Gone! and they return no more,
But they leave a light in the heart;
The murmur of waves that kiss a shore
Will never, I know, depart.
Gone! yet with us still they stay,
And their memories throb through life;
The music that hushes or stirs to-day,
Is toned by their calm or strife.
Gone! and yet they never go!
We kneel at the shrine of time:
‘Tis a mystery no man may know,
Nor tell in a poet’s rhyme.
by ABRAM JOSEPH RYAN (1839-1886)
Public Domain Poetry
Lay down, lay down, antlers fallen from
the crown. A king falls, a doe dies, and wise
the mouse who makes his house in the moss!
O the cost of this solitary life —
paid out in blood and mountaintops, the coin
of misunderstandings. The warbler
cannot understand the mockingbird’s
almost-speech. I’m tired. I’m talking in code.
The deer’s wild heart beats its mighty last.
This too shall pass. The vultures crack the bones.
by WHITECATGROVE
© All rights reserved 2025
fie, oh fie for shame
god neglects to dry the tears
of fae, fie for shame
fain would fae grow tall
with all that dotage entail
when time doth reap all
the envigored life assail
turneth youth to rufous grail
fie, oh fie for shame
that void would swallow all tears
of fae, fie we fall
by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2024
don’t consider every poet a messiah
but, rather, a pretty sounding liar
the snivelling, hysterical jeremiah
was one such example
don’t consider every poet a liar
but, rather, a pathetic pariah
who’ll burn in the almighty’s holy fire
fuelled by his urine sample
don’t consider every poet a pariah
but, rather, a copious arse licking choir
worshipping elites with sexual desire
thirty pieces of silver will be ample
by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2024
did you know this song was written for you
for my halves both & what we heathen were
we didn’t need always hold us inside
for three to abide
each breath’s suppression of rising horror
foretold our last for to rot in our shells
still in these spaces we let love abide
while we could abide
& the treetops swayed throughout all our days
now their roots reach down into our decay
the nourishment of our fading in dirt
& the love inside
all dogmas & empty puffery spent
& the former lives we laid wreaths upon
enkindled to the last our chosen tongue
tra la la, tra la la
tra la la la la
tra la la
did you know this song was chiselled in clay
each note an impression of quelled dismay
a triptych of anthems named for the day
for three to abide
all we wanted was renewal here now
clear hearts to drum away the chill of now
for to see we three through to noonday stride
while we could abide
& the treetops swayed throughout all our days
now their roots reach down into our decay
the nourishment of our fading in dirt
& the love inside
all the blue grey craters of the moon say
there’s no man in the sky or dreams to weigh
just enkindled nullifidian tongues
tra la la, tra la la
tra la la la la
tra la la
& here in the earth we three will abide
tra la la, tra la la
tra la la la la
tra la la
treetops unearthing the love deep inside
tra la la, tra la la
tra la la la la
tra la la
tra la la, tra la la
tra la la la la
tra la la
tra la la, tra la la
tra la la la la
tra la la
by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2025
unbolt me 