If

Posted on by estlh

After a good start to this year I got a bit distracted and didn’t write anything for a while. This week I suddenly seem to have found my mojo again. I have been writing lots. From odd lines that will eventually develop into full poems, to snippets and phrases I have just jotted down to insert in a future poem, to a rather random short story. They are mostly first drafts still and will need a bit of tweaking before I share them, except for the one I am sharing now. I was playing around with different poem structures and with increasing and decreasing syllables and this was the result.

If

If
Only
It were true
That which you say
Statements of great love
Pretence of devotion
The words by which you deceive
The lies that you exhale
Carry me away
On clouds of hope
But like rain
They soon
Fall

Day 5

Posted on by estlh

Today’s prompt required a bit of time travel – going either into the future or the past to write from the perspective of someone on the brink of a life changing event. I have recently been reading The Mirror and The Light which has inspired my setting, although I cannot be sure the scene I envisioned is an accurate depiction of life in the 16th Century.

I am not yet ready
In time I will be
But time, I have not enough
The guests are assembled
The candles are lit
There has been much bustle and busyness
Many hands bearing trays of finest produce
Have borne more in one morn that in the past sennight

I am not yet ready
In time I might be
Yet not today, not so soon
The tables are laden
The feast all prepared
The clatter of wheels has told me the tale
Of many kin bearing gifts of richest treasures
As would befit the auspicious occasion

I am not yet ready
More time is requisite
Yet time I am not allowed
The servants attend me
The stays are bound tight
There has been much arranging and fixing
Many hands shaping this” finest of ladies”
to be the fine wife of our noble Lord

I must now be ready
The time has arrived
The time I would halt if I could
The fanfare has started
The doors are flung wide.
There has been such anticipation
Many Lives holding to what this day represents
I must play my Part, Obedient submission

Resolutions

Posted on by estlh

Today’s prompt was to write about my resolutions. I don’t tend to make resolutions as I am no good at keeping them so I went in a different direction.

I could resolve to give you the world 
To capture the moon in a jar 
To swim the vast wide ocean 
No journey to you too far 

I could resolve to show you the world 
To offer it all on a plate 
To fetch you your heart's desire 
No obstacle would be too great 

I could resolve to offer the world 
In hope that you'd open your heart 
If I were to offer the heavens 
Would you then play your part? 

I could just resolve to be honest 
To tell you the way that I feel 
To let you know you are Loved 
The truth of my passion reveal 

What then would be your resolution 
Will our futures hence intertwine? 
Or will you resolve to dismay me 
I pray you will not be unkind

Star

Posted on by estlh

Sometimes, it doesn’t matter how hard you try . . .

There was a star I reached for
I stretched my arms so far
I wanted to embrace it
And clutch it to my heart
I tried so hard to grab it
I sought to make it mine
My hands outstretched, my fingers
In it’s beams I did entwine
But as I tugged I realised
The mistake that I had made
It’s burning heat seared through my flesh
And made me much afraid

There was a star I reached for
I stretched my arms so far
I wanted to embrace it
And clutch it to my heart
With both my hands I grasped it
This glowing orb of joy
My arms grew weak, the might of it
I knew would me destroy
I let it slip from twixt my hands
For I am not that strong
And further heavenward it rolled
And took my dreams along

There was a star I reached for
I stretched my arms so far
My failure to possess it
Will ever break my heart

Rainbow

Posted on by estlh 
I have captured myself in a rainbow 
 I have wrapped it around me so tight
 I have let all it's power pervade me 
 And now I am bursting with light.
 The out play of infinite colours 
 Releases the brightest of dreams
 A world of outrageous existence 
 Where nothing is quite what it seems.

 I have made me a bed of a raincloud
 I have wrapped it around me so tight
 I have let all it's tears wash right through me
 My stains are now all lily white.
 I arise from this absolving slumber
 Awash with the joy of new birth
 And I run from the heights to the oceans 
 Stretch my arms out, embracing the earth.

 I have swallowed the sound of the thunder.
 I have taken it's might for my voice 
 I have tasted this sonorous morsel
 Now all men will hear me rejoice.
 For my voice now has power to move mountains
 Watch as I sing and they shake 
 If I bow down my head to your ear
 One whisper and how you will quake.

 But these powers I now have were not given
 I stole them away - not for fun
 I wanted to win your affection
 For you are my bright shining sun
 So I stand now with boldness before you
 My splendour displayed for your view
 One word, then you turn and I crumble.
 I'm no match for the power that is you.