collab

Saturday, March 24, 2018

UNOPENED BOXES (2)





Unopened boxes



i sent to you a lovely gift
i tried to give your soul a lift
i tried to make your sad face smile
though you were far away in miles.

i talked with you for hours on end
'bout where i'm going and where i've been
i shared my heart, my soul, my dreams
but it was all for naught it seems.

i tried to make you laugh with me
i tried to make your blind eyes see
i tried to touch your wounded soul
but for my warmth you returned cold.

i cannot make dark go away
i cannot turn the night to day
i cannot sing and make you glad
for you exult in being sad.

i wanted so to make you see
that God has love for you and me
that in His plan He has a part
if you will give Him all your heart.

i laughed with you and cried with you
i told you things i knew were true
i gave you real friendship and caring and grace
but the door that was opened was slammed in my face.

so i will go and leave you there
where i first met you in your despair
my gifts were unopened, my presents untouched
my words were rejected and that hurts so much.

i will not knock on a double locked door
i will not call your name anymore
i gave you my sweetness though you did not see
and my greatest of gifts, which was.......me. which was me.


©by Voo
 Jan 31, 2004 
ll:45 p.m.


Monday, March 12, 2018

WOULD THAT I KNEW



Would That I Knew



Would that I knew
Where to look
In this world
For love

For love has kept it's shining face
Far from the embrace of my eyes
Far from the circle of my arms
Far from the warm hearth of my heart

My pillow holds no head but mine
Catches no tears but mine
Witnesses no dreams but mine
And rarely sees them come true.

There was a time when hope was young
And innocence had not been tarnished
I felt love calling my name in halls of light
And running just ahead of me in fields of flowers.

But that was then, when days were new
And nights were magic and full of promise
Nights when love twirled in velvet cloaks
And beckoned me with eyes of bliss.

I cannot find it now
The magic......
Nor the candlelight glows in joyless nights
The touch of satin on hungry skin
The fountain of love has gone to dust
And the stars have all gone dark

Is this the destiny of broken hearts?
This shattered vase that holds no rose?
This empty room unkissed by sun?
This poemlessness that knows no prose?

What I would give to get it back
Even only to lose it yet again
For loss loses meaning without a gain
Like days lack definition without the night.

Walking through this life with empty heart
Is worse than death
Is worse than war
Is worse than prison.

Would that I knew where to look
In this world
For love..........

For I would run on broken glass
Through snow and rain
And hurricane
To the place where it waits
And calls my name

For I would fly on feet of fire

Down darkened alleys and fields of fools
Holding out these empty arms
To welcome it home here in my heart.


©by Voo
November 3, 2010
12:27 a.m.

Saturday, February 24, 2018

REMEMBER THE KISSING PLACE











"Remember the Kissing Place"



Somewhere out west of here......
Close to the river back in the woods
Out of sight but not impossible to find
There is a place that holds memories
That will never be erased by time or death.

You and I were the best of friends.......
Had been so long, I don't remember meeting you
We had been through a lot together
Life, death, relationships
The crazy ups and downs of everyday living.

But suddenly one day we were both free
At the same time, for the first time
And we went for a ride to celebrate that freedom
And to let out some decades old pent up angst.

Wasn't it peach wine coolers we were downing?
I don't remember
I just remember one of us was driving
And both of us were buzzing.

The car stereo was turned up high enough
To hear on Mars
And we were singing along and getting stares
From passersby who shook their heads.

We drove and drove until the sun began to fall
(We got lost in all honesty) but we didn't care
Pulling that souped up yellow Monte Carlo off the highway
We found a doorway in the trees and we flew in.

The tape in the deck was The Native Americans
(Because we were half native, half american)
And because it was the perfect soundtrack
For the way that we were feeling.

We sang and we laughed and we drowned
In that sicky sweet peach stuff until it ran out
And we opened the car doors to get some air
And put the seats back as far as they would go.

Robbie Robertson was singing that song we loved
"I gave my love a golden feather, I gave my love a heart of stone"
And before I knew it, you had pulled me into your arms
And kissed me like no man had ever kissed me before.

Three hours later, we were still kissing
We couldn't stop
It was like somebody had declared a contest
And we were the only contestants.

In the growing darkness, we pulled back
And looked at one another, questioning fate
We're insane, I said and you nodded
And your eyes burned into me like the sun.

Finally, we decided we had better leave
Because we didn't know where we were
(Plus, it was getting late and a state trooper
Had pulled in and given us the evil eye.)

We were silent on the way home
Holding hands and revelling in that unfamiliar tingle
I'm sure people noticed the glow on our faces
When they saw us but nobody knew why we glowed.

For two years we were more than friends
And you filled my life with more laughter 
Than one human being should be allowed
Marathon kisses and guitar solos and songs.

Drinking champagne in candlelight
We danced sometimes for eight hours straight
Sometimes we didn't say a word
Just held each other while the music filled the room.

"Do you remember the Kissing Place?" I asked one day
And you knew exactly where I meant
And we drove there and we found it and we kissed,
Took photographs and preserved them in our hearts.
But..........................

I don't know what happened
One day I didn't want to kiss you anymore
Though your kisses were still filled with passion and fire
And you still looked at me with eyes full of romance.

Maybe it was because I had met someone
That I thought was Mr. Right
Someone I could trust and love and give myself to
Wrong! (He was the devil in disguise.)

I knew you could not understand
And that your gentle heart was puzzled
I didn't know how to tell you goodbye
So I just stopped talking.

And I ran away with the devil in disguise
Who left me discarded by the roadside of love
Who shattered me more than I had ever been shattered
And undid all of the healing you'd done.

I guess it's true what they say:
You only love those that don't love you
You only want what you know is wrong
You only need what you think you don't have.

I wonder tonight if you're wondering 'bout me
I wonder if you're happy and if you ever came to terms
With the terrible thing I did, the unexplainable thing I did
And if you ever drive out to the place by the river.

I could never go there with anyone else.......

It's been ten years now and I've tried to erase the memories
Erase you and me and the best day of my life
But tonight, it all came back and I had to write this down
Maybe it will help me to forgive myself and someday I may ask you again:
            "Do you remember the Kissing Place?"






©by Voo
Aug 21, 17


Golden Feather by Robbie Robertson

PRINCESS







Princess


She stands there in her slinky green silk
Her 4" stilettos and her head in the air
Breathing contempt on me and all that dare
To share that air

Purse full of credit cards and red lipsticks
She waits for a limo and a rich man's party
"Champagne, honey?" I ask and offer her
A paper cup spilling it's sparkling wine
On the pavement

She sneers
"How dare you speak to me, you dirty man!"
And backs away like I have a disease
"Excuse me, darling, I thought you looked thirsty."
I say in the Boston accent acquired attending 
The hallowed halls of Harvard

"I know you, " she bellows and hisses like a cat
"You're that despicable lawyer that won the case
In favor of  my eleventh husband in court! 
And because of that I am only a millionaire
And not the Princess
That I deserve to be!"

I smile a thin smile and pour the wine out at her feet
Like a peace offering and bow
"My apologies, my lady, but my sympathies lay with the Prince
Hell, if I had known you better I would have had 
You arrested for impersonating a homo sapien!."

And I walk away and leave her standing there
Open mouthed and fuming
As her limo screeches to a halt.






©by Voo
Jan 12, 07
 8:47 p.m.

DEATH IS NOT AN OUTLAW.........an original myth based on a reality







Death is not an Outlaw



They tell me 
That Death is not a handsome fellow
That he is skeletal and grim
 Favors long hooded robes
And shoes that make no sound
As he shuffles across hardwood floors
 Up creaky stairs
To stand in shadow by your bed.

They tell me
 That he's a thief
Coming to claim lives
And what is not rightfully his
A collector of souls,
Bagging them up 
To sell at market to the highest bidder.

I don't know if that is true
It could be rumor and innuendo
It could be myth and legend,
 A fictionalized character
And stuff pulled from nightmares 
Too many stories
And eating too late.

But I have my ideas
About Death
And what he does
For a living
It's quite the sad tale
To my way of thinking
 Not a career to be envied
Nor a path sweet to walk.

You see
I  believe I met Death
When I was young and foolish
And hadn't yet realized
How precious life was
It was just something 
I wanted to get over 
And be done with.

I had learned to rebel
Not out of spite
But out of necessity
There at the brink 
Of womanhood
Still clothed in childhood
In a world of
Perpetually closed doors.

One night in a starlit field
I lay and cried my sorrow down 
Into a clovered earth
My horse waited nearby
And all the world seemed silent 
To my ears
Except for the horse's nibbling
And the whisper of an owl.

"I wish to die tonight."
I said
And I meant it
Or at least I thought I did
What did I know of dying?
I was a girl who had never known love
Or the taste of a man's mouth,
The rush of passion
Or the sweetness of a touch.

"You don't know what you're saying, girl."
A voice spoke out of the darkness
And I sat up and gasped
And looked around
And saw no one
Just the horse
And the circle of the moon
Peeking behind a blue-white cloud.

"Who's there?" I asked
Afraid to speak
But more afraid to never ask
"Never you mind."
The stranger warned
"And keep your wishes
To yourself."
"What wish?" I wondered
And wished I hadn't.

For there appeared
Before my eyes
In the pool of moonlight
And the twinkling of stars,
A man,
Unlike any man I'd seen
A man
Made of nightmare
Stepping out of a dream.

His eyes were liquid
And full of sadness
His hair was long
And his breath was cold
Tall, he stood
And full of strength
Yet he gave the impression
Of a man
Near to death.

"What do you want?"
I whispered 
Into his beautiful face
And his eyes held mine
Then looked away
"I want you to live."
He softly answered
As the owl screeched 
And flew to a far-away tree.

"But I don't want to."
I shook my head
"There's nothing to live for
And nobody cares."
"I care." he told me
But 
I did not understand.

"I can only take your life
If you don't want it 
Those are the rules, the way it was
And the way it'll always be
I took my life
From the hands of the Giver
For I didn't want it
Till it was no longer mine."

"Who are you?" I shouted
As I ran to my horse
Preparing to gallop
And to never look back
But the horse wouldn't budge
As the man blocked the way
His hand on the bridle
And his eyes, glowing bright.

"Pray you never learn my name
Pray you never know
You are a child and foolish
As was I, eons ago
For my punishment is hard to bear
And my fate, a hated thing
Thankful be for the breath you take,
For every sad song you will sing."

And with that, he turned away to leave
Stoop shouldered, elderly
No longer young and beautiful
But an ancient, awful form 
His steps were slow and silent
And every where his feet touched,
 The grass turned brown.

Before he vanished
From my sight,
He lifted his hand and sadly waved
His eyes sought mine in kind compassion
With the sliver of a smile
Upon his face
It was then I saw 
That he carried two bags
One that was bulging,
Emitting terrible cries.

And one bag of gray
Sewn with threads made of sorrow
Swung from the shoulder
Of his raven black coat
That bag looked so strange
 Yet it looked so familiar,
That bag was empty
And I knew it was mine.

I cannot prove it
But I believe I know
That I met Death
On that star covered field
In the angst of my youth,
Many sad songs ago
My life, now a treasure
Filled with beauty and light
Given meaning and magic
On that terrible night.

And 
Though I offered him my life,
He did not take it
But rebuked me
Like a loving friend
Like a lover of my soul
Not as an outlaw or a villain
But as a hero,
Forever unsung.

So many times I since have wondered
What punishment he bore for that kind act
What fire he walked through
Failing his orders
How many sad souls
He did not deliver
How many empty bags, carried
At the end of the day. 






©by Voo
June 21, 1010