sijo - The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse : Death

The Pale Horse.

image by dsnake1,
generated on a game console with SoulCalibur V



sijo - The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse : Death


ah, is there a chill down your spine
and no words escape of your mouth?

wrap in my dark shroud then and
lower thyself into the stygian waters.

no one sees me and expects to return,
take this as a new journey.


2014
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SoulCalibur V is a copyrighted video game published by Namco Bandai Games.

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Strawbs - New World

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© cheong lee san ( dsnake1 ) 2023

when the night seems long

Rommy at Poets and Storytellers United invite us to write a piece inspired by a song lyric, and to include the song title.

"Live alone in a paradise, that makes me think of two" from Neil Young's song "Old Man". 😧

image by CDD20 at pixabay



when the night seems long


when the night seems long
and uncomfortable
and the questions
have no answers
is it supposed to be like this?
how do you deal with death?
tell it to wait, take a break?
tell it not to take her away?
old man,
he wakes up in the early dawn
crying
         looking
for ghosts under the bed.
he hears her songs
drifting with the wind
he looks for
her old cassettes
her favourite songs
just to hold in his hands
his eyesight is failing
his hands are shaking
he is the tossed coin
rolling into a gutter
he looks into the mirror
and sees another man.
an older man
he does not know.

and gently
dawn's light puts its hands
on his shoulders
and tousles his hair.


21/06/2022
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Neil Young - Old Man

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© cheong lee san ( dsnake1 ) 2022

white lilies

on the other side will i find you?...

photo by Mathew Schwartz at Unsplash


white lilies


because i saw a bed of lilies
last night
white and glossy and rain kissed
i kept thinking of death

how it should be life and joy and
our home
new floor tiles and italian furniture
and perhaps wines on rainy days

because it was eighteen years ago
one night
the tunnel lights throbbing heartbeats
and i, holding a bouquet of flowers

white lilies baby breath laces
pure scented
for my bride the next big day
to match that glorious gown we selected

and the lady who sat opposite
nodded smiled
knowing what the flowers were for
that the night will be forever

had it been so many years then?
her joy
when she took the lilies that day
and even her name was Flower

and i could not touch those lilies
so white
so delicately alive that my body
shook and not from the chill.


written : sept 2012
revised : 16/04/2019
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theme song from movie Spirited Away - Always with Me

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© cheong lee san ( dsnake1 ) 2021

when angels fall

do we understand one's inhumanity to another, because of race, religion or beliefs?

photo by Comfreak at pixabay



when angels fall



If the rain that fall
are the tears of heaven
then it falls on the grasses
in the ravine at Babi Yar
on the ashes and bones that are
the herded naked
men women children
to the abattoir
and it falls on the barbed wires
and light towers at Auschwitz
on the pleas and screams
from locked chambers
the choking and
the gassed
and it splatters
on the blood-stained walls
at Tuol Sleng
screams in the corridors
as fingernails are pulled out
then the abused bodies hung on walls
where now row upon rows of
portraits of the dead stare back
their dead eyes
dead
mournful
and the rain
it is falling
on the hobnail boots of the demons
that are trampling on
the corpses of the angels...


21/04/2018
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"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - forever."

-George Orwell

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© cheong lee san ( dsnake1 ) 2020

crime scene

Sometimes in the city, along the sides of roads, we come across burnt offerings of incense, and we usually give these sites a slight berth. This is because it is usually the place of an accident, often fatal, and superstitious or not, it is wise not to offend the spirits of the victims. It is usually a Chinese thing.

image by dsnake1 done with Sketchpad 5.1




crime scene


by the side of the road
a lime green pair
of tiny crocs

offerings

oranges
sweets
stumps of burnt candles
a blackened patch of grass

a floral scent of incense
still lingers
in the cold morning air

the rain that fell
last night
should have washed away
the last of the
blood stains
on the black white crossing...



20/11/2010
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midnight
\ \\\\ \\\
only the street lamps casting shadows


-- a haiku by dsnake1

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© cheong lee san ( dsnake1 ), 2019

a page

In the grand scheme of things, are we each just a page?

image from pixabay




a page


when all is done and said
and laid to rest

the leaves of the albums
thumbed
smudged and closed
and the tears had run dry

and there are no more
comforting words
and extended hands

then

the universe moist its fingers
and silently turns
a page


30/08/2008
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“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.”

― Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness

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© cheong lee san ( dsnake1 ) 2018

icy

I wrote this piece recently for SingPoWriMo 2016 and posted it on my other blog. It was getting zilch eyeballs, so here it is! But seriously, it is about a sad subject.

image by dsnake1, done with Sketchpad 3.7



icy


in the time between
the first flame
and the last exhale
of breath
       is
the bubbling
of death
on a heated tin foil
the quick suck of
white fumes
     through
a straw
before the bones break
the flesh tears
the ants
   crawl on
       clammy
         skin
       slipping
sliding
    into
      the poisoned
        blood
       as
     the blades
are drawn

        &
     before
     the dawn

     icy
       dead

the dragon is too mean to chase



23/04/2016
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I am trying out a new, free and easy to use online art tool, Sketchpad 3.7. Still learning, but it is an amazing and fun tool. The above graphic was done with it.

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"My eyes are blind but I can see
The snowflakes glisten on the tree..."

--Black Sabbath, Snowblind


Shared on Poetry Pantry #304 at Poets United.

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© cheong lee san ( dsnake1 ) 2016

image prompt by rick mobbs

I want to do this image prompt. It's an awesome painting by Rick Mobbs. So I will just let my imagination run a bit wild.

What Mr. Mobbs has on his masthead there are 4 in this poetic attempt. "poetry, love, death, war.". :)


painting by Rick Mobbs



on Icarus' wings


i know that
when the wings
of this fighter
are shattered

this airplane
this metal carcass
trailing
smoke flame debris

carrying
munitions, a life
and a forsaken
love

i know
i will have
to love you again
in another life

as i turn
the nose
of the plane
towards the sun

for a final

kiss.


21.06.08
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© cheong lee san ( dsnake1 )

hell notes

This is the 5th poem from my collection for the GPA 2007 competition.

This poem was written in a short span of time, almost no editing on it. And I think I quite like it, despite the morbid subject. I chopped it up in certain parts, like the snatches of conversations, or the outpourings of grief we witness at a Taoist funeral wake, which this poem is all about.

I am skipping the sequence and posting this piece first, because a good friend had recently passed away.



painting by Kawanabe Kyosai (1831 - 1889)
image from visipix.com


hell notes




they said
one moment
he was living
then a slight twitch
of muscles
fingers grasping

air

a page, a name
then when the ink dried
the book gently closed
the death god
dragged its chains
and sighed

and what is left
a face a name
a string
of memories
a portrait
in front
of a coffin

paper gold
to bribe

and a light
from an
oil lamp

to guide

the way




08.02.07
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© cheong lee san ( dsnake1 )