I Thought Love Was An Emotion: Poem

I Thought Love Was An Emotion

Not an ordeal, no, not a slow walk in the sunlight
After a long melancholy night;

Not a trial by fire after getting wet in the rain
Stepping over puddles and watching pain
Plop in to the swirling water
And waiting, watching long after.

I thought love was an emotion, strong affection;
One that overrid all objection and dejection;

Not a melancholy metaphysical madness
Not a surreal, sentimental sadness.

I thought love was an emotion, an emotion
That it was just another poetic notion

When feelings your body do betray
Emotion tries to flee clear away.

Copyright: Rani Turton

Consolation, In Doubt: Poem

Consolation, In Doubt

Consolation, in doubt
Is all that I want; all I want when I ask
For reassurance today.

Apt are the times; The times are apt.
In intense solitude
The light shines.

The road is lit by lamps.
The moon has a halo.
The mind quietly ponders.

Consolation, in doubt,
Comes when least expected.
And then solitude smiles.

Copyright: Rani Turton

For You Who Grieve Tonight: Poem

For You Who Grieve Tonight

The day was long, the night will be endless
Emotionally spent the tears won’t come
Its just the heart that continues to beat
The soul has nothing more to eat.

But ashes; dust and ashes
Diamonds in the dust it may well be
Grief is an absolute entity
And living another form of tyranny.

Speak of life and death, the details
Of what lies between birth and extinction
Rationality irks, cannot comfort the loss
Highflown theories until complete cessation.

For those who grieve tonight, the pain
Almost too intense to bear:
Hearing, seeing, feeling their loss
And nobody, nobody with whom to share.

The tears should come, do not check their flow
Tears can heal like a gentle loving hand
Calm the mind, ease the heart and
There is a lifetime ahead to understand.

Softly words will come
Someday grief will go
Forget the logical mind
Leave reason behind.

Copyright: Rani Turton

Waiting, Listening, Thinking: Poem

Waiting, Listening, Thinking

Waiting day by day
In the only possible way
The only plausible path
Lies straight, like an arrow
However rocky and narrow.

Oft in sundry guise
I dreamt of sunny skies; 
Reflecting on life and its turns; 
But to my great surprise
One learns and learns and learns.

Breathe the air, smell the wind; 
The earth has a heart and a mind; 
All that remains in the end
Is the love that we had to spend; 
All that remains when our lives are done
Is the earth, the sky, the stars and the sun.

Copyright: Rani Turton

I Cannot Promise You Eternal Love: Poem

I Cannot Promise You Eternal Love

I cannot promise you eternal love; my lifespan
Does not lose itself in the realms of time.
I cannot even speak of the years ahead:
These words, now, remain after being said.

Do not ask for vows I cannot keep.
How does it matter even though you hold
That most precious place in my heart.
I am here today: tomorrow we might part.

Come to me here now in this silent dusk.
Touch me with your gaze. If on life's journey
We meet again, then, that will be enough:
Life has some eternal moments, ah, many such


Copyright (text and image): Rani Turton

Black, Black Bird In My Chest

Black, Black Bird In My Chest

You have settled in my chest as in a nest;
Just waiting, waiting for GodKnowsWhat
You have nested as I, helpess, wait

Fly, fly away, black bird, fly away
Behind that stormcloud that presages rain
Fly far into the eye of the evening sun

The chime of bells does not mean I am ready
My legs are not quite steady;
Take away that pain, that rings, rings, rings.

Black, black is the bird nestling in my chest.
Fly, fly away, I am weak: unable to speak.
Where are the reasons? What are the choices?

As to why, as to how long, as to when
The black bird quit being a swan
Not even a blackbird: that is when it all began.

Copyright: Rani Turton

Captivity: Poem

Captivity


Dried roses, crumbling into dust
All beliefs, convictions and trust
All I have to show for years of believing
Is tracks and traces of dust

Sifted by the wind and rain
Grains of sand fly here and there
Why is it here and now, a single cell
Transfixed, is unable to go anywhere

Much vaunted intellectual autonomy
The roots of epistemology
Senses spin in scented darkness, and
Wait, transfixed like those grains of sand.

Captive to thoughts and inspiration
Distanced by wild pointless aspiration
Waiting for the breeze to come and scatter
My life's blood, my life's matter.

Copyright: Rani Turton