I have been taught

That you are cruel

I’ve learned my lesson

And played the fool

Oh you bad man

See what you’ve done

I’m filled with holes

I couldn’t run

You held me down

And poured saline

Into the cut

That was unclean

You chose a shard

To slice away

My shining hope

Of yesterday

My silver dreams

Have turned to rust

Upon the blade

That you have thrust

Into the chest

That held your name

Once whispered love

Now carries shame

©Kay Salady

Image:   http://latest-emo.blogspot.com/2010/03/sad-and-alone-emo-girl.html

There lies within this frozen mound

Upon the clay where sand surrounds

A heart of stone among the mire

So vibrant in its red attire

That once stood for the source of love

Now surfaced as an emblem of

The beating heart so soft and still

That fell along the stony hill

Where time and weather took their toll

As pain and plunder pound the soul

To harden things that once did yield

Into a fortress that is sealed

No more to beat the drums of peace

Nor feel the joy of sweet release

So cold within the captive clay

Till hands of love appear one day

To gather hearts of stone so cold

From places in the earth so old

Neither you nor I will ever know

Until we see these hearts aglow

And feel them beat the drums of peace

That will bring bliss and sweet release

Into a land that once was sealed

Into the souls that will be healed

I walk along this frozen mound

Upon the clay without a sound

And hear a stone beneath the earth

Softly beating gentle mirth

I see a bit of vibrant red

The source of love surrounds my head

With stunning hues of tender spring

I’m filled with hope for everything

I scratch and claw at Mother Earth

I dig the soil for my rebirth

Is in the beating heart I’ve found

Deep beneath the stony ground

That fell for want of love’s pure need

Becoming blossom’s brightest seed

I clasp this bit of stone hard clay

Against my bosom in a way

That places all my dreams of peace

Down to the core of its release

Then fire lit up the coals of love

It shed its rosy outer glove

Then burst a fountain flowing free

To flood the land with unity

©Kay Salady

Published in the Global Peace Journal

You lied . . . and deep inside I cried
For all the times I trusted you
Held tight to everything you said
‘Cause deep inside I needed to
I wanted to reach out and touch
The man I loved so much
A million miles away from me
I feared I wouldn’t understand
If you were not the man
I thought you’d be

You lied . . . and all the tears I’ve cried
Have washed along your empty shore
They gather there beside your feet
As broken shells at your heart’s door
Pick one and hold it to your ear
It whispers to you dear
Won’t you come to rescue me
I feared you wouldn’t understand
If I wasn’t the woman
You thought I’d be

And all the many grains of sand
That gather in your hand
Are tossed away
Like me
I’m washed back out to sea
A faded memory
That could not stay

©Kay Salady

I need to overcome this terrible sin of vanity.  However, it’s difficult to grow old and admit it.

Today I saw time change my face

His bitter hand reached out and placed

An unfamiliar look on me

I’m not the girl I used to be

I hate the mirror on my wall

She left me feeling oh so small

A fist to crush my vanity

It took the breath right out of me

How to escape this painful dread

Run from the thoughts inside my head

Can I dare look my face again

Will I be there amid the rain

Of tears and fears and sad regret

Of moments missed and haven’t yet

Time took away with sudden rush

My lovely dreams yet in the hush

Of quiet hour he came and left

His stark remains a soul bereft

©Kay Salady

Far within the gauze that lies heavy o’er the knell, there rests upon the elder trees a chanted secret spell, and in the mist the spirits of the ones who roamed the glen pass above the forest floor to weep the loss of Viking men.  Those great warriors who bore arms to fight the Clan of Bear died with valiance  as  they stood against a foe who dared not fight inside the noonday sun but in the gloom of night and ate the flesh of those they slew with cunning and delight. Cast out bones and talismans!

©Kay Salady

*Inspired by Michael Crichton’s book, Eaters of the Dead

Image:  Sega

I can never stay away from you

No matter how I try it’s true

It’s an impossibility

For me to turn around and leave

I’m always peeking in on you

The simple smile you gave to me

The way you called me your baby

The gentle hands I longed to touch

The lips I’d crave to kiss so much

Are always right there haunting me

Your face is painted on the wall

You follow me down every hall

The little things I say and do

I do with hopes of holding you

I’m never all alone at all

I miss the way you’d talk to me

Whenever I’d need company

You wiped each single tear away

Then tell me that you’d always stay

Such an impossibility

©Kay Salady

Image:  art.alphacoders.com

Impossible Love

©Kay Salady

When the sweet glance of my true love caught my eyes, like alchemy, it transformed my copper-like soul.  I searched for Him with a thousand hands, He stretched out his arms and clutched my feet.  -Rumi   (from Thief of Sleep by Shahram Shiva)

Transfixed by his endearing eyes gazing into mine

The chemistry transformed my soul to something so divine

He longed to meet the radiant heat my body had produced

That his Elixir of Enchantment succeeded to induce

My frantic spirit searched for him five hundred times or more

With a thousand hands that came up empty as the time before

Through fevered brow I tossed and turned calling out his name

As visions of his countenance left as soon they came

My anguished mind began to go to places on the edge

Where spiders creep and ladies leap from sanity’s dark ledge

Rusty blades cut sweet flesh as bitten lips did bleed

All the pain and anguish of a lover’s deepest need

And as I searched inside my chest to stop the heart that beat

He reached for me stretched out his arms and clutched my tiny feet

©Kay Salady

 Image Credit:  http://myrrhiam.deviantart.com/art/foot-fetish-2883880

The ancient clay she walks upon

Shifts beneath her feet

Quaking to the thunderous sound

Of drummers as they beat

The call to war with maidens

Unexplored within the mind

Posing threat to destroy prayer

Or strike the hero blind

Her frantic eyes have long despised

The ancient rites dispersed

Dispelled by hands that brought demands

To call on her as cursed

She bears the marks from open wounds

That seethe impending doom

She recoils and draws the splinters

From her festering wounds

Her soul cries forth in unison

With those who haunt the air

As she inhales the screaming spirits

Circling everywhere

Breaking chains of bondage

Now held firmly in her grasp

She swings to strike her nemesis

Reclaiming power at last

For she forever alpha

Since day the world began

Reigns as queen of all the earth

Ruling over man

©Kay Salady

Image by:  KSGrafix

“Longing is the core of mystery. 
Longing itself brings the cure.
The only rule is, suffer the pain.
Your desires must be disciplined,
and what you want to happen, in time, sacrificed.”

 -Rumi

I sacrificed my love

And now I suffer pain

What was I thinking of

To live and love in vain

The longing that I feel

Bleeds freely from my core

My love for him was real

My vow to him was pure

I cannot understand

Why God had tied our wrists

If he would take our hands

And ball them into fists

Obscurity remains

Where light and laughter played

For I am bound in chains

Where memories never fade

©Kay Salady