Most Viewed Free Verse Poems (29,539)

"Why, Jon, why?" his mother asked. "Why is it so hard to be like the rest of the flock,Jon? Why can't you leave low flying to the pelicans, the albatross? Why don't you eat? Jon, you're bone and feathers!"

"I don't mind being bone and feathers, Mum. I just want to know what I can do in the air and what I can't, that's all. I just want to know."

"See here, Jonathan," said his father, not unkindly. "Winter isn't far away. Boats will be few, and the surface fish will be swimming deep. If you must study, then study food, and how to get it. This flying business is all very well, but you can't eat a glide, you know. Don't you forget that the reason you fly is to eat."

Jonathan nodded obediently. For the next few days he tried to behave like the other gulls; he really tried, screeching and fighting with the flock around the piers and fishing boats, diving on scraps of fish and bread. But he couldn't make it work.

It's all so pointless, he thought, deliberately dropping a hard-won anchovy to a hungry old gull chasing him. I could be spending all this time learning to fly! There's so much to learn!

It wasn't long before Jonathan Gull was off by himself again, far out to sea, hungry, happy, learning how to fly.

The subject was speed, and in a week's practise he learned more about speed than the fastest gull alive.

Will I go down in the annals of history?
I know not, to myself, I remain a mystery
For who would ever long remember me
When I myself cannot even recall or see

I can only guess at what I used to be like
When I was young did I smile on my bike?
In my youth did I have a wondrous dream?
Now I can only sit and hear my scream

Were you there, did you give me your affection?
I cannot dwell, my mind has no reflection
I can only recall life in glimpses and snatches
I snuff it out like all the dead matches

At least I cannot pay for all my sin
For I do not know where it did begin
For I am trapped in a shell with no meaning
I can only stare wide eyed at the empty ceiling

My body is strong but my memory is weak
But I am aware that my future lies bleak
Some say mental blindness is a trick of light
But I seek the switch of hope and fight

I smile simply to return your pleasing grace
You seem kind even if I do not recognise your face
My mind does not see you so I have no resent
Did you come today or were you a stranger sent

Will’ Shakespeare het die liefde in digkuns beskryf
In hogere Engels en baie styf,
Die storie van Romeo en Juliet,
Ongehoord’ liefde het die vyand verplet’.

Don Williams en ander het dieselfde probeer,
So speel liefdesliedjies die heel dag deur
Wat vertel van groot liefdes en beloftes so mooi
En ‘n oulike kerel en ‘n liefelike nooi.

Romanse van skrywers die wil jou laat glo
Van liefde onwerklik-ja soms is dit so-
Uit niks nie gebore en soms wil dit lyk
Dat liefde beskrywe tot die strerre kan reik…

Kupido tref my met ‘n vol arsenaal
van gloeiende liefde, soos ‘n liefdesverhaal
wat nog nie geskryf is want die woordeskat
skiet heelwat tekort te beskryf hierdie hart.

My liefling, my engel, my dierbare ding
Geen iets kan beskrywe hoe hierdie hart sin
Van vreugde en blydskap maak jy dit vol.
Die lewe is lekker, my hart is op hol.

Liedjieskrywers en digters het nog nie gehoor
Hoe jy, my liefling, my hart bekoor
Muisneste teel aan van oor tot oor
-trek soms my klere aan agterstevoor.

Shakespeare en Williams, ja die hele lot
Se beskrywing van liefde is maar bra vrot
In vergelyking met die liefde wat ek vir jou voel,
My liefling, is die beskrywendste woorde te koel.

Jy’s my Kilimanjaro, my Mount Everest,
Kan nie my liefde beskryf nie, probeer my best’
Dis hoe jy my laat voel en wat jy aan my doen.
Geen woord kan vertel, ons probeer maar ‘n soen?

My enigste liefling, hier belowe ek jou
Aan jou alleen bly ek vir ewig getrou
Vir ewig en altyd staan ek aan jou sy
Gelukkig tesame, net ek en jy…

Johnny Carson Terms for Death

Passed Away
In a Happier Place
Among the Angels
Bought the Farm
Cashed in his Chips
Kicked the Bucket
Deep Six'ed
Doing the Lawn Limbo
Time Sharing the Oblong Condo
In the Horizontal Phone Booth
Deceased
Departed
Hard as a Carp
In the Marble Mailbox
Booked into the Motel Deep 6
Taking a Spin in the Brass Handle Sedan
Hanging 10 on the Satinlined Surfboard
Booked on a Cruise in a Dirt Submarine
Hoffa Halftime
Pushing up Parking Lot
Pumping Lid
Snuffed Out
Kicked Off
Wearing the Wooden Waistcoat
Playing in the Subterranian Sandbox
Doing the Pinebox Lambada
Trolling for Topsoil Trout
Dead as a Doornail
Gone out with the Tide
Taken the Final Curtain
Serving a Major in the Pine Penalty Box
Standing in line at the Sod Sizzler
Dancing the Hokey Croaky
Riding the Satin Pony
Flying the Marble Kite
Demised
Defunct
Signing for the Lower Me Down Bouquet
Pushing up Miss Daisy
Parking the Broze Bus
Shopping at the Mahogoney Mini Mall
Run His Race
Bitten the Dust
Riding in a Soil Sidecar
Renting the Grass Tuxedo
Going to Sod Prom
Crashing the 6 Handled Pool Party
Staying at Club Mud
Passing the Grey Puopon
In a Taper Tanning Booth
Doing the Worm Wave at Stiff Stadium
On the Sod Subway
Wearing the Toetag Turtleneck
Eating Moss Muffins

There he sits
pushing and flexing
perhaps giving birth
to another Texas

He sits in a bathroom stall
holding a pen or knife
staring straight ahead
leaving his work on the wall

this man must have
great ambition in life
to leave his name on the wall
in all the public bathroom stalls

They may scrub his work
to halt his pen
but the outhouse poet
will always strike again

Perhaps one day
they will stop his fate
and leave in the stall
a quart of kaopectate...

I want to hug you
And never let you go,
I want to smell your hair
While the snow
Falls slowly through the air
I won`t even dare
At this precious moment
Open my eyes
That might surprise
You, but I`m still afraid to realize
I`m hugging just my pillow...

Searching for the right person isn’t easy to find. Often our efforts seem unrewarded as we are met with defeat…

Our hearts filled by discouragement and doubt, as our life remains incomplete, which is something we would rather be without…

Inside we feel a sense of hopelessness and despair as we fear our most cherished dreams are shattered, making our situation more difficult to bear…

But, despite our misfortunes, there are some comforting thoughts we should keep in mind. With patience and persistence, we will soon find that fate will guide us to that “Special Someone” that is loving, loyal and kind.

As we gain a renewed awareness that there is a caring soul to extend a helping hand and give inspiration that there is hope and brighter times just ahead…

That life will once again be grand even though much of our past has not turned out quite the way we had planned…

By dotty0223

I know I haven’t visited you
Since the day you were buried
And I just want to say I’m sorry.
But I just still can’t believe you’re gone,
And it’s getting more real each day.
The crash seems like yesterday.
Although I know it's been quiet some time.
It’s almost your birthday.
Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten.
I already got you a gift but
it’s just something small.
I’m going to visit you and unwrap it by your side.
Then scrap up some dirt, and place it in the earth.
Next to it I’ll place a picture,
Of us and the team at the pool.
And when you see them,
I hope you know that I still miss you.
And not a single day goes by that I don’t wish you were here.

It is not because you are beautiful
Or that look I see within your eyes
Or the height of every wistful willow
That reaches so far unto the skies
It is not because the world goes round
And all the seas lap around your toes
Or the merry go round that makes you smile
Or that lovely crinkle you have in your nose
It is not because you walk with grace
And blades of grass bow to your wake
And every mighty mountain trembles
From the soft footsteps that you take
It is not because the snows will melt
From the pure radiance of your glow
Or the hunger of the parched Serengeti
Will bleed anew as you make rivers flow
It is not because you are beautiful
That the Sun shines down every day
And every blade of grass that is cut
Turns into the most glorious yellow hay
It is not because the world goes round
That makes life every brand new day
It is just because
You are you

Twas a breathless night
And daybreak was fighting to arrive
On the far horizon
The last fading stars
Were caressing the early skies
Saying their final goodbyes
For the day ahead
And yet
It was far too early
To hear the morning birdsong
That made all
The trees, whisper their words
Of dawn greeting
It was that time
When all is still
Night was not over
Dawn had not managed to begin
And
All was quiet
So we sat and stared
Into each others eyes, that knowing look
Of tranquillity and unspoken words
That needed no telling
It was our time
A spellbound moment of love unbroken
And peace to us had spoken