"A Brothers' Quarrel"

This poem is inspired by the story of Romulus and Remus.

"A Brothers' Quarrel"

You were just two boys when your fates were set.
Born to the guilty woman of the forest and the violent god of war,
you were feared by the King of Alba Long.

With your mother imprisoned, you were to be killed.
But the gods had mercy on your then-innocent souls,
and you were set adrift on the river Tiber.
The river, overflowing, carried you and set you by the bank.

 You were just two boys when your lives paths were decided.
A she-wolf found you, having lost pups of her own.
She took you under her care and protection.
She suckled you and a woodpecker fed you,
then a shepherd found you and took you under his care,
and you were raised among your own kind.

You were just barely adults when your destinies began.
Two brothers. Twins.
You wanted to found a city together.
A city where the she-wolf found you and raised you.
But you could not agree on a site.
Dear Remus, the quarrel ended your life, and that was your fate.

Romulus, you truly were the son of Mars.
Violent. Conflicting.
You murdered your twin and went on your way.
Your brother dead, you moved on.
You founded the city, made yourself king,
and named it after yourself.
Selfish.
And then you disappeared, carried away by a whirlwind,
and that was your fate.

Romulus and Remus.
You were twins.
But you were quarreling brothers,
Fighting to the death,
Over the site of a city.
Perhaps it was the Mars in you,
Or the ferocity of the she-wolf after the short time raised by her.
But you could not get along.
And now only Rome stands to show
The result of a brothers' quarrel.

"Silence for Summerland"

Hey, guys! Here's another one of my poems. Hope you enjoy!

"Silence for Summerland"

I am silent.
But not for long.
I will be silent no longer. 
I will be given the gift of life. I will be introduced to Gaea.
Novem Mensibus.
All that time, being silent, with the exception of the faint beat of my heart.

Then I will arrive into the world, screaming and crying, but with no recollection of why.
Perhaps it will be the unfamiliar feelings?
The strange sensation of hands holding me.

Maybe it will be the sudden light bursting through my eyelids that will still be shut like steel doors of a vault, protecting the most important treasure.

The sounds, coming from everywhere all at once.

The heart monitors, the nurses communicating to each other, the strange noises coming from their mouths that will make no sense to me.

I will have no understanding of anything... because all I will have known is silence.

And maybe, just maybe, it will be the fact that that silence will have been broken and from then on, life will be a constant clutter of irritating noise.

Loud coffee shops, bustling cities, heavy traffic, irritated car horns, roaring trains, barking dogs, murmuring machinery, annoying telephones, rustling paper, tapping pens, forks scraping on plates, nails on chalkboards, smacking gum, and unending thoughts.

There will be years of this along the winding roller coaster that we call life.

Years of being loud and pushing silence away, believing there will be no use for it and that I must keep my life full of noise.

And then...

Silence will come once again.

There will be wrinkled skin.
There will be white hair.
There will be shaking bones.
There will be hard hearing.
There will be bad eyes.
There will be rasping breaths.
There will be a failing heart.
Or maybe a deteriorating mind.
Or perhaps it will be that time
will have caught up with me.
Like two hour glasses,
set for different speeds.

And they will all be me.

I will be laying down. 
I will be preparing myself.
I will close my eyes.
I will breathe one more breath.
And I will welcome it.

The thing that first brought me to life.
I will take its hand,
and we will walk, side by side,to Summerland.

I was loud.
But not for long.
For I am silent, once more.

"The Winter Was All I Knew"

Hey, guys. So, this poem is another one I wrote in my Creative Writing class this past school year. I wrote this one on January 19th.

"The Winter Was All I Knew"

Cold.
Emotionless.
Alone.
Trapped.
Freezing.
Dying.

Every year, the winter reminds me of the worst parts of my life.
The cold surrounded me, dragging me away from society.
The frost crept its way through my body,
clutching my heart and tightening its grip with every following day.
The snow built up, blocking any means of escape I had.

I was trapped.
The winter, isolating me.
I was alone.
The ice broke under my feet, dragging me deeper
And deeper


And deeper



And deeper




Into oblivion.

I was slowly dying.
Freezing to death in the winter of my soul.
The winter is all I've known.
Every year, the winter reminds me of the worst parts of my life.
But every winter must come to an end.

There is new life to be born.
Now I can see the world slowly coming to life once again.
Now I can see the rays of sun through the gray haze that had been my world for as long as I've known.

And now it is time for my life to be born, once more.
For my heart to thaw, just as the world does, year after year, fighting for survival.
The winter was all I knew...
And now it is time for my winter to end. 

"Oh, Lone Wolf"

"Oh, Lone Wolf"
Deanna Langley

Oh, Lone Wolf.
Why do you howl, so melancholy,
towards the moon so bright it illuminates
the world and reflects off of the shimmering pools made
from the tears of the sky?

Is it because you feel alone?

Oh, Lone Wolf.
Why do you weep so heavily,
creating puddles of mud,
onto the soil, so soft it mimics
clouds beneath your paws?

Is it because you feel abandoned?

Oh, Lone Wolf.
Look at the moon,
to which you sing so beautifully,
and remember the Goddess.

You are not alone.

Oh, Lone Wolf.
Look at the earth,
to which you provide and are given life,
and remember the God.

You have not been abandoned.

My dear, Lone Wolf.
Nothing lasts forever.
The birds may leave when it is there time,
But the bees and creatures of Gaea will be there to nurture her.

As will the Lord and Lady.

So, my dear, Lone Wolf.
When you feel alone,
look to the moon and howl.
And feel the Goddess's love embrace you.
Feel the God's protection shield you.

And know you will always have a home.

"Ode to the Marching Field"

Hey, guys! This introduction shall be short but sweet. So, as I have probably mentioned before, I am in Creative Writing as of this school semester. We have been writing poems so far, as I mentioned in my last post. Well, we have a chance to share our poems the day they are due and I have a very good friend who is also a very great poet. She has kindly agreed to let me post her poems on my blog. So, here is her first poem on this site.

"Ode to the Marching Field"
Lauren Hodsden

The long, white lines give me a
Sense of comfort, but also give me anxiety.

To jazz run from the 45 on Side A to the
30 on Side B in 12 counts is near impossible.

And when the grass is wet, it is as if I am
Running across a Slip 'N' Slide and the director will say,
"One more time", 5x.

There are often holes in the ground that cause me
To fall and twist my ankles.

Nevertheless, the grass is comforting and
Makes thankful that we aren't in the parking lot.

"The End of the Storm"

Hey, guys!
So, I'm going to start something new. I take a class called Creative Writing this semester and right now we are writing poems. I'm more of a short story person but I've found that poems are no more difficult. So, I'm going to start posting the poems that I write, starting with the first one I've written this year. Keep in mind, I am new at writing poems so they won't be spectacular. Anyway, here is my first poem.

"The End of the Storm"

There is a storm over an endless sea
And I am the boat trapped on its waves.
In the beginning it is unexpected.
But then come the signs.

The wind turns into a whistle.
It has been following its original path.
Guiding me.
Carrying me to my destination.
But then it changes.

It picks up speed and begins to rip at my sail.
It is now a howl.
Then the waves come.
They begin to tower above me
Tall as skyscrapers.

They come pounding, mercilessly, at me
Threatening to break it into a thousand shards.
The water pierces my skin in tiny droplets
And it soaks me straight into my soul.

The thunder turns me deaf to all reasoning
And the lightning blinds me from reality.
I am tossed around.
The storm is threatening to throw me
Into the deepest and darkest depths
Of the Abyss.
There seems to be no end.

But, at last, after what feels like an eternity,
I can see light.
Through the thick mists and haze
I can see the end.

The end of this storm that is leading to my destruction.
The end of this storm that is taking completely control over me.
The end of this storm that is threatening to shatter my soul
Into thousands of irreparable shards.
 The end of this storm that is my mind.

I must regain control if I am to survive my storm.
And when I do...
Peace will be waiting for me.