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Fortunato's Prayer

Lure me in with silk and gold,
beaded velvet, satin threads
drawn across lips still red with wine.

Draw me down beneath the world
into some secret, wanton lair
while Carnival still beats within our veins.

Wall me up behind the dark
and leave me with my silver chains
to think on wiles byzantine,

Montresor's bleak design.

Dragon BloodForged from the souls of the bravest of men
They are tempered in the flames of eternal war
Ever will they stand against the tides of evil
For the dark shall claim no more

In the burning mountains of the Dragonkin
It is Man who swore a sacred oath
For in exchange for the Dragon's blood
Man must now protect them both

I speak of the legends; these Gods of battle
Warriors clad in suits of steel
They come as champions of a greiving world
And all shall learn to kneel

But not in supplication, nor out of dominance
We kneel in reverence of the bringers of light
These warriors imbued with the Eternal Flame
Shall chase the shadows of nigh

Heavy StressI seem to be awake at night
For my mind is rushing on
The stress will always haunt me
Into the hours of the morn

I've never been a nervous man
But some nights I need to think
I find myself so filled with stress
I seek the bathroom sink

Vomiting, vomiting
Out it goes
Everything emerges
And chokes the nose

The dizzying thoughts of this bitter stress
Forgive me mother, I can't be the best...

-Chen Yuan Wen, 16th May 2012

Wings of DespairWings of Despair:

A momentary glance toward the birds in the sky;
Makes me feel like I am soaring; with a hope to fly.
But the chilling winds that wrap me, reflect the cold of this day
And the icy frost that batters me, chips me away...

It drains the very breath from me, as though the ice is locked within
I feel my hope is fading again; like a jar of captured wind...
Where once my will was strong and boundless; now it sits on broken wastes
I must admit this crushing despair, it feels as bad as it tastes....

From the moment that I acquired them, these were ugly tattered wings
They were made from my despair, and bound in bitter string

Without JoyA bard may choose to sing a song of happy days and eternal bliss
But why should I sing of happiness, when misery is all that is?
The suffering we see around us, is tantamount to hell
Yet we accept these horrid days; caught within a spell

Perhaps I'm simply being morbid, a soul disturbed by a darker voice
Or perhaps I am the whispered truth; personified by choice.
I will not speak of revelations nor of better days to come
In terms of hope for the future; I'd rather remain mum.

For the world I've seen has shown to me, that pain equates to life
I'm sure you've tried it many times on the edge of a sharpened knife

Why would you open embi

Waking from the DeadIt was like waking from a nightmare, an endless dream of fire and blood. Two miles of guns flashed behind my eyelids, six score horses screamed and reared, and men ran. The musket ball ripped through my belly again and again, and another split Jarosław’s head like an over-ripe melon. There was night, many nights, and there were miles and thorns and rocks and the slow easiness that heralded my death.
That was when the pain came, drowning me, searing me, consuming me. There were dreams at first, as though the battle had never ended, but as the pain grew, it blotted out all else, and I had at least a little peace of mind while my body was being torn asunder. There were voices as well, swelling and ebbing wordlessly beneath the roaring in my ears. I heard my brothers, daughters, wife, whispering amidst the death cries of soldiers and students, a low murmur like the echoes in a hallway in a place I had once known, and a few I could not recognize, speaking soft and low as thoug

Disturbing the PeaceWomen in corsets
disturb the peace.

As The Skies PartedAs The Skies Parted:

As the clouds in the skies parted and fire rained to the earth
The soft keening of the voices trapped within the abyss
resounded throughout the empty plains, as the world prepared itself
to meet a fate no worse than complete and utter oblivion.

The waters turned red with blood and bubbled with a poisonous brew
Whilst the creatures of the mountains, mutated into vicious monstrocities
A pall of darkness, settled around the Earth like a cloak of shadows
and in its grip we knew the true fury of a God gone mad.

Hundreds were slain by the rocks that pummelled the ground
As they fell from the heavens like burning stars

The Great DrakeHe rose from the ground as the very earth split in a series of jagged scars
Molten lava would burst from these wounds, as his wings eclisped the shimmering stars...
The Great Drake Serogar, once laid to rest in the warm womb of Gaia
Had once again awakened, to discipline those who had earned his ire.

Humans and Dragons were killing each other, senselessly bathing in the coldest of blood
Yet all their efforts amounted to nothing and opened the gates for a terrible flood...
For in the realms of the Nether; where the creatures drank of the dark well of Midnight
A rift had been torn of violence and hatred, spawning the children of Blight.

A poet's prayerPatron of poets, pray bless me with words,
fill me with rhyming and meaning and song.
Hallow my tongue with a taste for fine verse.
Give me a pen never ceasing to write.

Patron of poets, the earth bore you up,
that all who listened could hear when you spoke.
Grant ears to hear me, though my lines are frail,
maybe a heart to be touched by my hymn.

Amen.

MemoryI remember you, quiet man,
plaidly relieved against a backdrop
spangled with motes of starry dust.
I remember you, blue eyes,
all black socks and white sweater,
and the way you used to eat mayonnaise.
I made fun of you for that.
I remember you smiling,
no tubes, no pumps.

And in the blue room, I played a game,
pretending I could keep you here
as long as I stayed awake, imagining
my breath sustaining you-
in and out
in and out
in and out
and once more.
But my heart cramps,
and my eyes are sore,
and this is not so much a poem
as a thinly veiled prayer
that you still guard me as I sleep,
though open

You Are Now GonePerhaps you were my oxygen
As without you I cannot breathe
Stars reminded me of your eyes
My love, why did you have to leave?

So out of the blue you left me
In to black my fragile heart broke
A thousand lost words were exchanged
Yet not one single word was spoke

I'm focusing on my time piece
I've given you peace for some time
Though love is clearly black and white
Friendship is harder to define

It's the shades of grey that haunt me
Those seeds of love we didn't sow
The memories we never made
Our bloom that has refused to grow

The pressure I feel without you
This volcano shall soon erupt
But I will implode silently
This was

No Meaning, Just FeelingNo Meaning, Just Feeling:

It's all just words across the page
You put them together in an angry rage.
You wanted to get these feelings out
But writing's not what this is about...

You're tired of expressing
How you think you feel.
You'd rather just scream
At least it's real....

No sense or logic
Just raw emotion.
Like the churning waves
Of a sleeping ocean.

Destroy the structure
Of all you say.
Take away the illusions
They get in the way...

Just say what you think
And you might go free.
But maybe this isn't how it's supposed to be...

"Is it really not possible, to scream through words?"

-Chen Yuan Wen, 21st April 2012

The Enemy WithinThe Enemy Within:

I have nothing that I can give
Cause I was never taught to live
How do I know what is pain?
I disappear into the rain

Carry me on angel's arms
Don't let me ever come to harm
The blade will cut into my skin
I face the enemy within...

And I feel him, and I feel him cry
And I feel him, and I feel him cry

Dear Enemy
What do you want from me?
Take me slowly
Are you the man I'm meant be?
Dear Enemy...

Suddenly the lights go out
I open up and try to shout
Gasping out my final cry
Is this how I'm meant to die?

Lead me home once again
Let me face this world and then-
I will try to get control
Won't let this fee

A Shattered IllusionA Shattered Illusion:

A day that was born of the brightest light
Has now shattered like crystals in the sinking dark
Where once the spirit was unfettered and free
Now it weeps painfully in a cage of thorns

Blood is drawn from its tender flesh
And drips slowly down to mark the skin
A tattoo of pain forever remembered
By a ghost that lives within

There is emptiness in this void
A cold and lonely song of existence
A solemn note born from the sheer magnitude of the silence
That it deafens both the heart and mind

In the quiet serenity of utter despair
What is born from the lack of a sense of hope?
A cold determination to steal the f

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Gathering Dark

by =QuiEstInLiteris, May 20, 2012, 6:48:36 PM
Literature / Poetry / Nature / Haiku & Eastern

the sun has a smile
angry - weeping - red passion
the sky wears a grin

Gathering Darkby =QuiEstInLiteris

Literature / Poetry / Nature / Haiku & Eastern

©2012-2013 =QuiEstInLiteris

Unfortunately, I was about five hundred miles too far east to see this thing in all its glory.
Did you?

EDIT: First page? ... Seriously? This one?

~~fear 0 0~~

~~neutral 0 0~~

~Sigma-Echo-Seven Jun 20, 2012 Hobbyist Writer

Nice poem!

Reply

=QuiEstInLiteris Jun 22, 2012 Professional Writer

Thank you!

Reply

=LadyofGaerdon Jun 4, 2012 Professional Writer

First page!

Awesome! With something like this you have to expect that some people will

for the photo (which is amazing, by the way) but they're cheating themselves if they don't actually read your poem as well. The imagery in your poem actually manages to be even more vivid than the photo!

Reply

=QuiEstInLiteris Jun 5, 2012 Professional Writer

xD Thanks!
And yeah, I figured that much of the attention was probably for the photo... which wasn't even that impressive, at least compared to so many of the other eclipse shots on DA.

Reply

=LadyofGaerdon Oct 14, 2012 Professional Writer

...yeah, same thing just happened to me with a shot of my adorable kitten as the preview image of a poem...but seriously, your poem is wonderful.

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Mood: Optimism

~MyPassionWorld May 24, 2012

I really liked the picture. I liked that how from one angle it look like a moon in it shape, I liked how the flowers and the trees look as if they are drawn or stick into it. It is a really nice photo.

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=QuiEstInLiteris May 24, 2012 Professional Writer

I admit to being very surprised that it turned out as well as it did. Very pleased as well.
Thank you!

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~BonzzGX May 23, 2012

what attracted me was the pic, that yellow warm with glowing red SUN in the shadows which surrounds it, making also an ying-yang symbol, WICKED!!! ^^ & also nice lyrics ~by all, beautiful work, sweetie

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=QuiEstInLiteris May 23, 2012 Professional Writer

Thank you!

Reply

~BonzzGX May 24, 2012

most welcome

~Good Luck & have FUN with all, take care

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