Thanks Lesley.  Rob's poem inspired me.  I really enjoy this board.  All the poems here are fantastic.

This thread is so enriching to the soul. Many beautiful works here.
As I get older, I look back upon my life, and I can sum most of it up with a few stanzas. How today's crap that we have to go through will either make or break us. After quite a few life's struggles, I finally began writing again.
This is a poem that I want put on my headstone when I die.

REMEMBRANCE
Cindy L. Keller

I know whence I came.
I rose from the ashes,
dueling through Demons
in saddened refrains.

Yet, all in all
if a "Remebrance"
dares echo my name,
I pray it be the heart
passioned by love
that warms a piece of your day.

Here are a couple of my poems I'd like to share.

HOMAGE
To the master: Edgar Allan Poe

My feet dangle off the edge of the dock
as my mind gets lost in his dreams.
With a slight spin, I skim a rock;
the raven beside me, folds his wings.

Though limerick and voices abound,
deep in his words - no greater height is found.
Known well in large cities, as in small towns,
this masterful man of rhyme.

His bells hearken early melodies of lore.
On death wings, Godspeed him to his Lenore;
hence the raven be hushed of "Nevermore".
True peace he'll come to find.

The ripple expands in the water,
and I see my bird is not a raven, but a crow.
Above my reflection, I see perfection,
the smiling raven with Edgar Allan Poe.

NIGHT OF NOSFERATU

Can you feel him?
He's coming...
Coming in the air tonight...

Hollowed light that comes from within;
be still - this night of slumberless sleep.
Hunger burning, lusting... reaping
the season of it's demise.
Dark wings of the night do fly.

Misted wings of dewdrop's dread;
seek shelter, close the curtains and hide.
Tonight - flight of the undead
searches shadows for innocent life.
Dark wings of the night take flight...

Over hills, through dirge of the dale,
the wind carries a requiem of sorrow.
All pay heed to the twilight tale;
pray for the blessed light of tomorrow.

Hypnotized - those eyes from Hell;
fangs pierce; try - through you cannot scream,
Wake this night from torment's spell,
wander thoughts to peaceful dreams.
Dark wings of the night do fly...  

heheheh....i like those ones.
the nosferatu one is pretty creative.

i also really liked Remembrance...reminds me of something i once saw somewhere.  how unspecific of me.  i think it was by some dead guy.

even more specific....hmm.  well it's really good, that's all that matters!

Thanks Shaman,
I wrote Night of Nosferatu a couple of years ago. One of my friends said she really liked it, that it would be something you read at the beginning of a movie. That was before I started writing screenplays.
Glad you liked them.
Cindy

All of them are great, Cindy.  You are talented.  It's great to read a homage to Edgar Allen Poe.  He is one of my favorites.

"Not Forgotten"

A thread weaves through me,
In the tapestry of my heart
And in the visions of my mind,
A thread of wonderful memories
Of the great times we shared.

All our joys, even our sorrows
Are embedded in me, sewn into
My soul, running free inside.
You come to me in my dreams,
And speak to me while I sleep,
Keeping me company during
My nights of loneliness.

I can feel you here with me,
Helping me past my grief.
One day, I'll be with you again,
But until that day comes,
My memories is all I have
And those I will cherish.

That was very nice, Rob.  I really loved the first stanza.

Yes, it was very nice. That thread is a wonderful thing. Sometimes its the only thing that keeps us held together.
Cindy

Thanks Andrea, Cindy.  That one has a special place in my heart.  

Here's one I don't like that much, but still, here it is.

"Shattered"

Picking up the shards
Of my broken mirror,
The one window
Into my inner being.

One moment of anger,
A second uncontrolled second
Of limitless fury,
Ruined what we had.

What lays shattered
Is all that I was.
Everything good and bad,
My whole self, is gone.

What I destroyed,
I alone cannot fix.
Only you, the caretaker
Of my heart, can.

I am a clean slate,
My old self won't return.
The love still exists,
Inside what is left of me.

I have faith in us,
In what we can be,
The bond we shared,
You can reforge.

The past is the past,
I will prove it.
I only need a chance
To prove I can love again.

"Fantasy Reality"

Where have you gone, oh lost one,
Did you escape to your fantasy world?

A dream place where Gary Coleman
Is eight feet tall and is still a star.

Where the Terminator makes movies,
Not governing the state called California.

Where George Bush is the world's genius
And John Kerry has a personality.

Where Bill Clinton never cheated on Hillary
And Republicans will forever leave him alone.

Where Britney Spears gets married once
And not every month, week, or day.

Where J-Lo is kind and not irate,
But still has a million ex-husbands.

Where Mike Tyson is still champ
And a Nobel Peace Prize winner.

Where Shaq and Kobe are best friends,
Singing campfire songs with Jerry West.

Where Martha Stewart is innocent
And corporations never cheats.

Where money doesn't move people,
Friendship and love does.

Where kind words are exchanged
And compassion rules over anger.

Where hate is no more
And all violence ends.

Thinking about it, I must now admit,
Your fantasy is better than our reality.

Very good stuff.  "Fantasy Reality" is very cool.  Funny to start and serious at the end.  You caught me off guard when you changed gears like that.

Poetry

I love them all,
Long, or short,
Rhyming or not,
Funny or loving,
Sad or caring,
Poems move me,
Make me cry
And make me smile.
I love poems
Written by anyone
Who is brave enough
To make their feelings known.

It was supposed to funny.  The serious ending sort of just happened.

i should really stop this.  hopefully this is the last

Dedication


For those who've known my ventures in the gloom,
The darkened azimuth, the utmost bound
Of human thought, where fears eternal bloom
And hopelessness bursts from the hellish ground

I've walked this path, where demon spirits moan,
Where ashen clouds of anguish coalesce
To the hymnal whines of siren bugles blown,
And shed those blinding bolts that effervesce

The altercations of a lonely brood,
Temperamental squalls of blazoned sorrow,
Or all my terrors perfectly construed,
And known that sadness always follows

Yet desolation of my hermitage
Was expurgated with the the bloody dawn,
Where crimson heavens torn by lupine scourge
Becomes the Daystars throne with beaming fronds

The mighty canvased sky would melt that day
And painted bright cerulean, would glow
With comely fledgling fervor brightly flayed,
And sunlit by the unmasked orbs halo

And who the harbinger of welcome grace,
That willingly unsheathes the morning dew?
For from the welkin sky those glassy droplets traced
To echo of this ardour I pursue

Who is this newfound Angel found by me?
The brightest glimmer of the Seraphim,
Whose beauteous smile is matched only
By limitless kindness on a cherubs whim

In those hyaline eyes a tempest flares
Where waves of passion course felicitous
A squall of ebullition I would dare,
To welcome suffocate without distress



The apoplexies wearing at my mind
Be culminated by the precious hand,
For you the goddess annul that which blinds
And rout afflictions of this sickly brand

The tender flesh of alabaster glaze
The exaltation of divinity,
Attests perfection in my holy praise
Of such sublime I drown in finity

What pearly radiance of scarcity
Whose smile worth more than any mortal pride
Would willing bless in humble piety
Or once adore in love that I confide

A form so carved from sun and rain and cloud
Claims domination of the senses pure
With powers of a Light most deemed endowed
And elegance I yearn to e'er be near

Could I devote a life embracing you
With all of the words of all of the world
It'd be to no avail with faulty Truth
To equal that from lofty heights thus hurled