It's then you realise ....

When all of the darkness in the forest 

comes at you suddenly in a rush …. 

and all of your restricted movement 

is a constant reminder that you are 

in a nightmare dream …. 

When everything you say is rebutted 

by the others in the room, and a perfect 

storm is brewing down in the city just

beyond your window panes ….

When every little thing she does is magic 

but the magic she does is never for you …. 

When you are ignored and passed over 

continually and your talents are disregarded 

as anything significant or special …. 

When nothing else remains except four dots 

at the end of your sentence …. 

it’s then you realise …. 

this poem is about you

Steve Wheeler © 14 September, 2021

image source

Flame

I could stare at flickering flames all night

when I should be wandering in my dreams

I could gaze at a candle as it dances bright

but the minutes fly and so must I, it seems

Flames have a strange power to captivate

despite their cruel destructive capabilities 

The heat and light they furiously radiate

holds the promise to harm, or put at ease

Flames, consuming all, voraciously to eat 

everything that falls within their hungry path 

Fire that immolates with unforgiving heat 

and razes all to ashes with its fiery wrath

Flames that warm and thaw the harshest cold 

or offer radiant energy to cleanse the soul 

Eternal flame saluting all the brave and bold 

I could forever gaze upon your healing glow

Steve Wheeler © 6 September, 2021

Image source: Marco Verch

I will stand

All that is of value 

the pure gold 

from the mould 

All the eternal riches 

I can hold 

that unfold 

in each dream of hope 

that takes flight 

in its might

Every deep desire 

shining bright 

in deepest night 

All are found in you 

by the plans 

from your hands 

Underneath your wings 

I will stand 

I will stand

Steve Wheeler © 15 March, 2021

image source

Blinded by the light

Silence of the night 

Solitude and cocoa mugs 

Congeal together 

Motionless in dark 

Not a sliver of light here 

In this pool of black

My eyes are open 

Or perhaps my eyes are closed 

Too dark to decide

My clock marks the hours 

Sentinel of a time slide 

As it slips away

Sleep eludes me now 

A whisper of a garment 

Keeps me wide awake

Morning will soon come

Dawn will caress my window 

With her pale fingers

Insomnia reigns 

My mind busy with its thoughts

Resisting all rest 

I fall silently 

into the vivid dreams of 

Rapid eye movement

Sudden hypnic jerk 

Dream of falling from great heights 

Wide awake again

My bedside lamp stand 

Switched on inadvertently 

Blinded by the light 

Steve Wheeler © 10 March, 2021

image source

White Noise

Photo by Steve Wheeler

I was up at five again today to see the summer light stream \ through the curtain / but it wasn't this that brushed my torrid dreams \ aside it was more likely the turbulence of life in fact I'm certain /

that since the crisis hit us like a slow burning conflagration \ my brain has been exercised by thoughts of creeping doom / and it doesn't take too much imagination \ for my tired suggestible mind to irrationally assume /

that everyone I hold most dear must surely succumb \ and I will be the bearer of a lethal infection / But this although a remote possibility is pretty dumb \ to dwell upon when it robs me of my sleep and is only a vivid confection /

of a strained imagination. My dreaming offers little respite contorted as it is in strange \ contrived and convoluted tropes / and it makes me feel as though each night my rest is disturbed and rearranged \ as I am led away in ropes /

of anxiety down dark highways of doubt and fear to places surreal \ and disturbing / to a rational mind and every night the visions rear in mists of imaginings that are at once palpably unreal \ yet if I allow them to be so perturbing /

I was up at five again today to watch the dawn break silently beyond my window pane / and I am so very tired of all the white noise in my life and how it tries to shake my soul but in the final analysis another day of this has started and I am simply weary once again /

Steve Wheeler © 2 July, 2020