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Tag: reflection

Vancouver I-III

Published by Ondrej on December 17, 2022

Vancouver I

Oh Canada, O Canada, Ah Canada!
You’ve treated me well
through no decision of your own.
As your Christmas lights twinkle on the streets
And as Christmas jazz rings out on Wave 98.3
I can look back on it all.

Your majestic landscapes embraced me
as I stood in the palm of Their hands
Embraced me tight when I needed it most
As I showed myself how to be
once more content in my own skin;
I know you had something to do with that.

Your splendid concert halls rang and echoed
with Vivaldi, Tchaikovsky and fellow musicians
My heart rings out with life anew.

This was a séjour of all the senses,
of all the emotions.
I will cherish it
I will cherish you for evermore.

Vancouver II

Your Christmastime saxophone blares
good tidings for all
As in the palm
of Nature’s hand we stand
O help us coexist
in harmony
May festive jazz ring out
on this blessed planet for evermore.

Vancouver III

Four months have I resided in your cradle
and savoured your hospitality
You showed me your troubles
and I unveiled mine
But together we learned from each other:
I saw your beauty
and you saw mine.

Travelling through moving pictures

Published by Ondrej on August 24, 2022

I like to travel through film
through travelling emotions
to different worlds
to the other side of the road
where the grass is greener
that’s what we believe
until we arrive and find out
it’s burned from the drought.

Both sides now

Published by Ondrej on December 25, 2021

I want to write a poem about Christmas
About love, and the tender caresses
of good, home-cooked food,
of the shadows of a love
and of last year’s shadows.

How this is the last Christmas I’ll be spending here
A new house, a new home coming near
This one will retire to memory;
as I suppose we shall all one day
one day, it’ll be me and you
memories of us—
reduced to spiritual dust.

But I fail to do that:
I can’t write of Mary
and the way I wished she’d travel
through our souls, our bodies
but maybe I should write of Mary and Joseph
after all, their lad’s had a birthday.
Neither of us will be doing any travelling:
my Mary, well, she was very clear
and the famous lad, well,
he’s a bit on the pale side
(to put it very mildly)
and Santa’s monopolised the market.

In the last minutes of Anglo-Saxon Christmas Day,
writing this in bed, and as proud as a sticky sun ray
with Joni Mitchell lodged nearby:
I’ve yet to see life from both sides
and I’m bloody well looking forward to it
to find out where peace, love and all that waffle resides
maybe on the other side of December 31st
maybe Mary will show me one day.

Then I’ll discover what life’s both sides are
by then I hope to have refreshed my repertoire
and replenished hope’s anguished reservoir.

Leaving home behind

Published by Ondrej on December 18, 2021

Overcome by melancholy
Once more on a giant metal bird
Leaving home behind,
Going home,
Flying home for Christmas.

Leaving love behind
Love which was not to be
Not the right time, day or year

Leaving friends like family behind
Leaving home behind

But coming home!
Leaving all the sweat, tears
and stress all behind.

There’s nothing like a parent’s embrace
Of that I needn’t dream.

“What is home?” they ask me
Home is whatever you make it to be

Home is going from one home to another
From love, friends, stress and bother
To family, love, togetherness and a previous life
What is home? This is home. Home is life.

Snowflakes on your lashes

Published by Ondrej on December 3, 2021

On a resplendent December night
I last looked upon you in a resplendent way
the thick snowflakes, a glorious sight
they fell on your perfect eyelashes, blinking them away.

This little poem is a search for closure of sorts
and I will not reflect upon you like so no more;
despite the pain, the sadness that contorts
my soul, my joy, all bruised, bandaged now, still sore.

We spun around on the dance floor like two fireflies
glowing in the dim cold winter, bright—
your laugh, your eyes, your hair, my heart cries
such raw, unblemished, naked emotional might.

For a fleeting moment I allowed myself to entertain
a future, in sync, waltzing, laughing together
of which now must an icy memory remain
not should our paths cross, for the better?

Your inner and outer beauty shone like a pale rose
and I understood the predicament you lied before
and, for the better like this, I suppose
this final cry, this final poem for you—and no more.

When you voiced your reflected thoughts—
it is as if all winter stood perfectly still around
snowflakes frozen on your lashes like catapults
shaking, crumbling, melting my ground.

I did not wish to give in to hope
but hope and future joy found me nevertheless
since our profound, shared, mutual joy needn’t cope
alas we were wrong and allowed hope into this mess

But now, I have written my raw, grinding emotions for you
Yesterday, when you told me—I would have
cried you a river if it would mean us two
together, our cheeks a light, naked mauve.

This is the best way forward; but didn’t you know
how much your company meant so profoundly
I will miss the laughter, the perspective it used to show
a faded, defunct light will no longer guide me.

I will turn to other lighthouses on these December nights
but never fill I forget your resplendent sights
snowflakes on your lashes
before my heart crumbles, smashes.

This is how it should go, farewell dear friend
no use in pretending, my heart is on the mend;
good luck to my memory of you—my love is now in this poem, here
for I was forced to extinguish its inner end
this postcard of thoughts I will here write and send
and I know, I hold steadfast I will shed no tear
this is best for you and me, dear.

Discovered poem 1

Published by Ondrej on April 13, 2021

Mornings with a steaming cuppa tea
crispy pain au chocolat, my favourites
(you can hear them crackle)
a newspaper, sitting by the fire
thinking about what it all means.

The grip of true conversation
warms my heart
be it with friends, family or a lover
these have been much forsaken lately
Discussion where we’re vulnerable
and think candidly aloud
are a true breeding ground
for bonds between good people to be bound.

This poem is part of a series of rediscovered poems, i.e. poems I found lying around and to which no date nor title have been attributed previously. This particular poem was likely composed in February or March 2021.

The everyperson

Published by Ondrej on February 16, 2021

You, the everyperson
What are you doing today?
What’s on your mind?
What did you have for breakfast
and what’s for dinner?

What are you thinking as you look through the window?
It, in all its grimy glory
from the bus thundering past
life as still as frozen peas
as malleable as steel plate
where does your mind lead?

Are you thinking of the beautiful lady opposite
or perhaps the charming man you met yesterday
or more likely, what’s on offer at Lidl
and whether you’ve turned off the stove…
Does Nickelback or Chick Corea influence your thoughts?
Or is it perhaps Ms Austen?

Perhaps none of those;
perhaps it’s the man staring at you for the last eternity,
the man wondering
what you’re thinking
is staring right back at me.

Thought

Published by Ondrej on February 1, 2021

Often I think I rush too much
Indeed, we all overthink, such
is the nature of our modern
society, making our minds churn.

Consider the good, the love, the warmth
that would and could spread henceforth
from our hearts, from all our smiles
if we all just stopped running miles
round in our brains—and just gave
a moment, forgetting thoughts we couldn’t save
we deserve, we all do
a profound breather, a break too.

Even hard-working God found
through rest Creation is bound.

There’s so much to live for

Published by Ondrej on February 1, 2021

The world with all its varied splendour
all the colours of every sense
endlessly perceived through your
stupefyingly meaningless existence.

Why have faith in humanity
why praise the stars in the sky
why explore every single extremity
why does every living thing eventually die?

It’s because there’s just so much to live for
it isn’t—and should never be—a bore;
life in all its splendid spectra
gives you of emotions and thoughts a plethora:
it’s worth it: to see the sunrise and the sunset
and look forward to knowing people you’ve never met.

This poem was written some time in November or December 2020, but the exact date is unknown.

Twenty Twenty 2

Published by Ondrej on December 31, 2020

On this eve of the New Year,
Now is the time to reminisce,
Now is the time to cry
Now is the time to wave 2020 goodbye!

Cheesy rhymes put away
keeping those urges at bay
just kidding—definitely not
I’d get my brain in a knot!

As I was saying
before my words started rhyming
This is the end of a hell of a year
A new one is here
almost, within touching distance
let’s hope it’s different than last one, good riddance!