Unpolished

A nugget of coalesced crystal unearthed exposed
Liberated, dislodged from layers of sedimentary repose
Raw, natural, unrefined precious rock of potential
Hard, clear, inelegant yet special.
 
I fear the jeweler, what he needs do
I fear the cuts, the grind, the hew
To refine is to diminish
To cut is to finish
As is, the future unfolds of promise infinite
To cut is to fix, to imprison, to limit
 
As it stands the nugget is free in its own beauty
Later to be set and encased as jewelry
The jewel is beautiful even amidst the mire
Without the chisel needing to bring out the fire.
 
 
Keats
27 August 2020

 

Coffee

Fresh from slumber,
With eyes struggling to open
Still rich with sleep custard,
I am tempted to mull over dreams
That a teacher once said must be
Shared to be remembered,
Even if it's just to a notepad
Or a stoic face looking back,
From the black surface
Of a drained smartphone.

But, no.
There will be no dream recall. No, sir.
This piece is not about dreams made in sleep.
But of dreams made after one awakens.

As fast as the familiar sting
Of freshly opened eyes sets in,
So does the thought of you.
Of your scent, of your taste,
Of the way my senses are tickled
By the blissful rush you bring,
When you touch my lips,
And caress my tongue,
Not caring one bit if i gargled
Or brushed.

You are a drug.
And I'm addicted.

Mother always told me
When i was a little boy,
That i had to wait til i grew up.
That i had to have good reason.
That it had to always be special,
That i shouldn't feel the need
To have you all the damn time.

And lately I've been told five times.
Five times a day is a reasonable limit.
Just one is recommended, two is reasonable,
Three is okay. Four is a lot.
Five is the limit. But six? Too much, they say.

But, i don't really care.
Sometimes, i do seven. One time i did eight.
And, yes, even i have to admit
That was a mistake.

But I'm not letting you go.
Til i greet my grave, I'll keep you.
And have you. And taste you.
And come alive through your blissful gifts
Even if it means that as an aging man
I must suffer twice or thrice
A normal human's heartbeat in one minute.
I don't care.

I need you.
And for as long as i live,
My morning greeting will always be:
Your name. Coffee.

Ludwig Quirog
February 2018

Ludwig is a fellow poet from Bohol and he beat me in making an odeto the most precious drug on earth.

Normal

When I thought I was looking to be happy, I never thought all I was looking for was normal.

When I reveled at my strength and resilience I never thought it was me devising ways to cope with challenges that not everyone needed to face.

When I learned contentment and acceptance, I never realized it was me consoling myself for not having what I needed.

When I thought it was virtuous not to envy, I didn't understand that it was me losing my capacity for ambition.

When I mastered calm and stoicism, I didn't see I also mastered detachment and resignation.

When I thought I knew how to bend in order not to break, I didn't know I was training to kowtow to fate.

When I thought I knew how to traverse the shadow, I didn't see that there wasn't always darkness , but only that I shut my eyes.

When I thought I was courageous to find my own path, I was refusing to admit that I didn't know the way.

There is value in training
And pressure indeed builds strength
But there is wisdom in the normal
And it is not weakness to rest.

Keats
14 August 2017

Princess

In my arms just two handbreadths long
You've lived only a fortnight
I bring you to sleep with a song
We're alone your mother sleeps tonight

You are a joy, you've made me happy
You are my love and you are with me
They say death plays life before your eyes
But the sight of you brings deep sighs

In this night in this room under the moon
I see you grown in the aisle so soon
Slow down princess stay with me
Let's have have this time to simply be

Take my strength, take my love
You, my gift from above
Learn from me and teach me too
Let me give my life to you

Princess you walk, princess now you talk
Princess you run, my princess soon will be gone
Keep me in your heart, in there let me stay
I shall always remember my pirncess, all my days.

Keats
16 March 2017

Steel

Five parts raw self
Four parts tragedy
Three parts effort
Two parts victory
One part chaos

Arcane metallurgy for curious steel
Cold, grey, and lack lustre
Hidden alchemy of something real
Strong and keen, borne out of the forge of thunder

Curated by a master's eye
Forged by a master's hammer
Shaped in skill and tempered
Quenched, sharpened, polished, beautified.

Completed, sheathed ready for war
Deadly guaardian, lethal protector.

Keats
26 November 2016

Decipher

The flowers bloom wider their scents enchanting
The birds sing sweeter their notes beguiling
The sky is bluer my days are brighter
The night is darker the stars they glimmer

The whistling breeze it whispers
The warm sun it pampers
The petrichor carries a message
Verified upon gazing at your visage

It exists at the edge of reason
Enciphered in the seasons
In a while longer, the code must crack
Emerging from the deepest black


Keats
14 February 2016

Dermis

When I contemplate your person
I lose concentration
Because all thoughts of longing
Becomes senations of yearning

When my hands touch your skin
It seeks to transmit my stirrings wthin
To grasp your flesh beneath the fabric pressed
Your waist, your bosom, carressed
The feel of my grasp shoots lightning to my core
A rigid growth promises a whole lot more

I my mind we are clad in naught but air
On your form I can't help.but stare
I close the distance to to plant kisses
As i explore you here are no misses

In our embrace joins lock and key
Going deeper to set you free
To let lose your goddes within
To come to me and reward this win

I pull you close and breathe your air
We go to places we know not where
You ride your waves pleasure and call to me
Benaeath the.motions the oceans refresh me

Come my.lady, hurry.
My wand's magic is at the ready
Oh rapture sublime when the spell releases
Catch me in your arms with gentle kisses

Keats
8 February 2015

Sublime Common

To summit was quite the climb

The vantage was quite the view

A taste of omniscience

I saw far beyond

I saw past folly

My horizons far distant

All knowledge in an instant

In my tower of wizardry

All magicks were mine

Conjuration and alchemy

Prestidigitation and sorcery

Away from all things mundane

Untainted by the inane

Solitude sharpened me

Study made all things for me to see

In my cave I could divine

All secrets that would be mine

The voice of the universe with my mind conversed

Adept at prose or verse

But after clarity, there was nothing

After precision, no decision,

could be made that could show me joy

                despite the faculties I employ

The mundane, the naïve have no burdens of knowing

Knowledge offered no power for averting

                futility

Down at the valley, the lilies are near

It is outside the tower that rainbows appear

Among the serfs and rabble, magic exists raw

Among stones and gravel among mortals I saw

There is greatness in the grass, in falling petals, and shattered glass

There is beauty that defies my ken

And to futility my soul I open.

Keats

January 30, 2016

Entropy's Revenge

Structured strength slips
Rusty reinforcement rips
Scaffolding of my life gives way
Skeleton then upholding now decays

Purpose has been outlived
Reasons ill-conceived
All intents at permanence
Degrades to effervesence

What's built to last
Has been undone
Thrust has lost
Gravity's won

What's gone up has indeed come down
In this vacuum I scream and make no sound.


Keats
1 September 2014

Apart

Between three walls of stone and three of wood
I find myself alone with out you
But yet hope lies in this moonlit night
With winter's chill in the air
Because though your presence is not before me
Somehow I feel you there

This thing I hold in my hand and lean my head against
Is my only link,my mystic chain, my thread by which I feel connected
I speak, and as if by magic you hear me and I hear you
And though your hand I hold not in mine
Know at least my heart is thine

I wish I have your face before me now rather than my reflection
But I see I 'd rather have you here in my arms
I'd rather have you here with me

No flowers I have for you
Pauper that I am
No sweets or trinkets for which I should have saved
But yet I know despite this empty purse
The treasure which is you, I save
I wish, (and if I may have my wish)
I wish to rectify
This thing before my eyes
I hope upon the next feast of hearts that comes
That I, can do more than oohhs and uhms.

I wish my mouth was close to your ear
To let you hear
Not just hear
But feel the words that leave my mouth
But here is all that we have
For the moment
And, I'm here away
A bit down south
Fret not my love I labour
To make things go our way
Our challenge, thoughts and arms not waver
Until you're here and I'm there-- To stay


Keats
14 February 2014

Hometown

I suddenly find myself in a place I thought I'd never find again

Like returning to a familiar place but changed

Some shops are gone and street names new

Some houses torn or built anew

In my walk I find a cozy hole in the wall

It’s a place not there before

I find myself at home immediately

Enjoying myself immensely

I once left this town thought I’d never come back

But this unexpected find beckoned me, stay

Keats

12 February 2014

Betty

When gamma rage needs fulfilling
When adrenaline through the veins are coursing
No flight just fight
No right just might
There’s no choice in what I do
When my skin takes a verdant hue

No reasoning with the beast
I will not cease or desist
Destruction is my call
I would destroy it all

To try and stop me is obvious folly
Not with bullets nor gas nor cannon volley
Go on and leave me be as I muck about
Let the anger take its course and the rage burn out
When the wrath subsides my strength will leave me
When the monster leaves then you can kill me
Avert the rampage yet to come
Or I return as Armageddon, your kingdom come

Neither bombs nor armies can hope to stop me
Not reason, nor diplomacy
Nor shall guile and cunning, can stop you from running
Neither gambits nor bribery

Only beauty, real beauty will pacify
Only Betty dear Betty can clarify
The troubled mind the stirring heart
Her face shall be my sleeping dart
Her gentle voice stops my fists
And I do crumple with her kiss
I cannot hurt her and I know not why
She makes the raging monster cry
That titan, that monster that brutish Hulk
Is made to stop and sit and sulk
My gentle Betty just lets me be
And succeeds to bring out the man in me

Keats
11 September 2013

Override

Lockdown initiate
Secure the inventory
Bolt the door, lock the gate
Tighten security

Passkey encrypted
Clearances restricted
Existence is need to know
Knowledge top secret
Traces deleted
No risk of covers blown
Override


No one allowed
Knowledge disavowed
In vaults in bunkers deep
My secrets are hidden
All records are stricken
They won't see the light of day

One agent one operative is allowed through the barrier
One agent one operative in the loop in the know
One agent one operative, unrestricted undenied
Only one command - override.

Keats
10August13

Moment

If all I'll have with you is now, I'll take it.
I'd rather have this moment than spend forever contemplating.
If all we have together is tonight let's have it
I'd rather have one night than be forever aching

I don't know if we have forever
I've lost forever once before
But I'd rather have you now than never
You're all I want and nothing more

When I stare in your eyes they drown me
As I look into infinity,
Your every breath takes mine away and captures me
Be my guard in this captivity

When were together, that's forever
We're locked in our own time
When we're together, I feel forever
Enraptured in our love sublime

Keats
19 June 2011  

It Begins

When care becomes a chain
When love becomes a pain
When everything I am has become not me
When life through another's eyes you see
You lose perspective you lose sight
You lose self in another light
Every choice requires approval
Every failure a removal

I'll have no more of the bejeweled shackle
Remove this gold from my ankle
Remove this ring from my finger
I am yours no longer

Today I celebrate the return of mirth
It is no longer by you that I measure my worth.
I am a genie from the lamp wished free
I'm a celebrant and my surprise I now see
So many possibilities and so much time
So many pleasures and they're now all mine
I barely remember when all I wanted was you forever.
This is now and it is so much better.

Keats
05 October 2012

The Failure of Metaphor

What is there left to look forward to?
What else is in store in a life with you?
Would it be like the first light of day?
Made perfect by the breezy sea spray.
Shall it be like a rainbow after rain shower?r
A gentle show of the sun's power.

Are you the joy of a gift newly opened?
Or the wonder of luck that has happened.
Are you the vibrance of a fireworks display?
Or answer to supplication long prayed?

I dare not compare any of these to you.
For your traits I cannot to things imbue
None can compare, no trope will do
None represents your virtues true

I love to be yours and for you to be mine.
I love how our hands and hearts entwine.
I wish for nothing, not treasure nor siren's song
It is simply for your love that I long.

Keats
22 May 2012

Faerie

Emergencies dictate the movement
Responses required within the moment
To take what is needed
And rise to the occasion
The call is heeded
No hesitation

The challenges have come
The battle's not done
All weapons released
All bloodlust unleashed
Expect no quarter no reservation
It only gets harder, more tribulation

Disasters fall with no warning
Preparations fail as shortcomings
No wall so strong to withstand the sea
No monolith so lasting as to forever be

I have responded to all emergencies
And spread myself thin in all the urgency
The challenges came and they've been met
But I've not recuperated yet
Disasters came, I've withstood them barely
All resources drained entirely

I'm sorry, this is all I have left to present
Destroyed, depleted, deficient
All I have, all you see
All this is yours, take it -- take me
Use your magic
Redeem the tragic
Reverse the decimation
Grasp the sands
In your hands
Rebuild my shattered vision

Keats
12 April 2012

One Moon

Alone this night and you’re far away

Whether I whisper or shout, you’ll never hear me say…

You’re there I’m here

Though it’s strange, I feel you near

Will you come quickly, it won’t be too soon

But at least tonight we’re under the same moon

She is perfectly shining and gorgeous tonight

The orb beckons me to bathe in its light

Selene she whispers and tells me gently

From where she is, she sees you, she sees me

So now I look upon that disc in the sky

She told me to look now I see why

Because tonight, for me, she mirrors not the sun’s rays

Tonight for me she reflected your face.

Keats

9 March 2012

Biometric

In a fancy vault I store it
All the elements kept at bay
In that fancy vault I kept it
Locked away

Not watched over by 50 guards
Or kept under lock and key 
Not locked by code or keycard
But by serious biometry

Sealed more than once or twice
Secured and enclosed by three
An eye, a palm, and imprinted voice
No more mistakes no other choice

Safe secured impregnable
No one's gotten to it but you
You looked at me and touched my face
and said to me you loved me
An eye, a palm, and imprinted voice
Twas you that possessed all three.


Keats
12 June 2011

Resurface

For far too long I lay out here afloat
A tragic survivor if survivor I be of an ill fated boat
Rations gone, strength has ebbed and hope has drained away
Laid bare on this tiny craft day by bloody day

The elements know not my suffring nor my fate
Or maybe they do for daily they worsen my state
The waves dizzy me, the sun he bakes me the wind chills my core
But from then to now to when I die more pain they have in store

Countless times I pass into sleep each one could be my last
Amidst the sun the wind and waves my doom approaches fast
And so by fates connivance, wind and sea end my defiance
No will or strength left to call, against the fury of the squall

Tossed too and fro is not what happened
-- more like thrown and dashed
One furious capsized my hope
And made splinters of my boat

Under the waves I gasp for air but breathe the sea instead
And it was the icy water that seared pain in my head
With one more stroke I break the water I finally resurface
And one more wave threw me to shore and returned me to my place

I live.

Keats
11 April 2011