Mr. G.E. Raulisa, Cape Town, RSA
 
In the song and the laughter and the tears,
And the eyes and the ears and through the lips;
For days and weeks and months that turned to years
It burnt and leapt and never succumbed to Fate.
 
For love is Destiny, and knows no bounds
Though in the heart of the sea of violent currents
I'd often felt it easier to set out for the shore
Than to hope for my head to abide above the water.
 
So I lay, wiggling in the confines of the stupor
Hoping to nudge a door back to the real world
Where I'm free from love and desire, safe against pain
But there I'd died once and could no more live.
 
And she was there still as blind, as beautiful
Singing and laughing and shedding onion tears
Never thinking a fool like me could seek more than her friendship
As I figured how in the name of love I'd take her in.
 
Today, many an age later, she's my best friend still
And tomorrow will say her wedding vows
Receive my blessing and set out for honeymoon
To explore new love, and probably conceive my brother's child.
 

 

 

 I haven't told anyone

Shahla Roshani from Iran 

 

I haven't told anyone, i haven't

Even to the socked sails of our ship,

Even to your far and loveless hands

Even to the wind drifted me out towards cheerful passengers

I will leave your shore of love

And i will drop my tears at the far side of the sea, Where the dawn is the only tie of our homelands,

I haven't told anyone, i haven't

Even to the eyes of moms who looking fervently forwards

Even to the albatross,

Why can't you hear my beating heart anymore?

I can't believe

You can't see my hairs in the hands of winds

While pleading towards your homeland

I haven't told anyone, but i want to tell you

You, who left me alone in a sadness avenue,

I will put my ring in a pear-less oyster on the shore

Open the oyster

Perhaps it will reflect a light from the distant sea

Brightness, though not of your lovely eyes that can trick my broken heart

Maybe i see a furrow on your brow, a teardrop, which shows the glory of our love

Don't let me travel alone,

Don' t let me lean on the shoulder of pain

Call my name, i shall return

But if you don't, i will go

And never tell anyone
 
Rainbows no more
                W.J.Calvert Jr.    Ocala, Florida
 
I look upon the morning sky and see the coming storm 
Behind my though the sun does rise pale light and rays of warm
And as I wonder to what this day will call
Gently softly now the rain begins to fall
 
And through the mist ahead of me a rainbow in the sky
The Master's promise given from an ancient day gone by
One of peace and hope endured 
Dare I believe the promise I'm assured
 
Quickly passes though the calmness of the morn
Fast upon me now is the raging of the storm
Pain and fury like none I'd hope to see
She tears and rips at me and brings me to my knees 
 
Her anguish flows from deep within
The torments of another's sin
With lightning thunder it all unfolds
And through tears like rain her story told
 
My world is black and the winds they groan
But for all of this it is mine to own
The storm at hand was brought by me
Through calloused heart I set it free
 
The storm has settled no longer does she rage
And as in fate and fairy tale we turn the  page
Alone I stand outside her closed tight door
And for me there shall be rainbows no more
 
 
 Poem by James Cecil
 
In solitude, I search for will
To mend my soul, and shed the chill
Of broken love, the loss, and fears
I taste this day- with salty tears.
 
Memories - are but the foe
That drags my fractured spirit slow
My children's voices cast no balm
 I search for hope, through prayer or psalm.
 
For only light of each day new
With all its promise, fresh and true
Can lead me to that phantom spark
That draws in hope, and lights the dark.
 
My friend is time; its patient will
Each passing day make dull the nil
That left me empty - duped of trust
A sunlit day precedes the dusk.
 
The  dusk is tired; a weary yawn  
My slumber calms until the dawn
I wake on wings of pains' full scope
This new day born - I ache for hope.

 

Where i want to go 
Poem by Mike Brennan
 
The bruises fade but the scars remain,
Another source of life-long pain, 
My heart remains in your secure possession, 
I can deal with that but I have a confession, 
Infidelity has crossed my mind, 
My apologies but I'm just trying to find, 
Freedom, trust and a little love too, 
Evidently I'm not getting that from you,

Yet despite knowing this I
remain in your keeping,
No respite, no escape except when I'm sleeping,
Though sometimes my dreams are plagued with your face,
My once-little world now too crowded a place,
I'm never alone, you're always inside,
I've nowhere to run and nowhere to hide
 
 
Bitten by absence
by Kirthu
 
Are you there,my brother?
The silence replied.
I want to see you,
The darkness responded.
The tears of mine replaced your presence.
How can I ever forget you?
Everything brings back your memories to me.
You must be somewhere around here,
And you can't hide from me.
'Cause my heart can catch sight of you.
The tears on my cheeks remind me of your weeks.
The tears remained wet and set the heart in pain,
Hope the tears will dry along with the pain.

 

 

Poem by N.D.
 
I had to lose him to know I was blind
For not seeing him when he was right there
Now I wish I could just go back in time
And treat him the way he deserved
But life will go on, and the pain will always remain
'Cause I missed one shot to do things right
And I'm the one to be blamed
Though it wasn't his fault.. it wasn't mine
Thinking of him breaks me down
And I see him everyday, walking on the ground
But I know now it's not him.. it's just someone who looks alike
'Cause he's gone, and he'll never be back around

​

​

EDWARD NEEDS A FRIEND   
Mr N.T. Vendel, Cirencester, UK
 
Burnt the morning toast again,
Forgot to fill the kettle,
Where's Mary? Have you seen her today?
I can't seem to rest or settle,
And these years don't wait for me to breathe,
Old memories replay on the hour,
And I really don't want to be here no more
All alone in this concrete tower.
 
The phone doesn't want to ring no more,
Has the postman lost his way?
My old friend Joe checked out last night,
Now his dogs got nowhere to stay,
Oh Mary, Mary I miss you so,
Even though you've been gone for years,
I really just want to let someone know,
It's been so lonely without you here

​

​

Gone 
By Britton age 13 from Austin,TX
 
I was asleep beneath the sun
When I felt water, splash 
on my cold stubborn feet
I was awakened
 
I sat up to find him gone
I could feel the burning sensation 
of tears, behind my eyes
 
They began to roll down ,
my hands wiping  the glisling 
crystals, off of my sadden face
 
After I finished wiping the crystals
off my sadden face 
I began to start my new journey
as a daughter with no father
 
 
THE MEMORY BOX

Mrs C.Richardson,York,UK

Please give me what is mine
memory box. Let me unlock your key.
Let all those pictures and words
Spill out and shout ~we re free
Why do you hide them
and disguise them, so unkind.
You slide them out of view.
My fear, so clear yet out of mind.
Everything I know is gone
The cost is lost with tears that swell.
Allow me just a glimpse,
a peek, a sneak of what I knew so well

​

 
THANK YOU FOR SUPPER
by Andrea Shavick, London, UK
 
Thank you for supper, he says,
as you drop the plates and throw them
across the room.
 
Shall I make tea? he says,
as you fill the kettle, find the cups, rinse the plates

and cut yourself on a knife

he’s left the wrong way up in the dishwasher.
 
I’ll do that, he says,
but you’re too busy swigging the washing up liquid,
gouging the work surface,
disemboweling the washing machine,
blow-torching the shirts,
spearing the goldfish
and scalding yourself with tea, to reply.
 
Why are you always too tired? he says,
but the thunderous din of the
unrelenting, unremitting conveyor belt of slave-labour
has already lulled you

into a false sense of...
sleep.