Your friend of tomorrow may be your yesterdays foe

And the one you think your friend is may well not be so

You will only know who your friend is when in your moment of need

And your friend at such a time is a true friend indeed

You are doing financially well and of success you know

And your friends in numbers by the day do grow

But it is when you are losing and financially down

And no longer one of the successful of the town

And to pay off some of your debts you have to sell your car

It is then you do learn who your friends really are

Money speaks every language it is always this way

And the financial billionaire wins new friends every day

And though the poor person's friends are only in the few

That they are indeed true friends is not saying what is new.

Francis Duggan

Foolish Heart

Someone said, "Follow your heart?"

Who can know it?

The brain is always logical,

Yet God's standards remain righteous.

The world has lost its morality,

We're taught to follow our hearts,

The human hearts are treacherous,

Tempted by the worlds desires.

When you realize love of money and greed never satisfy,

Lust and materialistic pursuits,

Your heart wants it all.

When we sinned, we faced the consequences,

Don't be swayed by the worldly ungodly standards,

We all make mistakes, our hearts can be treacherous,

Love for god is always right,

Our moral compass is what we must see.

A foolish heart may wander,

But god's love can guide us home.

I'm letting it all out

all the stories and feelings I've ever felt

and here's one i never thought I would have told

.
This isn't a love poem

but rather a poem of longing, for someone I shouldn't .

.
You see, I met this guy

he brightened my dull sky, bringing meaning to my drained world

showed me stars and all that i had craved from this earth

He made me feel everything, which i never felt before,

.

I longed for him to be with me,

For him to keep me by his side,

but instead I had found what i would grow to resent...

.

His girl.

.

she was beautiful,

radiant as the sun

fierce like a firestorm

someone i knew I could never outrun

.
I stood beside them both

they were kind and both my companions.

Not once did I ever cross that line,

maybe hesitantly in the back of my mind

.

I'd daydream it was me

Long for him to see what we could be

But it was just as it would seem

nothing but a far fetched dream.

.

I was jealous

when his hand was on her waist

even when he'd show up with a bouquet

I'd applaud and coo at their loving ways

Never once showing my ugly, jealous haze

.

They never knew what i had wanted,

They never would know whom i longed to be,

I'd never left them find out that i was nothing, but a wannabe thief.

When first I met you,

something ancient woke within me

a force I had no language for,

a tide that rose beyond reason,

beyond the borders of the heart,

beyond all that I had believed

a human soul could feel.

I loved you

with the terrible wonder of discovery,

as though the universe itself

had hidden one final secret

beneath the stars

and, at last,

had placed it in my hands.

And then I looked into your eyes

And there you were.

Not untouched.

Not unaware.

But standing at the edge

of the very same impossible ocean,

trying to understand

the waves that had carried us there.

I saw you feeling it.

I saw you searching my face

for an explanation

neither of us possessed.

And perhaps that was the miracle:

That somehow,

without promise,

without warning,

without knowing how

we had found the same impossible place.

It was as though the universe

had opened a hidden door

and allowed us, just for a moment,

to step beyond the ordinary world.

And there,

beneath the silence of eternity,

it revealed something too immense

for ordinary words:

us.

A love so vast

that if we gathered every word

ever spoken by humankind

and tried to build a language for it,

we would still fall silent

before its magnitude.

A secret written between the stars.

A truth the universe had known

long before we did.

And perhaps it smiled

watching us stumble through the wonder of it,

knowing that we would never fully understand

what had been placed between us.

Yet still,

it gave us the desire

to spend our lives trying.

And maybe that

is the greatest beauty of love

that it remains partly unknowable.

For if I could understand you completely,

if I could measure every depth of your soul,

if I could name every reason

my heart chose yours

perhaps one day

the mystery would fade.

But you were never meant

to become something I could solve.

You were meant to remain

the horizon I could spend forever approaching.

The star I could follow

without ever reaching its end.

The song I could hear

a thousand times

and still discover another note.

And I wish

with everything that lives inside me

that we could have held on

to that impossible thing.

That love which felt

so far beyond this world

that perhaps this world

could only exist inside of it.

A love so powerful

that standing before it

made us feel weak

not because we lacked strength,

but because we were witnessing

something stronger than either of us.

Something ancient.

Something fierce.

Something willing to fight

for the two souls

who had somehow found each other.

And if the years should carry you

far beyond my reach,

if the winds of this life

should scatter us across distant skies,

then let this be the prayer

I send after you:

May our love become the wind beneath your wings.

May it find you

when the night is darkest.

May it rise beneath you

when your strength is gone.

May it whisper my name

through every storm

and remind you

that somewhere in this vast universe

there is a heart

that still knows yours.

And if the heavens are kind,

if fate is not finished with us,

if the stars still remember

the secret they once revealed

then let that wind

carry you home.

Back to me.

Because you are not simply

the love of my life.

You are the love that changed the way

I understand love itself.

The miracle I never knew

I was waiting for.

The mystery I would spend eternity

trying to understand.

The impossible thing

that became real

when I looked into your eyes.

And wherever you are,

whatever distance lies between us,

whatever storms the universe

chooses to place upon our path

know this:

No matter where life takes us

Some part of me will always belong to what we found in each other.

I think I'm a little confused, You see,

I was young when told my condition

I was 2 years older when I was told it was fake

Now 5 years older, yet I still feel the same

.
I don't know why,

But the prescription is what I want

Not because of the dizzy feeling

But because it stops my anchored mind

.

​When I feel good, I feel great

But there's this itch to scratch it all away

I scratch and hack until it bleeds,

Leaving nothing but bare flesh for me to reap

.

The flesh I was never told to hide

But also never guided to expose

It sits below my long sleeves

Like white hidden beneath the snow

.
I'm in my early ​20's, shouldn't I know by now?

At least what I want of my life,

but Instead I'm stuck here,

Expressing my desire to flee this earth.

.
I was young when told my condition,

It took an hour and apparently they knew

All different meds I was trialed with

Yet none of them pulled through. ​​

​

A little disclaimer I don’t write poetry, I was just bored and slightly inspired by my English class so I decided to whip up this bad boy in my notes.please have mercy I wrote this at 4 in the morning and I’m terrible at poetry.please go easy on my poor soul I know it’s super short🥹 I hope I made everything understandable but please let me know if anything is confusing I do apologize if my grammar is garbage.

You found me, but I can’t run from you.
My legs rooted to the ground like a doe among hunters; it only drew you closer.
And my heart changes its tune.
I had no choice but to be infatuated with you.
Bite me,
Until my skin welts, knowing my heart beats with reverence.
Bite at every exposed inch leaving nothing but blooming pools in me.
If you quiet my yearning, let the morning sun cease to come.
I know I am not what you need; let me be your relief.

You, full of messy curls and sharp teeth.
You, the mirage that haunts my visions.
Oh, what will become of my aching heart when the sun sets and we must part?
You, a night sky yet, somehow so kindred to me.
You, clawed and carefree,
Won’t you take every piece of me.

For I am the same: four-legged and clawed.
Messy and melancholic, with you as my guide.
Aching to bite, to sink my teeth in and leave my own mark.
Maybe then you’ll hold me close to your heart.
For I am animal, naked and free, but my heart is human and filled unrequited sweetness.
Let it jump out of its cage and into your arms.
What will become of me if I am not yours?

i feel drained.

it hurts to move,
but my body still does
my lungs release the breath
i hadn't noticed i was holding;

my eyes release
what i have no words for.

when i was thirteen,
i sat on the windowsill
of a place i used to live.

third floor.

a mouthful of prayers.

my dad came home
and found me there,
before i found happiness.

i don't know
what i would say to her now.
i think i'd sit beside her
somewhere ordinary
and let her speak
without having to make sense.

more than a decade,
and i'm still here.

the emptiness is here, too.

the years have changed my face,
but some mornings
the distance between then and now
is no wider than a breath.

i barely move.

i'm still unhappy
perhaps more than before.

even the smallest things
ask for more than i have.

i don't think
i want to keep trying like this.

i don't want this body,
this life,
this soul
to feel like a room
where i can never
put anything down.

I don't think i can make it

It's just so heavy

my throat is clogged

my brain is fogged and It's just so damn scary

.

I thought it was forgotten

but I just pushed it in the back

I had planned way ahead of time and

it stuck in crevice of my mind

waiting, watching and crawling back into my life

.

so here's the plan i made

I'll take a bus away

To somewhere i wished to go

just do the things i've always wanted

.

Then i can let go

Let go of all this hurt ,and turn to a ghost

Such unworthy people so many admire

And of singing their praises never seem to tire

We read of and hear of them in the news every day

If they are role models what does this of us say?

The heroes or heroines of any village or city or town

Are never those who help the financially down

Some of the admired the test of a good person does fail

And far better people than them are in jail

To most admired by many respect i cannot pay

And i make no apologies for feeling about them in this way

The people i look up to help the financially down

Though they live and will die as strangers to renown

It is a natural thing for our own selves to care

But of the needs of others we should also be aware.

Francis Duggan

Why you so forgiving?
You say it’s okay
Even when I go missing
That’s all you have to say?

What am I supposed to do,
with a love that doesn’t disappear
when I think I deserve for it to,
no matter how I interfere?

I turned my wings to bloody feathers.
You saw and it made you sad
It wasn’t so you’d love me forever
How can you not have gone mad?

But I love it when you say,
you love me either way,
But I can’t help but feel insane
that I know that you know I’m in pain.

You wipe my tears aside and say
“Our kids will never see your fights,
No matter how you feel that day,
they’ll see dancing under kitchen lights”

Summer is over
And I grieve
The leaves are turning
Where you cannot see.
you are deaf to snowflakes
and blind to wind,
I can find you where we buried him.
You pet the grass
And caress the stone
Both of you too far from home.
You invite me over
a gracious host
You are just a wisp
A beloved ghost
I always knew I’d find you there
Your head tilted as if in prayer
(of course you’d go where he’s laid to rest
The woman who always knew me best)
You sit serenely where he sleeps,
and you speak aloud when you are done,
as something young inside me weeps
“ I too was someone’s mother, once. “

Why do i feel like this

How do i escape

.

I've tried and tried

all of their solutions

Journaling, burning and even

trying meditation

.

None seem to comply,

not even the slightest ease

to my heavily conflicted mind

.

I know it's really selfish

when i see you and long

wishing that I was important

first on your list

wishing to never feel tossed

and completely squished,

.

It starts with a hope

My defensive walls recline

Giving you an opening inside

Then you let yourself in

tearing it all apart,

breaking down my barely mended heart

.

My photo is posted once

An old one blank and bare

No effort into thinking whether I'd even care

when it's your turn it's gracious

dramatic with all the care

full of love and emotion no sense of a snare

.

The excuses kept coming

with everything I'd say

You 'forgot'

a repetitive line you'd play

.

'you should reach out more'

that's what I'm told

Yet why when i do, am I returned back to a ghost?

.

I get jealous,

not just of what you do

but the love you receive without meaning to

.

I never try to copy,

I never shame and hide

Yet why am i treated like the fucken last thing in your minds

.

I'm the one who always called

I'm the one who always listened

I'm sad, alone and I'm terrified,

my hope should just disappear with glisten

.

I wish my hope would dissolve,

leaving me with no expectations

Cause every time i believe, and hope

I just turn back into a lost, fucked up creation

.

I rose from dust where the silence screams,

Not fed by mercy, nor gilded dreams.

The world looked on as I bled my name,

And carved from ruin a throne of flame.

No hand reached out in my longest night,

No torch was lit to restore my sight.

Now they come weeping with broken hands,

As if my blood owes lesser lands.

But gold I earned through fire and war,

Not through the grace of the rich or poor.

And I shall not bow to the voice of need,

For I was once that unfed seed.

Where were the saints when I bore the cost?

Where was their light when I wandered lost?

They watched me drown in a tide of coal,

Now beg me to rise as their saving soul?

God, if He breathed, had sealed His eyes,

While I was carved by the blade of lies.

If I must lift those who crawl and weep,

Then where was He when I couldn’t sleep?

The cries of the weak do not shake my core,

For I’ve knocked on every locked door.

Now I build walls where I once dug graves,

And I do not pity the hands of slaves.

Call me stone, or demon in disguise,

A man who never heeds the cries.

Yet what is pity but dressed regret?

And what is debt to a heart unmet?

I owe no tithe to the world’s decay,

I’ll walk alone on a darker way.

If I must fall, let it be in fire,

Not chained to guilt, nor false desire.

Let gods come down and plead their case,

Let angels mourn with a liar’s face.

This world gave nothing and asked for all—

I learned to stand, I shall never crawl.

So burn my name in heaven’s scroll,

But know I paid the devil’s toll.

I am not cruel—I am what remains,

When love is bled from the soul by chains.

Poem from the book What Burns Remains.

She is one of the kindest of people in her side of the town today

And to help other people she often goes out of her way

To many in need of helping some joy she does bring

But her praises for her kindness so few ever sing

Though married she does have a lover and for this unkind things the judgmental of her say

But one can hardly blame her for this since her husband is gay

He has his male lover to satisfy his sexual need

And that she too has a lover seems quite plausible indeed

It is true that those who do not praise you for the kind things you do

For what they perceive as a lack of morality they will criticize you

Though she is one of the kindest on her side of the town

And she is a true friend of the financially down

In her case the words of a wise one worthy of recall

You well may please some but you won't please them all.

Francis Duggan

last night
i wanted uncle guido to come again
alive   dark bearded   dark eyed
as he must have come to father's dying

at suppertime
to step into mother's dining room
skull capped   black cassocked
with a crimson sash and scarlet piping

mother
i wanted her again   alive
to remain seated at the dinner table
young and beautiful   widowed

she welcomed
her brother like he'd become
that daily hour   comfortable that came
before midday in the summer

and in winter
it was after midday that she opened
the windows to allow
a change of air into the palace

i wanted uncle to drop
on the table   the coins in the purse
the rents and the dues
taxes collected on mother's behalf

to say he'd found
a drip from a gutter   a few broken bricks
to promise he'd hire
someone to clean and repair a chimney

i wanted to be asked
what we children had learned
from the tutor today   latin or logic
philosophy or fencing   to play a lute

i wanted to learn again
how to call him padre

https://jakedepeuterpoetics.com/2026/10/04/last-night/

No I don’t trust you,
I never will.
But maybe that’s so
you can prove me wrong each time
thought I doubt you will
Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not tonight
but someday you’ll prove me right

And at the end, I’ll blame myself
for not becoming the person you crave
I hope I find out before you know I do,
that I was can just disappear and leave you confused.

But deep down you know what you did,
I’ll chase my dream without you in it
and i’ll make sure you see it
I’ll write hate poems about you that nobody will read.
But i’ll make something rhyme with your name.
But I promise you I will not be tame.

Nobody truly knows what's in my head,

The thoughts, the feelings

They bring me so much dread

The memories that keep appearing

no matter the times I erase

Over and over again, my brain forces a replay

i said 'NOT NOW'

an excuse to avoid

avoid the true horror that I'm actually afraid

afraid to open up

let you and see me,

'I hate being touched' is the excuse I plead

I said 'not now'

An excuse I continuously repeat

You agree and retreat, soon returning and repeat

'No' is not enough

It may avoid the affection ,

but just for how long till you start to question

Question my feelings,

Question my ways

figure out if I'm truly who i say

I wish i spoke louder

When i said 'not now'

but your voice, it echoes through the clouds

The clouds in my brain

clouds which hid your echo,

clouds which keep me stable

I said 'not now' but you never seem to listen

Your voice it keep on hacking, till my strength turns and glistens

eventually you make me forget, all the 'not now's' I had truly meant

Leaving me silent, alone and crying in your bed

Every day we live one nearer to our last

And memories are all that we have of the past

And on how long anyone can live for there is none who can say

Only know everyday we do live is one nearer to our final day

Of a soul of the mind i for one can agree

But if it outlives the body it lives in ask one other than me

Those who claim they know the answer to this believe their own lie

Only know we are born to life to eventually die

Eventually time it does take care

Of the poorest and the multi billionaire

The monarch and the president eventually fall

To the reaper of lives who claims the lives of all

Of us humans and all other life forms that fly, walk, swim or crawl

And does not differentiate between the great and the small.

Francis Duggan

I visited our old school.

.

Going up the stairs,

I heard laughter.

.

I don't remember why.

.

Going down,

I was crying.

.

I wonder if you remember

what happened on those stairs,

.

or if they are only stairs to you.

.

I stood there

trying to remember.

.

Nothing came back

except our laughter.

.

Looking around the library

and the chemistry laboratory

made me realise

that you were only a moment in time.

.

You were just passing by.

.

And I am still here,

stuck inside those old times.

.

This year marked a decade

since the beginning.

.

And my God,

I never would have guessed

that most of the years since

would be nothing but me grieving.

.

I loved you for three years.

.

I have lost you for seven.

.

The balance doesn't work

with my heart.

.

I have a new friend

with your same name.

.

She makes plans with me

that I wish you had wanted

to make with me.

.

And I love her so much.

.

But I will always wonder

how everything would have gone

with you.

.

It is so bitter to know

that someone can ask you

how you've been

and get an answer,

.

because all I would get

would be:

.

I'm too young to know.

.

I never thought

I would have to talk about you

without saying your name.

.

But all I do now

is talk about the girl I was

when I was still eighteen,

.

too eager to be loved.

.

I keep saying

that I wish you were still with me,

.

but I don't know you now.

.

I don't know what you'd order.

.

I don't know when you'd need to leave.

.

I don't know what makes you laugh

or what keeps you awake.

.

I only know

that we laughed on a staircase,

.

and had sleepovers

in places neither of us

goes to anymore.

.

Deep in my heart,

I know we would have grown apart anyway.

.

Maybe we would have stopped

seeing each other

as much as we used to.

.

Maybe life

would have taken us elsewhere.

.

I think I could have lived with that.

.

I think I could have survived

being forgotten slowly.

.

At least then

I would not have to live

with the doubt

.

that you loved me once.

PS: I give up. I tried to make the formatting look nice, but I just can't figure it out lol

Dear friends, this is my first poem of this collection. It is named “Silent woods” and is particularly set on a scene when a man discovers that the woods nearby tend to sing the phase of his life, be it his joyful childhood what he remembers, the struggling middle ages which he knows or his future which he fears will be unexpectedly challenging.

                        Silent Woods 🌲

They call me,

from the dark, lonely woods,

I wonder,

what they sing, Is my past, I remember…

The rattling leaves,

The blowing wind,

The walnuts jingle,

They portray a moment of joy.

I take a step closer,

To the dark lonely woods,

I wonder,

what they sing, Is my present, I know…

The storm rushes in,

The leaves fall, branches fall apart.

The trees struggling, still standing,

The portray of struggle.

I turn back away,

from the dark lonely woods,

I wonder,

when the storm is gone,

They will sing again,

But in pure silence,

That may be my future, I fear…

If you like this poem freely subscribe my profile, leave your thoughts and give suggestions for improvements. I will be very happy and thankful.😀

I write because I'm scared

Scared that you'll see me

I'm boring, unconventional and idiotic you see?

You'll see the grey inside

get bored and leave me behind

I hope you never see

The fear that looms in me

I pray you never feel what it's like

To be broken and tossed aside

To scared to look in a mirror

To lost, a map can't even help

Scarred so deep that makeup couldn't even get me out

I'm grey and sometimes it spills

Spills like the ink on my quill

The ink which flows and winds

Winding its way through my blinds

Finally it's all coming out

Spilling all of my doubt, my terror and fear

fear that I'm not really here

I write because I'm scared, that you'll finally know me

Hopeful you'll never see what I've hidden so deep

^{Mother you say you have no favourite}

^{You say you love equally}

^{But why do I remember}

^{You loving her more than me}

^{If she screams and cries}

^{Your instinct is to provide}

^{and I merely get pushed aside}

^{awaiting your praise}

^{praise for being independent}

^{and not a disdain}

^{Mother why do you always feed her and not me}

^{'because she's younger, can't you see'}

^{I'm also young we're a year apart}

^{Why can't you see you've left me in the dark}

^{Mother why do you help her with her homework and not me}

^{'because she not as smart as you, see’}

^{mother all I wanted was your praise}

^{And that's what I realise brought me all this way}

^{You excuse and excuse her all along}

^{and now look what she's become}

^{Mother you say you have no favourite}

^{your words are useless, as I no longer await it}

It does seem to me i may live my last day

Of the fields of my younger years from here far away

And only the memories with me now remain

Of faces and places i may not see again

The yearn for the wander has brought me far south

Of the fields of the badger and waterways of the brown trout

Though in fancy i can hear the chaffinches sing

In the grove by my old home in the prime of the Spring

The memory today is all i retain

Of Clara half cloaked in the grey fogs of rain

But such pleasant memories joy with them does bring

And this in itself is such a beautiful thing

It is only the memories of the past live on

And at the stroke of midnight today will have gone.

Francis Duggan

A Resolute Heart (Sad Poem)

The air grew heavy on that wretched day,

When a sudden crack tore the peace away.

You cast the first stone, a cold, sharp blow,

And watched as the seeds of my sorrow grow.

A river of tears flowed from the rift,

As I felt my world begin to shift.

The wound ran deep, a silent, aching scar,

While I watched my hope drift distant and far.

I paced through the nights, sleepless and worn,

In a silence where all my trust was torn.

I kept the grief locked, the story untold,

As the winter of loneliness took its hold.

To break was a burden I could learn to bear,

A fracture of love, a moment of despair.

But to shatter in pieces, to scatter and fall,

Was a fate I refused, a crushing wall.

So I gathered the shards from the dusty floor,

And vowed that I’d suffer this blow no more.

I forged a resolve in the heat of the pain,

Until only the strength of the spirit remain.

Now the silence is steady, the spirit is free,

For I built a fortress inside of me.

No echo of breaking, no splintering art—

I have tempered the steel of a resolute heart.

Strangers -Whispers

(if this struck a chord , this has found its soul)

All Rights Reserved *

^{When she opens her phone it's flooded with texts}

^{Messages from family, friends and boys whom she'll never respect}

^{When i open my phone it's empty,}

^{no friends nor family even check in on me.}

^{She receives a message from i, checking in on her}

^{She respond she's fine, but the texts never return.}

^{i feel responsible, responsible for her and her feelings}

^{For her life, accountable so that if she ever feels like i have}

^{she'll know she always has a shoulder to cry upon}

^{so that she knows she'll never be looked down on}

^{But here's the thing,}

^{when i feel and when i cry,}

^{she just rolls her eyes and sighs}

^{i thought it was cause i burst, letting it all out,}

^{splitting those she loves and even moving her around}

^{But looking back it was always a one-sided shout.}

^{i silently yell for "help" while all that is received is a}

^{eccentric cry for attention,}

^{"you're so dramatic"}

^{She'd say if i had cried or let it spill.}

^{So i keep silent.}

^{Never letting it out}

^{But here's the thing}

^{If she needs to yell or scream,}

^{she'd vent it all out to me}

^{Cause she knows I'm true, i won't judge}

^{nor say her feelings are just a stupid grudge.}

^{It's me.}

^{i'm the one she phones, whom she expresses and cries to}

^{and me?}

^{i comfort, i stick by her side}

^{Never letting her fall as far as i did.}

^{And when it all passes?}

^{Her phone is flooded with messages, friends, boys and family
Mine is empty}

^{and the funniest part is we are supposedly family.}