Delicate cotton whispers Caressing my lonely soul With promises unspoken; I sink deeper into slumber Where my dreams are of The stars, moon, and you.
If the Earth spins backwards And Time turns anti-clockwise Would you still wait for me At the other side of midnight Under the shooting stars And the lonesome skies?
Under the twilight sky I spread my wings, Beyond the haze of restrain My mind melts like Floating ice on sherbet Under a pink moon In a summer glaze A resolve that breaks A resilience that fails Poison on the rocks Trickles into nooks Submerging my soul In a golden liquid Trying to soothe With shallow intoxication My drenched heart That bleeds crimson!
Poetry inspired by the book cover of The Magic of Science: A Book of Amusements by A. Frederick Collins, New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1917.
All through the days so cold I wanted to write But the words had died Slithering away in a whirlpool Of frantic anxiety;
I stood at the threshold Surrounded by the bellows of Unrelenting stress and misery I could barely stay afloat Wallowing in fear and self-pity,
When they knocked at my door I struggled to make sense Of those jumbled letters. So, I shut them all out – Now no one will ever know The stories those words told!
Book cover of Das unheimliche by Felix Schloemp Buch
Darkness whispered to me Secrets from the ghastly depths A smirk on her lips A spectre of disdain She laughed at my troubles Amused at my failures.
“I saw it die a thousand deaths Ages ago it heaved its last breath Goodness is a cadaver Goodwill a misnomer It’s the time of the Black Serpent Slithering on slippery slopes In and out of its slimy scales; Let me teach you the spells From the bowels of hell To charm Beings of the Night For they are all that survived.”
I embrace the inky silhouette, “My dark friend, I heed your advice.” I summon them from within Pettiness, dishonesty, slyness – Throbbing, waiting to be spawned I befriend the shady shadows Blind like the bats betrothed To deepest caverns and gallows They tell me how to don a mask, This masquerade I join with pride, Of the deceitful who have thrived.
Poetry inspired by the book cover of Das unheimliche by Felix Schloemp Buch. Munich: Georg Mueller, 1914.
Book cover designed by Walter Crane for A Masque of Days by Charles Lamb.
Tread gently and stay for a while The crisp summer air beckons Emerald trees tip their branches Swaying leaves give a nod Hear the birdsong in the breeze Sunkissed glades, always serene Look around you, notice the pace It’s tender, slow, in a lazy way
We pursue and embrace chaos The hustle and hassle of our days Sleepless, hopeless, washed away Riding a storm, dropped like debris A wild goose chase; always in a hurry Our souls are tired; we know it all The entire futility, yet we cannot Tread gently and come to a halt