Last Edited Elegy Poems (1,148)

A burn't out old lover I
Though I've still a spark of chemistry.
I'm still able but lack the will
Disillusioned and lonely still.

At least my poetry isn't fake
Although I may be an old rake.
Many women I have known
Through a heart that I've not shown.

For every girl, at night to dream of her
Although I may be an old deceiver.
I'll chart each love - define each girl
Describe each freckle, and hair that curls.

Thus I'll be going for quite a while
The variety of my lover's wiles.
Each time and place and circumstance
Ev'ry occasion of love's sweet dance.

If I write enough then just maybe
One day they will have to pay me.
Meanwhile, here I'll write for you -
CS poets, and for others too.

I hold dogs and horses in high esteem
(And as they say, it's free to dream).
A lover who respects a woman -
Nowadays not all that common.

A lot of my life has been sad
And like most poets, I'm half mad.
Harmless though, and still quite sexy
I think most women are lovely ladies.

Lately, now I have stopped drinking
(This must be good for love I'm thinking).
And I must write - something to do
To entertain both me and you.

I have a depth inside my soul
That few can touch and none can hold.
Although it is a long shot maybe
I may just change for the right lady.

And I will be meticulous -
(Luckily I've kept a list).
Hopefully, I will find bliss
Now that I am off the piss.

It is so hard to stay sober -
Every day's a battle over.
I stay alive to write for you
This (my muse) is my lover too.

So there you have it -- my sixty'th poem
You can't say that I haven't known 'em.
I must sign out now - lovecanbereal -
In poetry, I'm the "real deal".




© lovecanbereal
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I see you girl - in the corner of this pub
I see the sorrow in your downcast eyes,
I see you nod your head - as now a drug -
Holds you close with its deceit and bitter lies.
The air around you cloyed - as in a fug -
The glasses on your table stacked three high;
I look but cannot think of things to say -
All I can do is witness your dismay.

What went wrong so early in your life?
You don't look much more than twenty-three -
What demons do you fight? What monstrous strife?
(And if I cried a tear t'would be for thee).
I can see your heart is broken - like a knife
Had cut you there - now plain for all to see -
The expression in your eyes as hard as stone
As you sit there at your table - drinking alone.

On a raft of beer and drugs you now escape -
I can see you float upon this poison tide;
Your eyes becoming glassy - now opaque -
As you try - and try some more - your hurt to hide.
I can see you've taken more than you can take -
That somethings broken down there deep inside;
On your fingers - just for show - a few cheap rings -
Another angel - has gone and lost her wings.



© lovecanbereal
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It is very sad that my first love's dance
Should have happened down in old Kings Cross*
Where amid this sordid circumstance
There was something more than just innocence lost.
Wrap it up and put it in - where was romance?
(The girl's heart covered by a cold hard frost).
I was her last trick of the night - and then?
Well after this - all she wants is h*roin.

Glittering old tart - the Cross - debauched and stupid; -
Where some find pleasure - and others find great pain.
Destroying innocence - you'll find not Cupid -
Drenched in sin and soaking in the rain.
I speak of her in memories quite lucid; -
(At other times she shames and fogs my brain).
This is a place where truly nothings free -
And if you ever went there you would see.

So going back now thirty years in time; -
With gangsters' molls, whores, and drugs aplenty; -
Ev'ry violence - ev'ry type of crime -
Well, so it was - back there in the eighties.
Though in this wildlife something sublime; -
A merging of the Tigress and Euphrates.**
Awash with drugs and every type of sin -
Hookers off their faces on cheap h*roin.

That was where I was - down in old Kings Cross
Losing at sixteen my sweet virginity; -
And sleeping (as I did) with life's worst dross -
Saw this den of vice and inequality.
(Though half of Sydney would be at a loss
If this old dame were ever closed you see).
Here vice has value - something like a treasure -
Where we "sin in haste - and repent at leisure".

The 'Cross of old: - well that was how it was; -
Like a jail (co-educational) with lights.
And why you ask? Why? - just well - just because -
(How else can you explain all those street fights?)
I tell of times long gone back in "the "Cross" -
(Destroying the young as they found their delights).
"Drunks, (and) junkies and busted up old sluts"^; -
Well, they say us Aussies were "as rough as guts".

There were a few good people - the odd saint
As diamonds in the rough - (as you might say)
Though not for me because saint I ain't
And I was young and in my "salad days".
Well this is the picture that I paint
(For saints you'd best look in another place)
Except of course for Father Chris O'Rielleys'
Youth Off the Streets virtuous charities.***

No time now; to return to memories; -
No time - to come - and settle - those old scores.
She's tame and I'll not make new enemies; -
All's gone quiet with these our "lockout laws".****
Hard to find a foe or even frenemies; -
The spark is gone and now she only bores; -
Kicked out of the 'Cross at 1 am
The clubs are closed like jails - inmates in them.




© lovecanbereal
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We made a date - I couldn't wait to see her
(And there is no love the cynics say).
Well, maybe I'm just a hopeless dreamer -
With nothing new to show except dismay.
On my part no intention to deceive her;-
That all the stars in all their glittering fey
Should fall tonight - my bitter disappointment; -
I'd been stood up;- this is how the story went: -

I'd seen you on the net - your name was Tracey
While I felt blue sorrow at its heights; -
I waited there two hours for you today
To walk in through that door for my delight.
I waited well past noon - to my dismay -
(I thought that what you did - you did for spite)
Two hours in a tavern on a hill -
You never came; - and so I must wait still.

And so we must forgive or never know
What could have made (perhaps) forgiveness real
Or maybe t'were afraid your heart to show
In case you had to proffer how you feel.
We should have given love some time to grow; -
(It seemed that your deception was surreal)
I then went on the internet and checked; -
I'd been stood up;- in all of its neglect.

The next day you rang up and bitterness
Disappeared - I could accept your reason.
You told me why- the fault you could redress -
Though - if you could not that day - I ask - when?
I thought the worst of you (I must confess); -
Just another excuse - and who needs one?
Now our love - if any; - will have to wait; -
As we both look forward to - a proper date.




© lovecanbereal
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When I was young I got out on the piss*
To meet head-on whatever came my way
No internet back then - I'd be remiss
Well so it was then back and "in the day"
On the hunt to find that little miss
Who would go on to prove an easy lay
Out late at night again with all this boozing
In circumstance not wholly of my choosing.

On this occasion now I was nineteen
And drinking in a pub at Banksia**
I saw a girl like someone in a dream
Like a sailor sighting land, I sighted her
Her hair was blonde and permed (or so it seemed)
All I could think of now was bedding her
Or caught out on a limb to crash and burn?
Sometimes it seems some people never learn.

I went up to this girl and started talking
I introduced myself (tipsy not drunk)
To shyness overcome I was inventing
What I thought she'd like to hear from a young punk
My conversation must be interesting
(Or quickly would tonight's prospect be sunk)
We talked of this and that and then the other
She asked for a drink - I bought her another.

Thus another young man winds up in bed
With another on a list of conquests
(And nine times out of ten with a sore head
The morning after such long nightly quests)
Back in my room we both our clothes did shed
(That is to say, we quickly both undressed)
Though to this day, I still say its a shame
For the life of me, I can't recall her name.

No prize for guessing now what happened next
This kind of love is a mere necessity
As quickly in the sheets, we jumped betwixt
So there it was - we both now had our way
A type of love and lust were intermixed
(I write this now but from my memory)
And even now, I still say its a shame
When to this day I can't recall her name!




© lovecanbereal
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Look at our birth - does it ever seem a curse?
Or a miracle that happens - nothing more?
Does our time go on endlessly - or worse?
Or does full life time break us like a whore?
All that I hope, - is we should find some peace -
All that I hope, - is from our life's rich store -
Is that our dreams will go on endlessly;-
Or when life ends - so does our suffering.

We cast our eyes across time's boundless sea
We cast our eyes afar - then ask for more.
Look into the sky - vast blue infinity -
Or look back - to the days and years of yore.
Look back in time and see rich history -
Then look ahead - what has destiny in store? -
To seize this cherished snowflake's chosen moment -
To love and hold what we have this instant.


© lovecanbereal
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Two lovers came upon a woody brake
And entered there within - their leave to take
Across their heads a bow of leafy briar
Which interlaced below a bright blue sky.

Nature had there formed a perfect cradle -
Cover to young love was thus enabled
Bees were buzzing 'midst the loaded flowers
Where these lovers spent long drowsy hours.

For spring had burst through shoots and within leaves
With gentle mockery season deceives
And playing now with fancy on a breeze
They kissed and felt delight in trem'bling knees.

Where coarse emotions were - some even base
Now love and winged poesy took their place
The verse of these two hearts - was subtle - calm
And their spirits - were - each other's balm.

So if you ever see young lovers - going
Into the forest - or some shady dell
Bless them in your heart - and just remember
That we were once young lovers there as well.




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A long time ago - when I was twenty-three
When I did something stupid for a bet -
Stupid - or courageous - and I now agree
It wasn't something I would soon forget.
Bet one hundred dollars on the beach at Coogee*
(A challenge I survived and don't regret)
That I couldn't swim to Wedding Cake Island**
And then swim back to stand upon dry land.

Challenge was accepted - I left the hot sand
And waded out into the bright blue brine
The first wave broke above me - like a reprimand -
With water mild this high summertime.
I waded out till I could no more stand
I had to do this (I did myself remind)
Now committed - I had to my honor save -
Either this - or find a watery grave.

The first of the breakers were now behind -
To fold upon themselves in bursting boom
And boil in whitest bubbles - the shore to find -
Hissing in a frothy lace of spume.
Swimming now in breaststroke (to be kind)
To stamina reserves, I would need soon
(Though I only had a mild to moderate swell -
And no rips or currents in the sea as well).

Out too far now - too far to turn back
Lifted up and over each new wave; -
The water now beneath me turning black -
I kept swimming - I swam myself to save -
My will was strong - my reserve would not crack -
(For it was true I had a point to prove)
Waves no longer breaking - just blue rills -
Swimming up and over watery hills.

I now saw Wedding Cake was getting close
And no more than an atoll in the sea
Still not tiring I was there - almost -
The flat rock was there waiting just for me.
So far I was now - so far from the coast -
How strange is life? And how strange destiny?
One hundred yards close - I looked around and then -
Saw matchbox cars and houses - and ants for men.

Waves broke round the rock and back from shore
Now lifting me upon a coral reef
Pyramids of water eight feet high or more
Dumping me upon this rocky shelf.
Looking at my hands - I was cut and sore
(This is where I almost come to grief)
And having now escaped certain death
Stood upon the Island - and caught my breath.

Now reef - black reef - black water underneath me
Fifty meters back toward the shore
And sixty feet of water now beneath me
The grazing on my palms - my hands cut raw
Into the salty brine, I now bled freely
Bled into the water - and bled some more -
Fighting fright within me - to swim this final arc -
Swimming back in mortal terror of a shark.

T'was forty-five minutes to swim out there
And fifteen only now - to get back in -
And for what? A crazy stupid dare -
(I lived to take that hundred bucks from him)
This feat (good reader) I make you now aware -
(It is certainly a devil of a swim).
Stupidity? Courage? Or just male pride?
Good reader - I leave it for you now to decide.




© lovecanbereal
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I think of the Aborigine's last plight
To tell of the Rainbow Serpent* in its might
Wherein the ancient dream time lies your soul
And the strength of ancient myth becomes your all.

For my young country Australia -
I tell of my dismay and love for her
I sing my all and in my praise for you
Hear the ancient haunting rhythm of didgeridoo.

Generations old and lost in time
Rock paintings in the Kimberley sublime
Dot paintings are the desert's oldest art
The living Dreamtime spirit at its heart.

One day they'll be when black and white unite
To recognize the black man in his fight
To seek the white man's peace in destiny
We must first make peace with the Aborigine.

To put the Constitution right now in its laws
To love the black man instead of to abhor
And to the Stolen Generation, a treaty give
Will make our country stronger - live and let live.

To lift the black man up with helping hand
Like Gough Whitlam ** unto you did pour his sand***
From white to black we still have far to go
From black to white forgiveness we must know.




© lovecanbereal
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A gem's a stone that's rare, but cold inside; -
A true gem's in the heart the other hides.

When we find that rare one who understands,
Then we are privy to those exotic lands.

No one can define this thing called "love"
That strangest feeling, sent from up above.

A diamond's cold with all its many facets;-
More beauteous a woman in her assets.

No one knows the time we have on Earth -
Be kind to the other one - they also hurt.

Look beyond the ring;- find that precious sparkle -
Find true wealth; - before we meet death's darkness.

Then fear not "Father Time"; - he can't take it all away; -
For we are in each other's arms for an eternity.




© lovecanbereal
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