autumnal lights

nothing but regret
is this how we truly are
i think i feel us
enclasped in this tested life
have you forgotten to breathe

today was better
but we’re so very old now
grief soaken eyes now

has pain dimmed your sight
trauma lines your folded bones
the horizon’s dreams
banish away sun’s last light
can we forgotten aright

today was better
but you’re so very cold now
closed soaken eyes now

by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2025

evanescent

a husk sat in dusk
looked for traces of itself
a husk raised its voice
wailed to return to the soul
of you me they she & we

but the ground was wax
& the sky so deaf & bronze
war had melted them

by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2025

desolation

i wish you were here
sunny cheeked & fond embrace
i wish you were whole
happy, loved & full of years
alert to now’s potential

all eyes turn away
scared of soaking up my tears
adding to my years

all souls melt away
scared of adding to their years
my desolation

by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2024

real poets can’t count

is this a haiku
or just another tanka
we’re phoning it in
but no one answers the call
and we’re still unselfaware

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2023

quinquorgasima

the night fell upon
wakening my pocket god
he saluted you

but you were absent
so i had to pray alone
this late shrove sunday

by TETIANA ALEKSINA & TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2023