Category: Anti-war

The Last Living Rose




Give me shelter

From this daily war-zone

Throw me a blanket

Anything!

To protect my wilting petals


I am cold and lonely

I am tired and hungry

I am scared

Do not let me wither away

Help me


My brothers

The sunflowers

Are war torn too

Do not leave us

Please save us


Give me shelter

From this hard rain

Throw me your shadows

Anything!

To remove the thorns in my side


I am the last living rose

Do not forget me

Throw me an anchor

Anything!

To reground my ancient roots

Before I am blown away






Ivor Steven (c) June 2022

There Will Be An Answer

The Featured Image above was taken by Derrick Knight, and when I viewed his heartwarming photo of the foal peacefully sleeping on the grass, my mind was immediately inspired to write words, and after numerous attempts to create something worthy of Derrick’s beautiful photo, I eventually produced this poem “There Will Be An Answer” … and my poem is to be read by pretending that you are the “foal’s” thoughts … You may visit Derrick’s article by clicking on this Link >>
https://derrickjknight.com/2022/06/20/shadows-and-reflections/


There Will Be An Answer


All the world is green

Within my midday dream

Please, do not disturb me

Let me sleep, let me be

Let it be, let it be


I do not comprehend

Your unnatural trends

Of killing your neighbours

After kicking in their sacred doors


Do not listen to me

Hear the breeze among the trees

There, under nature’s ancient marquee

She wisely decrees

Live in harmony like the bees

Co-existence is free

Let it be, let it be






Ivor Steven (c) June 2022

Walking in Winter Rain



Welcome to wintry Geelong

One day, shimmering sunshine

The next, cold as the South Pole


But there he sits

At the front door

Waiting for his morning walk


Ok Frankie “Let’s brave it”

The wind is frigid

The misty rain is hard

And my eyes are crying

Icy droplets in the snow


But I am not complaining

As I think about the children

Sheltering in their damp cellars

Hiding from Putin’s hard rain

A deluge of bombs and bullets

Callously sent to kill and maim




** Please enjoy the Waterboys song below, “Mad as the Mist and Snow”, the words are directly taken from the W B Yeats poem of the same and musically adapted by Mike Scott

The Waterboys Lyrics ( by,W B Yeats)

“Mad As The Mist And Snow”

Bolt and bar the shutter for the foul winds blow
Our minds are at their best this night and I seem to know
That everything outside us is mad as the mist and snow
That everything outside us is mad as the mist and snow.

Horace there by Homer stands, Plato stands below
And here is Tully’s open page, how many years ago
Were you and I, lads, mad as the mist and snow?
Were you and I, lads, mad as the mist and snow?

You ask what makes me sigh, what makes me shudder so
I shudder and I sigh to think that even Cicero
And many minded Homer were mad as the mist and snow
That Cicero and Homer were mad as the mist and snow
That Cicero and Homer were mad as the mist and snow
…






Ivor Steven ©  June 2022

False Kings and Foolish Czars



The silence of time 

Will eventually bury mankind 

How many false Kings 

And foolish Czars 

Have destroyed our peaceful yards 


How many crumbling bricks 

Live in your castle walls? 

How foul are the deadly waters 

That fill your castle moats? 

How many old bridges 

Have you foolishly burnt down? 


How many shallow graves 

Do we have to dig? 

Before cemeteries overflow 

How many bloody floods 

Do we have to endure? 

Before the final curtain falls  






Ivor Steven (c) June 2022

Is The Light Our Goal?, is up at Coffee House Writers Magazine

Hello dear readers and followers, as you may know, I now write for “Coffee House Writers” magazine on a fortnightly basis, and my poem“Is The Light Our Goal”, is in this weeks edition of Coffee House Writers Magazine. … please click on the link below to read my poem, at Coffee House Writers >> https://coffeehousewriters.com/is-the-light-our-goal/







Ivor Steven (c) May 2022

Under A Vanishing Sky




The dawn is a gray silent sea

And as a cold fog invades me



I see a green paddock

Without a horizon

Vanishing into oblivion




I see a ghostly power-source

Hang without opposition

Vanishing into oblivion



I see a ghastly concrete Czar

Without compassion

Disappearing into oblivion






Ivor Steven ©  May 2022

A Banner Of Sunflowers

Continuing on from yesterday’s Ekphrastic poetry workshop, here is my poetic response to Shirley Drayton’s creative piece of textile artwork “Golden Sunflowers”

A Banner Of Sunflowers


look!

up there

above the War’s

darkest clouds

there is a blue banner

embroided with sunflowers

swaying

through a hole

in the eastern sky


bearing a message

of ‘Hello’

or is it ‘Goodbye’?

a sweeping reminder

from our Ancestors

“we feel your suffering and pain

from the merciless hard rain

blood filled rivers and cratered plains

smoke filled skylines and cracked windowpanes”


“however, we also know

beyond the broken horizon

the sunflower seeds of hope

will germinate again

and future seeds for peace

will regenerate a new campaign“






Ivor Steven (c) May 2022

Sunflower Seeds (a Tanka)

Over at Weekly Prompts, the monthly Colour Challenge for May is:  Mellow Yellow. Please go and visit their fabulous site by clicking >> Here . Below is my “Tanka” response to their ‘Colour Prompt’ ..



Sunflower Seeds (a Tanka)



Blue skies were mellow

Fields were peaceful and yellow

Sunflowers grew free

Then foreign tanks squashed their seeds

On tomorrow’s scarred harrows






Ivor Steven (c) May 2022

Beyond Crickets And Mushrooms




Autumn has been dry and warm

And the earth remains cracked

Providing cosy homes for the field critters

The brown crickets are thriving

And hopping along shared tracks

Innocently dancing there

Beyond the murdering arms of war


Mushrooms are sprouting on the verges

Stoically poised on stumpy stems

Under sheltering white caps

Nature’s nutritional ground fruit

Innocently standing there

Beyond the murdering arms of war






Ivor Steven (c) April 2022