Sweet west coast breeze

And ocean air

Please cure my ailing heart

For while my love grows close for moments

All the world keep us apart.

-Victor Tinsdale

What shall I tell thee?

Shall I tell you of the day?
You walked and spoke there
I only knew the day for you

Or will I tell you of the night?
You saw it hurrying on
And didn't pause to admire it

What use the day or night to me?
If all their glory is known to thee
And telling thee is vain repeat
What then, my love, shall I tell thee?

-J. Thadeus Richie

You are the Clouds Love

You are the clouds love,
that only fools would
have a share.

You are the bits of
bright luminous flakes.
A stolen stare,
forcing my gaze to pan across
the unforgiving light

You are the breaks,
and shards of shiny,
gold gleams

The brilliant pieces
that keep me spending,
every last speck of sense
I have

Gold glitters along
the horizon's bend
and I'm stolen by greed

You are the clouds love.



-Leonine Westburry

Ardent Absense

A monument stood erect before me

Behind I sensed the qualms of earth

I knelt beside the garden bleeding

Arms stretched out to gage it's girth

Around me crept unsightly creatures

Seething sorrows in their wake

None to miss mid morning's mackles

None to try while yet awake

After simple silence stewing

I thought recall my better seat

After all, the time's sweet ruin

Lay in shambles at my feet

-J. Thadeus Richie

Never again

Will the echoes of my past

Dampen the brightness of my future.

My wings,

Though still mending,

Are spread wide.

Progress, though once only an option,

Is now inevitable.

I pass valleys of memories

Over streams of doubt,

Through clouds of regret,

Slowly rising above all ill tempers,

Past bitterness

And toward the warm sunrise of hope.

I look back these last few moments only to extract

The lessons to guide, strengthen, and ensure that,

Come the day I embark upon a similar journey,

And as the pathways grow familiar,

I will be wise.

Pits that once ensnared will be avoided,

And wrongs once ignored will be confronted.

The strings of my heart, mind and spirit,

Once tangled in feud,

Will slowly conform, communicate and understand

That each of the three cannot and will not

Truly love without each other.

Now as I move,

Now as I soar,

As I purge my heart and open it once again

As the years progress, and as I rise and fall and rise once more,

I know that I am wiser,

That I am stronger

And that as I once again commit myself to another,

That I am today a new man

Built upon a sturdier rock,

A stronger foundation,

And a heart of gratitude

For the wonderful person you,

Whoever you may be,

Are

And the incredible people

That we,

Whenever our paths cross,

Will become.

-Victor Tinsdale

Move on, and get that moss free rock

To roll on, far away

For the longer that you linger

All the more, you'll be in pain.

If you know that something isn't right

Then flee the hell away

For what might feel so right just yesterday

Can hurt so wrong today.

-Victor Tinsdale

O're all regrets of hopes unspoken

Darling now I'm truly broken

Heart in pieces, soul diminished

With pain I pray we're finally finished

Sobbing helpless on the floor

You enter stage once more.

-Victor Tinsdale

Love Awry

Who pressed the stamp,
Forcefully against love’s letter
Mailing it across the borders
Past the horizon
beyond tangibility
Who snipped and clipped
The pictures hung
In the hall where
our minds first met?
Was it the hands of time
Who wrung out every bit of
fondness and familiarity?
Leaving me here with
skewed puzzles of memories.


-Leonine Westburry

Lady Love

(another little song)

Lady love
kiss you good bye
hold onto
her stony night gown
she gets you
every time your down
sleepin in your
every day dream

here you sigh
breathin dusks perfume
well your over due
for some real lovey-do

Tinder sage
and mountain sides
make believe
the wind holds you-oo
Peerin on
the horizon fades
the birds are endin
lady love's tune

here you stand
breathin dusks perfume
well youre over due
for some real lovey do

sun aint shy
she stretches on
well onto
beyond the nights eye
there you lie
hands in head
trees receivin all your cries

its no use
you still see her rouge
well youre over due
for some real lovey-do


-Leonine Westburry

Shelter

Shelter I seek amidst my fall
over, under, braided in
your grasp I crawl

Shelter was the place The wide, Lied,
hands, clammy, silly and large
heart strings untied

Shelter did lead me there, your smile
dopey, stale, loudly redeems
A refuge beguile

Shelter like movie reeling scenes
back seats, bed posts, romancing
like dreams

Shelter like the azurely blue
songs sung in dizzy love tunes
guarded in your view

Shelter inside your music grin,
notes shown flatly bold, words flood
fill me to the brim

Shelter shadowed by the dark night
heavy, endless and you
the moon, perfect and bright


-Leonine Westburry

To Mr. Whoever it was

Is it Mr. I will stay by your side?
our hands easily collide
like a sail boat baby
settin loves mast
high against the tide.

Or is it Mr. I'll be back tonight?
can't tell if it's you
Mr. "baby everthing will be alright"
you're the one drawin the great divide
like two hearts beating on
but one's forgot the rhythm,
the beating slowly gone

Mr. Can't seem to hold on tight
Mr already given up the fight
when I can't tell who is lettin down
might a'been easier when just
plain Mr. love was coming round'

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,
Hide, Hide it all away
there aint no need to say
him or you today?
I can't tell who is really lovin "the One"
Mr. I am simply done

So drink your potions
Mr. I am wrapped around your finger dear,
still singin that same ol' song
only you were meant to hear

Mrs. too late,
I'll be gone
I'm like a moonlit night stolen
with the dawn.

Mr. I'm sort of under a spell
the man you wish to know so well
he's fightin' back the demons kid
wishin, tryin to remember
exactly what you did.
prayin for reminders of the flame
I slowly bid
goodbye, to all that never feel,
like this for anyone girl,
it's real.

You once said I made you whole
no more travelin, wonderin soul
no more tearing at the seams
you were the only real thing
playin in my dreams

well I'm sorry hun,
It's me, Mrs. can't take,
this up, down, rocky wake
you said it in your best face
you lost me boy,
at Mr. can not feel my love's
embrace.

-Leonine Westburry

My fears and insecurities

Have chased me up a wall

With a wretched positivity

That once I'm up I'll always fall

I fear with every pace I take

I'll drag two steps behind yet

Still I run

From any chance I find

To heal my broken mind.

-Victor Tinsdale

Dream on my child,

Never lose

The hope that keeps you ticking, for every

second of your life, you see,

A destiny you're picking.

-Victor Tinsdale

It's late my friend

Please join my side

Before we grow too weary

The moonlit hours of the night

Must not be waisted dreary

For while all others slumber

Nestled snug within their beds

The midnight chime now marks the spot

Of where our night begins

The streets once filled with hustle

Gently sing an empty song

And all the wile, dear, I'm grateful

That you chose to come along

For side by side and hand in hand

We tackle empty cold abyss

When all the while townsfolk dwindle

Never knowing what they've missed

-Victor Tinsdale

The crimson skies

All whisper lies

To me of better days

And while I ponder

My soul wanders

Behind these drawn shades.

The Journey that I once began

With vin and so much vigor

Is paved with thorns, and I forlorn

Have found a different ending.

A contrast from the hopes and dreams

I once hoped to aspire,

Alone and cold within this room

Those dreams I now retire.

And though the thunder tumbles loud,

Eventually it ends

As my life, once bright and powerful

Fades back where it begins.

It fades from fields once bountiful

To withered crops run dry

With weeds that scour, sun that scorns

Within a barren sky.

My days once plagued with tilling

Curse my blistered hands, please know

That I have spent all days in labor

Never reaping what I've sewn.

-Victor Tinsdale

How happenstance

I pooped my pants

Right in the city square

The stain it showed

The stank made known

Soon all began to stare.

The crowd then gathered

While I'd rather

Forget that I existed

As I wondered if

My bowel's new gift

Could have somehow been resisted.

-Victor Tinsdale

The morning frost within my window

Rings my haunted soul

The hallow echoed yesterdays

Now brim my conscious full

The empty tales that fill my past

Fade all my hopes to grey

The anchors of my long lost loves

Cause sanity to fray

For courage, fully buffering,

Once lit my path each day

But now this twisted darkness

Of your love leads me astray.

-Victor Tinsdale

the hours of the night roll fast

my heart remains quite shaken

for i've lost so many that i've loved

through marriage, now forsaken.

why must the best ones get away

and haunt my spirits nightly

for so out of reach from love i seek

those sealed to others tightly.

-Victor Tinsdale

jealousy envelopes me

i find my soul digressing

the thoughts of you and i with hope

now turn on me depressing

-Victor Tinsdale

May my frosted fingers warn you

As I write this lonesome letter

Through the cobwebs may my I reach you

When from this life I've passed to better.

Opportunities will come and go

And tantalize your soul

While offering you flashing lights

And mountains high of gold

But be forewarned and never fall
May greed always escape you

For those you lift along your way
May be the same who break you.

-Victor Tinsdale

I miss you just as Pac Man

Misses all that bouncing fruit

And I miss you just as MS-DOS

Misses my F Drive's root

And dear, I miss you just like Lando

Misses all that city's clouds

And I miss you just as Smeagol

Misses days not filled with frowns.

And I miss you just like Outkast

Misses all the ways you move

And I miss you because, Simply,

Dear, I know our love is true.

-Victor Tinsdale

Bitterness engulfs my vains

My sweetness now runs dry

The love we shared, now out of reach

Becomes a clouded sky.

My hands, now cold, without your grasp

Are warmed in clenching fists

And now, I know that you are gone

And I am really PISSSSSSSSSSSED.

-Victor Tinsdale

Morning calls

I'm leaving you

And you're without a clue

The spark we had

Has come and gone

Just as the season's flu.

Our greetings once
Were filled with smiles
Now they all run dry
And though my pen once sang of love
Now of pains it softly cries.

So here today and gone tomorrow
Dust to dust we move
And now the more I think
The more I know
That I am not for you.

-Victor Tinsdale

Time Travel

More loud and confusing each time than the last
Backward, then forward, rewriting the past
The ribbon of time was a moment inert
But each time it's doubled, like pleats in a skirt.
Tomorrow, the future, then past may become
A chance to repeat or rewrite what we've done
To redo or predo an act of the mind
For each shred of memory exists throughout time
And that which we do in embarking the present
Leads to the future; both bright and unpleasant
Tomorrow, delighted, I'll wake up to see
What future in time there is waiting for me.

-J. Thadeus Richie

Seconds slowly turn to minutes

Later minutes crawl to hours

As a fire burns between my ears

Rain pours then gently showers.

As I watch the midnight hour

Slow, transform to morning's break

Not a wink of sleep has graced me

For I know that all's at stake.

And as my arms still reach out seeking

Comfort, comfort evermore,

The burning spreads down to my chest

And my emotions are at war.

My plea for help escapes

The wheels that burn within my mind

And how I wish, now more than ever

I was yours

And you were mine.

-Victor Tinsdale

Today is the day

To change all my ways

To leave my me in the past

And to make this all last

For just as time is advancing

I'm still far behind

And with my failed romancing

I've strangle my mind.

-Victor Tinsdale

Dear pills,

Though you can dampen me

You cannot kill the pain

For though you're called a saving grace

The scars of hell remain.

My soul is charred and fading now

My hopes are six feet under

The grave which clearly reads my name

With clouds and rolling thunder.

- Victor Tinsdale

I once killed a man with words alone
And shattered all his dreams
I mocked him in his indecision
Silenced all his screams


The pen can hold more power
Than the sword and than the stone
And so the wars I battle day by day
Are wars with words alone

-Victor Tinsdale

Regret not the moments

In which our emotions flared

In which our eyes met

Causing our world of questions and doubts

To slow, organize and settle

Albeit only for a moment.

Regret not the kiss

That caused warm tears of joy

To bellow down your tender cheek

Forget not that these arms were made

To hold a queen such as you.

To hold a queen.

To hold only you.

May the fading powers of time

Work not against us,

May our hands never again

Be cold and alone without each other.

For you are as the moon

Causing the fallen blanket of snow

To sparkle in beauty true and through

The eleventh hour.

May your calming power

Cradle forever my needing heart.

May these words,

Though only a written, silent cry,

Find you

Bring you home

And cause that you are

Never again without me

And I, in return, am

Never again without you.

-Victor Tinsdale

Sleep fails me

My eyes wander

And run laps around my eyelids.

A simple night's rest is shattered

By a stray thought.

My mind runs restlessly within its private insecurities. 

Doubts run with noisy sticks held strong

Endlessly rattling my fence of comfort.

As light had turned to darkness

So once again, through bent blinds

Morning beckons.

I still fight the losing battle

Against my burning thoughts of panic.

My alarm sounds

It laughs boldly.

Oh how I thought I had stood a chance tonight.

That this night could have been different.

Different from the endlessly stacked nights

That had itched and scratched their way

Through to the morning's break.

And tomorrow I know

Wholeheartedly

That I must again limp my way

To the battle field of torment

And pray skyward that sleep

    Will for once

          Grace my soul.

-Victor Tinsdale

My mind is twisted

Wrapped around

The life of which we dreamed

While Cupid's arrows

Miss us

My heart aches at every seam

Then time goes by

And distance grows

It proves itself quite maiming 

And as my heart wails 

In pain 

Somehow you find this entertaining.

-Victor Tinsdale

Victor's Lost Christmas Poem #2

On a night just like this

How on earth could I miss

A fat man

Slipping into my chimney

All my cookies went missing

And facts not dismissing

My whole Christmas was ruined again.

For my gifts, can't you see?

They all laid by the tree

But come morning,

They all had went missing

And now rumors have spread,

How they torment my head,

Of my mother and that slime ball kissing! 

And the question of why?

Brought more tears to my eyes

As I shattered the Spode with a hammer

Though Dad grounded my rear,

I still live life in fear

'Till the day Cringle's locked in the slammer.

-Victor Tinsdale

Victor's Lost Christmas Poem

My heart swings low

All spirits lost

And Christmas cheers run dry

A thousand scars

Within my heart

Beneath a starless sky

Etch frosted pains

Throughout my bones

And mourning beyond reason

But sleigh bells ring

And snowflakes glisten

Curse this Christmas season.

-Victor Tinsdale

Hope

A love once torn between two pedals

Finally makes her step

In choosing between two right answers

Within my arms she leapt.

With sufficient love to melt a tundra

And all hope of winter's spring

While waiting through the odds uncertain

My life has granted me my dreams.

Now all the nights of quiet tears

Have gently made this garden grow

And fertile soil springs forth new life

Where once all visible was snow.

Her eyes now dance within my every fiber

Burning through my soul

The simple phrase "I'll love you always"

Makes our forever brightly glow.

Oh love of mine, I'll wear out soles

To carry you through trials.

Your hand in mine,

Our love will shine,

Joy's tears will match our smiles.

I love you now,

I loved you then,

I will forevermore

And since the moment I first saw you

Skyward did my heart so soar.

And now, within my arms,

All doubts can truly fade to grey

With confidence we advance forward...

  ...Side by side

           And day by day.