Poetry
Poetry is a compressed language. Even more so than regular language, as we really think or dream with pictures and not words, each word is metaphorically brushed into prose so that you get much more out of the whole than the individual parts. These are my personal writings, so have respect and please do not copy them and put them in your own book and publish it. There is a special karma for people who do that.
Tears for a Lamp
(based on the concept that the biblical ten virgins were prepared because their lamps were filled with tears, not oil.)
by Brooks Agnew (chorus)
A tear falls in your life for love, (joy) (peace)
And still it fills your lamp,
With the oil that you’ll need,
When you’re finally freed,
From every earthly pain,
When he calls out your name,
And lights your flame.
Tears for a lamp;
Lighting the dreamer’s way,
Warming the hands that pray,
Calming the night,
Providing light,
For the way home.
Tears for a lamp;
Welling for those who smile,
Blessing the extra mile,
Comforting the weak,
And those who seek,
The way home.
Tears for a lamp,
Falling like quiet rain;
Shrouded in veiled pain,
For those we love,
Who’ve gone above,
To their home.
The Arrival
by Brooks Agnew
The moment started;
Her heartbeat crystallizing;
Allowing reality to begin;
Synchronizing space
Around her eyes.
Forced to remind myself,
To breathe;
Life stopped in my veins,
Searching for a grip,
To keep from falling.
Glistening wave approaching,
Now to pull my soul forward,
Hoping to catch it,
Turn myself to its gravity,
To ride it through time.
Oh, that her eyes
Would meet mine,
Acknowledge my existence;
Touch me with her soul;
A drop upon the parched.
Sands long since blooming,
Now, tranquil oasis,
Her beauty destroying,
Machine’s blindness,
Of the heart.
In the Night
by Brooks Agnew
In the night pathways,
Illuminated by a kiss;
A breath through the darkness;
All I dare when,
I am lost.
When the Moon is gone,
And the day is far away,
Hearts beating,
Reaching into the night,
Through mortality.
When the wind is sometimes dark,
And the stars are silent;
And the earth is still;
And the soul is calm;
She comes.
Like a song with no words,
Without form or rhythm,
Like dark water,
Waiting for a reflection.
To shine into the night,
Her touch.
Feigning rest,
Thirsting for a word,
Reaching upward,
Heart beating,
Her eyes behold.
Upon the roof,
Her soul considers,
The man in the alley,
Seeking one open door;
Beckoning.
Bowing,
Ever hoping,
She reaches into my soul,
Strokes my face,
Saving me.
It Hurt You When I Dreamed
By Brooks Agnew
It hurt you when I dreamed,
When I left the shore,
And my mindship’s sails
Snapped toward the stars.
I weighed your pain
In the balance of my heart;
In the same worlds
Together we have always been.
Crimson trees of many dreams
Told stories of our world,
When we sang
‘Neath the summer stars.
Fires of wars and metal cities
Circled the silence of clear nights,
Passed ‘or your shoulder,
And I held you in return.
I saw the birth of worlds
And the lust of tyrants,
While you cried,
Under the cold Finderran sun.
To Earth we answered,
Now human to explore;
‘Mid passion’s partial music;
Waiting for the star to appear.
Soon, oh soon the light;
This world will reach,
And we’ll remember,
Who we were.
Found Her
by Brooks Agnew
Found Her,
On a world so small,
Floating quietly in galaxies;
This earth may pass away,
Walking impossible shores,
For a way to her touch;
Why would this lonely angel fly;
When falling through dimensions,
Slipping silently away,
Would take me swiftly,
Through time’s weakness,
Into her arms?
I dreamed her kiss again;
Holding her word inside me,
Never wanting to exhale,
So afraid to sleep,
Blessing one more heart’s beat,
Before losing it to the wind.
If I could hold her once,
Just beneath the Moon,
May time forgive us;
Pretending mortals,
Lost among the trees;
For parting for so long.
Standing by the Moon
by Brooks Agnew
I was standing by the Moon,
As her footprints,
Brushed gently by the sea,
Rinsed away too soon.
I was holding my breath,
As the scent of her kiss,
Escaped into the night,
Distant echoes of the bliss.
Standing by the Moon;
A single silent heart,
In the wind,
Rinsed away too soon;
Before the end.
Can I hold back the sea,
Before her footprints disappear?
Can I breathe and be free,
While she is still so near?
Can I younger make the love,
Burning blue in my eye?
Can I reach the mountain above,
So I can leap into the sky?
Standing by the Moon;
A single silent heart,
In the wind,
Rinsed away too soon;
Before the end.
Waking
by Brooks Agnew
I saw the dawn today,
Reflecting off the ice;
Another long night,
Without her hair,
Across my arm.
I heard the empty glass,
Beside her picture,
On the nightstand,
By the clock;
Saying her name.
I felt my feet,
Together all alone,
Under the sheets,
Freshly laundered;
Half slept across.
I smelled her smile,
Touching my neck,
And the Moon’s wishing warmth;
Fluttering off the sea;
Lapping on our feet.
I held her light,
On my lips,
Misty forest echoes;
Hoping summer lasts
Beyond my dreams.
I closed my eyes again,
Softly on our music,
Brushed upon the canvas
Of my soul.
With You
by Brooks Agnew
If I knew
The flavor of the wind,
I would paint a river,
With a mountain on the sky;
As I lay my head on your shoulder.
If I had a basket of stars,
I would dance
Along the sand,
And count them out,
By threes;
And toss them
Into galaxies.
If I could breathe
The moments
That make up time,
I would sing them out
With all my might;
That forever,
They would echo longer,
With you.
Sounds of the Moon
by Brooks Agnew
Sounds of the Moon make
The sea shimmer softly through her hair;
Dancing slowly through the night
Across my shoulder.
Heart beat waiting,
For the moment far away;
In the mortal reunion of souls,
Born in the stars.
A gifting glance,
Paints the beauty of her eyes,
Under the jealous galaxy;
Upon my soul.
But for that moment;
The distance I would fly
To have her breath balanced on my lips,
Once again.
Glance of Angels
By Brooks Agnew
Maybe it was the
Light footprints
In the sand;
Softly rinsed by the sea;
Or the morning breeze,
Brushed by her hair;
Warmed by her lips;
Drifting to the
Single cloud above,
That drew the glance of angels.
Why do I fly,
When I want to dance?
Why do I cry,
When I want to sing?
Why can’t she see me?
Oh, why did I glance?
I'll Remember
By Brooks Agnew
When there is nothing left to sing,
And the final flake of light
Flutters into darkness;
I’ll remember;
When the future meets the past;
All in the way we kiss,
And the way you make it last;
I’ll remember;
Oh, the days we danced,
And the rains we soaked,
And the hands we held,
And the pains we felt,
Between the smiles
We shared.
When the last wind dies,
And the last star twinkles
Its last vibration
I’ll remember;
The castles we built,
And the times we wished,
And the gifts we gave,
And the glass we poured
Around the ice
We melted.
When the universes fold,
And the next I am begins,
To let light become
The new garden we can walk,
I’ll remember.
Once I Was a Dreamer
By Brooks Agnew
Once I was a dreamer
Asleep in the day.
I thought I had the light,
And the way.
Now, I’m sailing close-hauled
For the end of time.
The edge of the world
Curves away.
I am;
I was;
I am,
When we divided our souls,
And slowed the universe to now.
Once I saw a distance,
Between the stars.
I thought the light,
Was the way.
Now, eye single glory,
And all is as one,
Set into a voice
At the dawn of time.
I am;
I was;
I am,
When we divided our souls,
And slowed the universe to now.
Now I am a dream
Awake in the day.
I know the light,
And the way.
Sailing the waves of space,
And eternity’s time,
I see the joy at the edge,
Where the world curves away.
I am;
I was;
I am,
When we divided our souls,
And slowed the universe to now.
Glory of the Wind
By Brooks Agnew
Glory of the wind;
Softly, silently carry my dream.
Stars in heaven;
Shine a message in your beam.
My labored heart climbs
A mountain in the clouds.
If I could sing a word,
To leap an ocean and a sea;
If I could hire the moon
To bear my soul upon a beam;
If I could breathe her one more time,
And feel her skin against my heart,
Gladly, the stone would be my pillow,
Winter’s chill ne’er to part.
Across the room I see her,
Smiling away from here.
Worlds we walked together,
Only my memory remains clear.
Once we walked the pyramids;
But that life is only clouds,
As the love wept away
Behind thick, mortal shrouds.
Glory of the wind;
Softly, silently carry my dream,
For another generation
To know that I was born.
The seed of a god’s love,
Garden lost and long forlorn.
Don't Sail Alone
By Brooks Agnew
Don’t sail alone.
‘Cuz the stars can be misleading,
Drifting horizons far away.
Soft voices lost in the wind
That filled her sails;
Land was suddenly yesterday.
The sea sometimes is silent,
And moons took my breath away;
When moments were perfect;
Breathing on my lips;
Her hair perfectly,
Across my eyelids on the bow.
She tacked across the moonlight,
And dropped a word into my palm.
A bit too long it lingered,
Like any other thought considered,
But I looked up from that tender moment,
And she was gone.
Harvest
By Brooks Agnew
This Poem was written from a dream I had. It was apocalyptic, to be sure, so this came out like a prayer. And there is music to it as well. I will eventually record it and put it in here for you, but just read the words and see what it does for you.
Father reap this world at dawn,
This evening grows cold and damp.
Tomorrow’s wage is here and gone;
The oil burns low in my lamp.
Father release that angel now,
To open the mighty seventh seal.
Remove the bow,
let this sun go down,
On the last day behind this veil.
Harvest now the field is ripe,
While I yet bleed a drop;
For pain felt for the family’s plight.
Oh savior come gather your crop.
Heart strings wane an anguished song;
This patriarch’s failed his sacred call;
‘Tis the battle lord fought too long;
I lay me down and give mine all.
For the blood of the saints,
I hear it sing;
The mourning song of lamented love;
Son of righteousness,
Take thy wing;
And bring me to my home above.
Testimony
By Brooks Agnew
Maybe I wasn’t there when my elder brother died;
And I didn’t hear the painful hammer’s blow;
And I didn’t hear the virgin mother cry;
But this much I do know;
That he lives for I have heard his voice;
He cares for me for I’ve felt him weep;
He’s the Christ my king and I’ve made my choice;
I’ll follow his will and feed his sheep.
Maybe I haven’t traveled those foreign lands,
And I didn’t see the stone rolled away,
And I didn’t feel the prints in His hands,
But his much I can say;
That he lives for I have heard his voice;
He cares for me for I’ve felt him weep;
He’s the Christ my king and I’ve made my choice;
I’ll follow his will and feed his sheep.
Maybe I wasn’t there when the five thousand fed;
Maybe I didn’t see the misery and woe;
And I didn’t see Lazarus raised from the dead;
But this much I do know.
That he lives for I have heard his voice;
He cares for me for I’ve felt him weep;
He’s the Christ my king and I’ve made my choice;
I’ll follow his will and feed his sheep.
Night Flight
by Brooks Agnew
I love to fly. I dream about it. I love window seats, especially the front window on an airplane or ultralight. Okay, I usually sit in the cabin and not the cockpit, but I was particularly struck by the beauty of a night flight while flying to Cincinnati one time. I jotted this down.
Night flight;
Blazing through ether’d space
At ten miles a minute,
O’r galaxies of ordered stars;
With corpuscles of red and white,
Glowing along gray veins;Travelers with sundry destinations.
Soft halos, lonely and peaceful
Spaced evenly in velvet hills,
The reflected shimmer of moonlight;
Dancing like white fire across
Thousands of liquid mirrors;
Hidden in the darkness below.
Oh! The condescension of descension
As airspeed yields to gravity,
And heaven becomes quiet,
And a tilted wing points toward God;
With frozen moonlight gracing silver skin
Like a dancer’s gentle hand mid-leap;
And once again wheels make
For the green and rolling canvas
From which we pray.
North of the Sun
by Brooks Agnew
Poetry can also express profound feelings. Love and the complex relationships of humans and the Earth can sometimes intertwine. Like a complex piece of abstract art in a museum, it can sometimes make you stare at it and just feel. That is what this poem does, I think. At least, that’s what I did when I wrote it.
Expectant sunset emblazoned on horizon’s oceanic mirror,
Longing, hoping hours jesting nightfall barely knowing daylight;
Frozen seascape’s shadows slowly dancing without liquid life;
Gazing toward warm memories from North of the sun.
Body kindles kisses once felt in warm sunshine, trembling;
Heart, once lighted quenches comfort’s embrace,
Hands, once entwined now parka’s pockets clenching,
Searing past’s golden shards North of the sun.
Stars nearly birth twinkled twilight through pale skies,
Lifeless wind from bones joy is plucked like Fall’s last leaf;
Silent seas echo sunlight’s trillion glitters like a single diamond;
One barren planet slowly faceted North of the sun.
Summer’s hope sinks seaward far short of horizon’s doorstep;
Staking winter’s claim on icy daylight merely pictured eyeward;
So far from here, so far from now, ne’er caressing time,
Souls once mated pass from life far north of the sun.
Sirius Considerations
By Brooks Agnew
Sisters nightly in the heavens;
Nebulosity calling;
Refraction enhanced,
Distant porch light captivates my gaze.
Memory heart pushing upward,
Toward my throat;
Scarcely can I swallow;
Contemplating distant red sun.
Photons blessing my mind,
Folding time before time;
Recalling love’s event horizon,
Where even light cannot escape.
Ocular retreat to Earth again,
And I realize after all times;
This mortal moment is here,
At home.
Last Mortality
a Haiku by Brooks Agnew
Eternity grows old,
Yet I remember
Dreams of you
Sleeping Sun
By Brooks Agnew
Sleeping Sun withholds its warmth,
As it lights the way to the ends
Of the earth.
The horizon is clear
And nearer than we dream
Of new birth.
Mortal, we have forgotten before;
Metals and flesh and music and pain
Fill our purse.
Earth changes in our insensitive hands,
Twelve stars prepare dimensional power
To lift the curse.
Sleeping Sun come over me,
Dress me in light.
Dreaming One help me to see
Star memories.
Who shall awaken in time,
Before the spark,
Ignites the dimensional change,
Of eternities?
Frozen lands yearn for Spring,
Green’s powerful creation;Rushing bliss.
But the Sun is sleeping now,
And there will be no more
Blushing kiss.
Stars weep watching Earth
Enter the galaxy’s dark canal;
Veil’s nothingness;
Comes my chance to love you,
I won’t need the Sun anymore;
We’ll shine.
You May Be One of Us
by Brooks Agnew
You may be one of us;
I saw you blowing smoke
Into the black moon
And waving stars across the sky;
Dreaming.
Hope of children laughing;
Declines the kings of men;
Truing tilted worlds,
To the dawn of
Our golden age.
Older than the stars,
We are mortal for a moment;
Finding one another,
Lighting up the path
We walk in love.
Down by the edge
Of the water,
Once divided from the waters,
Barefoot holding hands,
Armies sleep in silence.
You may be one of us;
Memories the future,
Singing o’r the waves,
For the fallen,
We weep.
L'Olam
By Brooks Agnew
In the peace of first light,
Before the water came,
And air was to life;
Was our love le olam
Le olam,
Le olam
Our heart to ours;
Le olam,
le olam
Creating time by our will,
I slowly behold her,
To perfectly hold her
In my love, le olam
Momentary mortalities
Flowing down to the seas;
Heaven is here
In my love, le olam
Garden’s grace remembered;
Touching hands delivered;
Free frozen light
From singularity.
The Queen of Light
By Brooks Agnew
Shimmering like a billion brass butterflies
Her hair sings the sun to my soul,
And time innocently hides in her eyes;
Years forgetting to take their toll;
The Queen of Light
Her lips take joy in shaping my name;
While her mouth yearns for my voice;
Echoed whispers tasting once again;
Soulmates make their final choice;
The Queen of Light.
Her silky skin is sweetly glowing;
A siren’s song to my warm touch;
That peace and love are simply knowing
I cannot love this one too much;
The Queen of Light
Flying, loving deeply in the sky,
Never leaving one another’s side;
No one ever even wonders why
The universe hasn’t really cried.