Dead Butterflies

They all are dead
Those butterflies
That fluttered
In their stomach.

What killed them -
Lack of flowers?
Pesky predators?
Climate change?

Colorful corpses
Decorate their gut
Decomposing desire
Into graves of grief.

In Case I Do Not Return

Just in case
I do not return
From the long and winding road
I wish
No one has any concern
For I have been here
too long
Maybe
I was mashed by travel's load
Just in case
I do not return

I might not have been
too strong
And became prey
to a hungry toad
I wish
No one has any concern
If I got caged
in a celestial song
For a large debt
I long owed
Just in case
I do not return

I may have just flew along
With the strong breeze that blowed
I wish
No one has any concern
If I wandered
to where I belong
When my soul's vehicle is towed
Just in case
I do not return
I wish
No one has any concern


Prompted by On Free Verse, Picasso, and Yachting at dVerse Poets Pub hosted by Samuel Peralta (which asks us to hide a structured poem in free verse. I chose to experiment with my first villanelle)
and also Carry On Tuesday #157 - The long and winding road ( the title and first line of one of The Beatles most memorable song)

Nefarious Nightmare

Staring the monitor without a blink

As I sip small gulps of my drink

I lose track of space and time

Trying hard to find words to rhyme

I close my strained, burning eyes

To imagine something to feel nice

My tired mind soon drifts into sleep

Then a dreaded dream begins to creep

I see myself working in the dream

When the fire alarm begins to scream

All around , I search to find no one

All precious possessions I shun , I run

Fire exit maps - all burnt and charred

My hopes of escape feel so jarred

Intuitively I run towards the staircase

As I trip over the fallen flower vase

I am hurt now - bleeding  in abundance

My bruises singing in all their cadence

Finally I stumble upon a hazy gaze

A way out of the inferno flavored maze

Finally out of fiery lair , I feel free

A sense of achievement and glee

But this joy was just momentary

Shredded by thunder's trajectory

My hurt right leg feels as its amputated

Away from lightnings, slowly I ambulated

A few yards apart, seeing clear serene space

With all my strength, I paced towards the place

There I found the man with the wrench

Trying hard, his teeth and fists clenched

Gloomily he said "Your world is tearing apart"

Hurling the wrench to pierce thorough my heart

He shouted "You are the only one to blame

For you started that world-ending flame.

So I punish you with your death"

Listening to this, I took my last breath

Image courtesy : Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison


Prompted by Poetics: Nightmare Verse at dVerse Poets Pub 
hosted by Stu McPherson