If you don’t like
The way I burn-
My stubborn, steady flame-
Neither light the match,
Nor fan the embers
Of a fire you cannot tame.
ⓒ2021 Joanne Van Leerdam
Burn.
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Burn.
Just Imagine.
Just Imagine.
Just imagine a world
Where more people read poetry
Instead of giving breath
To things that divide and cause fear.
Imagine a world
Where more people picked up a pen
Than a gun or a sword
Or even a lawyer.
Imagine a world
Where poets were the dealers
That troubled souls turned to for a hit;
Where people self-medicated with poetry
Rather than drugs or alcohol
To help them deal
With their demons;
Where addiction brought life and hope,
Mindfulness and restoration
To the broken,
The hurting,
The needy.
Imagine a world
Where everyone knew and understood
That they are not alone,
That someone understands,
That they are enough.
Just imagine.
©2018 Joanne Van Leerdam
Mourning Song
Tears fall,
Can’t stop them,
Can’t hide them.
You’re gone,
Can’t bring you
Back again.
Why am I always the one who is feeling
The pain of the wrenching and tearing of leaving?
Why must this pain be so raw deep inside of me?
My heart
Misses you
Desperately.
Please say
That you won’t
Forget me.
I can’t imagine my life without you in it,
Bereft of the light and the joy of your loveliness,
Every room filled with the echoes of memories.
Never
To be the
Same again.
Tears fall,
Into the
Loneliness.
You’re
Gone.
©2016 Joanne Van Leerdam
Mourning Song.
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This poem is included in my collection titled ‘Leaf’.
Muse
Crowned with a garland of heavenly flowers
My muse appears at times of solitude;
Cherished companion of secluded hours,
Bestower of verses in plenitude.
In precious moments of visitation
Her ephemeral presence comforts me;
Her gifts of lyrical inspiration
Give birth to a wellspring of poetry,
Where thoughts and emotions cascade into
A broad pool of thoughtful reflection
Where the seeker can find perspectives new
Amid moments of deep introspection.
Hers are the lines that purge my troubled soul:
Let these songs heal my heart and make me whole.
***
‘Muse’ is one of the poems in the collection titled ‘The Passing Of The Night’.
©2016 Joanne Van Leerdam
Full.
“I’m full of good ideas,” I told him,
“Full of something,” he promptly said,
And he was right: there’s always more
Than just bright ideas in my head.
Vivid memories stream on a cinema screen,
To a soundtrack of favourite songs,
A maple tree full of autumn leaves
So my heart can visit where it belongs.
There’s a flowing river of storylines
And a deep well of imagery,
A box full of timely lessons, hard learned,
And useful facts from world history.
The walls are lined with shelves of books
And pictures of beloved faces,
There’s a graveyard to visit with those who have passed
And doorways to favourite places.
And right at the back, where no-one can see,
In the darkest part of my brain,
There’s a very deep hole where I throw away
Things I don’t want to think of again.
©2018 Joanne Van Leerdam
Beloved.
This poem is perfect to share for Valentine’s Day- and every other day!
You, my love, are beautiful:
Although form and face may change,
The light of your soul
Burns with inexorable passion,
Tempered with undying love:
In that, my darling, you are
Unequalled by any other.
You are without blemish
Not for any god-like failure to err,
But that in my eyes there is no flaw
That could cause me to love you less.
My beloved, you alone
Are the desire of my heart,
My now, my forever, my destiny.
Dearest heart, do not believe
The world or your own insecurities:
They lie.
Instead, I beg of you, believe me,
For I understand your worth
In a way that you may never do.
ⓒ2017 Joanne Van Leerdam
Shares are welcomed and appreciated.
Fairy Lights.
Just like a bundle of fairy lights, stowed carelessly,
I am a mess of entangled emotions
A jumbled catastrophe, knotted and messy,
Some parts are missing, some coloured glass broken;
Synapses misfire in slightly frayed wires:
There’s danger in causing my power to surge,
I don’t always light up the way others desire
But I can be quite lovely when I have the urge.
©2017 Joanne Van Leerdam
1.37am
I’m crying when I should be sleeping
And I’m not even sure of what’s wrong,
But sadness whispers it’s cruelest lies
When I’m alone in the dark for too long.
The blackness is filled with aching
And misery heavier than air,
Velvet blankets of darkness enfold me
As I drown in the waves of despair.
I wish that my mind would stop churning,
Let my body and soul find some peace;
But the pain and the fear keep returning,
Denying me any release.
If the coldest, darkest hour,
Is the one that comes just before dawn,
This darkness must give up its power
When the first hint of morning is born.
Oh please, let the first light come quickly
And replenish my heart with its fire
Let the daylight drive out the darkness
And bring me the peace I desire.
©2016 Joanne Van Leerdam
This poem is one of 43 that appear in the collection titled Leaf.
The Artist
Pictures splash furiously onto each page,
Images shaped with both light and shade,
Memories and thoughts, things she wished she had said,
Emotions and fears that had never been shared.
Some pages were dark, some filled with desire,
Yet others glowed with heaven’s own fire;
Some scenes that exposed the true hearts of men,
Were blotched by tears she had shed over them.
Some pictures were smudged, some faded with time,
Others vivid with colour, rhythm and rhyme.
Some portraits brought pleasure, some caused her pain
That she had hoped she might never feel again.
And the truth looked directly back into her eyes,
Its gaze unashamed, its candour undisguised,
For what she had thought had been fiction’s domain
Was staring at her and speaking her name.
The shock of enlightenment jolted her soul –
Each page revealed truths that had never been told;
Every fiction created as part of her art
Had been drawn from the depths of her world-weary heart.
©2016 Joanne Van Leerdam
The Artist is one of my favourite poems from ‘Leaf’.
I was inspired to write it by my friend Nicky, who is an incredibly gifted
artist. On looking at one of her paintings, I commented that I wished I could do what she did.
She said, “You do. You just do it with words.”
Leaf is available in your favourite digital bookstore or in paperback.
One Less Star.
©
Tonight
Through the tears
That sprang from your pain
And fell from my eyes,
I looked into the sky
Where there was one less star shining,
And I wept for the world
Where life carries on
Just that bit darker
Than before
You left.
©2017 Joanne Van Leerdam
.
.
This poem and fifty others are now published in a new collection: The Passing Of The Night.
wordynerdbirdwrites.wordpress.com 