Holding On

 Holding On

James M M Baldwin

 

Unnaturally wide, imploring eyes,

oddly locked, unblinking,

knowing, yet unknowing,

wanting,

pleading eyes.

Saltwater rivers of forgotten origin

roll in tumults

from sullen hollows

in undetermined paths

toward eternal destiny.

Raised brows furrow,

nose stretched low,

upper lip tense

with anxiety-stricken fear,

fear of darkness,

fear of fear,

terror.

Mouth agape,

jagged, picket fence,

a quiver of attempted speech.

No words,

no explanation,

no cry for help.

A grown infant’s silent longing for familiar

but finding only unfamiliar.

Gaunt fingers grasp

a descendant’s hand,

clasped,

squeezing,

unrelenting embrace of awareness.

Life's Autumn

Life’s Autumn
James M M Baldwin

Silver sunlit rays traverse a lavender sky
A fragile hand clings to life

Purple clouds trimmed in gold hide a setting sun
Hope remains amid enthusiastic prayer

Copper hues dapple autumn leaves
Disease enforces its penalty

Birds speckle the sky departing for southern lands
Loved ones visit but return whence they came

A season ends
Death claims its prize

A distant star lights the dark
A wandering soul finds an eternal home

Dark and Lonely

Dark and Lonely
James M M Baldwin

A skeletal shell
In a damp and musty grave
In a long forgotten cemetery.
Once the seat of knowledge
For a strong brilliant man.
Worms have left me vacant
Without thought
Without impulse
Without sensation.
Shakespeare's Hamlit
raised me in one hand,
Alas poor Yorick
I knew him well.
Poison liquid in a bottle
Puts me on crossed bones.
I'm out of my skull
Perhaps bone-headed.
In dishonorable proceedings
I am skullduggery.
In metal music
I'm 'Eddie the 'ead.
In Mayan Myth
I'm crystal quartz.
As Lord Byron's cup
I hold the wine.
Get it through
your thick skull.
A wooden shell
To incase the brain.
I never frown
A toothy grin.
My orbital sockets,
Adorned long ago with watery blue eyes
Now only stare;
Vacant, dark, unblinking.
In life, muscle and skin gave me emotion
Joy, anger, passion
No longer.
Sunken cheeks
Exposed teeth
Have left only one expression:
Death.