In loving memory of Kenis D. Keathley 6/4/81 - 3/27/22 Loving father, husband, brother, friend and firewood hoarder Rest in peace, Dexterday

Poems

Discussion in 'Hobbies and Interests' started by TrinitySouth99, Dec 4, 2020.

  1. TrinitySouth99

    TrinitySouth99

    Joined:
    May 25, 2016
    Messages:
    3,652
    Likes Received:
    29,799
    Location:
    New Harbour, NFLD
    A couple people requested I start a thread for these poems. As requested,

    Screenshot_2018-04-12-10-30-43-1.png
    Screenshot_2018-04-12-10-31-08-1-1.png
     
    Last edited: Dec 4, 2020
    Woodwidow and wildwest like this.
  2. TrinitySouth99

    TrinitySouth99

    Joined:
    May 25, 2016
    Messages:
    3,652
    Likes Received:
    29,799
    Location:
    New Harbour, NFLD
    Screenshot_2018-05-28-19-21-11-1.png
    Screenshot_2018-05-28-19-21-18-1.png
     
    Last edited: Dec 4, 2020
    Reddingnative and Woodwidow like this.
  3. TrinitySouth99

    TrinitySouth99

    Joined:
    May 25, 2016
    Messages:
    3,652
    Likes Received:
    29,799
    Location:
    New Harbour, NFLD
    Screenshot_2018-06-18-22-33-04-1.png
    Screenshot_2018-06-18-22-33-30-1.png
     
    Last edited: Dec 4, 2020
    Woodwidow likes this.
  4. TrinitySouth99

    TrinitySouth99

    Joined:
    May 25, 2016
    Messages:
    3,652
    Likes Received:
    29,799
    Location:
    New Harbour, NFLD
  5. TrinitySouth99

    TrinitySouth99

    Joined:
    May 25, 2016
    Messages:
    3,652
    Likes Received:
    29,799
    Location:
    New Harbour, NFLD
  6. TrinitySouth99

    TrinitySouth99

    Joined:
    May 25, 2016
    Messages:
    3,652
    Likes Received:
    29,799
    Location:
    New Harbour, NFLD
  7. TrinitySouth99

    TrinitySouth99

    Joined:
    May 25, 2016
    Messages:
    3,652
    Likes Received:
    29,799
    Location:
    New Harbour, NFLD
  8. TrinitySouth99

    TrinitySouth99

    Joined:
    May 25, 2016
    Messages:
    3,652
    Likes Received:
    29,799
    Location:
    New Harbour, NFLD
  9. TrinitySouth99

    TrinitySouth99

    Joined:
    May 25, 2016
    Messages:
    3,652
    Likes Received:
    29,799
    Location:
    New Harbour, NFLD
  10. TrinitySouth99

    TrinitySouth99

    Joined:
    May 25, 2016
    Messages:
    3,652
    Likes Received:
    29,799
    Location:
    New Harbour, NFLD
  11. TrinitySouth99

    TrinitySouth99

    Joined:
    May 25, 2016
    Messages:
    3,652
    Likes Received:
    29,799
    Location:
    New Harbour, NFLD
  12. Woodwidow

    Woodwidow

    Joined:
    Oct 4, 2013
    Messages:
    12,771
    Likes Received:
    80,340
    Location:
    Port McNeill, BC Northern Vancouver Island
    Thank you for posting your poems. Some I remember reading before and others are new to me. Move to Town definitely has the same ring as Spruce Point Bay.
     
    campinspecter and TrinitySouth99 like this.
  13. TrinitySouth99

    TrinitySouth99

    Joined:
    May 25, 2016
    Messages:
    3,652
    Likes Received:
    29,799
    Location:
    New Harbour, NFLD
  14. Woodwidow

    Woodwidow

    Joined:
    Oct 4, 2013
    Messages:
    12,771
    Likes Received:
    80,340
    Location:
    Port McNeill, BC Northern Vancouver Island
    I think I have said this before about how sad this one is. Unfortunately it is so true for many people.
     
    campinspecter and walt like this.
  15. Timberdog

    Timberdog

    Joined:
    Sep 13, 2017
    Messages:
    1,369
    Likes Received:
    7,654
    Location:
    Az
    Good Timber
    by Douglas Malloch

    The tree that never had to fight
    For sun and sky and air and light,
    But stood out in the open plain
    And always got its share of rain,
    Never became a forest king
    But lived and died a scrubby thing.

    The man who never had to toil
    To gain and farm his patch of soil,
    Who never had to win his share
    Of sun and sky and light and air,
    Never became a manly man
    But lived and died as he began.

    Good timber does not grow with ease:
    The stronger wind, the stronger trees;
    The further sky, the greater length;
    The more the storm, the more the strength.
    By sun and cold, by rain and snow,
    In trees and men good timbers grow.

    Where thickest lies the forest growth,
    We find the patriarchs of both.
    And they hold counsel with the stars
    Whose broken branches show the scars
    Of many winds and much of strife.
    This is the common law of life.
     
    Woodwidow and TrinitySouth99 like this.
  16. TrinitySouth99

    TrinitySouth99

    Joined:
    May 25, 2016
    Messages:
    3,652
    Likes Received:
    29,799
    Location:
    New Harbour, NFLD
    "Little Bay Islands"

    "There's a place out west, on the Northern side,
    I'd like to visit myself, but you can no longer drive,
    It's a beautiful place, so I heard,
    But they cut it off from the civilized world,
    Sometimes I think that's my kind of place,
    Little Bay Islands.


    Out in the salty waters of Notre Dame Bay,
    An archipelago rises from the salty spray,
    It used to be home to 500 women and men,
    But the times are different now than they were back then,
    And I guess that's the nature of time,
    Little Bay Islands.

    One industry worth speaking of, one little school,
    Dirt roads, and sheds full of hundreds of tools,
    Some would say those who live here are out of their mind,
    But these people aren't normal, and I say that with pride.
    They're as unique as the place they call home,
    Little Bay Islands.

    The industry suffered, and many moved away,
    When the plant closed, the coffin was just nails away,
    And come last year, there was just a B&B,
    And year round jobs numbered only three,
    And a community lay on its deathbed,
    Little Bay Islands.

    A school with 2 kids ain't worth keeping open they say,
    And 55 people don't pay a ship's way across Notre Dame Bay,
    It's cheaper to pay them for the houses with which they would part,
    That's true, I'll grant you that, but it still breaks my heart.
    But it ain't the first place like this to go the same way,
    Little Bay Islands.

    Last new years eve, the power was turned off forevermore.
    And the ferry left the dock and she won't ever be back no more.
    They got paid for their homes, and now they have to find new ones to buy.
    Take all their belongings, fill a new house and start a new life.
    Nothing good lasts forever they say,
    Little Bay Islands.

    It's a ghost town now, except for a couple living off the grid.
    They chose to stay and live somewhat like our ancestors did.
    They don't have a car to run errands or go shopping, that job now belongs to a boat,
    They've got an island fortress all to themselves, with a deep blue and miles-wide moat.
    It wasn't the first and it won't be the last, and I can't help but wonder who's next,
    And it's too bad when the big eats the small, cause with people, less is more and more is less.
    Welcome, population 2,
    Little Bay Islands."
     
    Woodwidow likes this.
  17. Woodwidow

    Woodwidow

    Joined:
    Oct 4, 2013
    Messages:
    12,771
    Likes Received:
    80,340
    Location:
    Port McNeill, BC Northern Vancouver Island
    Very thought provoking.
     
    TrinitySouth99 and campinspecter like this.
  18. TrinitySouth99

    TrinitySouth99

    Joined:
    May 25, 2016
    Messages:
    3,652
    Likes Received:
    29,799
    Location:
    New Harbour, NFLD
    "I'm not staring blindly like a statue,
    I'm not about to follow where I'm led, like a sheep.
    I won't skulk my way through life like a zombie,
    Burnt out, semi dead and half asleep.
    Sometimes I might hide away like a hermit,
    But I refuse to hibernate like a bear.
    I'm gazing at what the bright light illuminates,
    Not staring into it like a wayward deer.
    I cut my own path, and I follow it forever,
    Like a river.

    I'm not displaying all that's inside me like a window,
    Have to keep the lookers guessing, like a mime.
    I may carry traces of where I've been before,
    Even if my surfaces shines in sunlight like a dime.
    And I can't slow down, or they'll see what's underneath me,
    Like a River.

    I may look the same from day to day,
    But come back in many years and you may find me a different way.
    I leak into my surroundings, give back to the land that carries me,
    But I collect traces from my travels, and I carry them with me,
    And I just can't help myself, I have to head toward the sea,
    Like a river.

    I'm in a constant state of change, though you can't tell by my face,
    The fibers of my being constantly shed and then replaced.
    I have to take what I am given, and carry it with me,
    But I have to give back where I'm directed, not where I want or where need be,
    And I'm taken for granted by those who've never had to do without me,
    Like a river.

    I have my own path in this world to follow, traveled it a long time, know it well.
    But if you pollute me I'll carry it with me, and end up harming someone else.
    I don't mean to, but I can't help it, fact is we're all what someone makes.
    And life is supposed to be a harmony of give and take,
    Like a river.

    In one way I am simple, but I'm unique in my own way,
    There's not another out there quite like me, I would dare venture to say,
    You look at me quick, I seem to be the same as all my kind,
    But watch me long enough, and I might leave you mesmerized, you'll find.
    But I'm cold if you try to walk over me,
    Like a river.

    My path I've carved out guides me, takes me where I need to go.
    I don't make any big waves, I just go with my own Flow.
    I'm peaceful if I'm given what I need to get me by,
    But if I'm overloaded too much, then I'll start running high.
    And the storm only makes me stronger,
    Like a river.

    Well I try to make a difference but I'm only one,
    and it seems like it's so hard to make a difference all alone.
    But if enough of us work together, we just might get it done.
    I refuse to change, I just keep running the way I'm meant to run,
    But I end up running into something bigger than myself and blending in,
    Like a river."



     
    Woodwidow likes this.
  19. TrinitySouth99

    TrinitySouth99

    Joined:
    May 25, 2016
    Messages:
    3,652
    Likes Received:
    29,799
    Location:
    New Harbour, NFLD
    Intermittent explosive disorder is a mental illness which can cause a good person to temporarily, suddenly, for no apparent reason, turn into a savage person capable of doing horrible things such as acts of unprovoked violence, so forth. If these episodes occur at the wrong time and the person is not able to calm themselves, it can lead to job loss, jail time and worse. When the episodes subside the person will usually be left confused and horrified at what they have done. If they are not aware of the mental illness, even a person who is not religious may draw the conclusion that they must be possessed by a supernatural force. Once educated to the mental illness, it can be more devastating than relieving because it's often easier to believe that you are possessed and some other entity is responsible for your body's actions than to admit you have a mental illness (and even harder to openly seek help). The disorder can also involve periods of anxiety and varying degrees of impatience and hostility in between the full blown outbursts.

    Now, Some religious people may believe that mental illness is just our name for the demons who put us to the test. At any rate, this poem is about a man who the mental illness has pushed to the brink and he has lost all hope.

    "I Surrender"


    "Tonight's the night, I can't take this anymore.
    I've got nothing to go on living for.
    There's a demon inside me, and it's taken my life from me.
    And it's hurt my friends, it's tortured my family.


    For the one who's never given up on me, I thank you, I love you with all my heart.
    But I have to give up on myself now, and the time has come that we must part.
    I'm sorry that I've hurt you at times, but you're no more confused than I,
    I can't always control myself and I don't truly understand why.

    I'm going down a tunnel, but I'm going away from the light,
    And I couldn't turn around and find my way back home to save my life.
    I've been on the edge a long, long time, but I'm jumping off tonight,
    The demon's taken everything, ruined my world, ruined my life.
    I tried to be like Jekyll, but I'm paying for the crimes of Hyde,
    Don't follow me, we won't make it back alive.

    I hope you know, though I've hurt you, I'm the one who suffers more.
    When the demon leaves for a little while, I cry in shock and horror.
    Some cry over spilt milk, I take a fit of rage with less.
    I can't contain the anger I didn't know I had repressed.
    I hate myself for what I've done, I thought I tried my best.
    It's not like me to hurt a soul, I have to be possessed.

    I've tried all my life to better myself, but I'm worse as time goes by.
    It's about time I surrender, so it's here I say good bye.
    I don't know where I'm going, don't know how I'm getting there.
    It's all the same now, I can't be at peace anywhere.
    I may as well take an empty gun, and point it at a cop.
    They'd shoot me or throw me in jail, either way it has to stop.
    On the other had I could take my car, I could just drive far away,
    And find a peaceful place to sit and starve until I pass away.

    God bless those who gave me far more chances than I deserved,
    But I'm going down a road so dark, I can't see where to swerve.
    It wasn't me who hurt you, I can't make you understand.
    I can't understand myself, let alone explain to another man.
    I love you all, I always have, I only wish you well.
    But the only light at the end of the tunnel now is the flaming pits of hell.
    I have a little running room, but nowhere left to hide.
    Don't follow me, we won't make it back alive.

    I wake up every night in a cold, sticky sweat.
    I can barely sleep for nightmares, my days are plagued by deep regret.
    I can't live with myself, but I don't have the guts to rid myself from the earth,
    Even though I'd probably be saving so many more from hurt.
    I feel nothing at all, and it seems useless to pray.
    The demon and the devil probably had my soul from the beginning anyway.
    I'm a shell of a man, with an angel on my shoulder, who I know is doing right,
    And the grip of an unseen hand too powerful to fight,
    Guiding my body to do things that my heart never would or could,
    I've resisted it for all these years, but it never did no good.

    The angel still talks to me sometimes, in a language I forget.
    Her voice is getting fainter, I'll be deaf on that side yet.
    They say good always wins, well my angel has lost,
    I'd give all I have to help her, but I can't afford the cost.



    Last night I dreamt I faced my judgement at the pearly gates...
    They never said a word, just started laughing in my face.




    You've stayed with me, in spite of it all, because of faith or endless love.
    I've only fallen further every time I've tried to rise above.
    You've been there for me no matter what, but you can't be with me now.
    I'm almost to the end of a dead end road, and you have to turn around.
    I'll be six feet under soon, I'm already dead inside.
    Don't follow me, we won't make it back alive."
     
  20. Woodwidow

    Woodwidow

    Joined:
    Oct 4, 2013
    Messages:
    12,771
    Likes Received:
    80,340
    Location:
    Port McNeill, BC Northern Vancouver Island
    Thanks for sharing the information about this mental illness. So many things happen to people that are hard to understand by those passing by. A very moving poem.
     
    TrinitySouth99 likes this.