Written for A Dante's 'Inferno' Challenge....

Nine Ways Down

Treachery

Oh how I knew

this treacherous

treacherous

heart of mine

would do me no good

and still... I let it rule me

how I wish I could just cut it out

and serve it for tea....

Fraud

deception at its lowest ebb

fills even the deceiver

with thoughts of dread

for where goest I now

but  further down deceptions path

where the inevitable end

looms fast....

Violence

I cannot stay my hand

now violence is raised

there is no peace

if there is no praise

there is no reason

no love to be gained

for violence is my name....

Heresy

what is heresy to some

when all minds differ

and different hearts believe

what their hearts believe...

what is truth, trust, deceit

if we all believe in good over evil

and will not rest until harmony

is complete...

Anger

Oh what bad breeder

anger is

both mother and father

of anger bred

anger begetting anger

vicious circle

that never ends

until all are dead...

sharonlee

Greed

...and what sense this

that some

in richness live

while others

others die

in the streets

from cold and hunger...

what sense this... indeed...

Gluttonony

Crapulous opulence...

eating until vomit rises

in waves of foul bile

from distorted bellies

and turn a blind eye

as you order desert...

a blind eye and fat choked heart

to those who hunger

one warm cooked meal....

Lust

Not love.... on no

I was arrogant

to admit it face to face

not love, dear

lust.... Lust...

I lust after your

body....

that firm flesh

not love... never love...

Limbo

After playing with treachery

and dallying in Fraud & Violence

and even heresy

I spent some time embroiled in

Anger, greed and gluttony

... I thought lust would be my friend

But that did not end

.... well....

And now.... now I find myself

In limbo

That land of certain madness

And await... whatever is my fate...

Sharonlee©

28/01/2011 1:18 PM

The Face in the Mirror

The Face in the Mirror 

The face in the mirror looked older than she felt
 and her inner woman seemed wiser

and infinitely more patient 
then she thought herself to be
 as another winter drifted by

 with it's cold mornings by the sunny window

 she gained a quiet acceptance of who she was
looking forward to the future and all it promised

¤
days, months, years passed 
as they have mind to do

and she found herself content 
with the quiet life she had created
 Although there were times

when her day-to-day existence became a struggle

 she faced life with a philosophical perspective 
that helped her to be optimistic about the future,

 patiently enduring of the present
 and quietly accepting of the past
 She was fasinated by the evolution

of her inner woman,
 proud of her unseen strengths

and now when she looked in the mirror 
it was not a stranger that she saw...

 it was the promise of the woman she would one day be;
sharonlee©

The Shadow of Her Future Self

The Shadow of Her Future Self

Once again she wondered why she felt compelled

to put her thoughts down...

Still her compulsion to write

was too strong to ignore

so she wrote

enjoying the activity

finding it to be therapeutic and satisfying

It kept her sane when everything around her

could sometimes seem quite unbalanced...

She was having trouble lately

coping with her inner woman

who was begging to be acknowledged,

yearning to be set free, appreciated and valued...

Her body ached to be touched and admired

and as she wandered through her late 40's

she feared that she would be spending her future alone

the older she grew the less chance she felt

she had of finding love and companionship...

Soon her ageing body

would hold little appeal to the opposite gender

and she thought that she would never have a partner again

It had been years since she had sex

and that had been a one night stand

that held little passion

and did nothing to make her feel desirable...

She missed being adored

longed to lose herself in the sweet sweaty ecstasy of lovemaking

Her mind, body, and soul hungered for release

She thought perhaps this was her karma

for those younger years

when she had been so shamelessly promiscuous....

But it was seventeen years now

since her one true love had passed away

and in that time she'd had sex less than half a dozen times

she though if karma had a lesson to teach her

then she had learnt it by now...

The face in the mirror looked older than she felt

and her inner woman seemed wiser and infinitely more patient

then she thought herself to be....

So another winter drifted by

with it's cold mornings by the sunny window

as she gained a quiet acceptance of who she was

looking forward to the future and all it promised

The days, months, years passed

as they have mind to do

and she found herself content with the quiet life she had created

Although there were times when her day-to-day existence

became a struggle

she faced life with a philosophical perspective

that helped her to be optimistic about the future

patiently enduring of the present

and quietly accepting of the past...

She was fascinated by the evolution of her inner woman

proud of her unseen strengths

and now when she looked in the mirror it

was not a stranger that she saw

it was the shadow of her future self;

sharonlee©

Inner seasoning

Inner seasoning

her hands give away her secret fear

 small and bony, age lines etch dry tracks over once supple skin,
her breasts no longer sat pert and pretty without something

strong to keep them in place, stubborn lumps of flesh had a mind of their own

triple-stitched seams assured to keep them in place...

and even then, not what you’d pert... or pretty... just there;
hair hangs in long waves... grey streaked, just when did it go grey

and why... why grey...grey  like winter morning
the bags under her eyes, perpetual smudges that 

deepened in shade with the twilight hours

a mouth that turned down at the sides

inverted creases that knew not how to smile...

now she smiles inwardly  as the seasons pass by

borderline cynical... as pessimistic as

the weekend weather report
not feeling the need to question life

deep down inside where no one went

she was a woman of hard- won simplicity,
to gain this fragile peace  she had had to forfeit certain liberties

in order to un-complicated her life
and uncluttered her days,
built up passion that had nowhere to go
sighs that no one heard,
longings that woke her from troubled sleep
on hot summer nights

 when silence beat against her eardrums

like a mad midnight tattoo...

moments when she longed to be kissed
to feel that achingly satisfying merge of lips on lips,
electrical tingling too thrilling to defy ...

and then, there were those tranquil nights
when bathed in the pale moons luminous smile
hypnotized by stars in a black velvet sky
she didn't need to question  life

she felt uplifted and alive and infinitely stronger
then she once thought in a time before she taught her spirit
to rejoice in simplicity;

sharonlee

Inner Reflections: A Thousand Kisses Deep

Inner Reflections: A Thousand Kisses Deep: "And sometimes when the night is slow, The wretched and the meek, We gather up our hearts and go, A Thousand Kisses Deep. Cohen Bottom of Fo..."

A Thousand Kisses Deep

And sometimes when the night is slow, The wretched and the meek, We gather up our hearts and go, A Thousand Kisses Deep. Cohen

Bottom of Form

I’d say thank you to the two poets whose lines (in italic) are featured in this write...

... Gentlemen, thank you both... your words move me deeply

A Thousand Kisses Deep

In the midnight hours

when silence reigns supreme

and I lie lost and restless

devoid of peaceful dreams

when only lonely souls

wander the darkened city streets

the words of a poet

come back to haunt my sleep...

“and sometimes when the night is slow

the wretched and the meek

we gather up our hearts and go

a thousand kisses deep...”

when I’m caught by utter loneliness

invisible to the rest of humanity

unnoticed and in need

of some honest company

when time and tears and fantasies

are all that’s left inside of me

the words of a poet

come back to set me free...

..I dream of you...

and as these tears so slowly fall -
just because... I can...

...I dream of you...

the soul-words of these poets

come back to sooth my sleep

...I dream of you...

a thousand kisses deep...

sharonlee©

2/01/11

12:24 AM