Archive for the ‘regret’ Category

Gone

…to loved ones missed, now sadly departed…

Gone

after the clutter of leaving
after the hurry of goodbye
after sweet anticipation faded away

after no more embraces
after the laughter was memory
after the sadness collected day upon day

after the spaces fell empty
after the familiar grew distant
after our time together had become the past

after the taste of regret
after the loneliness mounted
after sands [...]

The Dimming

 
The Dimming

here is the change
the forgetting
the slipping away
into the haze of memory
the frustration
of no longer being able
and still
the burning longing to…
remember
and you
dimming in this fog
midst the times we have cherished
the places we have loved
fading beyond reach
an ever-mounting loneliness
like so many vacant seats
empty
• • •
rob kistner © 2011
• linked at Magpie Tales

Silent

 
Silent

do you hear the autumn wind
stirring in the branches
do you hear the leaves rustle
do you hear my breath
whispering your name
do you hear my heart beat
do you hear my tears fall
or is it silent
silent as the light-less realm
that hauntingly engulfs my soul
silent as that night
when apples spilled
on the broken stair
where rail eluded
your grasping hand
silent as your [...]

For Naught

 
For Naught

the virgin page taunts me
untouched
the bright white
throbs like a migraine
no burden of remorse
no weight of mystery
does it bear
no sting of anger
no wink of mirth
does it proffer
nothing sensual or sensitive to share
no tale to spin
no plot to thicken
no coin of phrase to turn
just vast blank space
tormenting nothingness
cruel emptiness
to drain my brain
dissonance spills through my open [...]

Hope

 
Hope

I lift myself quietly
very quietly
from beneath the sheets
soiled with neglect
soaked with my nightmares
I am again awake
from another dark night
that began with fear
fear I might not survive
and ends in sorrow
realizing I did
I rise
make my way carefully
past the shallow-breathed crumple
that lay milky-eyed
in a heap on the floor
un-moving
save a twitch of the head
a head which now harbors demons
where [...]

Silence - two reflections

These two poetic reflections are unrelated, beyond their focus on silence. The first reflection here considers what it is to fall into the deepening silence of old age. The second reflection looks at the silence that causes, and also results from repression…

 
1ST REFLECTION
Endings

shrouded by evening in waning october
as autumn tumbles towards winter
is [...]

King of Sunrise

 
King of Sunrise

on the boulevard below
last night’s rain puddles
midst the chaos of metro-clutter
held hostage by tire and curb
as if abandoned by the waters of earth
it shoulders its way through the gutters
in search of mother sea
this day begins golden and crisp
bird songs echo empty sunrise streets
me and the first edition
we sit by this morning window
with coffee [...]

Aeropachydermicide

Aeropachydermicide – recklessly causing the death of someone or something by actions that result from the foolish belief that one is so smart and powerful that one can make an elephant fly.

 
Aeropachydermicide

somewhere between our petrochemical insanity
and our reckless dance with fractured atoms
we believed we were the miracle
and it all went seriously awry
we fantasized we had [...]

Images - a ten year vigil

…lest we ever forget
 

 

 
Images


images
unreal
unfathomable images
the graceful glide
engulfed by the spire
in a roar of golden orange
horribly beautiful
perversely mesmerizing
obscene
devastating images
torrents of humanity
raining down
desperation their only escape
masses of humanity
racing
to outrun the unbelievable
praying
to be delivered from the inconceivable
traumatic images
shrines of free commerce
consumed
by the unbearable weight
of their fragile significance
plummeting to earth
in a cloud of self-destruction
heartbreaking images
screaming
dazed
terrified souls
consumed
by the unbearable weight [...]

Disappearing

 
Disappearing

I now move in the world unseen
I am transparent
a fading glimpse
caught in the darkened corner
of an ever dimming eye
where once I blocked the sun
I am but a shadow
moving between shadows
at the edge of light
without form
once a voice
that thundered ‘cross the distance
called all near to listen
in doing so was heard
now hardly just a whisper
my footsteps
shook the [...]

Bogged

 
Bogged

that’s the thing about ruts
the longer we remain bogged
the harder it is to escape

stopping is no option
to lose the way
is to keep going
keep moving forward
lest one be rutted in uncertainty
rigid with the rigor of fear
bogged down in despair
paralyzed
stalled in hopelessness
the giving in
the giving up
caught in anguish
the rot that sets
with the loss of wonder
when grip lets [...]

Vanished

 
Vanished

and he saw them leaving
and he opened his mouth in farewell
but only dust escaped
and broken dreams
and a spoiled promise
from long ago
left too long on the shelf
so he raised his hand
to gesture a wave
but he was rigid
and could not
and they did not hear him
and they did not see him
for he had already vanished
• • •
rob kistner [...]

Junebug

 
Junebug

how impertinent
moth and junebug
what’s with all this buzzing chatter
you’re bump and thump and all a’clatter
worrying with the frontporch light
steaming on this august night
such racket over a minor matter
while here below you
my heart breaks in silence
• • •
rob kistner © 2011
• linked at Magpie Tales and OSI

Sea Song

• this poem linked at Writer’s Island and One Single Impression

 
Sea Song

sad she comes
everyday
to these empty shores
on wings of memory
to serenade this sea
a song of longing
bowed on strings
of a broken heart
mournful for the one
lost to these silent fathoms
her tears
steady as the mists
relentless swept away
by these cold
indifferent waves
only they
know where her lover lies
so everyday she comes
taunted [...]

Scorched

 
Scorched

the landscape
losing its gild
mottles
in gunmetal grays
fractured storm clouds
churn
in huddling menace
brightened breezes
that sizzled in the aspens
build
buffeted by the angry front
thrashing
into brittling winds
the world
tumbles towards darkness
my heart
shudders in deep shadow
mourning love’s devastation
scorching words
bite and sting
where they sizzle still
blistering my careless tongue
would that it rain
drown the lands
that I might
turn my face to the sky
flood my foolish mouth
charred by [...]