The Top 5 Poems of the Month

I walked along the shoreline and
The ocean looked so blue,
The seagulls called upon the wind
Above me as they flew,
So far across the waters there
I knew my love did stay
I wrote her name upon the sand
But waves washed it away.
I watched the clouds and dreams go by
With happiness we shared,
As I looked out across the sea,
And wished that she still cared,
I’d lost all hope of loving and
I could but only pray,
I wrote her name upon the sand
But waves washed it away.
Around her name a heart of love
That wasn’t meant to be,
A symbol of the time we shared
Yet didn’t comfort me,
For there it looked so empty and
I shan’t forget that day,
I wrote her name upon the sand
But waves washed it away.

The sky greeted me with a distant light
Beauty so stunning almost numbing, blue and white
The sky waved to me with swirling clouds
Like splashes of milk and snowballs cascading down hills

The sky smiled at me with sun-lit rays
An immense circle of space and air, majestic and pleasing
The sky left me with a deep blue night
Shadows of orange and grey sinking in the horizon

The sky sends me some divine colours
They soar with such grace like angels themselves
When they flock to the heaven, do they reach the light?
Do they fly to the lord and dance in his magnificent sight?

The sky vibrant in its every flow
Radiant and awesome through eyes of awe
It is in sky I see God’s artistry so fine
Artistry through the hand of a wonder divine

The Map of Life

Maps and charts, meandering directives
Pointing out the way
Roads and neatly labelled destinations
With colourful illustrations
Shanty’s to pass through quickly
Resorts to stop and stay
Each beckoning a route
For traveller, fugitive or brute
Picking out an ink lined freeway
For mankind on his way

Paper, parchment, papyrus
All such paupers to the map of skin
Testimonial to being here, going there
Reversing, and then going back
A map of roads has no junction
Where to meet the map of life akin
Sentiment, stress or brutality
Erodes or counterfeits the fluid track
A living chart contorted
By abuses from the artists inner sin

A chart that walks, a chart that lives
And cultivates its rivers and canals
A man made map, a mortal maze
Of purity or wanton disregard
A storage silo storing up
The purest fruits of nature’s life
Or poisoned chalice
Pumped with drugs from Satan’s wife
To stem the flowing veins
Pollute and make the arteries hard

Each map intricately drawn by man
On human skin with coloured hue
Every one unfinished
A composition written by the toil of every day
An unused map of life by definition
A tapestry of life that simply grew
No place names here by plan
No scale where one inch equals ten
Not read at all
In death lies loose across the frames of mortal men

You’re just outside my window,
But you’re not near at all.
Live among the constellations,
Can’t you hear my call?
You shine on me…
You give way to a new hope each dawn
See my joy
And hear my tears…
You’re ever changing
Never the same…

To me you’re a mystery,
An enigma to my eyes…
You’ve shown me what love could mean…
But you took it away.
If I never release what’s inside you,
I’ll still know it was true.
No matter how bright the moon shines,
I’ll never stop loving you…

To submit a poem to the Online Poetry Competition, email inbox@forwardpress.co.uk (Enter Top 5 Poems of the Month in the subject line, including your name and postal address)

Or post your poems to Top 5 Poems of the Month, Forward Press Ltd, Remus House, Coltsfoot Drive, Peterborough PE2 9JX (Write your name and address on each piece of work you send)