You are not here.

Flat granite marks the place.

Your smile, your grace

Permeates this space.

Flowers and prayers, I bring

To ease my suffering.

Silently, inwardly, I weep.

My pain runs deep.

Time and space do not erase

The memories of time and place.

You were my universe.

(Tom Fenning)

04/30/2000

This post was originally published on Your Poems, Your Stories at Mispah.

And starting the first chapter, of the second book;

and my life continues a new.

A new beginning continues the saga;

but change brings out a new birth of ever changing obstacles,

that without perseverance, my reality of past trials;

will bring me back to the first chapter from which there is no return.

I choose to prevail with successful ones,

and separate myself from the barely surviving.

This separation has allowed me the ability to comprehend my wrong’s

I used against my peers for internal gain.

Now, I have broken the chains that have once restrained me from true freedom.

My soul is no longer camouflaged with empty dreams of success

Without the first chapter, I have no foundation from which the second could exist.

I believe one’s destiny comes from the first chapters in life.

What is accomplished is totally depended on those choices that are made.

As I turn the pages, I look at what I have become.

I see the colorful wings of the butterfly, free from pain, but dripping from the rain

painting a beautiful picture on the pages of my life’s chapter’s.

Marcus Du Bois turner

This post was originally published on Your Poems, Your Stories at Life’s Chapter’s.

Walking with pneumonia

Nowhere to rest my empty confrontations with my emotions

Running nowhere

Will I choose to change my destiny?

Child of GOD

Why must I live this way?

Over and over I recite Matt. 6:9 through 13

Help me help myself, but I choose to be forsaken.

Change my ways

Keep me alive one less day

Relieve the pain

I dream tomorrow

Bring today

One more chance to make it wrong

Back to yesterday.

This post was originally published on Your Poems, Your Stories at ”SITUATION ADAPTATION”.

My sons were born some years ago…

they swelled my pride and filled my soul

now their mother hates me…this I know

I used to be a daddy once…

They are smart and they are strong

I hope they understand that I was wrong

the name I’ve shamed…they carry on…

I used to be a daddy once…

Because of lust…I’ve a broken home

my heart is pained…I’m sooo alone

I cling to hope and clutch the phone…

I used to be a daddy once…

So listen fathers to my words so blue..

to your wife…your love be true…

dont let my story happen to you…

I used to be a daddy once…

to the one who nursed my joys…

my perfect kids…my loving boys..

who unknowingly killed me with feindish ploys…

I used to be a daddy once…

So hug your kids and hug them tight

thank your maker you’re there tonite

but because of anger…I lost that right…

I used to be a daddy once…

Now if only I could reverse the clock…

I’d be a better man…on this take stock

into sunsets with my kids …I would walk…

I used to be a daddy once….

So listen now and listen well….

forgive me mother…I’m here in hell

so learn this story..these words do tell…

I used to be a daddy once…

To be with my boys…hear me mother…

I’d be a good dad…a faithful lover..

to be true to my family…to want no other…

Just to be their daddy once…

I know my faults..please understand..

My spirit was weak..I’m just a man

to be with my boys…is my greatest plan…

Let me be their daddy once…

I cling to hope…I clutch at straws

I know my rights…I hate the laws..

so hear me now…please take pause…

I used to be their daddy once….

this is my story…of my wounded pride…

I’ve exposed my fear…it will not hide..

I was wrong…there is no side….

I used to be their daddy once…

Mike Laures – 2007

This post was originally published on Your Poems, Your Stories at I Used to be a Daddy Once.

I’m here in a hospital , ignoring the pain

they are starting my chemo, sticking my vein.

For a while I’ll get sicker, it hardly seems fair,

I’ll end up a lot thinner while losing my hair.

I’m beating this disease thats hiding inside

I’m going to live where others have died.

Of the shackles of sickness, I’ll surely break free,

I’m going to beat cancer, cancer will not beat me.

At treatment I’ve noticed, theres others around

the others with cancer whos spirits are bound.

to beat this sickness, theres one simple must,

In god put faith, in medicine put trust.

I keep going back…week after week

my body is weary…I’m unable to speak

the doctors bring good news…of the things they have found

the cancer is shrinking, chemo’s beating it down.

its been over a year…of cancer I’m free

I’ve beaten the cancer, cancer did not beat me!

Now I’m much better this you can attest,

I wear a pink ribbon proudly here on my chest..

Mike Laures…2007

This post was originally published on Your Poems, Your Stories at The Pink Ribbon.

This post was originally published on Your Poems, Your Stories at Damn ...

This post was originally published on Your Poems, Your Stories at dear mortal.

This post was originally published on Your Poems, Your Stories at you.

When we last time gathered…

When we last time enjoyed…

When we last time joined…

That was the day of separation,

When we had no complains…

When we had no conflicts…

When we had no blames…

That was the pain of our separation,

Where no pain was more than that…

Where no heart wept more than that…

Where no one was departured like that…

That was the day of remini moments,

When the weather turned veer…

When the sky turned dim…

When the eyes turned brim…

By: Rana Rimsha Ramzan

15 years old….

This post was originally published on Your Poems, Your Stories at DAY OF SEPARATION:.

There is no birdsong,
The silence is eerie!
A feeling of unease,
Fills my being!
As I look at
The foundations laid out,
Like graves.
I have visions of grief!
Panic and fear, of
People I’ve never met but,
Will not forget!

The rows of reminders,
And yes the gas chambers,
It’s painful to the eye!
A pair of huts are full
Of the inmates memorial!
A tangled, metalled mass,
A sculpture of a brutal past!

It is an August day,
I will never forget!
No where, no way, no how,
I’ll never forget the day,
And my visit to Dachau!

The torment they went through,
I can’t begin to know!
But I can honestly say,
My heart is filled with sorrow!

We all know where we were,
The day that Elvis died,
Likewise J. F. K!
But the day that’s most imprinted,
On my soul,
Is that day in Dachau,
When I was twenty-one years old.

George. L. Ellison
ã 08/05/2009

This post was originally published on Your Poems, Your Stories at Lest We Forget.