A Bit Surreal

Hellish Beauty
Viewing the Lucifer beauty
Of a gossamer cloud stained rose, teal and golden by jet fuel
I realized that the gates of Hell are opulently adorned
And guarded by pornographic seraphs
Offering myriad empty pleasures of the flesh
No holds barred.

Cie
10/28/2006

Beneath the Surface

This poem is excerpted from my book, which should be out next summer.

Beneath the Surface

Forgotten over the years
Pushed to the back of minds weighed down with mundane concerns
He waits in solitude for the day
When someone may remember, and keep him company

A chill wind blows from the north
Reminding one who lives along the shore
Of someone she held dear in time long past
Yet the thought is more a whisper than a shout

He feels the pain of being a promise broken
Yet still he abides behind the veil
A soul immortal cannot die
But can be buried by the wretchedness of anguish borne alone

He looks down upon the sea below his vantage point
And longs to be free of his boundless solitude
He extends his arms, and falling forward from the height, joins the sea birds in their flight
Twisting, wheeling, unafraid

The soul immortal cannot die
He touches surf and is drawn beneath the waves
The sun reflects off the surface of the water,
Revealing a dark, familiar shape below

Along another shore in a world far away
A woman feels a pang within her breast
She is weary and wishes she could sleep forever
And walk the shores of an eternal dream

Something lies beneath the surface of her memories
A treasure that she lost long ago
Someone who understood the unflagging sorrow
A breath inhaled and exhaled, lost forever

She will reach beyond the veil this night
And take the hand of the one who waits
Forgotten to the conscious mind that buries dreams beneath stacks of unpaid bills
Burdened by joys thrust aside in favor of unending toil

Some things cannot be explained away by logic
Tested away by science, prayed away by dogmatic religion
She has labored long and hard for futile gain
Happiness has waited long enough

Tonight she shall sail away to join the one who waits beneath the waves
To dwell on shadowed shores where the blinding light of the orthodoxy never reaches
She is weary of a world wherein to survive she must forget what she holds most dear
Tonight is her last night among the striving masses

Tonight at last he rises from the sea
To dwell forever in the shadows of a land
Created by the dark dreams of souls misunderstood
Never again shall he abide alone
For at last he has someone to dream with

Copyright 2006
Cara L. Hartley

Why Is This Place So Damn Gloomy???

Mostly because I can't write poetry when I'm happy. Anything I try to write when I'm feeling good is either funny or it just plain sucks.

Reversal of Fortune

Reversal of Fortune
See how everything crumbles when all hope is gone
Watch the world fall apart inside my troubled mind
What was beautiful in the eyes of the destroyed becomes monstrous
Watch as hope before me bleeds and dies
Watch as love turns to hate
Watch as dreams turn to nightmares
Watch as everything I've worked for crumbles into dust
Watch me wander through the ruins of every shattered dream
Every ruined hope
Every foolish wish
And laugh at the reversal of my imagined fortune
Laugh and revel
That you are "normal"
That your expectations do not exceed your reality
But if you had my reality
Your wishes too would be lies
I was born to die
But not allowed to live between the dates on my headstone.
Cie
10/16/2006