Most Commented Ballad Poems (504)

he sat on the old deck chair
and thought about her
about how she tied a strand of blonde
behind her ear
when she was anxious

how the sun made plans
between the gaps
of her fingers
how her breath tasted

how her beauty
made her invisible
against the birdsong

how the curve of the earth
found a mooring
in the shape of her foot

how the moon
used the naked oak
as a chinstrap

how her eyes
were stainglass windows
in the chapel
of her face

how the untried seconds
were a lifetime
in old clothes

how she dressed
in the untailored truth
of honesty

spoke
in the dialect
of unaware kindness

and sung.. in the key
of smiling

I spent monday
just walking through town
searchin' for magical
timbers of brown

I watched tuesday morning
arrive like a swan
calm at the surface
when calmness has gone

I spent most of wednesday
walking the deck
from the truest of branches
I fashioned your neck

your hips were my thursday
curved from the air
I spun every string
from a strand of your hair

friday smiled at me
from the teeth of a breeze
my old life was locks
the new one was keys

saturday woke me
to the purest of note
from the deepness of meaning
I painted your coat

now the world is a sunday
and your song is a bird
I listen to your breathing
and I know every word

there's a golden sun
on a spinning wheel
there's a yellow fleck
in a pan full of steel

there's the fire I spat
and the breath I once drew
there's work that I'm doing
and the work that I do

there's a girl, half fish
singing songs about love
there's a man with no arms
with a drawer full of gloves

so what.. fair darlin'
have I figured so far?
"never play poker
with a blonde in a bar"

there's a rope and a saddle
there's a trail and a gun
but the trail ain't no different
when your pony ain't young

still the camp fire burns
in the chests of a few
and you sleep with your dream
and you wake up anew

so what fair darlin
don't I know I don't know?
"when fixing to stay
you should probably go"

it's the seas are rough
and the trail it is long
and your pony
has heard mostly
all of your song

My world has all turned blue
My dreams are shattered too
By a letter that I saw just yesterday.
From a girl I thought I knew
She swore that she'd be true
But now she's gone and left me feeling blue.
She said she loves another guy
And I don't mean a thing
She vows that she will never wear my ring
I hoped there'd come a time
When I could make her mine
But I guess she doesn't love me any more.

How I wish we'd never met
It's so hard to forget
The fun we had, the good times and the bad
It's over now it seems
She haunts me in my dreams
I don't know when I've ever felt this sad.
She said she loves another guy
And I don't mean a thing
She vows that she will never wear my ring
I hoped there'd come a time
When I could make her mine
But I guess she doesn't love me any more
No, I guess she doesn't love me any more.

In her dreams the beast comes along
Robust, untamed and strong
She knows, it can break her into pieces
But with the fierce look in her eyes
The beast fell on his knees


For she is a Goddess in her own ways
So leave her be, spirited and free
And if you're caught onto her web
Then you're done
You can't ever leave.

All I can say is:

Good luck
I know you're stuck
And can't ever find your way out

I see you every day
it's not important you see me
I'm the man who moors his boat
near your house beside the quay

your son is older than me
learning issues t'would appear
he follows you like gravity
like a worry follows fear

you never appear angry
in the face of nature's mirth
every day he walks beside you
every day a brand new shirt

you always seem to have a smile
as you fumble for your key
I'm humbled by your kindness
you must be north of sixty-three

I think about your life
as the water soaks the sands
you hold your son so tightly
an umbilical cord of hands

"who looks after you" I think
but there's steel around your home
a dignity past this modern place
a swan a'swim in chrome

all I was given was strength
a dull and blunted tool
I stare out at beauty
with the clarity of a fool

all I was given was ferocity
a rulebook without rules
a limited life vocabulary
an outdated set of tools

all you were given was beauty
intelligence and grace
a heart to dry my soul and boat
my lighthouse is your face

all I was given was physicality
an afterthought, a whim
I struggle in the mighty seas
the great minds often swim

all you were given was a kindness
wrapped around a true
all I was given was brutality
it stops me from loving you

Festering
in branches high,
discerning corruptions
proprieties disguised,
she apart, yet never alone
brooded contempt
with blackened eyes
and sooted soul
when but a child of five
“People rarely look up”
so she’d learned to climb.

Hatchin’ haint
in shadow’s caul.
Billowing malice
In enmity’s thrall~
pubescent Realm Cracker
Darkness embraced.
Summoning Thunder
she Willed
and she laid waste.
Her mind her sharpened saber
her tongue
spat judgment’s call
lest someone dare assuage her
she’d learned to appall.

Advancing
by the light
of the bridges
she did burn,
in the company of voices,
she heard
yet would not to learn.
Something reprehensible
into her heart
had crept,
distilling tears to fire
in solitude she wept.
Those she loved
came to avoid her.
Thus, at last,
she learned regret.

In an instant
rare and tender,
a revelation kindled new
compassion’s charity
and forgiveness~
an insight that saw through
the visage of disappointment
and thus gave place
that love would grow.
Her tattered heart
thus shattered
and she learned at last to sow
what she willed
to one day gather
A Sage of Rage
transformed
doth Know.


Callaghan Grant 5/24/2013

Dedicated to my old bag, my gall bladder(R.I.P.)
(sung to the tune of “Since I don't have you” By the Skyliners)

I don't eat happy meals
and I can't eat pizza wheels
I don't have any fun-
since I don't have you

I can't eat fatty foods
like ice cream and burgers too
I gave up snickers too
Since I don't have you

I can't eat onion rings or those things
bad for me
and never will, again.
Once they took you from me,
junk food is history,
mealtime's no fun since then.

Now I can't eat KFC,
and gravy is bad for me.
My meals are bland you see,
and I eat Tofu.

"Lonely"is a word I can't explain
'though I searched its meaning in my brain,
I know the feeling - I know the pain
But the actual meaning I can't obtain.

I know the symptoms very well,
I know the day when I befell
The gnawing cravings which caused this hell,
It drains me more than I can tell.

Could another person cure this ail?
I often wonder - to no avail.
The love that's lost - could I impale
A new emotion without fail?

Because of years - I'm insecure,
Should I act bold or be demure?
Will she accept my meant allure
Or is my age just too mature.

Love that's lost may ne'er be found,
A new affair may not be sound,
Is she truly to be crowned,
Or did I catch her on rebound?

Lonely are the many days
I reminisce the lovely ways
With one departed - who is to say,
In my life - there is no replay.