I couldn’t help myself, peeking through the trees
at the white, glowing moon. It seemed so close,
so far away, meant for a gothic grace - the swish
of an antique gown, nearly floating in the midst.
Two trees held the moon between them; squeezed it
exquisitely, beautifully, tenderly. I’m caught in the light
of the luminous lanterns seeking respite, surrendered
to waning twilight. A twinkle in my steadfast soul.
Must I lose; I might linger, with my iPhone to control
the soulful image - what I will make of it. My backyard,
the trees thrill me, move me into the presence of God.
A scintillation of Eden, dumbed-down for dust-to-dust.
What spectacle of glory will we one day see; our lens
in eternity? Will we soak up color choices that stretch
forth one after the other? We can only imagine;
we can’t even imagine! I turn the moon off; step inside.
"The Scent of Eden"
Up the road I walked
as if in some golden hazy dream
and along the road an honour guard
to the left of me, of red-ripe apple trees
I walked bare feet
into that lush abundance
of waving dark forest green
the scent of mystery, fresh petrichor
wet leaves underneath my soul
moistly called me in, to believe
some kind of beckoning
to unprocessed novel new beginnings
I plucked the largest I could find, as always
stretching too far above me
then, in my hands
I raised it to my rosy lips
before I took it fully in, my over-soul
breathed its knowledge o’er me like a twin
wisdom, its gilded giddy perfume
the scent of Eden,
sings
Candide Diderot. ‘25
The skyline wheezes through gauze-thick breath,
its lungs ossified in scaffolded sighs,
where children etch constellations on smog,
and pigeons strut in soot-stained pride.
Dark as coal, and quieter than sleep,
the city dreams in monochrome,
its rivers choked with yesterday’s sins,
its gardens traded for silicone.
Traffic flows like veins in a dying beast,
pumping noise into the marrow of stillness.
We built this Eden out of exhaust
and liturgy of engines.
We now beg for the Adam's apple
to drop back down.
She collects souls to be their shepherd,
to keep them — and their short lives — safe.
All moments, catalogued
in the chaos and cosmos.
She watches them thrive.
Her curiosity appears as wit,
sharp with double entendres,
an intelligence cloaked in playful tongues.
She heals wounds that leave invisible scars.
She wraps her mind around others’ worries
and offers another way —
a kinder path,
a pulse of love
to all the sick, grieving, deprived,
and suffering souls.
She is the world’s mystical mother,
matriarchal in her tenderness.
Her questions don’t harm — they heal.
She opens hearts like a spiritual surgeon,
then stitches them back together
with hope and dreams.
Her love knows no limits.
She sits as the universe’s mouthpiece.
And I love her.
But still I sit and reflect —
how, surrounded by voices,
she may feel alone.
And I hunger to be her voice
when she is calm.
She is ethereal,
like holy smoke
rising from a sea of darkness.
The light —
it saved her.
And it burns.
The sun kissed by mountain goodbyes,
That’s how time flies,
With hope to rise,
And potential born of dedication,
Yet drowned beneath trepidation.
You’re the descended curse from Eden,
Grace misplaced, a soul still bleeding.
Ambiguous dreams, not synchronicity,
You are the seed of Adam and Eve,
Footsteps echo in melancholy.
You pray for wealth, not to be holy,
Chasing gold, forgetting the slowly.
But silence guards the truth you fear,
Like raindrops quieting dust so near.
No gain just pain you feel,
Still, you cease not, nor do you kneel,
Pray when you kneel,
Capitulate not to defeat,
For you are fate’s own Eden seed,
When the noise dies,
The truth stands tall,
The mirror reflect defined art,
That's you realize you got yourself .
One love, one life, one God, and one story for each of us.
Love we each make our choices, who to love and who to leave.
Some loves just don’t meet our needs.
Some loves just can’t see, all that we need.
Some are perfect, but are unavailable, because they are already in a relationship.
Having one love, to hold and love is the ultimate feeling anyone can have.
So, hold out for that one love, the one that has your heart and mind in the top of their mind.
The love that is kind and loves you all the time, that puts a smile on your face, just by thinking about all the moments you have and will create in time.
Love can make us all feel so amazing that it makes our life feel incredible.
Love is the truth and the way; it is like how God made us for loving each other in one love kind of scene.
Like the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve had each other till someone come between.
So, hold out for your one love, and pray that we all find our one love.
Lifting prayers and thoughts for love, that’s one of a kind.
Love for us is always a tryst inside of Eden
intimacy shared in the most exotic of places
Whispers born from of our deepest desires
and adoring looks of contentment on sated faces
Your touch brings me from bud to full bloom
Tenderly, you embrace me beneath moonlit skies
It's there we meld; soul entering soul with each kiss
Each caress has us breathless with moans and sighs
We've made for ourselves a lover's paradise on Earth
The lasting kind, forged and branded with flames
Bound in love and with the rhythmic beats of our hearts
We feast on each other as a poet's sonnet claims
Let not the glow of moonlight, nor of sunlight dimming
pass without words of love spoken in adoring voice
For as dawn and twilight paint beautiful canvases,
we celebrate them together and in each other, rejoice
The Earth opens her mouth,
but only smoke escapes.
No words—just the long exhale
of something dying too slowly.
She once spoke in green—
a dialect of leaf and wing,
of rivers fluent in direction.
Now, her language is static and flame.
We stitched motorways across her skin,
called it progress.
Drilled into her marrow,
called it wealth.
Even silence has texture—
ask the glaciers, ask the bees.
She is not quiet.
We are simply hard of listening.
The Great Halls of Eden
(A lone voice whispers)
Walking in like the Grand Inquisitor
Tomás de Torquemada
Dressed in a dark robe
With Beethoven's “Moonlight Sonata” playing loudly in her wake
I can remember when Love brought me through a gate
To a doorway leading to her Three Castles of Rejection
Cruelty
Intolerance, and Fanaticism
And when she nearly broke me within each of those walls, she introduced me to her other Three Castles of Seduction
Through another darkly lit doorway
Ecstasy
Blissfulness and Tranquility
Such is the juxtaposition of entering her Great Halls of Eden
For those Red coloured doors within that painted room, could lead you to your sweet salvation or doom
So just be careful when you smell her sweet perfume, when she smiles, as she approaches
For once, she takes you into her Great Halls of Eden
Once you enter that oak panelled waiting room
Always remember
One day, you could be in her master bedroom
And then one day, feel the harsh bristles of her witches broom
As you soul pleads and yells
Such is the power of being under her mesmerising spell
(C) Copyright John Duffy
[Note : For FINISH MY POEM CONTEST
Sponsor: Mystic Rose Rose
Tuesday 15/4/25
1st two verses by Mystic Rose Rose ]
(3rd Placing in Contest)
As she drinks nectar from a flower, sweetness from heaven falls like dew
anointed with a gentle rain amidst sun showers she appears as if on cue
Lifting her wings she lands on a Zinnia beneath a tinted sky of April blue
flight of fancy fanning fast, fabulous marvel, she is beauty true on true
Two papyrus thin wings of buttercup yellow
she flutters in and out of my garden Heart
it is freedom she brings, cares not for bellow
I crave to join her, finish my art, baking tarts
Her proboscis deliciously delicately long
into a lonely red rose she inserts it so precise
inspiring me to dance to a super Spring song
her wings like my breath dissipates every vice
Oh Butterfly ! Take me with on your fanciful flight
daisy fields, mountain streams to desired Eden
let’s go where no cares air, just serene sights
fairies composing tunes for whispering women !
Everybody cooks at their own time and temperature.
Your journey is for you, mine, uniquely, for me.
We are not 'sameness-evolved' meant to be.
We all grow our spirits separately,
so, too, our emotions and philosophies.
Uniqueness serves our soul’s artistry.
Some of us are new souls, others advanced.
Earth-mingling our unique is not circumstance.
If manifesting divine potential were a tangible,
it would be a puzzle of pieces non-sequential.
When souls combine the 'know' their lives did grow,
various, glorious soul-twinkles will truth guide us.
We are same totally loved, differently etched.
Each of us, a spiritual beacon from His Kingdom,
may, in time, entwine to design a brand new Eden.
Green is green and must be that, but blue is none the worse for it.
‘When you are not fed love on a silver spoon, you learn to lick it off knives.’ - Lauren Eden
copper red
the taste
another from the darkness
in shadows I wait
desperate for love
one more face
I need to feel it
to feel alive in this place
no heat
skin against my skin
it's cold and unforgiving
I'll forgive myself
This is your Garden of Eden
It’s a garden that needs weedin’
And it needs seedin’
To get you Heaven ready
This is Satan’s offering
Offering you to sin and skip the drossing
(He offered Christ a shortcut to His crossing)
To get you [not Him] Hell ready
Once able to choose the good or evil freely
Now only able to choose the evil freely
With Father, Son and Spirit completely
We will be Heaven ready
This will be your Garden of Eden
It’s a garden (no need of weedin’)
No need of seedin’
You will be firmly planted in the good freely in eternity
This is no Eden
Yet the mirror is perceived
Lush tangle of undergrowth
Army of bare, crooked trees
Who formed thee in madness
Has blown fetid breath
Stirring twitches and jerks
Necromancer of death
Cold pale face a question
Bride groom of lunacy
A nightmare interpretation
Lucifer's garden fantasy
So still while I attend
Do not dare look away
From the corner of my eye
Creeping quickly to prey
Under skirt of homespun
Limbs crack, dislocate
With swift wind evil runs
pounding hooves of your mate
Turning now in retreat
Though I fear the unknown
I hear your pursuit
Bone clicking on bone
When next time that I brave
Behind me, a quick peek
You both disappear
Becoming one with the trees.
My new purchase in hand
I leave the museum
Unwrapping this art
For the pleasure seeing imparts
Driving home now, heart pounds
As every time I turn around,
The scenery changes to match
the vision through mirrors I catch
Just as in the frame
You seemed to rearrange...
And I know that you now follow me.
Candles wax time pulls it to Earth,
drops cool stilled hardens in seconds,
a fire holder girth, warps obverse,
candles wax time pulls it to Earth,
vapors prompt darkening observes,
fire loses fight gloaming transcends,
candles wax time pulls it to Earth,
drops cool stilled hardens in seconds.
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