Poems by James Sadwick

Art of pain between the inked poetry
With crimson tears of silent blood letters
Canvases of hearts in broken rhythms
Bruised flesh had penned my fetters

Art of pain between my silent soul
A sharp brush touches the tender place
Elegant are the strokes that carve me
In flames refined my upward turned face

Art of pain as deep as my ocean of love
Waves of confusion above a mighty peace
May the churning waters be silenced now
To step back and admire the masterpiece

Who is to withstand the cage of sorrow
What dark night of the soul can stand?

I write emotions and linguistic songs
Longing for my wounded soul to satisfy
Ashes of the white scorched embers
Glowing with hope or anger I do not know

I weather the storm of internal conflict
Hidden hurricanes beneath the smile
Strength held between violent screams
The power of such demons chained I see

What could be expressed to souls
None can hear or sooth the acid seeping
Tormented by rage or drowned by weeping
This darkest hole, this ravaged craving

Born to be virtuous in charted evil
Clawed in darkness pained in solitude
What hideous aching through the night
Comes knocking at my mind

Virtue dies with strife of life
Tired of pushing for what is right
I beg God for a place of satisfaction
Yet, the more I chase
The more I see destruction

I'm at the edge of known and unknown
The shade of contrast of dark seas
One has familiar mental maps
The other uncharted mysteries

Courage to cross the rippling line
I'm battling between the two seas
Going forward may lead to great gain
Or the grim winter of dead leaves

God, hold my tension between these
The promised past and future seas
Hear my cry for guidance, please
As I step into these new mysteries

Set sails! Set sails!
The carried cargo is your heart
Set sails! Set sails!
Prepare as you depart.

Set sails to your serenity
Against the angered view of self
Wild are the woeful waves 
That bash the balanced bow

Set sails to your serenity
Despite the depth of your fear
Anointed is your applied anchor
That scars the secret seas

A song of perseverance
We're riding the days
Like surfs on the waves

A pulse of tension and rest
Of these white-tipped crests

A rising crescendo
With falling ocean lows
Creates the art of patience

I know the screams sound like thunder
I promise we won't go under
I know the heart feels hollow
There will be blessings behind the shadow

I know it's hard to breathe through sorrow
Today blurs into tomorrow
I know the voices seem louder
It seems like this will last forever

Hold on, please, hold on
In the end we grow stronger
We will do this together

Sometimes your best isn't enough
And happiness comes after sorrow
Life isn't always going to be rough
Yet, I can't speak for tomorrow

Love doesn't come for free
And hard work is sometimes fatal
Forgiveness isn't always easy
And wars can be mental

We know living can be stressful
And it's hard to see the blessings
In all things, try to be thankful
And try and find a silver lining

When pain is persistent
And the hurt seems too heavy
Remember you are resilient
And this is temporary

In the face of many troubles,
Side by side we will stand.
It's not as though we crumble.
Instead, we gain to understand.

Learning life we see perspectives,
Others different and some the same.
We act in the moment to be reactive.
Emotions are wild or tame.

Love and hate we fight against.
Life and death we struggle with.
Gluttony and hunger we rage against.
War and peace we struggle with.

To be human is to struggle,
Finding love in the depression.
We are that individual
Striving for moral right or religion.

Act without reward or praise.
Do your best no matter the circumstance.
Go the extra mile without a raise.
Give your brother a second chance.

In doing this, you show love.
To love is what is valued among all,
So next time you look above,
Remember we sometimes fall.

Be encouraged in your weaknesses.
Some flaws are others strengths,
So let us give ourselves forgiveness,
For love has no length.

Life is a series of written pages,
Climaxes and minimum wages.
The words so carefully written
As life is craftily laden.

The hope of lovers,
With the fear of fevers.
The joy of new breath,
With the anguish of death.

The story isn't over quite yet,
Characters we haven't met.
The twisted road to life
Is sometimes paved with strife.

Listen to this untold story
About you and me,
Where we write our own tale
Of how we win or fail.

Life is a series of choices
Which haunt us with voices.
They can either strengthen
Or they can weaken.

I can only tell you my story,
With you as my friend,
Just a tale of you and me
Till that last page says,
"The end."