Peacock

I am a peacock preening feathers

So you might not notice

How slight I really am.

Maintain this sheen make it gleam

Lest it betray my fear

Of prying eyes

From fiendish spies.

So many layers built upon

For year after year after year

I don’t remember the colour

Of my own natural skin.

There are few and far between

That see me as I am,

When days length gives way

To evenings hold and nights sway,

All the shimmer and shine

Of my prized plumage

Means nothing in the dark.

The fear of being known

As well of being unknown

Keeps me painted today,

Now you know my secret

Seen the crack in my veneer,

When twilight comes

And the brilliance of the sun

Angles just right I’ll see yours too.

Wear your flaw proudly

It’s what makes you unique

Makes you not by rote,

Not just a laugh track

On the rerun of anybodies life,

Not just another zoo attraction

Be a rebel a renegade

Choose to boil or freeze

No matter the centigrade.

– Vagabond Prophet

@josy57 “Cracked Veneer.” This was nifty, thanks again.

A promise is better than a feeling
A promise leaves its indelible fingerprint
A promise lingers on the breath
Long after death.

Vagabond Prophet

@delightfulharmonypoetry

Wooden Heart

The featureless face

Has known no joy or sorrow,

So when you see me

With my visage deeply fissured

Remember life has hewn me.

I have peeled back my skin

To let life better in,

It has shaped me

As the river does the canyon.

Beginning a flat expanse

Until the life bringing rush

Begins to carry away

What was dead.

Leaving only the elemental me

The undilutable you

The saturated facthood

Of who I’m made to be.

I stowed the truth away

Far below deck

And tightened my sails

Heading always west.

You and I always tied

Though I may have denied

Your course set east

Made taut the distance between us.

The chord stretched tight

It sang a plight

Plucked beautifully by the wind.

The song so mournful

The plaintive cry so sorrowful,

Weeping into the sea

Tasting the salt pouring from my eyes

Into the salt spoken from your tongue

I knew I could not escape you.

Though you’ve been forever constant

Today is no assurance of tomorrow,

Carve me sharply

Take hammer and chisel

Sculpt this stony soul.

With careful but persistent love

Shape this brow

And make cavernous my visage

As you alone see fit.

When this trunk falls

Count the rings

Of this wooden heart

And know I thank you

For the chance to have grown at all.

I’ll even thank you for the toothy blade

That brings me to my knees

For death that day

May be better than growing pains.

You demolish me more beautifully

Than I could ever adorn myself.

– Vagabond Prophet

@josy57 thank you for the totally groovy prompt “A featureless face.” It’s always a good time.