Category: Old Poems

Poems written long ago, while a student — before I moved to California and started a family. My old poems tend to be silly, gruesome, or both.

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In The Sun [Classic] (20 line poem)

Long ago I left the shade.
I had to have the sun.
I meant to take you with me,
But I left you behind.
The sunlight made me blind.

For a time it was fantastic:
My every word recorded,
My every thought revealed.
Accustomed to the light,
You faded from my sight.

But the newness has worn off.
The excitement has gone by.
Charred and blackened by the sun,
Having thought I had it made,
I seek shelter in the shade.

At the edge, they keep me out.
They want me in the light.
My eyes can’t find you in the shade.
Loneliness propels me on.
Help me back before the dawn.

Some notes on this poem:

  1. I made some small adjustments when posting:
    • 2nd stanza: two lines exchanged order
    • 4th stanza: a word add, and a full line swap (with another existing line in my notes). Nothing super major, but it helped the overall rhyming and the flow.
  2. I may have been morphing this into a song. I have a line of music at the bottom of the last page (I’ll have to pull out the guitar and give it a go):

 

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I Was Once An Ant [Classic] (13 line poem)

Surprisingly, I found an old poem that isn’t about monsters and death.

I was once an ant.
Timid. Afraid.
Blindly rushing about with no purpose.

Then it happened.

I was once a stone.
Ignorant of my surroundings.
Achieving nothing.

Now…

Now I soar with the wind,
——and look down on the stars.
Now I stride across oceans,
——and mountains stand aside.

I am in love.

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Arsenal [Classic] (12 line poem)

Wait! I found another horrible old poem. If you’re just starting to read my old stories and poems, I should warn you that many are dark, with frequent violence and death.

You can find some lighter poems in my collection destined for my longer connected narrative here.

Armed with but a memory
Sentiment my shield
I attacked her for her callousness
My army took the field

I played on her compassion
“Remember how things were…?”
Complaints about her cruelty
Meant not a thing to her

Armed with but my hunting knife
I visited her home
We left the world together then
No more to be alone

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Pursuit [Classic] (30 line poem)

To round things out, since today is (apparently) ‘Demon Day’, here is another terrible but silly old poem about death and hell.

They stole my heart
They took my brain
They threw my body off the train
Yet magic made me whole again
But now I’ve witnessed death

I stalk them now
I roam the night
My body whole, my mind not right
I see ahead a distant light
And draw a rasping breath

I shuffle nearer
To the place
A look of menace on my face
My anxious steps become a race
I open up the door

I step inside
They scream, “Surprise!”
And poke their fingers in my eyes
But I choke each one till he dies
Then throw him on the floor

The episode
Has just begun
Now it’s time to have some fun
I look around and find a gun
And blow my face away

Falling, falling
Down a well
We land amid the fires of Hell
I grin a grin so they can tell
That now it’s time to play

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Some Other Kind of Love [Classic] (4 line poem)

It would be a nice story if I wrote this after some sad breakup, but in truth I think I spent more time writing about love than experiencing it.

There must be some other kind of love
A kind that gives as well as takes
A kind forgiving and forgetful
That doesn’t dwell on past mistakes

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Possession [Classic] (20 line poem)

Must be ‘Demonic Day’ or something like that. Including this poem, I’ll have posted, within the last two days, 3 pieces about demons and hell.

A name from out of nowhere
A word from ancient lore
Summoning forth memories
That were not there before

The echoes don’t diminish
But fill my empty brain
Extinguish personality
Till nothingness remains

My mind cries out in anger
And then whimpers in fear
I lose control, give up my soul
To thoughts I now can hear

The purpose is apparent
It reeks of evilness
Again I fight, again I fail
Fall victim to the stress

I perform its vile actions
Then with a piercing scream
As the Presence leaves me, wondering
Was it real or just a dream?

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Hell is Hell [Classic] (20 line poem)

Every day I relive
The day of my demise
My body from the gallows swings
Beneath still, cloudless skies
Hell is hell

I lived a life of ruthless crime
Throughout the old wild West
At the time I thought what
I was doing was in jest
Hell is hell

Every minute of my life
I vividly regret
I thrust the memories from my mind
But never can forget
Hell is hell

The torment’s indescribable
I wish the hurt were done
I’ve nothing to look forward to
Except more pain to come
Hell is hell

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Word play [Classic] (three 4-line poems)

Below are three ‘palindrome poems’ — that read front to back, then back to front. I chose these three from a set of seven that I wrote since these are the best: they (sort of) make logical and grammatical sense. Believe me, the other four are worse…

Essentially, to write one of these, you need two pairs of rhyming words that can be both nouns and verbs. Doesn’t sound that difficult, but perhaps it is/was. Someday, I’ll try again.

Take the gun
Fake the run
Run the fake
Gun the take

Break the foot
Snake the root
Root the snake
Foot the brake

Pop up stick
Cop the trick
Trick the cop
Stick up Pop

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Longtree [Classic] (13 line poem)

An old poem that I thought was unfinished, but I’ve recently decided it was.

Weep for the children of Longtree
Their dreams are shattered
Their hopes are shorn
No home have they to lay their heads

Weep for the children of Longtree
For in the night
As they did sleep
Death saw fit to show his head

Weep for the children of Longtree
They think they live
They know not life
Condemned to dwell among the dead

Weep for the children of Longtrtee