Death, My Friend

Death, my friend - so good to see you!
Stand aloft and view my soul!
I have to say you’re looking frightful -
Bony chum, you affable ghoul.

Death, my friend, so charmed I’m sure!
State your case and tell me straight -
Am I worthy of reward, so
Venture I to Heaven’s Gate?

Death, my friend, a new acquaintance!
You're always welcome in my home -
Though the stare from empty sockets
Indicates to Hell we roam!

Death, my friend - my bosom buddy.
My! your finger points at me!
Be you tired of my frivolity?
Aha, I see - Oblivion, we!

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poem by Mark R Slaughter
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April, Dear April

April, dear April, I beg you come soon –
And bring your sweet primroses too.
Let them join in with the daffodils’ play,
As skies offer sunshine anew.

April, dear April, my blessed spring child,
Ornate in your yellow and white,
Teasing the birds into trilling their songs
And dancing to music of flight.

April, dear April, come enter my dreams
And rid me from cold winter chills.
Banish the rain and those blustery winds
And warm up our countryside hills.

April, dear April, I know you can’t stay -
You have to move on ‘till next year.
And though I shall cherish the glory of summer,
You’ll always be my month most dear.

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poem by Mark R Slaughter
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Lonely You; Lonely I

You say you are lonely.
Are you? Come see MY solitary world.

I am lonely:
Not the ‘generally feeling lonely’ feeling –
You know, the ‘I need a cuddle 'cos I’m feeling a bit lonely today’ feeling;
Or the ‘I’m on my own today so I think I need to call up a friend’ feeling.
No, I mean the terror and depression of cold isolation;
That Black Hole of raw solitude;
The nadir you arrive at after a steady spiral downwards, inwards.
And suffocation by the blanket of social invisibility
Which insidiously greyed out your psyche without your knowing.
You know, when you alight on the platform of endless alcoholic days;
When you’re sprawled vacant and naked in the corner of your filthy room,
Oblivious to the scurrying life outside –
That which doesn’t acknowledge your existence anyway:

That’s lonely.

Copyright © Mark R Slaughter 2009

poem by Mark R Slaughter
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In Death, My Final Part

A tower grim; a glowering darkness,
And only brown of red the other hue
– I saw it in the distant eyes –
And yes, He knew, but focussed only
On the mortal soul of mine –
After all, He had a role to play,
And wine: my shivering blood to quaff!
If only I could Him betray –
To break the seal of destiny;
Escape the lone cacophony
That emanates from wailing minds!

Damn the fate of His – it awes and blinds!
But oh! the mighty hammer strikes a toll;
The slow approach of Him upon the knoll
Commences exudation of a dying heart.
Endorsing all, I honed my final part.

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poem by Mark R Slaughter
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Smoker

I billowed calmly as a cloud
Upon a course for acid rain,
When in the fog of smoking crowd,
My lungs collapsed in searing pain.

Full of soot and black with tar,
I coughed in vain for chest to clear;
At least my lungs had got this far
Despite my years of toxic air.

But Smokers' Lounge was home to me,
Where fellow addicts puff with joy:
Our pipes in hand, all friends are we,
‘Let's fine cigars now share, my boy! '

‘So gasp away! ' my motto cries,
‘And light another cigarette
Before a further smoker dies,
Which happens often - you can bet! '

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poem by Mark R Slaughter
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Her Bliss

Death is in the flower's heart –
Why to cry for life of any petal?

Death in purple ink of weary pens
Betrays the written yearnings
On her scented paper.

Death is laughing in her cry;
Her broken heart forlorn upon the sleeve.

Death ignores the plight of any purity –
He doesn’t care or seem to be aware of
What her dewy eye desires,
For Death beckoned:

'Embrace the jar! '
And yes, she did –
For Death, of course.

After all, no other man would

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poem by Mark R Slaughter
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Rain Tears

Rain, tears, rain, tears,
Melding in torrential fears:
Chill of cloud; saddened eye-
In either way, a latent cry.

Rain, tears, rain, tears,
Married under sceptic jeers:
‘They'll never last.' Methinks not true, for
Either way, forever blue.

Rain, tears, rain, tears,
Simple love with lacy cares,
Their intercourse will ne'er refrain
From rain and tears and tears and rain.

Copyright © Mark R Slaughter 2010

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poem by Mark R Slaughter
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Tale of Three Cities

New York blasted London blasted
Singapore -
Ripped off each other's metaphoric balls,
Crumbling walls.

Priapic city monoliths -
Blue-sky scraping bastards -
Shout about their height (but really length) .

V8 arseholes didn't care -
Pumping shit into the air,
So long as they were always there to
Fart aloud a smoggy cloud,
Laughing at the weak asthmatic,
Humoured that it seems traumatic.

Watch the greedy cities oozing
Chair-bound fat committees, though they
Look a bunch of titties as they
Waffle on about the pound.

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poem by Mark R Slaughter
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Wallow in the Greed

If you could know how much I earn,
I'm sure to see you blush!
To earn the stipend that I do
Will mean therefore, I look at you
From high above in my success
And say to you, 'Poor thing, God bless.'

The greedy bastard that I am –
I love to drown in bling!
Unlike you – so bloody poor, and
Picking coins up off the floor!
But sorry mate, I'm not to blame –
The fact your bank account is lame!

Come and see my flashy car,
Awash inside with leather –
I saw the battered wreck you drive,
Spewing out its oily smog!
Your banger, friend, is such a dog –
Clanking out its dialogue.

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poem by Mark R Slaughter
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Apparition of a Butterfly

Upon a fuzzy vista – vision blurred –
I tried to focus; nothing ever solid
Came to view, but undeterred, I blinked
An eye to try again. Through the mist
A coloured hue; polychromatic flames
Had flickered at a whim; a rhythm bore
A thrumming too: a naturalistic hymn.
Behold! Were I to find a synonym to
Reproduce or recreate
The apparition of a butterfly,
Evolving through the waning vapour,
Drawing on a sigh from this romantic.
Glory be! The raging sun above
Had fired his furnace, flaming off
The hangers on. Now I saw the flare:
His time has come. He spread a tortoiseshell –
A scene of Mother Nature at her best.
I lay in peace in knowing I was blessed.

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poem by Mark R Slaughter
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