Yes, newbie here. But I love writing poetry and have gotten three published (for free, yes, but that's still a name and copyright on paper!). I'm always looking for some criticism and overall just what people think/feel when reading my work. So here goes!

End of Summer

End of a golden romance
Fading like blue skies to the star
Engulfed by autumn's flames
Venus lain to rest o'er mountains far
The indigo veil of Selene singing a lullaby
Helping Her forget the pain She brought
To those who drowned in crimson love.
Pale limbs reaching towards distant clouds
A soft song broken by the coming frosts
The echo of screaming pleasure
Of torrential passion that led to such agonies
Forever encased in broken shards of memory.
The kisses in the dawn when Venus dreamed
And the secrets shared between lovers when She awoke
Set in stoney hearts turning to winter's chill
The warm fires of the Fall having no cheer
Only mimicking the flames of true love
Reflected clearly in her teary gaze
The end of summer.

To Ash

Words to pass through hearts turned black
Light to dark just around the corner
Nothing's what it seems
And there's no way out anymore
Not when the good become the bad and evil.
To Blood...
To Blood...
To Blood...
Only substance to render us silent
The one connection none of us can deny
Though we smile by day and growl by night
Our two-faced lives are defeated by our blood ties
And we drown and burn in our Sins alright...
In Flames...
In Flames...
In Flames...
Fighting against tides thrown by the old
Thrownby the dead and forgotten
Our ancestors never thought of us
And our very bones crushed beneath the pressure of apathy
Paying for our Sins once more...just now how the book said.
Then Ash...
Then Ash...
Then To Ash...
Back to the basics...
"My name is...., what's yours?"

I have to admit, I have a tendency to use several words frequently in my poems, and the same themes. But there's so many different ways in expressing what your senses tell you...I can hardly see anything wrong with that. ^^ One thing I am working towards is eventually completing a book of my poems, and having it printed out.

Nemo

nameless blood spilling across stone
the gentle rain falling down, spreading it
too light to wash the stains away
to wash away such sin...as being no one's.

through the scent of the rain lingers perfume
of a light-haired maiden shining like a sun
it's her light that abandons a nobody now
her smile and laugh distant on the wind.

darkest clouds pass over the azure blue skies of a heart
grown cold as the bloody stone it lays bare to
a forgotten memory flickering, too stubborn to be put out
'because i love you...'.

what excuse is love to justify blood on your hands?

not a lover's blood...nor a brother's...
not your mother's...not even your own...
no one's blood covers your hands
it's no one's tears that you weep for.

such ivory marred red...such perfection...
what agony ignorance can bring...
just once no one saw that ray of sunshine...
and just as soon after no one lays dying over dampened stone.

and it's no one who lays alone under the darkening sky
no one's been robbed of everything
and in a few moments it won't matter...
because who would mourn over the nameless?

"Nemo" I really enjoyed writing. It came to me while I was reading the first manga volume of 'Model' by Lee So-Young. It's about a female artist who ends up a little in over her head with a vampyre who's as narcistic as they come. So, in this poem I was trying to really express the feeling of emptiness which is all you have left if all your love is for yourself (note the lack of capitals...). In my opinion, at any rate.

Silent Murder

Alone to dusk the wishful wait
Watching sun fall and star rise
Counting them as they appear...
Until the moon arrives
And bathing the young and rash
In the silvery light of Luna
But then star fall and sunrise again...
And cold tears fall to join the void on the horizon.

Pining for love when it's something they've never had
Offering prayer after prayer...just words
Looking up to the Heaven's as if someone cares
Can't help that blade of betrayal
Digging deeper, severing what they call hope
Drinking their tears to live
And dig deeper still...
Until rubies fall with those watery stars.

To beds of roses porceline figures fall
Petals to pull away tears and dreams
Suffocating the lost in their desires
Taking their hands and tying them to fantasy
Deeper into their hearts and farther from their minds
Until this murder takes them completely
Until the moon rises searching for the dove
Finding it's smile, still as alabaster.

"Silent Murder" was written out of a little spout of depression I had not too long ago...hurts being left standing, waiting for someone. Either to save you or just to show up and keep you company online. -.-

Broken

Can't touch what doesn't exist
Can't believe in something you've never known
Falling through this void of the heart
Unable to scream
Or bother watching the tides pull you under
It's to a hell of our own
That we make our own destiny.

Can't say we don't try
Can't say we don't call out from time to time
Just one more time...just one more try...
Maybe someone will notice us
That we shouldn't be left alone
Maybe someone will decide we're worth
Dropping everything to come and save.

Can't go on anymore
Can't go back either
Stuck in a rut dug by our own spade
A black heart with razor edges
How long have we been wandering this place?
How long until we finally die
Until we finally find the bottom of this hole?

Can't look up anymore
Can't want to see the same void
That echoes our hearts
And what seems like our souls
Won't feed more dying wood to the flame
Burning darker and darker as we pretend
That we've found some light..somehow.

Can't reach out to them
Can't reach for what isn't there for us to hold
The illusion of a warm hand
Is only another blade to the flesh
Dragging us deeper, falling faster
Until we're too deep to climb back up
Until we can't move anymore.

Can't get through to you
Can't communicate to those who don't know
Some just can't or won't understand
This blackness that ends up swallowing some of us whole
They won't come to save us
Writing us off as a clique of strangers
Not really seeing us anymore...

That we just can't any longer.

"Broken" I won't say much on...since the last time I tried explaining my 'inspiration' I ended up getting more upset about the entire issue. So, read it, think what you will.

Wingless

Been awhile since light touched my face
Grown so pale, crawling away from the sun
Searching the skies for a new moon
Searching that endless void for something more
Can't seem to find it though...
With eyes grown black as my own.

Moving in circles, again and around
Beginning to end without passing a line
An eternity of broken dreams
With only shadows of what could be.

And with trembling fingers I pluck these feathers...
Scattering them across the ground
Wishing life was right somehow.

Crawling through a darkness all my own
Stolen from offering hands and clutched to my breast
Harbouring the lies and foul words of the world
A fallen angel greedy for the pain of apathy
Never able to sate a hunger...
The only thing that makes me feel alive.

Then you come along, all wrapped up in white
That damnable halo tucked away so I might talk
You dare enter this wasteland
Of my agony and deceit?

And with trembling fingers I pluck these feathers...
Scattering them across the ground
Wishing life was right somehow.

Can't get rid of you, you must be my tar
Sticking and collecting each of those white feathers
Sticking them together, mocking me somehow
Mocking my broken wings, I'm sure
Can't leave well enough alone, can you?
Picking at me until I'm okay...

Is this how hate becomes love?
I loathe myself so much to allow you in my mind
To talk me into waking at the dawn...
And joining you as the sun rises?

And with trembling fingers I plucked those feathers...
Scattering them across the ground...

And with trembling fingers I pluck these ones
Before your sticky fingers can finish the job
So I can wish I could make my life right somehow...

...and free you of the burden.

"Wingless"...was for a very special person close to my heart. A lot of my poetry has been inspired by him, his kindness, and the trials he puts my abused mind through. When he read this poem, he messaged me and said;

"I loved the poem...and for the thousandth time! You're not a burden!"

^^

Bitter Cold

Left alone in the wind you call home
I couldn't believe the angel I saw when I found you
Such a gentle soul, broken and torn
Accept this rose, a token of my sympathies.

To my arms you run now
To hear my voice whispering in your ear
To me you turn to when the wind is howling
And I don't plan to let you go.

It's too bad you found me so late
So sad that my strength is waning even now
Take this rose from my hands now...
And dry your tears with crimson.

In my arms you weep now
Silver tears trickling down pearly cheeks
I don't have wings...so why?
I was merely a moth to your moonlit flame.

Undying Rose

No...I won't believe my eyes
A rose...lying atop your still breast
And with ragged breath I bury
The cold truth under warmer lies
Who's rose, I don't want to know
But all this time I thought you...
I can't believe I was mistaken.

No...I won't be angry now
I can't get upset with you gone away
Perhaps if you were alive I could still...
But you've gone where I can't follow
Gone back with the angels who left you...
Would you come back for me...
If I left the same way?

No...I won't think about that rose
Who's hands you let touch you...
Who's lips you let trail down your neck...
Who's whispers you moaned to...
What darkness you made with someone else
All those times you returned to me smiling
...Now I know, but I won't admit it.

No...I won't admit that I'm alone
I'll keep telling myself your smiling down on me
And when I look to the starry sky
It's your eyes and dreams I see
And I'll hold that rose out to the wind
And let it tear it to pieces...
Though it's thorns won't loose from my heart.

No...I wont' tarnish your memory
With my own blood, with your betrayal
You always did everything for me
An endless fountain of energy
An angel blessed in moonlight...
I'll always remember your undimming love
...and your undying heart.

Ambreglow*

Deep, deep within the horizon
Where Sea meets the Sky
And Wind and Water are sisters forever more...
As Aphrodite came upon the world in a shell
Shining for all her love and beauty
So does this love in my heart...
And so a mortal phrase to please this woman
This goddess, this love of mine...
To return the love and friendship over time.
To you, loveliness, I send this dawn...
To you, would-be lover, I send this dream...
Set in Ambreglow, your memory eternal...
This bright gem nestled between Sky and Sea.

(yes, 'Ambreglow' is spelled that way for a reason. The name of the one it's dedicated to.)

Poet's World

A glance out the window tells me the harvest has come again
The dawn is on the edge of existance, and the clouds have risen
And amongst those angelic hills lie the pearls of light.
I place the ballpoint to the side, not taking my eye from the catch
My hand passes the red, the blue, the black, the graphite...
And the fingers graze the feather of an owl.
Imbued with wisdom and sight greater than man's
Feeling the soft texture as I take up this peppered tool
Letting the tip graze the gold of my tongue.
Inked and ready, I pull the parchment saved up over time
Refusing to give the natural world anything but it's own
And I watch as those pearls begin to glitter, revealing their nests.
And I pluck them! Rolling them down the length of my feather quill
Gilding them in gold - not too much! - then wrapping them on this paper
Quick! Before the light dims again!
And preserved beneath white sand these pearls will remain
Rolled up and sealed under dark wax, my crest for all to see
A mighty quill and sword crossed over a blooming gem.

"Poet's World" is a gem of my collection, and one that was at the point of the tide between my older poems and these newer...better ones. It was a beautiful dawn that morning.

Dedicated to poet's everywhere.

Vertigo

Falling...a distant plea in the night
Dreamless, sleepless...cotton padded fantasies
What's real anymore?
From the cold clouds I'm passing through
Years of ignorance I've suffered
...and for what now?

Falling...could that scream be mine?
Forgetting, neglecting...a pain now my own
Could I be to blame?
Piercing rains cut like those razor blades
A decade or two of bottled pain
...is this my release?

Falling...will I hit the sea or earth?
Wingless, graceless...thrown from above
From a castle in the air.
Twilight turns and blinds me like so many lies
What was once beautiful is dead to me now
...but didn't I make it that way?

Falling...where did the voice go?
Hiding, seeking...trying to hear
What am I looking for?
The roaring winds begin to numb me
Soul then body as I plummet still
...where the heck did I jump from?...

...where did you go?

( 'heck' in the second last line of this poem is not the actual word used. I edited so as to abide by the TOS of these forums. I'm sure you can guess what it is originally. )

Armageddon Love

In that time when day becomes dusk
And everything burns like the Armageddon
Painted in gold and red, the end of another day
The lone song of night rises with the moon.

And the choir of stars to follow
Twinkling from the balconies overhead
Seem so pale when you compair their pain to ours
When their light fades when placed next to what we had...

And an endless waltz each and every night
Remembering, crying, then pushing it all aside again
I can't move on from this place
This magical forest we've created for ourselves.

I should be seeing skyscrapers but I'm seeing our vast Empyre
The world we were going to conquer
A world we were going to be together forever
Not this place where I'm no more than a blade of grass bent in the wind.

The moon's painting my pale skin
It's veil of clouds shadowing me, protecting me
From those glaring, ignorant stars who shine so bright
Stealing the night for their own

With the Wind as my lover, I need no other
Is what I'd like to say...
But those ghostly hands can't catch these tears
Or catch me in their embrace

I can't run from us forever
But I know I can't drop out before you do
What I'd give to go back to the sunset
I'd do it all over again if I knew it would be different

So I'll run until my voice joins those bastard stars
If that's what it takes for you to admit...what?
How long has it been since that sunset?
Since our Armageddon?

Neptune

Clinging to me like perfect scales...
These crystal droplets of yours
Bring out a unique nostalgia
From deep within me
From within that chasm I've kept empty.

And the soothing drumming
Of these droplets upon my skin
Drown out the howling winds
Of my soul and my need to run
Calming me under these moonlit skies.

I fling my hand towards the sky
Casting these shining droplets amongst the stars...
Reaching for your hand
Which seems just as far away
Your heart buried in a love deeper than the seas...

So I'll shiver and moan beneath this rain
And let your memory wash over me
Caressing my broken soul
Taking away the pain for now
Reminding me there is more than my darkness.

When the wind begins howling...
I'm searching the horizons for you.

Escape

Smoking dragon tails laiden in the West
Illuminated by the winking sun
Beyond veiled peaks
Escaping to a paradise beyond the horizon
Leaving a trail of shimmering scales
And soft petals perfumed in rain
Leading back to a forgotten home of the heart.

Resting beyond the Gates to Haven
The thick scent of leaf and stone
Surrounding the wounded and small
A voice of thunder echoing within
Shaking the walls from without
Re-breaking the fragile blue glass
Rain mixed with tears to wash the shards clean once more.

Sleep after sunshine in rain
Wolfen mists cover the crags and pines
Ushering forth the finale of a rare moon
Shining in tear filled eyes and a mended heart
Echoes of a distant dream brought to the hearth
Of a chyld's courage fanned on by a love
And what was once broken now longs for it's new home.

Castles in the Sky

Rooted in the stones of reality
Reaching out towards the stars and moon
Unable to escape the Fate of Death
Since we are Born anyways
Aiming for something we cannot comprehend
Something more than what we've been given
Anything other than what we've always known

Not letting go of the faerie dust of our dreams
Relentless in the way we continue remembering
Visiting those rhymes over and over again
Smiling when we're reminded we haven't grown to old
It makes us stop and think
Pause before the flower...
Before we're stung again

Grasping to words older than we know
Yet racing towards the future unknown
No time to stop, life won't wait for you
Sunsets won't stop until you get there
The moon will set...
Even if you're just a few minutes late
It has to be now, while you can

And even as you race
Intent on reaching those white castles
You built in the sky as a chyld
Your constantly blind to your path
Afraid you'll never reach them
Afraid of losing something you know can't exist
But still heading there anyways

And through it all you miss so much
You've missed those chances
To love...to cry...
To scream...to hurt
To laugh...to fall...
All cooped up in your head and heart
Unable to commit to life as it can be

To do what you can't go back and do again.
And now the last thing's arrived
You can't keep going because there's nothing left
You must have missed the castle bridge
There's nothing here in this alien world
Where you never intended to be, but arrived at
Now..it's time to die...have the patience to do it well?

Greatest Desire - Extended Version

Through forests black
Under the moon
Running from shadows within
Away from the past
Towards the unkown
A future filled with dreams

A distant hope...
A distant hand reaches for mine...
A distant land....
An impossible dream...

My body spread
Over this alter of blood
Of scars from the trial blades
My heart pumping still
My dream to sore high
Among the moons above

Me and you...
Fighting together against these odds...
And maybe then...
Just maybe we'll conquer everything!

To hold you tight!
Crying your name all night!
Standing against these chains
Spreading broken wings
And reaching out my hand
To have it slapped away and tied down
But I'll always try again
No matter what it takes I'll hold out my hand
Stretching so far...for you!
Stretching so far...To reach you...

With the wind brushing away tears
That only I can see
Watching the clouds and moon
In silence dreaming...

Biting back the tears
Holding back the screams
Tearing my wings away
Dropping these chains into ash
Pushing back the past
And flying forward

To hold you tight!
Crying your name all night!
Standing free from these chains
Forgetting torn wings
And holding you in my arms
Nothing could take you from me
Though I bleed as I hold you
Nothing can take victory from me...
Having fought so hard for you!
Having fought myself...for you...

So hold me tight!
Crying your name all night!
Standing free from these chains
Forgetting pains of the past
And holding eachother
Having fought so hard...
To reach you...
To hold you!

Love and Shadow

Nothing grows better
Than thorned red blossoms
From shadows
Under the painted moon

Stretching forth
To Heaven above
To Venus, Goddess of Blood
Of Love and Beauty

Shining in crystal form
Falling in Hellfire
Scathing, erasing
Burning sweet scented air

Above sweet sweat
Shining over shaking nightingales
Crying out next to the biwa
Silent, covered in perfumed air

Wrapped and bound
In piercing wounds
Forbidden from honesty
From light other than the moon.

Ash Summer

Powder snow drifting across the sky
Peaking hills of pink and mandarin
Skimming along the granite spyres
Guarding the vast mysterious sea.

The moon hangs low in the southeast
Painting itself upon the blue sky
Hovering above and watching the land below
A silent saviour in the late summer evening.

The coolness is refreshing
Like the cooler breezes from the east
A small respite until tomorrow
And the hot, burning sun baking the dead.

These are the days of summer
The armies of the West Nile and Egyptian Plagues
And the merciless greed and fire...
We will become ash and will be swept away

By our Blessed Wind and Water.