It’s hard to hidebehind a disguise,in a world overflowingwith x-ray eyes.A hidden heartsimply torn apart,the remains left tattered and tornupon a silken sleeve.No time left to mend,we can do noughtbut grieve.Echoes of trailing feet,slipping and slidingdown so manyrain-soaked streets.Looking for a wayto avoid the dangerof a random, passing stranger;a hesitant smilepeeping out from insidethe shadows,to…
WRETCHED WORLD
Looking down upon a world of disdain,people dying; crying out in their pain.A landscape pockmarked by war and neglect,careless misuse at the hands of the inept.The air up here, once so clear and fresh,now as tainted as the life it does tenderly caress.A concoction of venoms infused in every breath,a sentence passed down; an insidious…
THE DEVILS WHORE
A sycophantic whore,chasing running scores.Stagnant sweat streamsfrom unwashed pores. Satan’s dark talonstearing through her skin,and the raging demons,screaming from within. The gaunt gothic maskupon her fragile face,conceals the flaking paintof a dull, faded grace.The pungent aromaof lingering lust,disturbs the memoryof a buried disgust. Taunting terrified soulswith a smirk of sultry joy,as hungry ghouls are snappingat the feet of…
FATHER AND SON
I touch your cheek,I’m surprised, it’s cold.I reach for your handfor I need it to hold. I look upon your facethat beamed and sparkledas we loved and laughed,wrestled and tickled. Your face is so pallid,the sparkle is gone,no more to smilein the hot summer sun. Your hair neatly tended,you lie there so stillas I try, with memories,a dark…
TIMES BROKEN ARROW
The world keeps rocking to the sound of the void, a pirouette through time that we simply can’t avoid. But what have you done today? Did the fool on his errand pass you silently by? Did you have much to say, as his time, like the clock, seemed to fly? – And the world is…
THE WISE MEN
They’re at it again shouting and fighting, like a pair of spoilt children scratching and biting. For centuries they’ve argued over a piece of land, just rocks and rubble and desert sand. And, “Why?”, you surely ask, such death and destruction; so much innocence torn apart by such arrogant appropriation?” Why must the human race…
A MOUSES TAIL
“But it’s not my fault”, cried the mouse in dismay, “I though I knew where I was but appear to have lost my way” Sat at the foot of my bed with his hands behind his head, he tried, through his tears, to relate what is here. … I set out, early this morn,…
DARK PANACEA
A crowded room is such a lonely place, wear a fragile mask upon a weary face. Everybody’s here yet there’s nobody there and there’s nothing to do, except sit and stare. The distant sounds of joy and laughter, drifting like echoes in dusty rafters. As I slowly subside, sinking oh-so low and I’m silently wondering…
LEGACY OF LOVE
A legacy of words draped across a cold heart, reaching out from a past where ‘twas torn apart. A powerful rhyme; an alliterate touch, to a tender mind, could be just too much. Yet, a warmth now engulfs as if it never really left and, for the briefest of moments, it heals a soul that…
PENSIVE PANE
Standing by the window, calling out the rain and the pain in my neck, as desperate drops call and fall to the mocking marble floor. Rolling rivers of nonchalance that no amount of will or wittering can stop or suspend. Just falling… falling… and in laughter, calling, as they slip to the welcoming floor, sneaking…
INSURRECTION
There’s a line in the sand drawn in dark distant lands, where the guts and the glory and fine marching bands, will all die in the dust and play into their hands. And invisible walls across seas, oh so wide, are not worth all the tears and the fears that they hide. So the…
BROKEN BOUGHS
“Swaying aloft on a warm summer breeze, the life-giving forests of wise, ancient trees.” Life filled leaves of a forest, green, its purest form, now so seldom seen. Majestically reaching so high in the hills, no roots of malice, no hate or ill-will. To wistfully walk among bramble and bush, through wind-swept grasses, so gentle…
THE EVERLASTING WONDER
Watching them grow, the seeds I did sow so long ago. Nature seems to nurture, protecting their future and just look at them now. I think I’ve got to take a bow. It’s an amazing thing, for the joy they bring to our eyes and nose and stunning how they do it. Their colours so…
HOW LONG
How long must we sit in silent sorrow, whilst our sons and daughters are robbed of the precious little time they may only borrow? How long can we hold back the fear, staring in stunned horror as they drown in a torrent of their terrified tears? How long can the world stand idly by, watching…
HIDDEN DEPTHS
If I close my eyes, will I still hear the silent cries; the solemn goodbyes. The solitary door through which I was pushed, callously cajoled and heartlessly hushed, led to so much confusion, too many decisions, a reign of despair and draining derision. So many choices, so many voices… Left or right, to run or…
WHAT LIFE?
What life, if life is nought but pain and misery. The spark and the flame, though once so bright, but a flicker within the storms that rage through the night. What joy, if joy is tinged by dark, dour days. The twinkle in her eyes, just a shimmering mirage; an after-image of long days gone…
EMPTINESS
Hold me tight. Hold me through the dark of the coming night. I’m so alone; so alone and cold. Reaching out beseeching hands but there’s nobody there to hold. Where did it all go? I really need to know. A glance in the mist, looking for the face I once kissed. Just a fleeting look,…
THE RIPPLES OF LIFE
(In Loving Memory Of Leanne Jane. 1990 – 2022) She drifted away on an angels sighs, leaving such a hole in so many lives. Heartbreak and tears, the only sight, where once a candle burned so bright. Such a devastating loss, so much stolen away. The brutal reality in the cold light of a heart-breaking…
THE UNINVITED GUEST
Oh deep, dark depression, my uninvited guest, the persistence of oppression is precluding my life’s zest. The dark before sunrise of a dawn that just won’t break, suppressed by a thirst for my soul that only sorrow can now slake. The wisps that you are weaving are clouding my damp eyes, a cold and cloying…
DESPAIR
The trail of a solitary tear on a soft, golden cheek. A silently, searching eye and the sweet solace that it seeks. A deep, desperate gaze from a lonely, longing heart. A despondent, crying soul and a hope it had held from the start. A hand, held out, beseeching a face, in final despair. A…
PLEASE EXPLAIN?
(This is the first poem I ever wrote, at the tender age of 16yrs old…) I am me, I am you but who am I? What is my purpose, please tell me am I just surplus? Where do I come from and where do I go, why don’t I know? Say…
WORDS OF WONDER
A word on a line joined with many and more, a story to tell from behind a closed door. A line on a page and a paragraph to make, from a thoughtful sage to the ones who forsake. A page in a book telling tales short and tall, just have a quick look, hear the…
THE SOUND OF SILENCE
How sweet the sound of silence, like angels in my head. For so much more is heard, when little more is said. * Written by Darren Scanlon, 1st August 2018
THE NURTURING KNIFE
After my final curtain call when the stage lights dim, what will life hold to see. At the end of my show when the cold ink has dried, what will become of me? Clutching a crumbling pen between the trembling fingers of a shaky, uncertain hand. Is that really to be my end; no more…
THE LIONS ROAR
Northumberland to Newcastle and Cumbria’s lofty hills, Durham down through Cleveland, into Yorkshire’s misty dales. Across the lofty Pennines to Lancashire so fine, Cheshire, Staffs and Shropshire, the Severn lands align. Down into the Midlands, Leicester, Notts. and Brum, Derbyshire to Warwick, you can feel the heart-beat thrum. From Humberside and Lincolnshire, Northants and Norfolk…
THE LIE
How can a lie make the whole world cry, yet they claim there is nothing to see, where nefarious knaves and the covetous crave beneath covers so stealthily, free? No thought for the plebs as they weave dangerous webs in a world already complex, where the sins of the saints have done nothing but taint,…
THE JESTER
The Jester performs to a world full of tears, his mirthful attempt to allay the crowd’s fears. With jovial tones; a sweet serenade, a sharp-witted quip for the blushing maids. But what of the end of his long, lonely road, no whimsical smile, no-one out there to goad. When laughter runs out and The Jester…
THE GREENWOOD
Below a sky so bright and blue, in a sea of dancing green, twisting and turning in a sweet summer dream. The roar of whooshing waves through leaves of glistening verde, a sound so sweet; relaxing, never forgotten, once heard. The creak of bending branch stretching out with old complaint, the sigh of silent voices…
THE END OF THE DREAM
As the sun peeps out over misty morning hills and the dawn chorus calls with its piercing shrill, the demons of the night fade slowly to grey, with a sidelong glance at the few that got away. He rises and stretches and with sleepy eyes, breathes a sigh of relief and a laughing surprise. The…
THE BALLAD OF THE SILVER TAIL
She wore a silver dress stitched with finest silken thread, silver shoes and matching gloves and a tiara upon her head. She sat on the silver sheets of her soft and sumptuous bed wondering why she had to go when she could play outside instead These parties are all so dull she thought as she…
THE BALLAD OF THE SIGHING BEAR
In the deep dark woods lived a great brown bear, he was seven feet tall but the townsfolk didn’t care for although the bear was huge and had fangs and long sharp claws, all the people would make fun of him and point out his big flaw. Have you ever met a bear who had…
THE BALLAD OF THE SHOELESS HORSE
If you’ve ever seen a horse simply tip-toeing around, carefully trotting and yet making little sound, then it was probably Horace, a horse who had no shoes, trotting here and there with lots of ouch’s and oo’s! He tried to keep up with his friends on parade as a tip-toeing horse, what a spectacle he…
THE BALLAD OF THE QUACKING OWL
If you’re walking by the bushes at the end of the lane you may hear a little quack as the sun begins to wane. You may look for the water where the ducks might be, but there’s no-one in sight just the rustling of the leaves. Would you believe the quack that you heard was…
THE BALLAD OF THE NAUGHTY GLOW WORM
There lived a little glow worm whose his tail shone oh-so bright, you could often see him dancing on a warm summer night. But when it was time for bed or he needed a little rest, he’d turn off his bright tail light with a switch, beneath his vest. Gordon wasn’t a good boy, he…
PLEASE EXPLAIN?(Pt. II)
I am me, it’s self-explained. My purpose in life, a tedious game. I came from within and I go where I must, my life will soon end as it started, in dust. Space is eternal and teeming with life but until its been proven, I’ll let you decide. Love is a feeling of warmth and…
THE BALLAD OF THE FRIGHTENED EAGLE
You’ll often see them running and chasing across the plains, a rabbit skipping and laughing at an eagle, in great pains. But why’s the eagle running, surely he can fly Sadly he’s afraid of heights and frightened he may die. An eagle that can’t fly, well surely that’s not right, it’s just like having an…
THE BALLAD OF THE ABSENT-MINDED MOUSE
I came upon a mouse running around my old house sniffing and twitching his nose, I asked how he was and looking rather cross said, “Not too bad, I suppose”. I asked what was wrong, could I help him along as he shuffled around in a ring, he said, “I’m not sure”, as he looked…
THE BALLAD OF TERENCE THE TORTOISE
My friend Terrence was a little happy soul, he didn’t need a kennel, nor a house or a hole. His home was a shell that he carried on his back, so that all he had to do was drop down on the track. Then he’d pull his head inside, followed by his legs and feet…
THE BALLAD OF PERCY THE PENGUIN
Percy the Penguin lived at the South Pole. With many good friends he would laugh and cajole. They would slip and slide and play in the snow, laughing and shouting and running to and fro. Percy was a happy lad with a great big caring heart but there was a little thing that sadly set…
SULLIED SANDS
Dark ink flows through trembling hands, telling of doom in distant lands with hate as fuel and tyranny it’s goal, the ink seeks to blacken the brightest soul. The sands of time blow soft through the dunes, sullied and tarnished in darkened rooms as eyes so black and hate stained hearts seek to tear the…
STAINED GLASS
On the mirror, he now turns his back, stumbling on his way, a far cry from the heady times; the smiles of yesterday. The tumbler in his hand now holds a halo of revolt, the stain and stagnant smell of yet another single malt. Glancing o’er his shoulder at the man within the frame, his…
SPREAD YOUR WINGS
Born into a world full of complex conditions, an ever-changing web of confusing contradictions. To live in fear; to barely survive, oppressive commands from the central hive. When the ashes settle; and chill breezes blow, only then can we discover our parts in their show. In this game of life; this passionate play, what sorrowful…
SPECTRE
Drifting by my window on a cold dark winters eve, no sound, nor chasing echo, no path to follow or deceive. A silent spectre; a mask of scorn, a hazy memory, from life ’twas torn. Jealously wanting what now it resents, a rage no mortal can perceive or prevent. The pulsing obsession of detached desire,…
SO TIRED
I’ve been quiet of late, the creaking hinges on the gate of my old rusting life are slowly stiffening and I’d be seriously surprised if anybody was still listening. The flickering flame on the candle my life once burning so bright, now disturbed by the breath of dreaded darkness creeping closer in the night. The ghosts…
THE PEN & THE PAGE 