of lullabyes and winking dreams

a child's lullabye
brings dreams to mind
to take the child from the world
so filled with verses yet unseen
the chorus sung is lovely and high
and brings her sleep
but undertones of sad transition
from one end of the scale to the next
lends itself to verse despairing
in gradual downcast descent.

you are my sunshine my only sunshine
but when her eyes close
the words reveal
hidden sorrow
so deeply longing
for a love
that won't be again...

oh my darling oh my darling oh my darling clementine
truth is in the
verse but children
only hear the
gentle tones
of a song so
rife with loss and
ending with
a sour note:
love was lost and
then forgotten
with a kiss from
someone close...

twinkle twinkle little star
dreams above me wink and call
teasing me with glimpses fair
beg me heed their taunting dare
build me up to watch me fall
never cared for me at all.

-d.s.b.
10/2/2014

orchestra of the heart: drowning

with that beginning note
starts the memory of the heart
seventeen notes later
the strangest pangs will start
the song brings back a memory
of something that you've lost
a time that you won't have again
and so you take a pause.
and as you listen to this song
those pangs will pierce your soul
they'll soon become addicting
and your heart will pay the toll
but amazing how those blood-red notes
assault your heart like darts
they course right through your pulsing veins
and infect your beating heart
with feelings known from times gone past
they're liquid now
they're flowing fast
the notes pour in
your heart is drowned
in pools
of blood-red liquid sound.

-D.B.
11/15-16/2010 & 1/2011

reposted with a few minor edits and a title--after posting turning, I realized that it had a similar theme to this one and so i decided to make them part of a series: "orchestra of the heart."

orchestra of the heart: turning

can you hear my heart turn
as it palpates to the beat
of a song so sweet
but steeped in the past?
it draws on the strings
of my heart and mind
makes me yearn for the times
when i first heard their sounds.
i move to the rhythm
and sing off the beat
while the songs just repeat
and i'm lost in the music
i'm lost in the music
and song after song
i yearn for what's gone
and forget what i have.
forget my new song
forget naught but
a song so sweet
that draws at the strings
breaking the seams
steeping my mind
in the times of the past
sweet song after song just
moving to the rhythm
palpating to the beat
and my heart turns again
my heart turns again...

-D.B.
12/12/2013