Introvert’s Lament

You spend summers in the cellar, drinking raspberry tea
The green above teams with beetles and life
But elusive cool shade draws you out of the sun
To a quieter place where you can be alone

Alone to think, alone to drink, alone to wonder toward the brink
Shone by the moment, stoned by the weight, moaning your woes
Alone to think

The logical hiding takes too much away
Dulling destruction in gray disarray
A swallow heard chirping tempts you out
But fear of unknown sends you back to your throne

Prince of your poems, king of your songs

Surveyor of stories, where do you belong?

In the light of the masses where critics abound

Or do you prefer the judgement of being alone?

Alone to think, alone with ink, alone to wonder toward the brink
Shone by the moment, stoned by the weight, moaning your woes
Alone to sink

Dichotomies drift and swell, plummet and muster
Of longing to live and yearning to tell
A story to someone when no one is there
Except the haunting of greatness, alone take the dare

 
An introspection tale, a whispering gale
The fright of the introvert, the might of shy shadow
What does separation bring to the table?
What inspiration to dreamers is being alone?

Alone to think, alone to shrink, alone to wonder toward the brink
Shone by the moment, stoned by the weight, moaning your woes
Alone in the rink

Burrow and bury, side-step contrary

Shield with walls and call it humble

Hoard your gift beneath the guise

Of sheltered care with a protective glare

Thoughts planted well in the wiles

Beyond meandering imagining miles

Intimidated by ideas to share

Will others care? Or should you remain alone?

Alone to think, alone to sink, alone to wander toward the brink
Shone by the moment, stoned by the weight, bemoaning your foes
Alone to wink

 
By Royce Waxenfelter
3/15/19

Pushing love back down

Soft and sullen

The girl unwilling

To give love a try

Creates her wishes on the ceiling

She climbs inside her mind

The perfect place to hide

A shelter from the feelings

Escaping to sublime

But the yearning pokes her conscience

his smile evokes and prods

nerves she wants desperately to deaden

she ignores his winks and nods

she tries cruelty,

emits anti-nice

flexing cold shoulders

beneath her pauldrons of ice

She climbs inside her mind

The perfect place to hide

A shelter from the feelings

Escaping to sublime

but he won’t give up, won’t give in

persisting through uninvited

how long will his attempts to love

remain so unrequited

She pretends not to care

to be unaware

the emotions she feels bubbling up

she chooses not to share

She climbs inside her mind

The perfect place to hide

A shelter from the feelings

Escaping to sublime

Royalty in her reality

She wears a single crown

The queen of singles

Pushes love back down

Her valiant knight is stubborn

Faces her denial like a giant

A test of wills

Him: unrelenting, her: defiant

She climbs inside her mind

The perfect place to hide

A shelter from the feelings

Escaping to sublime

The boy conscripted to another kind of battle

Never to return to his hometown

The girl cried on the inside

Then shoved the love back down

Take heed young worried ones

The hurt is heavier than the single crown

A cautionary tale of

Shoving love back down

She climbs inside her mind

The perfect place to hide

A shelter from the feelings

Escaping to sublime

Escaping… yet alone.

By Royce Waxenfelter

11/21/19

A Small Band of Woodland Creatures

A waxwing went whistling
sweet songs along the way.
A bullfrog croaking bass tones
joined his band that day.
A forest squirrel politely asked,
"May I join you fine sounding fellows?
I rather like the harmony
the chirping and the bellows."
"What sound do you make?"
the waxwing asked in interviewer's fashion.
"A swift staccato clicking noise
known as 'chattering with passion.'"
"Let's give him a try!" came the bullfrog reply
and he led them in a round.
They sounded just fine and the squirrel kept time
by dropping acorns on the ground.
It didn't take long for the sound to spread,
others joined the company:
A robin, a beaver, and the buzzing hum
of a big ol' bumble bee.
Soliloquies now blended
are practiced, shaped, and mended.
Some marching tunes, some waltzes,
both straight legged and bended.
The woodland creatures harmonize beneath the willow tree,
they put on a show that cannot be matched for listeners like me!


by Royce Waxenfelter
10/12/18

Knowing the Unknown

In the silence I heard footsteps

Scrape across an old tile floor

For a second, pensive shivers

As the sound came toward the door

In a panic, my eyes spastic

Darting all around the room

Searching for a hiding place

To escape impending doom

Why am I worried?

Why am I scared?

Do I think perhaps I’ll meet my maker?

And what if no one cared?

Through my heavy breathing

The scrapes became more faint

Like a haunting in a graveyard

By a wrongful murdered saint

Why do I worry?

Why do I care?

Ain’t there a God up there who loves me?

Isn’t Heaven waiting there?

When the doorknob turned I shuttered

My soul hid behind my bones

And I nearly let a scream escape

As the door crept open with a groan

Then I sighed and melted, sobbing

Believing I would face a ghost

And when the shadow came into the room

I learned right then what I feared most

Why do I worry?

Why do I cry?

Why do I let this dread define me?

Lord, I’m afraid to die!

When the shadow came into the room 

And turned on the old light switch

It wasn’t some old ghost at all

It wasn’t some old witch

My mother stepped out from the shadows

Rushed right over to the bed

Wrapped her loving arms around me

And this is what she said

You don’t have to worry

Your mommy’s here

And she has Jesus deep down in her heart

He’ll wipe away the sadness, take away the fear

No, no, don’t worry

Don’t be afraid

Trust the Lord, he’s got your back

It’s going to be okay.

By Royce Waxenfelter

11/3/19

Overcoming Me (A Brighter Way)

I suffer choosing

And get in my own way

This life of losing

These sweet songs of dismay

Listing laughter 

Among the absent sounds

And melancholy

Among my favorite hounds

But in my dreams I fly

And in my dreams I’m never gonna die

I take the joy with me and travel where I may

I drift beyond myself unto a brighter way

A pitied jester

They throw this dog a bone

And smirk smug laughter

Because they’re not alone

I take the ribbing

Because I am a fool

I own it proudly

Self-torturing so cruel

But in my dreams I fly

And in my dreams I’m never gonna die

I take the joy with me and travel where I may

I drift beyond myself unto a brighter way

I often wonder

Is there a sweet, sweet song

‘Til sourness bites me

And do the doubts drum on

I’m never leaving

This hopeless life surreal

Into the void I sink

Into the night I steal

Where in my dreams I fly

And in my dreams I’m never gonna die

I take the joy with me and travel where I may

I drift beyond myself unto a brighter way

So what’s the point you say

Why do you try at all

Just give up living

Into your grave go crawl

And when I lose all hope

I offer up this plea

Lord help me Jesus

In overcoming me

Where in my dreams I fly

And in my dreams I’m never gonna die

I take the joy with me and travel where I may

I drift beyond myself unto a brighter way

....unto a brighter way

...a brighter way!

by Royce Waxenfelter

11/29/19