Once

Finally finished. Enjoy!

Part I

Once

In the opera of a crosswalk

In the lap of a city street

In the arms of the sun’s mother

In the smile of a rockface

The palm leaves sprouting

From what I know like the back of my hand

Rhinestone bracelets, flowers, shackles of our bonds

Chainsmokers of the moonlight scythe

Run from the daylight like a shadow’s avenue

The stars leaping before an endless night

As if in fear of God’s touch

Once I was a bright devil of a Morningstar

Once I was a cold beer in an empty fridge

The leather-bound pages that I wore like a second skin

The children that laugh at the mention of my name

And the suffering, and the bullets, guns, war, and poison

Once, I was a regular soul drowning among so many pebbles

I was a good song after another long night of silence

I was laughter that we all shared

Laughed at

Once, I regain my voice

I will sing a beautifully sad love song

Of death’s destiny knot to tangle with life

And strangle himself blind as a double-helix in the twilight's bondage

Once, he was a lowly blemish of static on a television

Once, he was a stain of mildew on the steps of a crooked church

He too, believed in a god who was not a saviour

Not a saviour, but a watchman, a storyteller

And he too, was once

Something human, ordinarily unique

And we wore the skull and crossbones, tongue and cheek

Of a shipwrecked flag across our faces, together

Like a mask

So that the tears, would never fall

And when I entered the dance of this masquerade

I forgot the look of my own face

Crying in front of the bathroom mirror

Like a monster made for gentlemen to slay

Like a beast that was human on the inside

Among beasts that were human on the outside

Once before

And again, again, smile, smile like you’ve never smiled before in your sad life

Like the world cares enough to flinch

When it sees you bare your teeth as yet another burden's direction

When it sees fear in your eyes like its own reflection

(To double-cross the headlines of perfection)

(The sweetest cure for the infection)

(To master lessons meant to question)

(Move an inch for every misstep’s apprehension)

(Every crescendo crescents Everest vessels sceptre speckles resonance incandescent)

We all have our cross to carry

Till nothings left but ash to bury

A canoe across the moon to ferry

The tranquil remains of aimless picture frames

Echoed manifestos blessing tempos vesicular

With the resurrected tempestuous effigies on the breeze of Bethlehem’s sepulchre

As the world moves forward without looking back

And every star in the night sky, goes black

Once there was a secret chord

That David played and it pleased the lord

A storm of spirits frothing never calm

A cauldron's swan of mantras spawned by penumbra’s triumphant cause

But my words are not a silly song

Carved in hearts turned apples, ebbing dawn

And once the apple falls from grasping trees

I will be the ashes on the breeze

(Steel hearts on edge, a petty thief)

But I will never up and take my leave

For if the play were yet to end

You would forget my memory once again

Waxing and waning in complacent polymerization

Chiselling vermillion from the bark of monarch butterflies

Baptismal cerulean basilicas of skylines' wine wandering winding wider than my eyelids

(Death a priestess of terpsichorean mausoleums reaping sweeping creases Eden's Mona Lisa)

(Sculpted exulting frolicking alters where diabolical martyrs flounder auburn mitochondria)

The crown of trees worn by the worms of the forest's tune

Somewhere between the sun and moon

A wildflower, once, has bloomed

Pull the weed out by the roots

And if you have any bonds, then keep them loose

Lest your enemy be a towering spruce

For the crows will watch you

From their roost

A bed of nails, or just a tooth

Any branch

Could be your noose

Part II

And the maiden, the widow, called Night

Will take off her kaleidoscope mask like a weeping willow

Revealing a bottomless God rippling on velvet chains

The cornucopia of a supernova bearing fangs

Danging without a name

Only smiling in a picture frame

Defiling nihilism's victory

Wiped from the memory of history

Under sunlight blistering

The starlight a glistening missionary

A blackbird's chariot of carrion

An acting marionette vicarious

Contracting refractory blasphemy castrated afterimages

Of alabaster swirling hurricanes pirouette elastic chastity of a masquerade of basilisks

Lazulite stalagmites of rhinestone kaleidoscopes

Piano recital dialing vinyl climbing landlines homicidal lilac in spiral (silo denial)

Like the beautiful rose of a maelstrom's ghost

I am a crack on a shell, an abyss of a yoke

A slack-jaws yell, a nightmare awoke

Born inside out, a hollow-hearted host

A hangnail unravelling from a telephone poll

I am a bell's parabellum, I'm payed to toll

The night takes off her mask,

Revealing God;

A lazy elephant charging through a jungle of tears.

 

Sometimes I look into the abyss;

And see my own dark reflection

So much more flaw than beauty

 

The prairies chandeliers of marigold

The shambling dandelions of hangmen

Intertwining bleeding terpsichorean Ferris wheel paraplegic

 

Meanwhile I sleep in a waking nightmare

Of darkness’s own distorted courtyards in motion

Like a contortionist of rigour mortis

Like the party host of spectres born abortions of the inside

Eat your coldheart out like a soft served sentence

Once, I was a tear rolling down the side of an empty glass

Once I was a forest of empty arms hoping to cradle love I'd yet to lose

Any branch

Could be your noose

Even a stump

Can tell a story

A vortex of porcelain Rorschachs

Expurgatorius scorpions born Capricorn metamorphosis  

Embracing darkness' blissful twister eucalyptus

A worn down mountain bears a bitter fruit

In the graveyard wasteland, of its ancient roots

 

Author's Note

Please let me know what you think of the sections in brackets. I consider them to be an addition to the poem rather than part of the sum. They can be read, or skipped, depending on the reader.

I promise I read every single review, and I generally will reply to them. I look forward to my next review, because it helps me learn. Even if it's just one word, I promise, I will be happy to hear anything you feel needs sharing. Whenever you write on my shortcomings or breakthroughs, or the themes of my poems, or share ideas and friendly criticism, it decides my next poem to an extent. I will listen, learn and be thankful. And 99% of the time, you'll get a reply unless you're trolling me.

Reviews

[Kari Rakitan]

This is a fascinating poem. The parts in brackets seem more difficult to make sense of.

I really liked "Once I was a cold beer in an empty fridge." That painted a very clear and easy to understand feeling.

[R.J Calzonetti (SinisterPotatoe)]

Glad you liked it, thanks for reading.