Distilling Emotions Through Words, Kevin Loughnane [books for 8th graders .txt] 📗

Danger:
Winter At Work!

Tiny footprints where stale bread once lay,
Ending in a robins swift getaway,
Down in the valley a Deer appears,
Shaking the snow from behind its ears.

The cold air gives my lungs a fright,
My children push past me full of delight,
Their snowman has yet to be made,
But they’ve already decided to call him Dave.

I offer the falling snowflakes a warm embrace,
Some land tenderly on my exposed face,
Their unique beauty sadly melting away,
On the dawning of this new day.

Mother Nature plays hide and seek,
With a skateboard beneath my feet,
I fly through the air like a stone,
And land on my back with a groan.


I wonder what else I shall discover,
Under this deceptively white invader,
A monumental minefield of discarded toys,
Carelessly created by my two boys.

When it snows children shriek with delight,
While most adults sigh at their impending plight,
For winter brings both magic and mayhem,
That’s all I’m really saying.


Stumbling Through The Years


Like a ball of string tumbling,
Unravelling before my eyes,
Pushed onto a path preordained,
Or simply stumbling through the years,
With nothing but the days to break its fall.

A mind full of dreaming,
Struggling for some fresh air,
On this stale and slimy cosmic afterthought,
Where apathy breeds vampires’ greed,
Rolling around in their own oblivion.

But what bright light is this,
Bathing my senses with bliss,
An angel appears through the mist,
And I am all at once a believer,
For in her eyes I can see hope.


She spins and the greyness disappears,
Our hearts smile away the tears,
Slowly eroding our fears with kindness,
And like a seed bursting into life,
The blossoms extinguish some of the grief.

The sun once more warms our souls,
And I am no longer stumbling through the years,
For I have embarked on an adventure unknown,
How the days will treat me who can tell,
But for now I am enchanted by their spell.


My Time

I raised my head to the sky,
It was time to say goodbye,
To the east a pregnant moon hung,
Glowing from the embers of the setting sun.

And just as day turns into night,
So my life has been both brief and bright,
A childhood full of innocence and delight,
Falling in love and distilling the wisdom from life.

Oh how fortunate I have been,
My life unfolding like a dream,
And as I rummage through my past,
I smile at memories my life has cast.

I soak up the Suns final rays,
As I prepare for the end of my days,
Tears traverse my worn and weary face,
For time must take me from this place.


Shakespeare said our good deeds die with us,
While our human frailties remain like ghosts,
Haunting those whom we have upset,
Through deeds we now deeply regret.

Standing before the auditors of life,
As I prepare to fade into the night,
These things they cannot deny,
I lived, I loved, I died.


Infinity

Do not despair,
For I’m floating on air,
Cry not for me,
For I can still see,
How beautiful you are,
And I will never be far,
From you ever again,
For do you remember when,
We swore till death do us part,
Well that was only just the start,
Of this journey together don’t you see?
For there’s you and me and there’s infinity.


Axionic Abyss

Synapses, Neurons, Dendrites,
Thoughts ignite and inflame,
Scorching the soul to its core,
A beautiful mind in freefall,
Vision and reality plundered,
Imprisoned in a pit they cry.

A life haunted by the past,
Look into those terrified eyes,
Where insanity now resides,
Was she taken away by force?
Or just stumbled down its desolate path,
How long will she remain its hostage?

Kindness and Sensitivity born to a world,
Where only the strongest may survive,
I am impotent to its festering ways,
So I must wait for her to return,
And allow my tearful eyes watch,
While her mind slowly burns.


Just For You

I wrote this poem just for you,
A little robin says how do you do,
I gave him a big piece of bread,
And so now he is very well fed.

With these words I shall knit you some cheer,
For January is such a cold time of year,
So it’s important to maintain a warm heart,
And this, I believe, is a good way to start.

There is beauty all around you don’t you know,
When you are wrapped up in that wonderful glow,
People are drawn to you and smile away their frowns,
And you didn’t even have to make a sound!

I am weaving this prose for a princess,
Trying to create for her a magical dress,
That is worthy of her enchanting beauty,
And eyes that sparkle with inner purity.


You will often find her taking a nap,
Curled up like a contented cat,
Serenity softly embraces her,
Delicate dreams drift in from afar.

Rested eyes suddenly bloom like amber tulips,
A gentle smile ripples across her sweet lips,
Barney the bull terrier and I both sigh,
Emilie looks at us both and says ‘Hi’.


Why

How does the heart beat?
When love is torn apart,
When all the tears on earth,
Cannot wash away the pain.

How can a heart go on?
When it feels so alone,
No soul mate waiting at home,
No one at the other end of the phone.

How can it maintain life?
When part of it is dying,
Tormented by the past,
Tortured by the present.

Why maintain the circulation of blood?
In a body poisoned with grief,
Ravaged by regret,
Prozac permeating the pores.


Why won’t it stop?
Has it not had enough?
The body has lost the will to go on,
And yet the heart keeps beating strong.


Van-Dal

Shakespeare’s Sonnet,
Had writing upon it,
Dickens bust,
Had been thrust,
Through the cabinet,
Where Joyce’s letter sat,
Beside the remains of a mat,
Belonging to Hemmingway’s cat,
Alas it would seem nothing is sacred,
To a guy who is wasted,
Not even an oilskin,
Belonging to JRR Tolkien.


?

Do we consider?
Why hither?
Where next?
Under what pretext?

Are we inflated?
Hated?
Dated?
Overrated?

Do we truly care about others?
Love our mothers?
Respect one another?
Or are we just nutters?

Is there anyone out there?
Do they know we’re here?
I bet they’re avoiding us?
Wouldn’t you?


To Be

Let’s see,
I could get a degree,
Live life in suburbia,
And succumb to dementia,
Or I could travel the globe,
Change my name to Iode.

I’d seek enlightenment,
As the sun sets on my tent,
In a distant tropical oasis,
Where I would be famous,
For quoting profound poetry,
While drinking quite heavily.

I would recite the good and the ills,
That once flowed from their quills,
As poets since the beginning of time,
Used their powers of rhyme,
To try and decipher,
What on earth is this life for?

Emilie

Feet dancing to a lovers tune
A table hides them from jealous eyes
Smiling brown eyes cleanse your weary mind
For she is now your rightful Queen
Her words and gestures reign in your heart
If a tear should trespass her beautiful face
You offer her kind words and a warm embrace
And when she radiates with pure happiness
Not even the sun can match the joy she brings
Ever since she came and conquered your heart.

Now your dancing feet walk side by side
While hands explore the wonderful terrain
And every day you climb her castle walls
So you may bathe your soul in her kindness
Her love is more precious than her ruby crown
Only a special few will ever be annointed
So you continue to climb in the hope
That one day she will turn to you and say
I love you


A Call To Ardour

Love is a state,
That many conquer,
But how long can a heart reign,
In such uncharted terrain,
Uprisings occur when you least expect,
Sometimes you win,
And sometimes you loose,
Retreating to mend your broken heart.

Until one day you rise up,
Wipe the dust from Cupids bow,
And try to scale its perilous slopes once more,
For while memories of the peak reside,
People will toil to stake their claim,
But love can be such a fickle domain,
We may all want our own Camelot,
But from the summit gravity is constant.


War & Peace

It’s tough being in Love,
When you’re a Dove,
For as an ambassador of Peace,
I must ask for wars to cease,
But these days it’s hard to be heard,
As my true love’s now dating a Blackbird.

So alas my melancholy chirp,
Just simply cannot work,
Against the thunderous noise,
Of the Kalashnikov wielding boys,
Maybe it’s time I should retire,
Before my poor heart expires.


The Sixty Fifth Year

Apparently I am getting old,
Or so I have been told,
At sixty-five many people retire,
And very soon quite a few expire.

But I shall not be caught up in this maelstrom,
Of people who sit around dying of boredom,
For I have a compulsion for activity,
A daily creed that I follow to the nth degree.

And though time may slacken my pace,
I shall continue to remain firmly in the race,
And when I manage to pass the one-hundredth marker,
My genes may be partly responsible for getting me there.

But while good genes can take some of the credit,
The rest will no doubt be due to my edict,
That those who embrace a life of constant activity,
Shall posses an important key to longevity.


Ergo

If I could be,
A willow tree,
In reincarnation,
I’d seek incantations,
From eco-friendly folk,
As they anoint my bark with egg yolk,
And protect me from radiation,
With hours of meditation.

For I shall be,
A most solitary tree,
And as I watch Mother Nature,
Succumb to Human Venture,
I shall stand tall and proud,
And as the last tree around,
Sky news will provide me,
With my key to immortality.


3 Curzon St


It all began as Mother Nature intended,
Until Dublin city expanded and upended,
All that was wild and unkempt,
For dwellings that demanded high rent.

Such buildings then ebbed and flowed,
Across a landscape both new and old,
Until a spark in someone’s imagination,
Lead to your very own creation.

Like many inanimate objects made by man,
You were assembled according to a plan,
And once all the work was complete,
I bet you looked quite a treat.

I wonder who was first to race,
Into your wonderful warm embrace,
For on that day you became a home,
A place where young and old would roam.


Cleansing their toil from another day,
With plenty of merriment and play,
Oh if you could only communicate,
Imagine the tales you might relate.

Like the time when Ciara and I,
Raised a sledgehammer on high,
And swung it at your inner wall,
Causing a block or two to fall.

For we played our part in your rejuvenation,
By