Failing as we Fall, by Scarlett Rains

Failing as we Fall

Words trip from my lips,

stumbling, they fall 

in stops and starts,

tumbling towards misinterpretation.

Coward that I am,

I call them back.

Too late. 

Your eyes remind me, again,

I am too late.

© 2012 Scarlett Rains

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Potential Untapped, a poem by Scarlett Rains

Potential Untapped

The one note, unsung, sets the 

tone for it all,

like a gong unsounded in 

a Buddhist’s garden,

or a dewdrop clinging to the leaf.

© 2012 Scarlett Rains

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Dinner for Two, by Scarlett Rains

Dinner for Two

The menu blurs to streaks of color,

Steak oozes blood on your shiny white plate,

Raw as my heart.

Without a care, you slice it up in perfect squares,

Glance at me and then away,

Hungry for change.

           

Perfume wafts back, its spicy sting reminding me

Of Seasons passed, of younger days

When I was all you craved.

           

Throat tight, I watch you chew, aware I am

As dead to you as that slab of meat,

Victim to your appetite.

           

Your jaw clicks loudly as you grind away

Eyes drawn by the sultry sway of hips,

Anxious for dessert.


© 2012 Scarlett Rains

Let me Rest in Peace

    Let Me

     Rest in Peace

       I saw a ghost and  turned away,

No dead men walking my way today,

Just dead and gone where lost souls go

To wander lonely, all alone.

He will not rest, that lonely waif,

Who in life caused only grief to

Those who might have loved him once

If given the chance…

Now he’s dead, who gives a damn?

 He reaches out to touch his child

Who is so like him… lost, and wild.

Just one touch to last eternity

One touch and he can make her see.

She looks right through him unaware

His hand is clasping at her hair.

Regrets, remorse they are but words

To offer her, they don’t atone

For what he’s done.

 It’s cold as Hell. I laugh aloud

I guess not.  I hear Hell is rather hot.

Is it Dad, Father dear?

Is Hell hot this time of year?

I’m a fool to think of you,

You are nothing to me now

Not Father…not Dad.

Did I ever call you that?

I don’t recall.

I don’t remember you at all.

 A dead man walked my way today,

I felt his touch and turned away.

One touch can not the years erase.

Stay dead old man…stay gone.

Do not walk this way again.

The love you seek you will not find,

It’s laid to rest, died long ago,

As did my youth,

At four years old it died with you.

© Scarlett Rains

It was Just a Thing

It was Just a Thing

Draw down the shades and dim the light,

Put out of mind what’s out of sight,

Lest seeing lay it bare.

A thing unseen may not exist,

Must not persist when rhyme, or reason,

Can’t explain my dread of it.

This thing you did that was so small,

So trivial, has shaken me.

There are no words to make it right.

Turn out the light and come to bed,

I can’t bear to see your face.

Let darkness come and clear my head.

                                                           

A thing unspoken in the dark

Can be so harsh it leaves a mark

That scars the soul and

Takes its toll upon the mind.     

A silent drummer bangs his drum

Against my brow till memories come

Of truth that’s frigid, cold and bright.

It chills me, makes me cover up to

Hide my fear there’s nothing here

Worth fighting for, lying for, or trying for.

I can’t deny the truth of that. Eyes shut or not,

This thing you’ve done won’t disappear.

© Scarlett Rains

Lost

The axis tilts, tides rise,

North is East.

My compass spins,

Pointing nowhere.

I am lost.

Degrees of change

Moved us to

This silent point where

Points are moot.

Your shadowed face

Hides eyes that flit

Away from mine,

Leaving me adrift.

I stand on sand,

Without coordinates,

No guide

Except the stars,

And dreams lit by

The moon-glow of hope.

© Scarlett Rains

Confessions of the Human Kind

My halo slipped

a bit today…

I judged a man

for what he wore,

without a thought,

without a doubt,

his worth, or lack of it,

for sure

I felt I knew.

His temple was in disrepair,

A shoddy remnant

of a time when

time was good

and he was strong,

that time is gone,

As is his youth.

He squared his shoulders,

smiled at me, a little smile

that spoke of shame,

Then looked away,

at better days,

 He is no stranger to the truth.

My glance can be direct I’m told,

It’s often bold. It cuts beneath

to what is there and lays it bare

in search of truth. I searched again, and saw it there, 

beneath the stains upon his brow

a gleaming light, a subtle glow that’s only seen by those who know.

I saw on him the mark of one whom God has blessed to

breathe his air

I saw the soul in need of care.

The truth is not a sacred cow

to trot out Sunday’s…

and talk about.

It lives and breathes right hear and now

in that man’s plight.

His need is mine, his joy is mine,

His life divine. That is the truth.

© Scarlett Rains

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