wrote

But what more did I expect?

A heart torn open

Bleeding free –

A life cut short to be with me?

I heard the flowing eulogy

But I was only lost at sea

And ships will sail

And ever will –

And life goes on without me still.

I watched you talk of you and I

But true I never let you know

The secrets that

I hoped you saw –

And now I’m gone, forever more.

 

© All original writing copyright Chris Nelson 2018

 

Distant Shores

Tags

creative, hope, poems, poetry, Promises, Reality, verse, writing

I chased the poster’s dream

As it fluttered high above the breezeblock sky,

Its white-wisp clouds kissed the blue,

And even though

It was not there

An egg-yolk sun caressed the flesh

Of perfect bodies on the sand

As draped in tiny fabric slices

Their feet in silken silver grains

They let the gentle tide

Carry off the cares

They never really owned

A thousand palms

Captured in stop motion

Waved through the lens

Across the miles

And beckoned to their world

Their silent mouths too still

To whisper truths

That they would always be

One dream away from reach.

© All original writing copyright Chris Nelson 2018

Days of Nostalgia

Tags

Childhood, creative, history, Life, Memories, nostalgia, Past, poems, poetry, verse, writing

When we were younger

Our feet danced

To the beat of the factories

On every street,

Metal bins rattled

Voices roared

As our rain-heavy leather ball

Slapped on the wall,

And we watched our dads

As hooters blew

Stride from the heat to the corner pub

And the pull of beer,

It was always enough

To halt our game

And wonder at the marvel of what

Lay ahead for us,

As the words of our mothers

Rang in our ears

And we knew that all too soon our games

Would be lost for good,

And that the storm ahead

Was rising still

Our adult lives being forged in the mill

Despite our cries,

Sweets and penny chews

On happy days

We dipped our toes like liquorice sticks

In life’s tart sherbet,

But not for us, not yet

The working hours

Our endless time still filled with joys that

Poverty couldn’t kill,

As on the kitchen table

Our mothers served their fare

The food that always smelled so good yet

Always was the same,

And mornings came so very late

With our fathers gone

And days of school – what did we learn

But how to play the game?

And did we ever really know

What lay beyond

The streets down which we lived our days

And voices never heard?

All the Things

Tags

All the Things, creative, faith, Life, lyrics, music, poems, poetry, song, thoughts, verse, writing

All the things I’d promised me,

The things I’d do, the things I’d see,

Now disappeared.

The time I wanted oh so much,

The time to feel, the time to touch,

Now faded grey.

 

All the hours I’d wasted then,

I knew one day would come again,

Desert me now.

And all the words I’d left unsaid,

Now dance like ghosts inside my head,

Still haunting me.

 

But if I’d never caught your eye,

And if I’d never seen your smile,

Would I be still left wondering why,

And would it have been worth the while?

 

All the hands I’d never reach,

What was it that I had to teach?

Forgotten now.

The movies that replayed my days,

Ended in much happier ways,

Can’t live them now.

 

But if I’d never caught your eye,

And if I’d never seen your smile,

Would I be still left wondering why,

And would it have been worth the while?

 

All the things I’d promised me,

The things I’d do, the things I’d see,

Now disappeared.

The time I wanted oh so much,

The time to feel, the time to touch,

Now faded grey.

 

Points of Wonder

Tags

creative, inspiration, Love, poems, poetry, verse, writing

Shapes of angels

Dance behind your eyes

Like constellations in the night,

Points of wonder

Promises wrapped in cloud

Offer up such sweet delight,

Dreams that live quiet

Come alive for me

Reveal themselves in coloured strokes,

Soul-salving hues

Which burst with meaning

Deep beneath my well-worn cloak,

A song that sings

Life into this heart

Which beats with purpose all for you,

A love that breathes

With your body’s sway

And makes each day for me brand new.

What Use Are My Words?

Tags

Communication, conflict, creative, Creative writing, Depression, faith, history, Inequality, Life, Love, poems, poetry, politics, Principles, Progress, religion, Truth, verse, war, Words, writing

What use are my words

If the shells still fall

From black-heart open skies

And bombs still separate limb

From torso

On a whim?

If lover’s nights are torn asunder

Each phrase of love declared

And punctuated by the rifle’s kiss

As bullets fly through skies

To deafen out the

Infant’s cries?

If families fractured fall apart

Their bodies as their homes

And stuffed in ragged bags

They walk on paths anew

Hopes and lives askew?

 

What use are my words

If every judgement still

Depends on colour, race or creed

And not on who we are

Those who act so blind

Injustice our own kind?

If passion is fuelled by hatred

And shouted from the stands

Evolution’s backward stare

Feet that stomp and pound

Like we never left the ground?

If all that we can show

Is intolerance and hate

To mask the failings in ourselves

To stick within our clan

And say this is the Plan?

 

What use are my words

If all that we believe

Serves not to heal but pull apart –

Words lost behind the rhetoric –

And sets us off to goad

The wrong way down the road?

If our deities stand toe to toe

As we become the baying throng

Applauding every blow

Forgetting that it’s all a game

And they are all the same?

If faith is lost behind the mask

And we think ourselves the show

Where Glory resides in riches

And ceremony makes us tall

Hidden safe behind our wall?

 

What use are my words

If those who shout the loudest –

The basest of our kind –

Earn mandate over all of us

To wield the sharpened sword

And cut the final cord?

If none of us is equal

And power comes through privilege

Whilst on green fields they scheme

To hold on to the wealth

Through division and through stealth?

If birth outweighs our merits

When change is just a word

And nothing brings a greater good

As islands we shall ever stay

To never see a brighter day?

 

What use are my words?

 

Pearl

Tags

creative, inspiration, Love, poems, poetry, verse, writing

Our kisses melt

Like summer toffee

Rich and sweet upon

Our petal lips

Which trace lines of love

Beneath our floating feet

As words slip slowly

Like silent snowflakes

From our honeycomb mouths

And you, the pearl within the shell

That is our life

Iridescent, a lustrous light

That pulls a glow from

Deep within

And I, the coral at your side

That watches you

With eyes of fascination

Constant and true

Basking in the wonder

Of you.

Stand or Fall

Tags

creative, Creative writing, faith, inspiration, poems, poetry, Resilience, verse, writing

You stand or fall

On who you are

And who you were before

The fingers of another

Wrapped themselves

Around your soul.

You stand or fall

In independence

And all you want to be

Without the need of shoulders

Whose payment

Asks too much.

You stand or fall

In no-one’s dreams

But those you dream yourself

And rise to shine above the ones

Who cannot see

That you

Will always stand.

 

Let You Down

Tags

creative, Let you down, lyrics, poetry, Regret, verse, writing

I’m sorry

I’m so very sorry

I never meant

To let you down

Never meant

For you to drown.

 

I’m sorry

I’m so very sorry

I never meant

To let you down

Never meant

For you to drown.

 

On days

On days so much better

So much better

Than these

We watched each other dance

Made promises on stars

I swore I’d never leave

I’d never let you fade

 

And nights

Nights we shared as one

In brighter dreams

Than we could hold

We watched each other shine

Make circles in the sky

I swore I’d keep forever

And never wish away

 

I’m sorry

I’m so very sorry

I never meant

To let you down

Never meant

For you to drown.

 

And how

How did I let it all

Fall away

Fall to shadow

We watched each other go

Leave footprints in our hearts

I swore would never happen

I’d never let you fade

 

I’m sorry

I’m so very sorry

I never meant

To let you down

Never meant

For you to drown.

 

 

© All original writing copyright Chris Nelson 2018