Sunlight and Shadows

Finding poetry in star dust, sunbeams, and passing clouds

Category: Metaphor

  • Symphony of the Year

    January meanders like lanky saxophones

    Drawling wintry jazz in dark minor tones

    Tinny harpsichords ring in February

    Slinging brittle notes of an icy rhapsody

    March sails in on a dancing fiddle reel

    It flies high, low, fast, and slow with energetic zeal

    Winds turn to rain in April’s sonatas

    Piano keys pattering etudes and cantatas

    May flutters by with breezy sweet flute trills

    Bright chirping melodies of birds and green hills

    June cascades in sunny twirling tempos

    It blooms in rolling bluegrass licks and twanging banjos

    A brass band marches in on July heat

    With blasting horns, great tubas, and heavy metal beat

    August unfurls a grand orchestra symphony

    Flashing strings, thundering drums, and woodwind melody

    Rustic folk music slows the rhythm in September

    Guitar tunes float over harvests in cooling weather

    Trumpets herald October with vivid hues so bold

    A fanfare of color in regal red and gold

    November’s violins promenade a farewell

    They pirouette and waltz like twirling leaves that fell

    December rings out with tinkling bells of cheer

    A joyful silver glitter on the rhythm of the year

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  • Dreamland

    Dusk falls in a lullaby

    Rosy clouds caress the sky

    Every bird flies to its nest

    Animals and insects rest

    Music from the stars sings down

    Lyrics for the moon’s sweet sound

    And children tucked into their beds

    Nod off to sleep with weary heads

    Dream sweetly on until the dawn

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  • Acoustic Guitar

    A tapestry of silky strands

    Pulled from brass strings in my hands

    Chords fanned out in harmony

    Woven around the melody

    In rippling vibrant satin bands

    The melody thread weaves and winds

    Riding on the changing lines

    Through peaks and valleys strong it floats

    Bridging chords of tingling notes

    The filaments of tune it finds

    The rhythm marches sure and strong

    The background warp that holds the song

    As the lyrics weave and bend

    In and out until the end

    It rolls the tapestry along

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  • Truth

    I sense your lies

    I smell them like a rotten fish

    That clouds the whole fresh sun-washed shore

    I hear the clanging siren noise

    Above the routine traffic roar

    I taste their tang of rancid fare

    Disguised by gaudy sugar sweet

    I see the cracks you cannot hide

    Where broken bits of glued glass meet

    I feel the pricks of talon claws

    You are already sinking in

    And I can sense beyond a doubt

    That this is where the traps begin

    But you don’t know that now I know

    You cannot lead me down that road

    I sense your lies

    ,

  • Three Ships

    I saw a ship come sailing in

    I thought it was for me

    I rowed out in my little boat

    To meet my ship at sea

    When I got there, ‘twas a mirage

    With nowhere for my grasp to lodge

    A holographic hope collage

    Fake things that cannot be

    Then came a ship fast on my stern

    That one was real enough

    It brought great winds and stormy skies

    And billowing waves so rough

    All I could do was try to float

    Bailing water from my boat

    As pain and trials round me smote

    To call my dreaming bluff

    In clearing skies a third ship came

    After the storm did break

    From distant sea it beckoned me

    To follow in its wake

    It shows the way where few have gone

    With guiding light it leads me on

    In faith to sail through night to dawn

    How e’er long it may take

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  • Supersonic Speed

    How do I chase a thing that I can’t see?

    Where can I map a road that has no end?

    If there is always just another bend

    How do I reach a speed where I am free?

    The answers drift and spin ahead of me

    Just out of reach of where I can extend

    My grasp within the forces that suspend

    Me in this vortex of velocity

    Perhaps there is an intersection here

    Where moving objects meet in the stampede

    If I can lift my head and learn to steer

    To guide direction where the answers lead

    And ride the wind in power, not in fear

    And find the joy in supersonic speed

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