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 Jan 31 Pagan Paul
Nemusa
She said he hurt her,  
a wound wrapped in soft lullabies,  
his voice a serpent  
coiling 'round her dreams,  
where the green fern forest  
breathed secrets into the night,  
and moss shrouded the bones  
of forgotten civilizations.

In the day,  
she fashioned dreams  
like delicate glass,  
eyes half-closed,  
floating through the crowd,  
a specter among the living,  
while shadows,  
like whispered promises,  
clung to her skin.

At night,  
the seconds drip drop,  
heavy as rain on a tin roof,  
each tick a heartbeat,  
each pause a gasp,  
he follows her  
as a prayer follows its own  
search for grace,  
the memory of a violence  
that needed no voice,  
only the cold embrace  
of silence wrapped around her.

In the twilight,  
she gathers the frayed edges of her soul,  
sifting through the dark  
for remnants of light,  
for the lullabies  
that cradle her in the depths,  
reminding her that even in shadows,  
the heart learns to beat again,  
even in the echo of pain,  
there is a flicker,  
a stubborn flame.
 Jan 31 Pagan Paul
Nemusa
In the stillness, she danced,  
water swirling like secrets,  
time a mere whisper,  
eyes closed to the chill,  
skin alive with the pulse of the depths.  

A fleeting liberation,  
where moments collide and shatter,  
thoughts unfurling like wings,  
forgiveness a fragile thread,  
I am the universe,  
emotions spreading like wildfire,  
sleep draped in silken shadows,  
light filtering through the cracks,  
nakedness swathed in raw truth.  

Tomorrow hovers, a shadow,  
a bruise in hues of dusk—  
she stands fierce, a believer,  
an idol crumbling softly,  
wonder scattered like autumn leaves,  
complex,  
a hundred regrets unraveled  
by the tenderness of touch,  
the clash of hearts.  

Forgotten streets murmur,  
eyes gazing through fractured glass,  
twisted futures loom,  
the shell of dreams yet unformed,  
caught in the symphony of now,  
overlooking the madness,  
the deceptions,  
the lovers broken like fragile glass.  

The scratch of pen on paper,  
the rhythm of a heartbeat,  
inked memories blur,  
sweet sorrow cascading—  
not unlike revelations,  
a bitter pill to swallow,  
the absurd,  
the shifting of my visage,  
the lens refocused,  
the key turned in the labyrinth of thought.  

Chains echo in the quiet,  
the poppies dance like sisters,  
bound by a thread of crimson,  
tears cascading,  
sinking in solitude,  
loving through the ache,  
death approaching,  
a tender, inevitable embrace.
An oldie.
 Jan 31 Pagan Paul
Zeno
A cat sat on the mat
With its raven fur swirling into darkness
Like a cloud wandering into night
 Jan 31 Pagan Paul
Zeno
I saw a well that was all
familiar to me
Down beneath hides
the coldest winter,
a barren land so gray and empty  

A murky water, pulling me
like a vortex screaming my name
The shadow crawling over my body
binding me

While an ancient Sumerian god
drumming its hands
on the chambers of my heart,
the harrowing melody that stirs every beat
and a dark symphony that sings
of annihilation

******* all the air in the world
each autumn leaves of my lungs
falling apart, one by one

In the roots, where it crawls
twisting and slithering
forming a knot
around my stomach
Like I'm hanging from a tree
that peers over the edge
of the world

A monster hiding beneath
in the darkness of the well
looking back,
to me that was once alive
now lifeless and empty
BECOMING

There is always resistance to change,
the pursuit of perpetual growth,
becoming being like the moon’s
relentless phases as night gently
prints itself on world.

Soft rain falls like new thoughts
on fields dancing with spring.
What was there before and gone
is becoming once again.

Clouds drop flushed notes
on the vapor of the air,
bubbles over river pebbles
form, break, and form again.

Becoming is a song not yet heard,
melodies promising wishes  of
unknowingness.

Becoming lies just under that
thin layer of life, those infinitely
precious seconds before what is
to be.
Rose scented candles burning softly through the night
aurora rays of holy fanning, beauteous returns
Emerald dreams give birth to dessert moon's ignite  
if life unfolds before you, meditate, discern ...

Ethereal reveries of flowers flushed in gold
pick a petal, sing a song, dance to hearts delight  
Heaven waits for angels just like you, unfold
before the sun and seize the light

Let the springtime share its prose  
watch the Bluestar flourish    
kiss the lilac, hold the rose,
close your eyes and make a wish

Rose colored glasses and fairy dust galore,  
the best things in life, you can't find in a store.
Climate change

Early autumn, sun’s reticence, too much rain.
Dying roses fall in clusters as fungus pools
in gardens, wetness levening the green.

Frozen mist tightens the air as earth
exhales upwards into a wet bowl
of pale sky, fluid haze heavy with
elements, molecues of water swept
into the gray.

When did autumn come gently,
casting its shadow on an empty bench ?
When did the coolness of air feel
refreshing after summer’s heat ?

Seasons, now violent as war
have overcome the world
with drastic inondation,
acid rain, toxic mud.

How can we look at sunset’s
volatile sky without fear of
tomorrow ?
 Jan 11 Pagan Paul
Nemusa
I did not come to this earth
to die for the shadow of a dream,
to impale my heart on the sharp thorns
of ambition’s endless rose.
No, I came to live inside the quiet rivers,
to carry the soft weight of the morning’s light
in my hands,
to bury my face in the soil of ordinary days
and rise, fragrant with their whispers.

I did not seek perfection;
perfection is a cruel wind
that bends no branch,
allows no blossom to fall.
Instead, I search for the cracks—
those holy fractures
where the light sings its way in,
where life spills like wine
across the trembling lips of the world.

We are fluent in pain,
each of us holding the dialect of loss
in our bones.
I have read the script of your tears,
seen my own reflection
in the glass of your breaking.
Your heart is a book I know by touch,
each page etched with sorrow
and the tender thumbprints of hope.

I do not long for glory—
glory is a fleeting bird
with a broken wing.
I long for the quiet threads
that sew the sacred to the common:
the bread shared at a wooden table,
the warmth of a hand that holds without asking,
the beauty of a scar kissed by time.

There is a beauty in suffering,
a beauty that does not demand mending.
It stands like a mountain at dusk,
silent and untouchable.
It does not cry for transcendence,
but for the gaze of another,
for the voice that says,
“I am here.
I will not turn away.”

Let us walk,
not as conquerors,
but as pilgrims,
our feet stained by the dust of this earth.
Let us stumble,
our burdens carried not in shame
but as offerings,
as gifts to one another.
We will not flee the ache of life—
no, we will drink it,
pour it into the chalice of the stars,
and watch it glow softly,
a lantern that whispers,
“We are here.
We are enough.”
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