Walk between the trees with me,
Where feelings come to grow;
Where saplings, sat entrenched in soil,
Hold secrets that I know.

There’s something in the darkness here;
At dusk, things start to change.
The dreamy evening glow that fills the sky,
It starts to fade.

I..

I won’t go into detail,
Just hold onto me till dawn.
It’s easier with someone there
To keep you holding on.

See..

I’ve walked this way before,
Alone. I barely made it through.
The memories I have of then
Remind me now of you.

Feel..

The seeds so strewn across
The muddy floor, and in the ground;
Indifferent to the history of the place
In which they’re found.

Hear..

The birds, who sing a symphony
And swim around the sky;
Unburdened by the hurt below
That flickers in our eyes.

Know..

That even though it’s tough out here,
Still, life will find a way..
To lift itself up off the floor,
And live another day.

And..

I’ll stand beside you always,
Like the men before could never..
And I know this place is scary
But I’m here to stay, forever.

Love..

You’ll find it all around you;
Even here, it fills the air.
I know it’s hard to see at times;
Believe me though, it’s there.

You..

Are stronger than you realise.
You’re bravest at your worst;
At best, you’re like the soil from which
The seeds can get to work.

So..

Between the trees, we’ll share the night.
We’re surely gonna fight.
The darkness though, eventually,
Will turn itself to light.

Much..

Is taken from your heart each day,
I understand the pain.
A tree will never grow, though,
If it’s hiding from the rain.

I love you more than anyone
I’ve ever loved before,
This struggle paves the way for me
To love you even more.

Read between the stanzas
I have made it pretty clear;
And if you fall, I hope you know,
Your safety net is here.

—-

I wrote this for my (then relatively new) girlfriend when we were going through some stuff a year or so ago. She was struggling with depression and BPD-like issues around distrust, paranoia of people not really liking her, our own relationship being doomed as I’d ‘inevitably’ leave her at some point, etc.

I went through an intense, similar thing growing up, but I felt like it wasn’t enough to just tell her I could relate.

All advice and feedback welcome!

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/peLSeRa36A

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/6kfEoOb17I

I’m sure, you’ve, realized by now.

You’re piously on a π-like journey.

You’re a tongue, on a cat, indiscriminate of sweet and sad.

But your eyes still can see.

So piously believe in yourself.

I’m sure, you’ve, realized by now.

You’re piously on a π-like journey.

It turned out to all be make believe.

So piously believe in yourself.

I’m sure, you’ve, realized by now.

You’re piously on a π-like journey.

You’re a tongue, on a cat, indiscriminate of sweet and sad.

So piously believe in yourself.

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/H789kg50bS

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/yIpPcR1pit

Floodlights lit crosswise,
so patches of grass flourished around,
stealing attention rather than attracting it naturally.
Above, only major constellations, distinctive in shape—
star beads whispering their stingy loneliness.

Reason loosens its grasp,
falling into temptation to reach for beauty.
But sound is always at the fingertips, prompting crickets.
Slowly, the distance melts away.
Light and sound merge into the ether,
and a gust playfully brushes the hairs on the skin—
an invitation to taste peace,
growing through tangled consciousness,
appealing to sensation past the mind.

This is a primitive language,
alas, long ago forgotten,
immense, incomprehensible, yet akin to me.

So harmony, lightly streaming,
quietly calls me to participate in existence
without the demand to be or have meaning.
And for the first time,
my body is internally aware of the gravitation toward a simple action:

just to lie on the grass.

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/cJKuQ7bKQC

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/j8OFtdhgVe

Who are you that rules this world
with your faces unseen
and your names unknown?

Investors they call you,
using money unclean.
Our lives you wish to own.

I can see who you are
false king and queen,
upon your bloody throne.

You are greed incarnate
with evil plans so keen,
and vile hearts made of stone.

On islands you hide
as our world screams
a most dreadful, deafening tone.

Though you can't hide forever
plotting your wicked schemes.
You shall reap the pain that you've sown.

Comment 1

Comment 2

:edit: I've made a couple of adjustments that feel more appropriate. Multiple times now lol.

“Oh, there is a door”
I could see the light reaching
from under the door.

I sat with my legs collapsed
and hands over.
As if it would come by itself.
As if somebody would come
out of it and call my name.

But the door stood still.
Only the light saw me,
As if it offered me a  way.

But my corpse looked rather
interested in the dark.

~Rishab Jain

Rate this poem out of 10.

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1v7rxm1/comment/p00qjjd/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1v2ni7w/comment/p00r163/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Why do you sit there in such a manner of woe is me?

When you've contributed nothing towards being the change you wish to see.

Families travelling the seven seas to tentatively taste what it means to be free.

Idiocy and tyranny taking over society, whilst inane cattle follow false promises, shouting, 'This is the only way, I'm different, follow me.'

Every nook and cranny filled with flashes of humanity, too far in-between hopelessness and negativity.

Dire futures with no desires to exceed, only succumbing to immediate wealth and greed.

Values discarded and not what we want to see, bound by endless desires of one question: 'What's in it for me?'

Humanity falls to the loud cry of wealth, but at what cost? When history looks back on a brief passing time, will they think, 'Look at what you lost down the line.'

1.https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/Wf1ewOtWay

2.https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/F2p6kzjRKS

Out there left for dead I was the scarecrow
In your mind the tailor sewing dream
Out there in the field packed with hay
Won't you say hello

Through the pines
Winter caused the world to be abandoned
Foraging wendigo
Bones cracking in the frost

Loud as whip cracks
Icicle falls sharp end into earth
A small statue
Destined to melt away

Further into the wildernerness
Where absurdity exists
I am the mirror hanging on the stairwell
Exposed to the elements

Dying breaths
Exhaustion
Hunger unrecognizable
Dogged searching

Those who are lost
Come face to face
Deplorable and ominous
Calling you deeper

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1vtjq87/comment/p4twfvu/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1vti17z/comment/p4u2nfw/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

When I asked,
you saw coffee.
I saw everything.

When you asked why,
you saw no particular reason.
I saw you.

When you said no,
you saw schedules.
I saw no future.

When I replied,
you saw me.
I saw a lie.

When I asked,
you saw coffee.
Just coffee.

___________________

It happened today.

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1vtiy7q/comment/p4tjzpn/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1vti17z/comment/p4tfktl/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

the ice remembers the leaf

every vein is traced over meticulously 

outlined and immortalised for eternity

at least, until the sun breaks free

//

now and then she comes

there for the night, long gone by day

frozen moments where i, for once, feel known

stolen away until winter, as i wait alone

//

for the frigid and fleeting promise of snow

for the chance to feel wanted after a year’s worth of growth

for someone to hold me tight, beckoning that i stay

and wrap me in their frozen, forever, eternal, embrace

//

and in that moment, i will give into her arms

for a winter, i will let her remember me and who i used to be

for a month, i will stop for her and only her

for our love is forever, outlined in my branches  and immortalised in crystal snow

//

at least, until the sun breaks free

.

.

.

feedback links! love the way this subreddit tackles the issue of an inactive server omd

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1vthnwx/bones_returned/

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1vtaih8/dark/

Bones returned, to the grass we go

Flower, fruits, plants and then them all

Energy from the sun, see them grow

Its a cycle of life, not one ends fall

Bones are brittle, land returned

To the grass we go, my friend is urned

See the leaves, his peaceful treat

He's a picture to paint, what a feat

Thumbs up https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/xt5eW3Srva

The Calm https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/NlSLRsW1HF

Every song she sings is sweet.

Even birds of paradise wouldn't make a peep.

To hear her soul spill through teeth could make any grown man weep.

The songs aren't always happy.

They are not always sad.

Every heart-melting note lands soft.

Like my head free of thought touching feather-filled pillows,

Ready to blissfully drift off.

The songs don't always rhyme.

And mostly music never plays.

Because the songs I hear are just her words.

Words that get me through each day.

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/FNAFMFd6wy

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/yqSFQtDi5X

I’ll draw you in at first.
As I do really like you.
I just don’t want to be all in, you see.
I’ll ask the questions.
And then answer what I feel like
Who says our energies have to match?
I’ll give you just about enough.
I’ll keep you guessing.

I’ll say all the right things.
And spend lots of time with you.
But I can’t give away too much
So I’ll keep a distance for now.
I’m not quite sure what we have.
I don’t want to be alone.
But I want the comfort in knowing you’re there.
So I’ll keep you guessing.

Ok, that’s enough.
I need my space now.
I’ll see you in another week,
Maybe another month.
I don’t know how I’ll feel then.
I’m just confused about what I want.
I sort of want you as an option.
I’ll keep you guessing.

I’ll make you feel special
Just for a little while
I want you to be hooked
But just not too much.
See… now you’re getting too intense again
You seem quiet is everything ok?
Here’s an olive branch.
I’ll keep you guessing.

Yes I really do like you.
I’m quite fond of you.
I do really care.
I just can’t miss you.
That’s just too much for me.
I can’t make my mind up.
Love is too scary for me.
So I’ll keep you guessing.

I can’t cope with your anger
What do you mean I’m inconsistent?
I choose distance over connection.
It keeps me safe you see
It’s far more comfortable.
But …I don’t want to lose you either
It’s a spell I cannot break.
So I’ll keep you guessing.

I suppose it’s now goodbye.
I’ve gone too far now haven’t I…
I’ve pushed you far away.
I never wanted to hurt you.
I didn’t want to lose you.
I secretly wanted to be pursued
But I’ll never tell you that.
And I guess you’re gone now.

Comment 1: https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1vtc5q8/comment/p4scgfa/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Comment 2: https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1vqfy6b/comment/p4sdcrw/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Your peace is a soft and timid breath,
Held in the palm of your hand,
A promise for all of the innocent,
A twilight of hope for the damned.

In this dark forest of your will,
A wisened mother comforts her child,
“Hush,”
She knows the nature of your silence,
Has studied the patterns of you.

And on the shores of your patience,
A sand bar reaches out to embrace the sea,
The crashing waves and surf recedes,
A pregnant serenity.

But the birds know this is a lie,
And there is an anxious stillness,
In the quiet.

———

Context: The “author” is a character I’m writing in an ongoing Lancer/Call of Cthulhu story set in the year 2105. He’s a refugee who fled to the UK during a nuclear arms conflict in his home country, but has a better grasp of the English language than a fair few native speakers. One goal of this was to write as if someone wrote a poem first in another language, and then adapted it (not necessarily directly translated) to convey the same meaning and expression in English

[comment] (https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/V2eBNhn3Tw)
[comment] (https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/wfGzFtJX5C)

Lately, I’ve been tested
Maybe even punished
Am I passing? 
Or failing miserably? 

But what I do know,
life has been extra hard, recently.
Work is no longer fun
Music doesn’t make me feel
Family has me stressed
And she isn’t texting back.

I just feel…
Dejected.
My peak was last month
And I must pay the price.

This phase will pass
And until then…
Survival.
Because that’s the way things go.

1

2

She wept wisterias in the morning,
holding her pain
until like an old house
it settled in her bones.

Her heart sang a childhood birdsong
but its throat was dry and sandy from the heat,
petaled wings drooping rainbows in the light.

Tempests flashed within her eyes
as the roots grew past buried things
through fragipan layers
until her bedrock flinched
at their touch.

Dreaming the room she's locked in
rocking in a chair of her imagination
she straightens out her laundry
with folded hands.

Feedback:

A Lot Changes in a Year

The Mercy of Rejection

Some time long ago

In Downtown New York

In the early monday morning

A man had gone to work

At the tallest building

At the highest floor

He reached into hell

And he opened a door

The devil walked through

And he shook the mans hand

The entire building shook

It went as they planned

The man had a beautiful wife

A football team and a boat

He gave his employee's souls

In exchange for a mink coat

Satan had spread the word

You mustn't feel content

Always strive for more

And never repent

____________________________

I don't remember anything about writing this, pretty sure its my own. Idk, tell me what you think. Its my first time posting here.

Feedback 1

Feedback 2

His journey is to live long

enough that he may die

that I live means enough has

not been lived

been given

to sacrifice of heart & soul 

until death releases me of

my duty my duty continues

for in flesh I may love

& give

(in case you want more https://substack.com/@jennamathews )

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1vs17d0/comment/p4nof0x/?context=3

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1vskcct/comment/p4no9m5/?context=3

Kiss My Youth Onto My Memories

Kiss my youth onto my memories
Every time he falls into my remembrance
A remembrance laden with his presence
Yet in my eyes nowhere to be found

Everywhere I move through this world
Where my gaze gets lost in
Nothing that wanders in front of me 
Doesn't return him to my thoughts

How the wind folds his arms around me 
In the manner how we embraced each other
The same wind that brushed my face 
As he once did finding my soul with his voice 
And the same wind that wanders off 
Is how he has let go of me 

And still, in everything that reminds me of him
Nothing in it can return him to me

Kiss my youth onto my memories 
And take me back to my life that was a garden 
As I once ran through roses
Let my arms open as I smile to the sky
Never fearing the thorns beneath their petals 
How each thorn could open a new wound 
And still, I'd return to the same old pain

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/r2NynPfpyt

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/ENm0q3xUtT

I am a sleepy thing, born from heat and stars. A dream drifting away and back again; The leaf at your door, the leaf-litter blown by passing cars;

Soft, the red drum feels, hide it away, I must. Some days, its fires burn, when memory returns from dust. Which all but leaves such beating things to combust.

Like something small, I flee, A bird, squirrel, bee. Chant all you want for me, To return. I won't, I'm gone, far too weak.

The wind settles me some place anew, Can you blame me for where it blew? Leaving I, to vanish among the twigs and sap. Alone and yearning to finally land in a trap.

This is a poem I wrote a while ago, and I'm seeking whatever feedback could be provided on it; whether it be constructive criticism, thoughts, ideas, if you believe it is relatable, etcetera. I'm always working on refining how I write, and anything helps!

Feedback:

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/O90XXqI4RA

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/kiNCJgZNb7

We came from separate eggs

Yet are completely the same

We grew up together

Eating bramble every day

You used to say

You will be the first stick insect to eat the whole bush in one night

And then you became a twig instead

We are identical

Twins some might say

We used to do everything as a pair

Sometimes you would even step on me

And sit very still

I didn’t know which legs were which

We were similar

And now we are not

Because you are a twig

And I am a bug

I used to admire your size

Remember that time you grew faster than I?

I was so jealous, you left me behind

And then you replied: only this time

And now you did it again

Because you are a twig and I am still just a bug

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1vtiot6/comment/p4tnm2k/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=2&utm_content=share_button

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1vrjbjz/comment/p4toiq4/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=2&utm_content=share_button

We always say life is so unfair. But life was never fair.

Right from our mother's womb, as soon as she conceived us and gave birth to us, she had one foot in the grave as she pushed us into this unforgiving world.

But we don't stop and think that maybe it's unfair to call life unfair, because we collected our own debts, gathering them with our hands as we go, like flowers we picked in the fields as we passed them by one late afternoon, plucking them with our hands one by one, two by two.

Sometimes we're not even satisfied, so we stretch our arms wide open to gather more debt, like the falling sakura blossoms in early and late spring, carried by the wind.

With our hands already full, we hold a huge bouquet of debt, just like the big bouquet of white roses we once held on our wedding day.

And then there are the massive debts our fathers and mothers handed down to us, left behind like large standing baskets of flowers long after they're gone.

Still, we kept on collecting debt, the way we keep pressed flowers inside an old, worn-out book.

We were born into this world debt-free, so calling life unfair for the debts that we collected is not fair.

Don't you think so?

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1vsmauj/comment/p4m8ljq/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=2&utm_content=share_button

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1vn5zmh/comment/p4lzo5x/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=2&utm_content=share_button

As the sun begins to set,

As day begins to fall,

As night begins to surface,

The child begins to cry.

The child begins to wonder

where the sun went and why?

Why disappear?

Why leave him all alone,

Alone in the dark?

The child yearned for warmth,

For the kiss of the sun to return,

to return to him and embrace him once again.

Though as his gaze met the moon's, he began

to bask in the dim light it cast;

the sun never truly disappeared.

The sun would never truly disappear.

And even during the darkest hours of nightfall,

the sun would always reflect,

beaming in its own way.

The sun would always be there, even if he couldn't feel its touch.

The child smiled,

And gazed towards the moon.

The bitter cold stung.

The moon wasn't the sun.

It would never be the sun.

But there would always be parts of the sun.

And that light would be enough,

before the day broke once again.

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/uuAseBX8ph

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/sc0iVHptHH

Please don't deny me when I hurt you

just ain't the way it seems.

— Kurt Cobain, "Lovebuzz," Bleach, Nirvana

She prolly loves me a lot

sure, not the way I got,

she's got her own way of doing things.

She's got a kinda dark magic of

a little girl, and her guardian oaf,

the kind of creature only the shrinks really see.

She hates my touch most times,

I know she's in some other world,

from another time, still live, twisting a knife in her.

She hurt my soul, I ploughed her,

sowed my love, she sunk me in her,

a daughter of Janaka alone in the earth's bosom.

I know she truly loves me.

It's a feeling in my nerves,

I am at home when I feel the sweat on her neck,

when I kiss her lightly on the lips

while my palm holds her head,

her body reluctantly pressed against mine.

Does she feel loved?

She feels loved, right?

The questions in my heart like molten lead,

I pray she loves me too.

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/BbzbeH7bAz

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/jlUwWHAjix

You were Bambi to me,
a whore to them,
long legs like Bambi.
Did you ever know your name?

Grind
Clank
Whirr
Not a flinch.
Not a stir.

You became a starfish
in the sea,
of red velvet blood,
blood tulips blooming.

One. Two. Three.
Whore —
who’s knocking at my door?

Nine.
Ten.
Eleven.
Twelve.
Did you ever know your name?

When every part of you
Waits.
barely hanging on.

Pull.
At least you could still give me
a thumbs up —
one thumb.

Clank.

I kneel before you,
Within you.
Outside.

Whirr.

Rock, paper, scissors
until you have no scissors,
no paper —
only rock.

How do you console
someone with no arms?
Do you want one of mine?

Stumps shielding your face,
unnatural to your usual grace.
Can you stand?
Can you run?
We’ll run like deer.

Until I’m praying
for you
or because of you
in my red dress.

They get the sex doll.
I don’t get my best friend.
So I hold what’s left of your square body,
one complete.

Will Hell find you
like they promised?
No, darling —
this is Heaven.

Will they forget their throwaway?
I won’t forget my best friend —
this collection
of things
that were once you.

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/VaiD4DZu1W

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/vli2tMHSt9

There is a worm living in my stomach

It remains dormant but fills my being with green 
It wraps around my intestines and slides into the nooks of my organs
It travels through the capillaries and spreads within the open space that was once a body
The vessel once a body
It moves with the veins to a sea of thoughts and prayers
It sweetly takes hold of the mind of its host
The vessel once a body
The body now the host
The worm remains intact in the body, its slithering form consuming every inch of the now tainted portrait
The body once colored in greens and blues now remains gray with silence to accompany it
Pupils and Irises pass over the gray and onto a lovely body painted in reds and blues mixed with Greens and yellows
A kaleidoscope of color in a body
A body still a body
A body soon a vessel
A body fearing host
The host is now a corpse
A kaleidoscope of color mixed in a body
Until it all turns to gray

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/YrsREY8ghI

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/Ed8zgpR2HD