A to Z April Challenge: P is for Poetry

I love to read different types of poetry. I also enjoy writing it. The ones that I think are the best are those that come straight from the heart, but following a prescribed format or formula for a particular style can be fun, too.

In this post, I will share some of my own poetry as well as links to some of my favorite poems written by other, more well-known poets.






This is one that I wrote years ago to mark Easter:

Easter

A sweet little babe, born that silent night,
A sacrifice born, that we might see Light.
Two loving hands nailed to a tree,
A crown of thorns He bore for me.
Blistered and beaten, brutally maimed
OH! For my sins, I am so ashamed!

I lift my heart to you, my God, in praise,
And worship you in these our last days.
For my shame no longer must I bear,
It was taken from me as He hung there.
The most supreme Gift you have given to me,
When Your blessed Son was nailed to a tree.

***

Hope

Oblivion sounds good to me.
I would love to get away from me for a long while.
But where ever I go, I seem to follow me.
Maybe if I leave after dark, I will not see where I went.
The dark is so intriguing.
I would love to go for a walk in the pale moonlight.
But it is so scary, what is hiding around the corner?
Maybe if I walk long enough, I will escape the terror.

The sunrise is so beautiful.
I love the changing colors, the lavender, ambers and corals.
But even with the light of the sun, the fear is still there.
Maybe, just maybe, this is the day that it goes away.

For when I breathe, I hope.

***

Down for the Count

If I stop to count my sufferings,
The list is oh so long.
And at the time I do not notice
The blessings going strong.
On the one hand, the pain is so great,
Tears make the only sound.
On the other hand, the blessings wait
Where grace and love abound.
In the greater scheme of things,
The pain is pretty small
When I stop to count the blessings
From the Father to us all.

***

Not all of my poems are happy or optimistic. Being faced with death as often as I have been over the last twenty+ years, many of them are me trying to work through a deep depression and grief. Sometimes a happy one pops in there. Sometimes I had to do a poem by the rules just to be able to write something that didn't leave me in tears. Here is one of those:

What I Think Of

When you look at me everything’s in sync
All is right in Heaven, all on earth divine
You are what I think of when I don’t want to think.

At the fountain of your love I want to drink
The heat of your body pressed against mine
When you look at me everything’s in sync.

Your love has turned my heart from black to pink
Souls once separate now eagerly entwine
You are what I think of when I don’t want to think.

Playfully you turn to me; your eyes give me that wink
The laughter comes easily, to happiness I will resign
When you look at me everything’s in sync

Your heart, your hands they hold me close to the brink
This growing bond between us, our baby, love enshrined
You are what I think of when I don’t want to think.

There is no way around it, you are my missing link
With you I’ll stay forever, other offers will decline
When you look at me everything’s in sync
You are what I think of when I don’t want to think.

***

My Heart is Yours

My heart is yours
As you wrap your arms around me
My heart is yours
Everything else just fades away
You are the future that I see
Always you are a part of me
My heart is yours.

***
The above poems are ©1993-2014 Suzanne Gunter McClendon.

***

Links to some of my favorite poems:

The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe
Paul Revere's Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
How Do I Love Thee? (Sonnet 43) by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge


I found this one on the search for links to my favorite poems. It seems to me a happy poem. Wouldn't it be fun to dance with the daffodils, or any other flower?

The Daffodils by William Wordsworth


Do you enjoy poetry? Who are your favorite poets? What is your favorite poem?