Category: poetry

To my daughter

Chris Hall79 Comments

Reach out! Reach up!
Climb the highest height
Follow your dreams
Let hope give you wings
Be brave, be bold, be strong!

Look to a new day
A bright not a blue day
Stand straight, walk tall, be you
For you are unique, you burn so bright
You, the wonderful you!

Written in response to Sadje‘s What do You See #87 photo prompt.

Image credit: Dakota Corbin @ Unsplash
The image shows a wall decorated by splashes of colour. There are outlined sketches of two hands on the wall. Above the decorations, the words “The best gift is you” are written. A woman can be seen walking a baby in a stroller in the front.

Smitten

Chris Hall73 Comments

Behind those sapphire eyes
a trusting soul peers out

your little heart beats apace
tiny mouth mews silently

oh, little kitten
I am smitten

beholding a world
of wonder
anew.

Written in response to Sadje‘s What do You See #85 photo prompt.

Image credit: Iqbal Nuril @ Pixabay
The image shows a small kitten looking inquisitively, from under a table.

Winter’s song

Chris Hall68 Comments

Slender notes as crisp as frost
cast silver beads across the grass
colour-drained trees old and bare
echo tunes on winter air

Melodies fill the sunless day
where morning shadows long to to play
perched upon a lonely pew
fragile memories form anew

Snippets snatched from days long past
pervade an emptiness that’s vast
remembrances both sweet and dear
proffer us a tender tear.

Written in response to Sadje‘s What do You See #84 photo prompt.

Image credit: Clay Banks @ Unsplash
The image shows an older man sitting on a bench by a park. There is a trolley bag behind him. He is playing a stringed instrument and has a collection bag by his feet.

Thanks to Cassa of Flicker of Thoughts and Spira of inSPIRAation I have learned what the instrument in the photo is. Called a Erhu, it makes a most beautiful sound:

Rain in Jiang Nan_Erhu Cover

Dispel the darkness

Chris Hall72 Comments

Darkness comes early on these winter days
colour drains from bleached frigid skies
cobalt tints bleed to shades of stone
dripping into gun-metal water
remorseless, brutal
devoid of hope.

Darkness crowds in on these winter days
warmth leaches from dwindling vistas
landscapes recede, horizons narrow
care-free life flutters out of reach
fading to remembrance
of times past.

A glimmer remains on these winter days
a single shaft of sunlight reaches out
to dispel today’s sombre skies
one ray of honeyed promise
for a golden new
tomorrow.

Written in response to Sadje‘s What do You See #83 photo prompt.

Image credit: Sadje
The image shows a wooden pier extending into a lake. The sky overhead is partly cloudy with sun trying to peep.

Reaching for a rainbow

Chris Hall73 Comments

Varicoloured, head spinning, ebb and flow below
Easy now, no need to go
Reflect on your decision. No!
Taking my leave now
I’m stepping out
Gasping, grasping
Oblivion.

Written in response to Sadje‘s What do You See #82 photo prompt.

Image credit: Sean Robertson @ Unsplash
The image shows a view of a busy street from the top of a tall building. Down below you can see traffic and pedestrians.

Biding my time

Chris Hall64 Comments

Concealed behind that plain façade
silently observing yet unobserved
you creep along obscure corridors
listening at keyholes, capturing confidences
pocketing intrigues and salting them away.

Green mantle cloaked, you traverse the town
sniffing out secrets, ferreting for indiscretions
licking spoons that stir the pot
snatching skeletons from cupboards
to one day share and spill.

Nothing escapes your inimical attention
under your watch, people scarcely sleep
they mind their tongues, mind other people’s
but blank of countenance and with eyeless innocence
for now your secrets stay safe with me.

Written in response to Sadje‘s What do You See #81 photo prompt.

Image credit: Victoria Strukovskaya @ Unsplash
The image shows a closed wooden gate with the number 28.5 written on it with chalk. The gate is surrounded by thick green creepers.

Day after Day

Chris Hall67 Comments

each night, enveloped in scarlet
golden sun slides under blue blankets
gossamer strands of lingering light
caress cooling sands
waves wash upon the shore, breaking
breaking, unceasingly breaking
erasing away the day

each night, cloaked in obsidian
silver moon shakes out her gown
scattering glittering pennies
over wine-dark skies
waves wash upon the shore, breaking
breaking, unceasingly breaking
hailing a new dawn

Written in response to Sadje‘s What do You See #79 photo prompt.

Image credit: Philippe D @ Unsplash
The image shows a lighthouse situated on a small island. The sun is setting behind the lighthouse, colouring the sky in beautiful shades of orange and pink. 

What will become of us – a poem for Earth Day

Chris Hall41 Comments

.

I first posted this poem two years ago. A year later, when we were under lockdown and the noise of engines fell silent and wild animals walked the streets, it seemed that nature just might have a chance, but once again, pollution spews, plastic continues to fill the oceans and the ice caps are melting even more quickly. Today, Earth Day 2021, I find my poem is just as relevant, maybe more so.

Image credit: Mother Earth by gedomenas

Dinner for Two

Chris Hall58 Comments

Dusk melts seductively
Into soft velvet
Night
Now darkness descends
Expectation
Revives

Forever, I’ll long to hold you again
On this date when I
Remember

This is our special night
When I set the table, anticipating, longing for you
Oh, I will always be longing for you.

Written in response to Sadje‘s What do You See #78 photo prompt.

Image credit: Gabriella Clare Marino@ Unsplash
The image shows a table set for two people. The location seems to be outdoors, in an alley. 

Your light still shines

Chris Hall56 Comments

In the calm of the evening
walking on wet sand
the soft scratch of silica
caresses my naked feet

I lift my face skywards
tasting the salt-laden breeze
sharpened by thyme-scented air
filtering from hushed hillsides

As the sun slips into the ocean
bronze and crimson flares flash
across the rolling cobalt waves
soon swallowed into darkness

Resting on a sea-smoothed rock
my feet wetted with cool water
I flare a sulphurous match
touching it to the lantern’s wick

A pool of golden light
fills the darkness of my heart
as I remember the evenings
when you were still here.

Written in response to Sadje‘s What do You See #77 photo prompt.

Image credit: Andrew Morris @ Unsplash
The image shows a lantern sitting on the wet sand of a beach. There are fairy lights inside the lantern.