Masks of Acceptance

madness, blest with madness
the churning of wild thoughts
cured of insipid repition

honor, fragile honor
on the path of sacrifice
carrying the wounds of temptation

desires, outrageous desires
unwelcomed by the followers
of sculptured dreams

hunger, relentless hunger
learning, connecting, feeling
craving meaning in every moment

despair, crippling despair
longing for an escape
in the midst of all their indifference

solitude, burning solitude
battling my own demons
schooled by life's greatest enemy

me, the real me
a fading ideology
swallowed by the masks of acceptance

Samina's Favorite #5

The Arrow and the Song by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I shot an arrow into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For, so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow it in its flight.

I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For who has sight so keen and strong,
That it can follow the flight of song?

Long, long afterward, in an oak
I found the arrow, still unbroke;
And the song, from beginning to end,
I found again in the heart of a friend.

(my first haiku)

breathless and battered
i can find sweet victory
in raindrops of sweat

Samina's Favorite #4

A Dream Within A Dream by Edgar Allan Poe

Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow--
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand--
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep--while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?

Where I'm Safe

Caught in the rapture of nature's glory,
I have stood without fear.
Lost in the soft tickle of grass
and a caressing wind at my back.
I wish to stay forever here.
Touched by the warmth of burning rays,
in the mountains and rivers where I'm safe.

Free from ravaging thoughts,
my slowing breath can not stop time.
I quiver from the sight
of hollow souls marching
with greed in their hearts.

There will be innocence lost
with the sins of mankind,
and I can only watch
the destruction they leave behind.

Forbidden Boundaries

i have not spoken
of unexpected desires
yesterday
today
tomorrow?

dare I selfishly express
a genuine interest
across forbidden boundaries
with shattering consequences
driven by the madness
of a secret
you wouldn't understand?

when the darkness passes
can we forgive my ego
for a weakness
it could not hold back?

can I be brave?
to find truth
to shrivel away
to become nothing
with your goodbye

Samina's Favorite #3

Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

There is a place where the sidewalk ends
And before the street begins,
And there the grass grows soft and white,
And there the sun burns crimson bright,
And there the moon-bird rests from his flight
To cool in the peppermint wind.

Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black
And the dark street winds and bends.
Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow
We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And watch where the chalk-white arrows go
To the place where the sidewalk ends.

Yes we'll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And we'll go where the chalk-white arrows go,
For the children, they mark, and the children, they know
The place where the sidewalk ends.

Sandals in the snow

Alone in new found fields
watching stars caress the sky
my thoughts drift on waves of sleep
swallowed by a summer's breeze

Waking on the gentle shore
dreaming with the whispering tide
the water creeps into my soul
fighting tears that never show

Turning to glimpse falling leaves
dancing to their waiting kind
resting where I'll never be
I leap from a different tree

Landing in winter's flesh
shivering with content
oh the sweet numbing of my toes
lonely sandals in the snow

Flatlined

Time passes without meaning
frozen in everyday life
The winds of change roar
but I let them pass me by

Caught in safety's grip
I've accepted without belief
Imagining the possibilities
but never knowing how it feels

Losing what makes me whole
Such as my heart
Such as my mind
Such as my soul

Living without being
Feeling without essence
Here without a lifeline
Flatlined

Samina's Favorite #2

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud - By William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed--and gazed--but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

Jumbled

Consumed, I sit
to write you away
in a jumble of cliches

To tell how you
are sweeter than a rose
and brighter than a star
But these are not enough
to capture what I want to say

With no worthy comparison
how do I show them
everything about you
that makes me blisfully insane

Perhaps this was only meant
to live in a dream
So with you hidden inside
I turn and walk away

Samina's Favorite #1

The Road Not Taken - By Robert Frost

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth

Then took the other, as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Until I'm Gone

Arise the kingdom of fools
Cloned before the placenta cools
Lies to entice the slave
Molesting as I crawl to my grave

Illusion's own exalted queen
Crowned for the truth unseen
Camouflaged to please the masses
Forgotten as each day passes

The burning headlights of Acteon
Running to somewhere I belong
Never believing what I see
Scratching and clawing until I am free

Screams behind picket fences
Injected fantasies please the senses
Vicious dreams before the dawn
Lonely paths I trudge upon
Fighting demons until I'm gone

Encore

last night I dreamed
an erotic symphony
of our naked bodies
in perfect synchronization
gliding on sweat's dew
lost in the night's darkness
the moon's rays crept
lighting the paths
my hands travelled
across your luscious flesh
sweeter with every kiss
our burning energies colliding
merging into singularity
falling into blissful sleep

I turn and wake
to find you here
staring back with seductive silence
the encore begins