Ruffled Edges

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Books, creative, dreams, faith, hope, loss, nostalgia, poems, poetry, Ruffled edges, verse, writing

We came here so

Many years ago,

Chasing the ruffled edges

Of a crumpled photograph

Its monochrome hues whispering

Hushed voices still echoing

From white-edged border to faded frame,

Days stilled by wishful perception

Of contentment borne on wings

Which hung like the slow-mouthed moon

Captured by the eye but slipping ever

Between the fingers that reached out

Lost like the hopeful,

And frozen images caught our eye

Like souls entrapped –

And did we know that ours would follow?

Or was it all a dream

The promise that we shared

With a belief in something better?

And we’ll meet again one day

When all the pictures have faded

And all our dreams have died,

We’ll visit them at night

And walk along the rows

Of all we never knew

And ponder why we came

And shred ourselves on all we ever lost.

© All original writing copyright Chris Nelson 2000-2021

Lead You Home

Tags

creative, dreams, Lead You Home, night, poems, poetry, verse, writing

And the octopus-arm streets

Lead me here

And lead me there

But never take me far

From this town

Whose sea-serpent limbs wrap

Themselves about ankles

Both delicate and firm

Their resolve never broken

Never blessed by the birds

Who swoop the deep

And trail their angel-feather wings

Across the water

Across the lives

Kissing the gentle waves

As they lap the shore

Like the ghost-friend visit

Of dreams

Now remembered

Now lost

And on the horizon

Ever distant

Receding like the thawing summer floes

Forgotten swallows swirl

Singing softly to ears that

Will never hear

Never feel their warmth again

Drawn ever back

Through lattice-laced skies

The tentacled paths that burn

But only in the light

And lead you home at night

At night

 

© All original writing copyright Chris Nelson 2000-2020

 

Last Night

Tags

creative, dreams, Last night, Love, poems, poetry, Relationships, verse, writing

Last night I dreamed that

You had dreamed that

You had passed the hours

Making love with me

That day the sky had turned

From grey to white to blue

And every moment flowed

With crystal kisses like

The freshness of the waterfall

As unending as the hours that

Grew between us

And my eyes saw through yours

Each splinter of a heart which

Touched a spark in you and

You saw all you mean to me

These things that have no words

These things that move between us

In breaths as silent as the waves

Last night I dreamed that

You had dreamed.

 

© All original writing copyright Chris Nelson 2000-2020

 

Turned Away

Tags

age, creative, dreams, faith, Life, loss, Love, nostalgia, poems, poetry, Relationships, thoughts, Truth, Turned away, verse, writing

She sits and waits the tv glows

Stares pictures on the wall,

She wonders if they’ll ever know

The days she turned away.

He watches faces on the screen

As nameless they pass by,

He sees her still in youthful dream

But would not change a thing.

She dreams of ships with billowed sail

Her foot upon their bow,

And moons that wax and moons that pail

Horizons silent now.

He thinks of doors that always closed

And wished them all away,

Each detail drawn each gateway posed

He’d climb them all again.

She pictures faces that she knew

And counts them over stiles,

How many seen how known so few

She wonders how they fell.

He holds himself within his shell

The bottle comes again,

The stories that he’ll never tell

Die slowly deep inside.

She sits and waits the tv glows

Stares pictures on the wall,

She wonders if they’ll ever know

The days she turned away.

 

© All original writing copyright Chris Nelson 2000-2019

 

Ice-Ribbons

Tags

age, Change, creative, dreams, faith, Life, Planes, poems, poetry, verse, writing

I watched the planes trace ice-ribbons

Across the sky before

They were lost to the

Cirrus wisped blueness

And their tails faded

Like promises written in

Tide-threatened sands,

And hopes took restless souls

To the promise of utopian shores

Not realising that they

Like all that came before

Wore the mask that hid

The fault-line masquerade

That spread like disease below,

I watched them come and go and

Taxi slowly on the grey

As if discarding the seeds of doubt

That grew beneath their wheels

Like ancient gods burying

Defeated foes unaware that

They would rise again,

And as the stuttered raging roar

Splintered hearts like candy then

Tore holes into the sky

Which like starving angels

Swallowed fleeting flailing dreams

Cocooned within a safety shell

They never saw,

As standing rooted in my

Futures past and present

I watched the planes

Trace

Ice-ribbons.

 

© All original writing copyright Chris Nelson 2018

 

Waste the Time

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creative, dreams, Life, nostalgia, poems, poetry, time, verse, Waste, writing

What did we do before we had

The time to waste the time,

When every moment seemed so full

Of obligation’s ties,

And commitment pulled us closer

Then swallowed up our days,

When hands were full and red and raw

From dawn to dusk to dawn,

Of all the things we ever made

For lives we never knew,

From pit to fire they came and went

To lay the tracks from now,

And love was just a distant dream

In books and silver screens,

We washed away the dirt of day

And with it all our hope,

So tell me now with hindsight’s eye

When dear time’s time we kill,

What did we do before we had

The time to waste the time?

 

© All original writing copyright Chris Nelson 2018

Sleep Away

Tags

creative, Creative writing, dreams, hope, inspiration, Love, poems, poetry, verse

Let’s sleep away
These winter days
In dreamscapes
You and I,
And dance on air
Our wing beats sing
A soundscape
To our love,
As hand in hand
And eye in eye
We hold each
Other’s love,
And trust our dance
No other saw
The footprint
Of our love,
And should the demons rise
I’ll take you in my cloak
Keep you always safe and warm
And kiss away your pain,
So let us sleep
These winter days
In dreamscapes
You and I.

Ghosts

Tags

Communication, creative, Depression, dreams, hope, nostalgia, poems, poetry, verse, writing

They walk with you

In friendship’s shade

Through pastures green

And cloistered streets,

Beneath its veil,

Its velvet cloak,

Ice fingers coil

Around your soul,

They sense each thought

Each virgin breath

And hold each pulse

Within their palm,

With empty eyes

They watch your days

Hold memories

In candle’s flame,

These ghosts you’ve known

For all your life.

Sunset

Tags

creative, dreams, poems, poetry, verse, writing

Dark-eyed girls
Their olive skin glowing with a fire
That is hidden to me
Watch with intense indifference
As late afternoon’s Sun
Its orange hue streaked through
With veins of envy
Slices shadows across the Square
Dances patterns on breeze-kissed pools
Fountain-fed like babes in arms
Then dips its head once more
From sight
Raise drinks to their mouths
As if in a celebratory toast
Words lipped to the sky
To fall as a screen to their hearts
Their eyes alight briefly
Hint for a second at a truth only they can see
And are lost to me again
Like sunset.

Walk me through the park

Tags

creative, dream, dreams, inspiration, Love, Philosophy, poems, poetry, verse, writing

Walk me through the park

Through night-time’s velvet cloak

And whisper words near silent

That only we can hear,

I’ll step within your shoe

And neither lead nor follow

But glide as one on air

A cushion for our feet,

Walk me through the trees

Whose branches seek to hold

And mold us to their will

But we shall not succumb,

I’ll wrap my hand in yours

And feel your fingers touch

Somewhere no-one else

Has ever thought to go,

Above the purple sky

A silver moon will watch

And flush the crouching demons

From the violent shadows,

Walk me through the park

To who knows where or cares

As one in two we go

A journey of the soul.