AND A CANDLE BURNS AT MIDNIGHT

And a Candle Burns At Midnight

And a candle burns at midnight as she pours a glass of wine
Watching westward from the window, praying Heaven for a sign
All the letters go unanswered and her calls are not returned
And her heart is slowly breaking, hating him still as she yearns.

Now the rain is gently falling, now the thunder’s rolling in
And she wonders where he’s at now as she’d wondered where he’d been
All the late night window watching, all the late night candle light
Drinking white wine, longing for him, in the middle of the night.

Lightning strikes and hits the hillside, hits the branches of a tree
The clock chimes another hour as her prayers turn to pleas
Thunder roars and fills the white house with it’s noisy rumbling slam
And the rain blows in the window but she doesn’t give a damn.

Raindrops running down her face then like the teardrops from her eyes
Like he’s touching her with his fingers and she stands there and she sighs
Just imagining his strong hands and the kisses he bestowed
Till the night that he stopped kissing for no reason that she knows.

Coming in sometimes at daybreak with the smell of strange perfume
Bringing nothing but his thunder and his pain into the room
Giving none of what he gave her when the white house first went up
Burning candles by the hours, drinking white wine by the cup.

Making endless, mindless love so achingly so sweet and good
Hardly making time for breathing, barely taking time for food
Then one night she waited for him by the window all night long
And when he came, was not the same and the white house wasn’t home.

He left at midnight in a rainfall that turned to hurricane strength gale
Took her sweet heart, took her heaven and left her in the arms of hell
And the months have passed so slowly yet she still loves and she yearns
Drinking white wine at the window while the midnight candle burns.

©by Voo
Jan 25, 2005

midnight

THE GREEN GREEN DREAM OF THE GUITAR an urban swamp legend that I created

Junkyard Blues by Rat Rod

slide guitar Cajun music

play while reading

                 

The Green Green Dream of the Guitar

       

So I'm driving down this lost highway

In my decades-old black car

With my suitcase sharing the back seat space

With my treasured green guitar

A map opened to Louisiana

On the floor there at my right

As I thought about the strange phone call

That awoke me around midnight

A paying gig, a three night stand

And the pay was really good

They wondered if I could come and play

And I said I thought I could

The bills were high and my rent was due

And the boss had let me go

There was no need to let me stay

For there was no work, you know?

So I packed my bags and I headed south

Though my heart was full of strife

Excited by the prospects looming

Because music was my life!

Playing since the age of ten

I dreamed of going far

But all I'd gained in fifteen years

Was this car and that guitar

And the guitar was a beauty

Shiny silky green so fine

And the sound that came from the two of us

Could blow a grown man's mind

I didn't have a manager

I couldn't afford P. R.

I got my gigs by word of mouth

As I chased that silver star

So, who had called, I didn't know

Truth told, I didn't care

Some tiny bar in the deep deep south

Was waiting for me there

Cold beer and pretty women

Danced cross my poor boy's mind

And I trembled, thinking about it all

And wondering what I'd find

Along 'bout noon on a lonely road

With no cars or bars in sight

I put down the top, pulled out the map

To see if I'd read it right

The air was crisp, the sky was blue

There was honey on the wind

And a kind of feeling came over me

Like I'd been caressed by sin

Alarmed, I turned the ignition key

But the car, it wouldn't start

And no matter how I cursed or prayed

There was no life in her heart

So I grabbed my guitar from the back seat

And headed down the road

Took the fork that turned to left

Though my soul cried to forebode

I walked for what then seemed like days

But I knew that couldn't be

Down roads and paths and country lanes

Following something I couldn't see

Through fields so green, they hurt my eyes

Past creeks and brooks and streams

All colored like bright emerald jewels

Found only in your dreams

Somewhere off there in the distance

I heard a woman's voice

Singing tender lullabies

And I went, I had no choice

And as I walked, played my guitar

To that melody so sweet

That put a wildness in my blood

And dancing in my feet

I followed till the sun went down

Into that dark green west

Into a forest of whispering trees

With longing in my breast

And then the song came to an end

And I heard a lover's sighs

And there she sat and there I fell

With beauty in my eyes

Up in a tree, like fairies do

A girl so pure and rare

Sat on a limb just looking down

While my heart stopped to stare

"I waited for you." is all she said

As I rushed toward the tree

But she put out her hand and said

"Play your green guitar for me."

And as I played, I fell in love

Looking at her light

Playing as the sun sank low

With promise of the night

She sang to me of long ago

Of passion and of fire

And as she sang, my heart became

Filled with her desire.

"Come!" she shouted and laughing, fled

Jumping to the ground

And off she ran through lush green grass

And her footsteps made no sound

I followed, calling, "Wait for me!"

But her feet, they would not slow

And she took me deeper into the dark

To a place I did not know

To marshes and to swamp lands

To thick and foreign vines

To roots of old, like living things

With mouths and eyes and minds

To bird and tree and flower

Like none I'd ever seen

To a realm of song and nightmare

In a world of emerald green

And as the darkness grew, I felt

Her touch upon my arm

"Fear not," she softly said to me

"I will not do you harm."

Her essence, candles in the dark,

Her smile, the moon above,

Her lips like honey in the comb,

Her eyes like liquid love

With urgency I've never felt

With hunger like a knife

I grabbed her up in arms of steel

Like a dead man would his life

Kisses sweet as morning rain

I poured upon her lips

Thirsting for the taste of love

That till then, I'd only sips

And I fell in rapture, falling

Through a haze and maze of thought

Love chased me down forbidden roads

And I knew that I'd been caught

My fingers in her long dark hair,

My mouth against her skin,

I knew if this was love and war

That surely, she would win

Then through the gnarled and ancient trees

I heard a growling roar

And when I opened up my eyes

My love was there no more

My green guitar could not be found

As frantically I searched

Wondering if her father'd seen

Her purity besmirched.

I tried to find a path to walk

As night fell harder still

Feeling I had lost my heart

And worse than that, my will

The quiet was shattered by the sounds

Of crow and frog and beast

Gleaming green now in the bog

And suddenly they ceased

I stood in silence, waiting then

For my love to appear

Waiting to feel that rush of joy

But finding only fear

"Where are you?" I called to her

"I cannot see the path."

And in the distance I heard her sigh

And then I heard her laugh

"Come, my love!" she beckoned me

And I stumbled toward the sound

Falling in the deep dark water

And through the night, and down

Awful things with shining eyes

They brushed against my face

Caught me in their cold dead arms

And held me in that place

Then up I went and fought and sought

The air, the sky, the light

Peering through the greenish glow

To see the hellish sight

My love, a thing not of this world

Without her lovely charms

Holding my sweet green guitar

In her green ghoulish arms

She smiled with razored teeth and laughed

Holding up her prize

Looked at me struggling in the swamp

With no light in her eyes

I do not know what happened next

For my knees and mind went weak

And to this day, I do not know

And the truth I will not seek

I found myself back in my car

On the highway going south

With a mighty hole torn in my soul

And a bad taste in my mouth

I shook for hours, I could not stop

Till I pulled into the bar

Where no one had ever heard of me

Or my missing green guitar

© by Voo Shining Stone

May 5, 2010

Dead Man theme song

by Neil Young
goes really well with this story.....

Cadillac in the Swamp

by Smokehouse

ALREADY THERE a prose poem full of odds and ends

Already There

Walking through life

We stumble sometimes

Upon unlocked doors......

And we hesitate, wondering

If we should open that door

That is standing there ajar, beckoning

For us to take a chance.

There may be danger lurking there,

There may be terrifying consequences,

Or there may be something wonderful

We never know.

And some of us will never know

Because we are too afraid to take that chance

And so we flinch and jerk back our hands,

Leave the door ajar for someone else to open.

And someone else does bravely open that door

And discovers all sorts of fantastic things waiting inside:

A new job, a home, the love of a lifetime,

The answer to a prayer, our prayer, but we were too afraid.

Afraid to try because we are scarred by rejection,

Crushed by hurt and traumatized by terror

Emotional wounds covered by scar tissue and flimsy bandages

That never healed us, only covered up our pain so no one could see it.

But we always knew it was there inside us 

Just waiting to be triggered by the next bullet,

The next blade, the next unkind word

And we've traded our kindness for anger and hidden our love in hate.

Knowing that that's not who we are or even want to be

We're just trapped in a cell of emotion,

Fallen down a well full of broken-ness

And imprisoned in pain that we don't know how to heal.

God didn't make us like that.............

He made us in His image and His image is love,

His heart is love and His thoughts are of love,

His kingdom is love and His bounty is love

And love is what we're all afraid of the most.

So we disrupt His plans and go running away

From every open door, every road map that falls on our path,

Every circumstance He has worked on for years 

To bless us and fix us and turn us around.

And I, am more guilty of that running than most 

Fleeing when no one pursues, no threat is discerned

No evidence is presented and no danger seems imminent

Running and running when I should give myself up.

What is it about surrender that terrifies our soul?

Why hold onto pride when it comes before every fall?

Why do we stare down and back away from a blessing?

A blessing that can heal us and bring our hope back again?

I once stumbled over a rainbow and found hidden treasures 

So many my back and my arms couldn't bear

And I fell in a well full of love never knowing

That the love I fell into was already there.

Already there, waiting for me to find it

Already there but my eyes could not see

It was already there just beyond the unlocked door

Waiting to give itself unto me.

And I tasted love and touched it's hand

I heard it's sweet voice softly say

"You've finally found the thing you wanted."

And I just screamed and ran away.

Look in my eyes, my searching friend

Into eyes of sorrow that rued my choice

I threw away my long sought joy

That called to me with tender voice.

For fear of hurt and fear of losing

I threw away the promise of

All of my dreams coming to pass

No longer pursuing, but running from love.

The irony is not lost on me

Believe me, friend, I see the jest

In what I'm saying and warning you

Love's student I was, but not the best.

But now I know and now I share

With all who'll listen and heed my call

Love hurts sometimes and love heals the hurting

So don't run from it's touch or fear the fall.

It's frightening to fall when you don't know what's waiting

And we've all reached to hearts that proved they didn't care

But when you fall in true love, love will be there to catch you

You can't fall into something that's not already there.

©By Voo

August 15, 2019

10:15 p.m.

copyrighted

Fallin by Michael Grimm

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