November 2023 Poetry Contest - $500 Cash Prize - Page 2

Is there a window In heaven Lord?
A window to look out and see
From a window up above Lord
For my loved ones to look down on me

Oh Lord what a wonderful comfort
If I could only know,
Through a window they could see me
To watch me down below.

They would see I really miss them,
I remember them all the time,
They would know how I long to see them,
And they will see I'm doing fine.

They will see I have God's blessings,
He watches over me all through the day,
They will see I'm beginning to smile a little
And laugh along the way.

They will see I talk with pride Lord,
Whenever I speak their names.
And they will see my life without them
Will never be the same.

They will see my thoughts are always  with them,
Their memories are entwined around my heart,
They will see I'm preparing to meet them soon,
Never again to part.

So Lord is there a window in heaven?
For the ones you've taken from me.
A window up in heaven Lord,
A window to look down on me.

You made everything so perfect, a childhood truly blessed,
Our hair combed nice and neatly and our clothes pristinely pressed,
Every meal on the table - breakfast, lunch and tea,
How did you ever do it all while still making time for me?
Birthday's made so special, Christmases the best,
You never had a moment to put up your feet and rest,
The list you had was endless, did a fairy come at night?,
Running all those errands while we were tucked up tight.

Now that I've become a Mother the truth is clear to see,
Working all those hours so perfection could just be,
Wiping up the messes, clearing up the toys,
Trying to keep on top of it all while battling with the noise,
But you did it all so calmly, so much we didn't know,
The stresses that I'm sure you felt you never let it show,
How did you ever do it? I wish I only knew,
Something that I've come to know that fairy, it was you.

On barren land on western field
Where only sadness war can yield
On battle sites where none had grown
In fact the bravest seeds were sewn

The growing seeds marked out the plots
So fate could choose by drawing lots
Each man and boy to lay down their lives
As a sacrifice so we might live and thrive

Whilst the earth tended her plants of scarlet shade
We listed fallen men in case their crosses fade
Each name a fleeting memory of our own nation's pride
But the earth remembered every man on either side

Men from each nation missing and never found
All those unknown soldiers taken by the ground
The soil knew them all and was planning a parade
To show all were accounted for and none had been mislaid

The earth grieved that many of her sons were dead
She cried floral tears for every man in vibrant red
She sends flowers every year, she hasn't missed one yet
Poppies bloom forever for each man, lest we forget

Yesterday might've gone down in flame
But I remember the nights spent alone
I remember your shame I called my own
I remember you and your twisted games

Yesterday might've gone down in flame
But I remember the days full of pain
I remember the scars and the pouring rain
I remember you and your twisted games

Yesterday might've gone down in flame
But I remember the storm and hurricane
I remember the clouds above my head
I remember the days I used to dread

The first time that we saw you
That shy angelic face,
We knew you'd make a nation proud
With dignity and grace.

The more we came to know you
Our fondness quickly grew,
For Charles was not the only one
To fall in love with you.

Your beauty captured all the world
Your marriage gave us pride,
As time went by we never knew
The pain you felt inside.

You found it hard to tow the line
To do as you were told,
The key word now was 'protocol'
You didn't fit their mold.

The royal blue blood was lacking
And so you paid the price,
For yours was warm with passion
And theirs was cold as ice.

Your passion was for life itself
Your caring was sincere,
You tried to take away the hurt
And take away the fear.

You cared about humanity
Compassion filled your soul,
Your kindness touched us all somehow
You went beyond your role.

Denied of any privacy
Now hounded by the press,
Enjoyment of your daily life
Was growing less and less.

They tried to take your dignity
Their cruelty knew no bounds,
No longer was your life your own
Tormented by the hounds.

Your tragic loss has hurt us all
We struggle with the pain,
For deep inside we know we'll never
Be the same again.

We know that you're in heaven now
At peace where you belong,
To tell the other angels of
A fairy tale gone wrong.

his belt hung on the wall, 
in the backroom where he victimized me;
as mom tried to stop it
the door slammed shut, click,
the feeling of leather against my skin,
cold sweats running through me
you could hear my cries,
begging him to stop,
like dogs screaming. 

he says he loves me,
but does he? 

his behavior was ugly,
picking me up by my arms,
pinning me against the wall,
in my face,
shouting ugly things. 

hiding in the bedroom corner while weeping in pain?
begging a higher power to make it all go away,
Why me? "I asked"
trying to imagine it all away,
the fighting, the phone calls, 
911
the knock at the door,
the young man in uniform, slender and tall.
the badge on his shirt,
two children clinging to their mom's leg,
not saying a word,
while imagining being saved,
does one deserve to shake?
shake like a creaking broken fence in the wind!

I had a dream the other night, as I lay asleep in my bed,
the spirit of an Indian chief came to me, and this is what he said.

The words of this world have made me bitter, I've lost faith in mankind,
the words they speak are hollow, and the truth is hard to find.

The words they speak are many; they shift like grains of sand,
like the salt from the ocean, these words poison the land.

I watch my people starve, while the white man's foods are plenty,
he takes our game and burns the land, and his hollow words are many.

He tells me it would be much better, to move to another land,
he speaks these hollow words to me, while he's holding my hand.

He marched us on the trail of many tears to this other land,
many of my people died along the way to serve the white man's plan.

This land that I held sacred, is now a prison for all my kind,
I was the chief of all my people, now I'm forbidden to speak my mind,

We only wanted to live on the land, where my people lived and died,
but then the white man came and pushed us all aside.

My heart is saddened, to see the white man's plan,
they took our guns and arrows, they even took our land.

Someday when the spirits come and take me away,
I hope there'd be no hollow words, in that land far away.

Something about her was different
No words exchanged but she was my woman of interest
It was her eyes that guided me to her heart
Her mind was the epitome of art
Never made for perfection
Definitely built for protection
She stands in independence
With a walk of confidence
Attitude so modest
With the soul of a goddess
Not one for lust but to be loved
Not one for games but to be cuffed
Invests in herself to become the best she's destined to be
Now that's exquisite wine and not just another cup of tea
Business over pleasure makes her distinguish
When seeking her vision my soul replenish
Fate then rised upon existence
Once she admired my persistence
Breaking down all barriers of resistance
Our love grew nearer in distance
She's the type when texts aren't good enough
Phone calls are valued but end calls makes it rough
Her smile of gold brings joy into my life
She's the perfect diamond in the mist of wildlife
No angel but a queen from a queen
No fantasy but my reality within a dream

Who would've thought,
This forty-yeared soul,
Would hear the words,
"To have and to hold,"
At peace all alone,
With dreams forgot,
Then you came along,
Oh, who would've thought?

Who would've thought,
These cityscape-two,
This wanderlust match,
With the globe in their view,
Would one day become,
Suburbanite-bots!
With a home? And a yard?
Oh, who would've thought?

Who would've thought,
That this anti-kid pairing,
Would open their hearts,
To allow for more sharing,
Of love and of hope,
To us you also brought,
Our angel we're holding,
Oh, who would've thought? 

Yes, who would've thought,
That the future we plan for,
Could end up becoming,
Not that, but so much more,
If we're open to change,
Allow ourselves to be taught,
Then miracles do happen!
Oh, who would've thought?

Did you ever not go to a place you don't know
And were sure you should visit there more
Did you ever once feel that a place is not real
And yet know that you've been there before

Did you ever not know which way you should go
And arrive there with hardly a thought
Did you never know why and not ever try
And yet learnt what you never were taught

Are you getting quite good, more than you thought you would.
At a skill you are soon to begin in
And the game that you say you have still yet to play
Isn't that just the one you keep winning?

Have you once ever heard, or recall every word?
That are spoken by babies and creatures
So in not having seen or at least having been
You remember such details and features?

Could you ever once tell that you knew someone well
A person you've never clapped eyes on
If this sounds like you, we like what you do
You're the sort that this nonsense relies on

That place you seek to fill the void
Beyond all you have thus far known
Sits outside of your soft comforts
And well beyond the safety zone

Down a road which has no markings
And up a trail which has no end
O'er sunset pink horizon
Just up ahead around the bend

High above the alpine tree line
Where the chill air is razor thin
Just off the edge of every map
And in a spot you've never been

'Neath inky skies alight with stars
Swept by a gently blowing breeze
It's down a long grown over trail
Next to a broad and salty sea

It's tucked beneath a blanket deep
Of cold diamond sparkling snow
And if you must ask directions
My friend, you may just never know

Among the turning Aspen trees
And among autumn's harvest grain
It entices like a lover
Dancing slow in a gentle rain

'Round a cozy crackling campfire
And in the long spun tales of yore
It's in every known direction
And it is just outside your door

Up dusty rutted country roads
And across bustling city streets
In the silent frozen tundra
And in the baking desert heat

It's out beyond the break water
Run aground on an unseen shoal
In a sleepy mist filled valley
And up a grassy windswept knoll

That place you have been searching for
It lies across the barren plain
It's somewhere very different
And answers to an unknown name

In dark and mossy forest glen
Abutting sands of brilliant white
The place you have been searching for
It has been hiding in plain sight

On teeming pastel coral reefs
High aloft in overcast skies
Seeking a home you've never seen
You'll only find it if you try

Atop a mound of conquered fears
And off the known and beaten trail
On a ship heading out to sea
You only need to set the sail

That place you have been longing for
Outside protective fortress walls
Be still and you may hear it sing
A tantalizing siren call

As the empathic moon pales of lustre of life,
and the downcast stars fall in the hour of lamentation,
unforgiveness has its own realm of misery.
Our anger and resentment strickens our lives,
smothers our love.

Still absent from one another,
we grow grayer into white.
The evefall speaks of barren dreams,
of words unsaid that could of professed
a healing pardon.
The unforgiveness borne on a catafalque,
yet, not unburdened, and still unburied.

many hating
always berating
it's asphyxiating
and intimidating

just wanna be me
in society
let me be free
on bended knee

judging a lot
as if I'm a bot
clearly I'm not
peace is what's sought

open your heart
it's the start
to set you apart
from the loaded cart

the world is messed up
enough is enough
be nice or shut up
from my heart your cut

love is the way
no more to say
don't take all day
or this world will pay