'Chrysalis' - 25 Poems by Conor Ebbs

8/7/2019 'Chrysalis' - 25 Poems by Conor Ebbs

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~ Chrysalis ~Conor Ebbs

25 Poems

www.conorebbs.com


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1 Conor Ebbs www.conorebbs.com

About the Author

Conor Ebbs is a singer-songwriter and poet from Knocklyon, a suburb of

Dublin in Ireland. This is his first collection of poetry.

His poetry blog isAway with Wordsand his music can be found on hiswebsite.

Email Conor.
http://conorebbs.tumblr.com/http://conorebbs.tumblr.com/http://conorebbs.tumblr.com/http://www.conorebbs.com/http://www.conorebbs.com/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.conorebbs.com/http://conorebbs.tumblr.com/


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Some rights reserved

Published by Conor Ebbs, Galway 2011

Text Conor Ebbs 2011

This e-book is published under aCreative Commons licencewhich allows you

to copy and distribute the e-book as long as you keep it intact in its original

format, credit the original author and do not use it for commercial purposes.

Web:www.conorebbs.com

Poetry Blog:http://conorebbs.tumblr.com/
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/http://www.conorebbs.com/http://www.conorebbs.com/http://www.conorebbs.com/http://conorebbs.tumblr.com/http://conorebbs.tumblr.com/http://conorebbs.tumblr.com/http://conorebbs.tumblr.com/http://www.conorebbs.com/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/


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Poems

1. Everything and Nothing2. Shaded Scars3. Alliance4. From Here5. The Flower6. Love Lost7. How Often Should a Flower Bloom?8. A Girl I Know Not Well9. Resolutions10. Seeds11. Clandestine Spell12. Catching Butterflies13. Ode to Swine Flu14. Limbic Lies15. Smiles16. Chrysalis17. Descendants of Fear18. The Skin Within19. Demons of Doubt20. Attention Seeking21. Secrets from the Sky22. The Rain Dancers23. Weeping Waterfalls24. The Decadence of Denial25. Risk, Change, Grow


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Everything and Nothing

Lie with me, my love

Let us indulge the melancholyFor balance

Lest we are consumed by the light

Doomed to an early end.

Fault me, my love

Let there be no pedestal

No blindness.

Open your eyes to the cracks

Permeate my weakness.

Question me, my love

Let no words evade your reason

Honesty.

For we learn more in high winds

Than the storms eye.

Feed me, my love

With the fruits of your mind

Fresh and ripe.

I shall neer again hunger

In the orchard of your thoughts.

Walk with me, my love

Towards everything, and nothing

No grand plans

Find the streams of your passion

And Ill meet you at the sea.


6/31


Shaded Scars

Come to me as I dream

Your shadow runs with the nightBattles with the creeping dawn

in vain.

Run from me as I wake

Lest the light reveal your truth

Colours hidden in the weave

of pain.

Re-unite your heart and mind

Be frugal with your promise

Before you scar one more soul

with lies.


7/31


Alliance

Slivers of the moon

Seek alliance with the starsShrouded and adorned

Extrovertly shy

Your essence fills my sky.

Voices on the air

Seek refuge in my ears

Screamed within a whisper

Powerfully stillYour words always fulfill.

Lessons from the past

Rest sweetly by my side

Hanging from the strongest thread

Silent in delight

The futures taking flight.

Slivers of your smile

Seek alliance with eyes

Hiding yet exploring

Gracefully reclined

You never leave my mind

You never leave my mind.


8/31


From Here

Why must you walk away?

Surrender to the voices in your mindWhen mine alone is asking you to stay

Every rhyme and reason falls behind.

How did it come to this?

Our eyes were fixed upon a future bright

But now there is a distance in your kiss

Older wounds are dampening the light.

Where will we go from here?

When touching you is all that I desire

Dream a different sky and paint it clear

Fall asleep beside a dwindling fire.


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The Flower

How I long to steal away your pain

Take your hand and watch the darkness fadeLead you to familiar terrain

Rest beside the fire we have made.

How my heart is stranded by your gaze

Lost at sea without a sign of land

Drifting through the fog and through the haze

Summoning the comfort of the sand.

How I wish the earth would spring a flower

Dressed in soothing colours crisp and bright

Perhaps then I could draw upon its power

And bathe you in an endless healing light.


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Love Lost

Silent excursions to higher terrain

Restful diversions to temper the painof love lost.

Daylight engenders a positive hue

Darkness surrenders to black from the blue

of love lost

Winter's redemption is Spring's lesson learned

Cooler exemption from days I have burnedin love lost.

Leave me in healing, our road is no more

Tired of this feeling, I'm closing the door

on love lost.


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How Often Should a Flower Bloom?

How long does a seed need to grow?

When hearts and minds collideAnd memories are cast aside

How long does a seed need to grow?

What colours should the petals be?

To set the perfect snare

And draw upon a lovers glare

What colours should the petals be?

How often should a flower bloom?

Before the hearts decree

To let the love run free

How often should a flower bloom?


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A Girl I Know Not Well

I miss a girl I do not know

Her beauty left me reelingI feel a pain I cannot show

I do not like this feeling.

We lay entwined upon the bed

And held each other tightly

We might have been asleep instead

I do not take sleep lightly.

She softly spoke of love and lies

My heart was slowly sinking

To think of sadness in those eyes

Was too much to be thinking.

And so we bid a fast farewell

Such moments arent for stealing

I miss a girl I know not wellI do not like this feeling.


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Resolutions

Turn the page and burn the last

Light is fading fastWe were but a candles breath:

Shallow in our haste to steal the dark

Blackened by the flame.

Seize your stained authority

Sever your decree

Certainty has closed your mind

Dressing your conjectures in a truthOnly you can see.

Break the chains of love gone cold

Many bells have tolled

You are his possession still

Willfully restrained within the lines

Of so-called friendship.

Shed the past and face your fear

Now the skies are clear

Do not sleep your dreams away

Lead them to the light and watch them grow

Everything will change.


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Seeds

Seeds of love

Scattered on fertile soilBound to flourish, weaving deep roots

As hearts converge as one

Relentlessly reaching for the sun.

Come the shade

When shadows cloud the soul

Only the strongest prevail and grow

Prospering without a sky of blueSeeds of a love so true.


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Clandestine Spell

What shall we do with this love, my Dear?

All that was dark is clearToo clear to be real

Too blinding a light

We see what we feel

And say it feels right.

Oh stealer of time

Devourer of dreams

Your clandestine spell is not what it seems.

What shall we do with this love, my Dear,

When the first cracks appear?

Push swiftly ahead?

Ignore every sign?

A silent decree

To see no decline?

Oh crusher of truth

You spin many lies

Stack expectations of infinite highs.

What shall we do with this love, my Dear,

When we are stalked by fear?

Make haste in retreat

Or ready the fight?

Resign to defeat

Or muster our might?

Oh ageless design

You scatter your seed

To grow our desires and hide what we need.

(contd.)


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(contd.)

What shall we do with this love, my Dear?

Faraway storms grow near

Seek shelter inside

Or dance in the rain?

To close the divide

Of pleasure and pain.

Oh stealer of time

Creator of dreams

Your clandestine spell is not what it seems.


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Catching Butterflies

I watch you flutter freely and I smile

Enchanted by your delicate designThe madness of your wings;

The peril that it brings

To drip your colours on the canvas of our eyes.

They watch your flight intently and advance

Impatient whispers willing you to rest

The catchers greedy stares

Grow narrow with their cares;A net swoops down -

Your new protector claims the crown.

You watch your dreams descending and you weep

Cursing every colour on display

But none shall hear your voice

On condition of your choice

To fade inside a jar the catcher labels mine.


18/31


Ode to Swine Flu

You seized me on a Sunday eve

And chased away my sleep

You stole my treasured language skills

And left me in a heap.

4 days on my fight is gone

Its time to let you win

I only wish your knockout punch

Had caught me on the chin.

But that is not your style at all

Youd rather hide and seekKnow this Swine Flu next time you call

I shall not be so weak.


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Limbic Lies

How wonderfully tranquil

The sanctums of the mindBehold the silent ocean

No ripples will you find.

Ignore the lonely dancers

Their shoes no longer sound

Your sentiment is folly

To reason you are bound.

Add nothing to your palette

These colours will suffice

Experience has spoken

Now cast the loaded dice.


20/31


Smiles

Smiles to cleanse the soul

Stretch out from ear to earDancing eyes release the mind

From any trace of fear.

Smiles begin with one

And leap from face to face

Breaking down the darkest frown

To colour in the space.

Smiles infect the skies

And drive the clouds apart

Unshackling the sunlight

To set ablaze the heart.

Smiles to cleanse the soul

Reveal a richer view

No need for invitationThe virus starts with you.


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Chrysalis

Fragments of a dream

Dance beyond my graspLike grounded leaves that

Swirl and leap and fly away

- Actors in a windswept play.

Nested tales impress

Upon my reason

The need for change

Rejection of this worn out skinTo wake the sleeping fire within.

Autumn skies reveal

A new successor

Piercing the clouds

Beyond the reckless whispers reach

Where tired cynics cannot preach.


22/31


Descendants of Fear

Dancing distances reveal a closer bond

Between the stars and truthFiery freedom rears its head and screams;

In silence we listen


23/31


The Skin Within

Are you chasing someone elses dream?

Finding footprints everywhere you go?The old beaten tracks

So scarred by the cracks

Of misguided aims to claim.

Are you chasing someone elses dream?

Do you form opinions of your own?

Built upon the principles you keep?

Or are they designedIn a pensive mind

And worn as a wise disguise?

Do you form opinions of your own?

Are you learning lines to match the role?

Weary ofthe spotlights ugly glare

Afraid to defy

And from the stage flyFor dreamers who choose may lose.

Are you learning lines to match the role?

Do you long to wear the skin within?

Re-ignite the person that is you

Or stay in the cold

And act as youre told

By those who resent dissent.

Do you long to wear the skin within?


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Demons of Doubt

Demons of doubt stalk the silence

Demons of doubt spin their liesSeek and destroy imagination

Building a world of blinkered eyes.

Demons of doubt claim compassion

Demons of doubt feign concern

Preaching the comfort of inaction

Placing their signs at every turn.

Demons of doubt seize the senses

Demons of doubt fly with fear

Circle the mind like vacant vultures

Waiting for weakness to appear.

Demons of doubt rally reason

Demons of doubt speak of shame

Only the reckless run the gauntletOnly the gambler plays the game.


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Attention Seeking

The green sea is beckoning me

Under a brooding skyWith familiar whispers

Triage for a tired mind -

Bent upon the will to find.

The green sea is stalking the blue

Marching to meet the shore

In pulsing formations

Surging forth relentlesslyA giant hand pursuing me.

The blue sea is painting the sky

Dicing the dismal clouds

With masterful brush strokes

Piercing sirens of the light

Draw my gaze upon their flight.

The blue sky looks down on the sea

Breathing calmly once more

Resigned to its retreat

Slowly I avert my stare

Too much beauty I cant bear.


26/31


Secrets from the Sky

The wind whipped up a frenzy

A deafening displayHouses held on to their hats

And birds came out to play.

The Evergreens were dancing

A leafless oak just smiled

Awaiting words of wisdom

The Mother to the child.

I fell into a slumber

Of restless toss and turn

I woke before the sunrise

My mind began to burn.

She spoke in waves of whispers

Her words did gently fly

To grace all living creaturesWith secrets from the sky.

The howling wind abated

I dashed at once to dreams

Where never has a breeze blown

And all is as it seems.


27/31


The Rain Dancers

If I were a common thief

Well versed in sleight of handWith furrowed brow youd speak of me

And fervently demand

That I be punished for my crimes

Such laws cannot be bent

And keeping me from harming you

Is money wisely spent.

But if I had a silver tongueAnd donned a smart disguise

Id circle you with rhetoric

And right before your eyes

A master thief would be revealed

Who steals with stroke of pen

And promises you brighter days

Though never says quite when.

If I lost a gamblers game

Reduced to hands and knees

Youd second guess the promises

Repeated in my pleas

But if, by chance, I lost not just

My money but yours too

Begrudgingly youd bail me out

And let the anger brew.

If I spun a web of lies

And rarely kept my word

Youd think of such behaviour as

Repulsive and absurd

But if, by duty, I was bound

To toe the party line

Youd tolerate my fiction with

Acceptance and resign. (contd.)


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(contd.)

Some say the fighting spirit in our blood no longer flows

For how much pain can we endure until the fighter shows?

How many tales must we be told to best re-frame the shame

Of casting us into the cold and passing on the blame?

As Irelands sons and daughters leave to forge a life anew

We must grapple with a sense of wicked dj vu.

While cowards in the darkness lie

Removed from all regret

They danced the deluge from the sky

But never did get wet.


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Weeping Waterfalls

Braided streams of smoky sand

Dance in time by the waters edgeHissing as they pass

Dressing my feet.

Cascading cliffs yield their stocks

Weeping waterfalls of mist and stone

Unveiling the future

With past designs.


30/31


The Decadence of Denial

Memories leaked, tweaked

Drown in familiar shapes and shadesFading faster than before.

Messages discarded, crumpled by tired hands.

Silence aching, taking

Finding space to ricochet

Cold and vast.

Untwist your tongue and let fly

Break my spirit, but free your own.

Dreams racing, chasing

Floundering in elegant decay

Fictional distractions seek to temper truth

The decadence of denial.


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Risk, Change, Grow

I cant hold it in any more

This anger that blinkers my brainAs honesty crawls on the floor

And sweetness is met with disdain.

When truth is the softest of lies

And change is a crippling fear

Suspicion stalks innocent eyes

And rumour attacks every ear.

When triumph is largely ignored

Yet tragedy travels with speed

And living is rarely explored

While death springs the wisdom we heed.

When silence is swiftly curtailed

To drown out the conflict inside

And faith is a ship seldom sailedAwaiting a turn in the tide.

I challenge this fragile design

That lives just enough to survive

I will not succumb to resign

I want to feel more than alive!

Goodbye to the borders and lines

Too long an excuse for retreat

Hello to the mires and mines

A fate worse than meagre defeat.

No more will I dance around dreams

I hunt with my anger in tow

Unshaken by whispers and screams

I risk, I change, and I grow.

'Chrysalis' - 25 Poems by Conor Ebbs

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