Various Poems

By Damon Zeus Pythias

The first poem is about a stone. This subject was not my idea. Anyway, here it is:

A Stone

It sits there majestically, firmly upon the ground
Staring toward heaven, yet never leaving earth
Cracked, yet not broken
Slightly worn, but not to a great extent

It sits there impassively, allowing leaves and sticks
To rest upon its body, not resisting at all
Just sitting calmly, as if knowing
That day-to-day concerns will not trouble it

It ages slowly, carved out over longer times
Than we may ever really know
A solid figure in the midst of decay
It sits there, not unfazed by ages,
But oblivious to mere passing days

Time may conquer all, but it has a tougher task with some of us than with others.

This next poem is about a leaf that I found lying on the stone from the previous poem.

The Fleeting Beauty of a Fallen Leaf


Lying on a stone, perched on its side
Perhaps ready to fly away on an errant wind
Its many colors a sight to behold
Brown spots amid the yellow and red
Like a butterfly, only calmer
Some green remains, some remnant of
Its time spent on the tree
During the prime of its life,
Before its fall from grace to ground
Its fragile form permeated by holes
Ready to wilt before too long
Well, maybe not ready, but such is its fate,
Its brilliant colors being a temporary thing
It shows a burst of beauty and color
Before it meets its end
As, perhaps, we all must show our beauty
Before we, like the leaf, wilt fully away

This next poem is about a painting that was hanging on my wall. Well, actually, it was just a print made into a poster that was hanging on my wall. I could not have afforded the original.

John Atkinson Grimshaw’s Spirit of the Night

She flies above the cities and towns
Against the great green skies of the night
Her gauzy fairy wings supporting her slender self
Clad in light garments, billowed out by the air
The darkened air through which she floats
Her face radiating light, in contrast to the scene she brings
Her wand held out, casting a spell of darkness
And sleep to the people on the ground
The darkened, blurred ground that lies near the sea below
As she works her dark, hypnotic magic,
Green and grey night spreads all over the landscape
Over the land, and the sky, and the sea

Next comes a stream-of-consciousness piece, which is not much by itself, but might contain some ideas that I can later place into other works. It has no title.

I know I should capitulate
Turn in all my feathers
Throw my turkeys at the wall
Eat the frozen TV dinners
Sitting by the side of the lake
My nosehair clippers call to you
Sinking a thousand ships at a wave of an oven
Taking the lobsters home from work
Spitting off a bridge in the middle of Calcutta
The lure of the banana is far too strong
Taking me out of dreams of washing laundry
Filling doughnuts with grape jelly
Mulberry jam spread thickly on my soul
Never to know how much air is in the room
Cooking my candy from dusk until Sunday

And finally, we have a poem about yogurt.

The Yogurt Poem

As you eat it, perhaps causing a smile,
The active cultures are at work the whole while
Taking out the lactose, and all that stuff
But leaving in nutrients and flavor enough
To make it appeal to human taste
Not letting good milk go to waste

You can freeze it, or not, as you choose
You can eat it when you get up, or just before you snooze
You can eat it with fruit, or just have it plain
You can even have it with nuts or grain
You can buy it pre-flavored at the grocery store
If the flavors aren’t enough, you can always add more

It’s white, and it comes in a plastic case
One of the most fragile kinds known to the race
Just be sure not to drop it on the floor
The insides will spill, sort of like blood and gore
Then you won’t be able to eat it anymore
Creating a situation that you might well deplore

Okay, that's all she wrote (or should that be "all I wrote"?). Now, you can: Return to my Writings Page Or, you could always go to my homepage.