A Sad Love poem by David Tombale: My Best Friend's Sister

This sad love poem was written for a contest about the secrets people keep. It's a mix of fact and fiction but how much fact and how much fiction will remain my secret.
My Best Friend's Sister

I have loved I think in truth,
Though with her I knew it would
Never be, some thoughts they
Shudder when nights grow cold and
Crimson wine begins to stain
Our lips;

I have loved in truth but hers is
A name I never say, I uproot
A feeling we sowed in battlefields
So far from here, where belly
Rumbled and friends split and
Broke what they held dear;

I have loved in truth another's
Sister, caressed her cheek and
Kissed her lips, I tried to speak
But no words were spoken, I could
Not countenance the peace I'd
Doomed with these hands, with
These eyes! Lo with these eyes.

I have loved in truth but some
Minor angel happened here upon
Our scene and bid me stay, stay
Thy hand and slay not this love
Between two brothers but still
I wondered while I turned my back
And chose to walk away if I'd ever
Love another girl the way I loved
My best friend's sister?

A sad life poem by David Tombale: Untitled

Untitled was written in that period between one breakup and long before the start of a new one when writing was my only solace and it hardly seemed adequate at the time. I think a lot of us can understand not being able to tolerate our own thoughts when we're alone.
Untitled

I cannot write for all the sounds
that boil inside me alas for my
final stand I raised a placard I’d
devised in my adolescence, an image
of her I’d carried like a charm against
the fury of these storms.

I measure peace and made a place
here for the way I’m feeling, a scarlet
wonder I have come to ponder, graceful
much like a careless child tracing faces
out of clouds that laugh to see that child’s
smile.

It is here that my art has failed me, here
where my heart is aching, catching sight
of something wonderful only to want to
stay here in the shadow of its warmth.
I am safe here, writing thoughts that curve
and bend, they sometimes mock me as
if our strength lies in my weakness and
my odd desire for the gentle crush of
thought and kiss.

Sad life poem by David Tombale: Clumsy

Clumsy tells the story of girls caught up in the endless cycle of social pressure and rebellion common to life in the city.
Clumsy

I only write poems in the quiet
stillness of night, thinking restlessly
of a girl I abandoned to the rigors
and violent tortures of these city
lights. Oh blue neon and amber
Spotlights a troubled innocent
bathes beneath your glare;

She was such a nomad, brought
before the heavy thumping of drum
beats and snares, the latest hot tune
danced by gyrating and swaying, sinuous
movements of sun kissed limbs and
sloppy smiles;

She slipped into his arms while
the liquor lay heavily upon her tongue
and I said nothing, watching from my
regal post leaning against the bar. I think
she’s laughing, his hands laying claim
to the flesh upon her lower back while
she tosses her black hair;

I do not see her much these days for
I have left the circuit. Grown tired of counting
bodies among the crowds of perfumed
dreamers and platinum stars that shine
so brightly for so short a time but I can’t
help but wish to catch a glimpse again.
Despite me I think fondly of that girl’s
smile even when it crossed a face caressed
by such clumsy hands.

Sad life poem by David Tombale: Runaway

This poem was inspired by the Bon Jovi song Runaway from the self titled debut album. Like many of their songs it remains timeless as do its sentiments.
Runaway

Little girl the old man coughed
why do you so often wander here?
Here among us vagrants there is no
love or merry cheer but she only
laughed at the old man’s dirtied hands,
she was tumbling, whirling round
amidst these streets upon unholy ground,
her father’s face lies in every frown
so she looked at him and smiled as
those pin cushioned arms wrapped
themselves around her childish frame
and pulled her into worlds of fireworks
of blue and gold that lit her soul but now her
father’s got no place to go, he like shadows
and ruined flesh is ever present here searching
still for some glimpse of his falling runaway.

A passionate love poem by David Tombale: From the sky

This passionate love poem concerned an ex of mine. She was an aspiring poet just like me and with her I was inspired to write many a piece. I present this poem as a way to treasure those memories.
From the sky

There is in all things a mystery
that can’t be solved, a riddle spoken
by our thoughts wrapped inside it
all, it’s a feeling I peddle often as
I lick the ink running from my pen;

I’ve traded in careless whispers but
hidden the honest flutter beating in
my heart, is it any wonder that I
come here every Monday to run
my fingers through her hair?

I am crushing, tattooing words
around my wrist, over hip and
chest, I’m writing a manuscript
upon my skin. She needs to read me
to see the sorrow shuttered by my
eyes, she needs to see me standing
here;

I am fiercely falling from the heavens
through the surface of its flesh, I am
falling for her deeply like a needle
piercing into my vein, blood and notion,
heart and soul have shattered, the pieces
float away, reaching, reaching out to her
across a burning sky.

 

A contemplative life poem by David Tombale: About a girl

This contemplative life poem was inspired by a song by Fort Minor, I can't remember which one but the contrast between the warmth and the cold experienced by these two characters as expressed by their settings just moved me.
About a girl

There is tonight a cascade of raindrops
that fall unloved upon this sun cooked
pavement. They fall and flow into gutters
filled with the refuse of the day and walking
silently beside them is a girl with skin
the colour of falling snow, questing and
oddly silent nobody knows where she
must go.

There is perhaps someone waiting
but the tears that run a trail up from her
dress speak of nothing, no one’s holding
out their hand.

I watch her from the warmth of a hotel
room. I put my fingers out as if I can touch
her and see her turning as if we shared a
moment but now she’s leaving, the shadows
stretching to receive her, I grab my hat
up off the dresser racing down the stairs
as I go to meet her.

I tumble out into the street but there is
nothing left out but an imprint of her feet.
I race down the alleys searching for a
girl as families make merry before their
feasts, I need to find her there’s a question
she keeps hidden in her hands, an answer
I want to understand.

A Sad love poem by David Tombale: The Castle by the sea

This sad love poem is another in the series I wrote for a girl I had a crush. It never worked out but I will always have these poems to remember her by.
The castle by the sea

Heart that binds me tightly
to the image of your lips,
a love that wraps itself around
this thought that I am dreaming.
Dreaming with all the yearning
of a child for someone distant,
someone perhaps who questions
the sombre mood that has turned
my face to stone but it is gravity
that knows me, the gravity building
between these suns, we create
a darkness here in the absence of
us. Shepard keep a vigil over this
mournful poet while I stand atop
this stage and reveal that I’m
engaged, I am marrying the sight
of you and stranger when you turn
to look for me you’ll find me waiting
in a castle by the sea.