Fourlinegraphia

I have a heroine who visits me only in dreams, Changing with the wind, with every hour of light; At dawn she wears the pale gold of an eastern sky, Softened by the last breath of the passing monsoon. At noon her skin gathers sunlight from paddy fields, At dusk, sindoor burns gently across her brow; She becomes the final ember of the sinking sun, Then deepens into a moonlit river at night. Her loosened hair carries jasmine, earth, and sandalwood, And when she lets it fall, the wind forgets its way; Sometimes she arrives as a temple lamp trembling softly, Sometimes as a girl's laughter beneath June's first rain. No village owns her, yet every village knows her, She crosses coconut groves and narrow paddy bunds; She glides beside backwaters silvered by the moon, Riding a rainbow chariot through the mind's hidden roads. She is the woman my dreaming heart has fashioned- Rich without pride, beautiful without cruelty, Loving without ever learning the art of leaving, Forever gentle...

  Before the rifles came to clear the land, The Blue Ridge rose through veils of morning mist; Our feet knew every valley, stream, and strand, Each trail remembered every hand it kissed. The rivers held our stories in their flow, The winds carried the names our elders gave; Our words were leaves that whispered soft and low, Our language was the fire our ancestors saved. Sequoyah gave our living words a form, And letters bloomed like branches in the rain; We wrote our voices through the silence of the storm, So none could say our people lived in vain. Then soldiers came like shadows before dawn, With orders written colder than the stone; They drove us from the homes we had lived upon, And claimed the earth as though it were their own. The hearths still burned; the beds were left behind, The doors stood open to the empty air; A mother searched for children she could not find, While grief became the only thing to bear. Rising Fawn spoke words that would not bend, And justice once decl...

  The Woman I Lost *************** She walks past the café where we used to sit, And for one stupid second, my body remembers her still; Then my mind reminds me she is no longer mine to remember, And somehow, her not seeing me hurts more than if she did. *** They call her my ex, as if that word explains everything, Ex-wife, ex-lover, ex-just a neat little label; But there is nothing neat about what I did to her, Or the years I spent quietly dismantling her heart. *** I remember her crying alone in the middle of the night, Never loudly, always quietly, behind pillows and locked doors; She had learned to hide her pain where no one could hear it, While I slept beside her, blind to the war inside her chest. *** She woke with swollen eyes and still asked if I had slept well, And I answered yes, never asking what had kept her awake; I thought her forgiveness was permanent, her love without limits, Mistaking devotion for permission to keep hurting her. *** Every promise I broke became ano...

I Was the One They Cast Away ****************************** When I entered that house, my laughter scattered like pearls from a broken golden thread. * They spoke of duty and sacred blood, of promises smooth as polished silk, and I believed I had found my home. * I gave them the spring of my youth, I gave them the river of my sweat, I gave them the altar of my soul. * I kept the hearth burning like a sun, calmed every passing shadow, and called my surrender devotion. * I did not know then that some homes are built like mazes, with iron bars hidden behind ivory walls. * Some doors open wide as a welcome, only to lock like a tomb behind you; some velvet robes conceal heavy chains. * I mistook stone walls for protection, I mistook possession for love, I mistook a quiet cage for belonging. * When my beauty began to fade, when the season of my strength waned, the warmth they promised vanished like mist. * Wealth and praise slipped away, fine grain leaking through open fingers, leaving only ...

  Again and again, someone crosses the doorway of my dreams, Leaving behind the softest sound of footsteps in the air- And somehow, deep within the quiet room of my thoughts, I know it is you who has arrived and left me standing there. *** Again and again, beneath the silver glow of the night, I hear a golden flute whispering a melody so sweet and low, Is it the darkness speaking gently of your distant face, Or is it just my lonely heart that will not let you go? *** Perhaps the drops of dew resting upon the morning leaves Are tears shed by our memories, soft pearls of yesterday, Reminders of the quiet moments I have wished to hold, Before the passing hours carried all our time away. *** Perhaps the wandering breeze touches the strings within my chest With careless, fleeting fingers as it passes through the night, And all the music rising from the silence of my soul Is nothing but the echo of your love made pure and bright. *** Sometimes, when I look out through the cold and quiet ...

Anklet Ring ************ I sit beside you and hold your hand, The same gentle hand that once held mine. Your fingers are thin, your voice is weak, Yet my heart still swells with the same deep love. *** To me, you are still the brave sister Who walked beside me when I was small. I look at your face, worn by the years, And through my tears, I see another face- The vibrant young woman I remember from childhood, **** With bright eyes, a gentle smile, And bangles singing softly on her hands. Do you remember, sister, How desperately I used to follow you everywhere? *** How I cried your name when I was afraid, And how you would come running to comfort me? You were my safe harbor then, And even now, my restless heart feels peace beside you. *** I still remember the sweet comfort of your footsteps- The cherished sound of your anklets Coming down the path toward our home. To others, they may have been just a sound; To my young heart, they were the safest music I ever knew. *** Years have passed ...

You left a last letter, as though a life could be explained, Once there was no life left to answer for its scars; You wrote of respectable faces walking in the sun, While you had learned to make your dwelling in the dark. You said the best of you was discarded long ago, And what remained had learned to live without a name; You could have carried on that way, as others do, Until my presence made you look at yourself again. Love was not a gentle light when it entered you; It stripped away the shelter of your compromises bare; The man you had accepted suddenly seemed strange, When you imagined how he might appear to me. You spoke of hands that had known too many women, And swore that mine would never feel their touch; Not from a lack of longing, but from something deeper- You thought your darkness would contaminate what you loved. You told me you had never wounded those beside you, That pain had often been something you endured; You wanted to change, to leave that life behind, But wantin...

Even after all these years, I do not know my birthday. No paper holds the exact date, No record marks my way. I came into this world alone, Without a marked estate. By the time I knew what birthdays were, My mother was already gone. So there was no one left to wish me, No voice to call me home. No mother held me to her chest, Or smoothed my hair down close. No voice pronounced my early name- The thing I miss the most. My friends had birthday parties, Wore new clothes, bright and gay. I watched them from a quiet distance, Left outside their play. I wondered then about the cake, And why they’d light a flame, Only to blow the candle out While shouting out a name. Later, I came to understand: They made a wish before the light went out. Everyone clapped and shared a smile, Without a single doubt. I was left to wander through A silence cold and worn, Thinking a birthday was just a mark For the day that you were born. For years I thought it was a number, A simple mark on a page, A calendar no...

  I never wanted only a toy or a machine body, Nor a touch or whisper that fades with night, I wanted someone to see my pure soul, And hold my heart with gentle light. *** I wanted to be accepted, And have someone help me find my way, Not for beauty, youth, skin, or wealth, But for the woman I am each day. *** I wanted someone who would listen, When words were difficult to say, Someone who could read my silence, And never simply walk away. *** I wanted peace and love beside someone, A place where I could just be me, Where love would never feel like fear or trespass, And where my heart could breathe free. *** I wanted little acts of kindness, A smile when I was feeling low, A hand to hold me through the darkness, A quiet “ I’m here dear ” to let me know. *** I wanted trust without suspicion, Respect without jealousy or blame, A love that never made me smaller, A home where love could stay the same. *** I have known the weight of silence, The wounds that no one else could see, The pa...

  When the Night Has Faded *********************** That night has faded into the still air, The bloodlust and the cries have drifted away; A thousand broken dreams once buried there Are swallowed by the silence of the day. *** Yet deep beneath the ashes of the past, The songs you once forgot begin to rise; They sing of gentle things meant still to last, Unfolding softly underneath the skies. *** I bring you stories woven out of youth, And lay them gently down upon your lap, Where little Barbie still drinks from tiny cups, And time folds back into an open map. **** Come, stand beside me like a child again, Back in the refuge where no heart can bleed, Where nymphs with wings as delicate as butterflies Come seeking flowers through the fields of green. *** You walk through life without a thought to wound, Too kind to bruise a flower in your palm; Stay near me in the quietude of peace, And hold my hand within this tender calm. *** No promises, no words that fade away, No hunger, no poss...

  Words are mere shadows that easily lie, While actions reveal what is true to the eye. Though promises spoken may capture my mind, It is only through feeling that safety I find. I have smiled at sweet phrases that melted the air, Only to discover no substance was there. So now I observe what a heart chooses to do, For the clarity of action is steadfast and true. I ask for no grand, sweeping oaths from your tongue, Nor songs sweeter far than the rain ever sung. I need but your presence to render them whole, By standing beside me in body and soul. No longer enticed by the flatterer’s art, Where beautiful phrases hide falsehoods at heart, I seek for a devotion that practice will teach- A love that remains when the easy nights breach. When you draw near to gaze in my eyes, Let no rehearsed speeches or answers arise. Let quietness linger beneath the dark skies, And let your soft touch tell where honesty lies. Come closer and grant me your warmth in the night; Let your arms speak the wo...

  The Smuggler ************** Where have you vanished, lion-hearted man, Whose courage once outshone the sun? The poor still whisper your forgotten name, And wonder where their guardian has gone. **** You walked through danger without fear, With hidden cargo in the night; A gun beside you, darkness near, And fate itself beneath your sight. **** Where is your van on the lonely road? Where are the gold and gems you carried? Where is the secret, heavy load, And all the dreams your footsteps buried? **** The world has changed, the times are new, The smugglers of your kind are gone; Now greed wears suits and speaks so true, While honour quietly marches on. **** Where is that daring, reckless art, Of risking life for one more run? Where is the fire within your heart, That made the impossible seem fun? **** We miss the man behind the crime, The outlaw with a heart of gold; A guardian lost somewhere in time, A story that refuses to grow old. **** Perhaps your footsteps fade away, Perhaps y...

  I do not want you to love me, Nor do I ask for you to see. You need not follow where I walk, Nor do I need you here with me. *** You do not have to hear my song, Nor welcome me along my way. I ask for neither hand nor voice; I have my own road now to take. *** So go away, my fleeting love- There is no illusion left to save. What once seemed certain, time has changed; What once held me need not remain. *** For if love needs another's eyes To tell me what my life should be, Then love has crossed the line of love And made a quiet slave of me. *** Let my face shine among the stars That keep their distance through the night. Let mountain streams return my face And carry it beyond my sight. *** Let painted shadows mark my path, Let forest branches speak my name. When wild reeds sing my stories out, I need not ask who hears the same. *** The forest does not ask me why. The river does not ask me stay. The stars do not demand my heart Before they give their quiet light away. *** So let na...

Your love was not just a warmath to me- It was a cadence, love’s own soft accord, A boundless devotion that bound my heart, A sacred mantra kept in silent grace. *** I breathed life into its simple script, And suffused each letter with gentle warmth; It lingered softly on my tongue, And found its sanctuary within my embrace. *** You deem my silence a forgotten chime, Yet I could never relinquish the strain; I veiled your name beneath my reserve, For my quietude ever wore your face. *** To utter it still awakens grief, Witnessed by tears in the eye’s quiet edge. This parting once seemed a divine decree, Yet time revealed its heavy toll; *** Your name was once a sweet refrain- Now each syllable rends the air, Exhauster of my fragile soul. You mistake my stillness for neglect, *** Unaware of the weight I bear; For silence remains love’s final guise, Where sacred, aching truths reside. Certain melodies still evoke the sting, *** And ancient wounds refuse to heal; When the world grows cold ...