Author name: Hayden Veil

In an earlier incarnation, Hayden Veil enjoyed a successful career in software engineering, writing late-night poetry in pursuit of sanity. On 2 February 2020, the world of Hayden Veil changed: Ghosts became real and with its soul laid bare there was no turning back from the perpetual path of poetry.

THE CLOCK WAS STILL TICKING

I did not choose to live when

time was of essence for

all to see and feel and I

stopped living but

time continued

with my breaks on full it

carried on

relentlessly and

I had stopped

thinking I would be

young forever with

choices ad infinitum and

no worries or

sorrows past present

or tomorrow

I had stopped

living but the

clock was still ticking

KNOCK TWICE BEFORE YOU ENTER

Freedom,

a concept and

a dream,

filling and fulfilling

the void, yet

caught in the vortex of life,

spinning endlessly and

always falling short,

like a leaf in the autumn breeze,

drifting,

seen but

never heard,

in peace

and yet disturbed

always searching,

never finding, the

elusive dream,

repeating nightly,

COLD TURKEY

I
I gamble
I gamble and play, and fail
I play with no regard, no regret, no remorse โ€“ yet fail

I eat
I eat meat
I eat turkey, Christmas turkey, warm turkey, sliced thin โ€“ white

I know
I know best
I know it all

I hear
I hear and share, share your anxiety lady hawk

I listen
I listen to what you say
I care less, care not

I go
I go cold
I go cold turkey
Why oh why cold turkey โ€“ will it ever stop

Oh mighty Mother river

You swept me away
Oh mighty Mother river
in search of origin
Oh mighty Mother river
the Weaving Girl
Oh mighty Mother river
revealed your birthplace
Oh mighty Mother river
the cradle of life
the origin of species
from heavenly sources
a flow of pride and
sorrow, the mighty
Mother river, the origin
of all.

SECONDS CHANCE

Is there a back, a going back
Reversing down a block, down a street, up the hill, til I feel โ€“ lost
Turning right this time, a change, driving down, closing my eyes, Iโ€™m disguised
If not, why not, WHY NOT? Turning back, turning right, turning left was wrong in so many ways
Wet as water, dry as wind
As shameful as it may be
Acknowledging that we are weak
Releases strength, no longer a freak
Standing still, no decisions, causing pain and more resistance
Speaketh not of unknown things
Pain. Do you know pain? Deepened, darkened, angry pain, without beginning and no end
I feel no pain today
Above
Beyond
No pain today
Numbness rule my lands today
The grass no longer grows today
The birds started singing today
For me or them who knows who cares
My bottle is empty
My nose blocks the air
My heart is cold
I think Iโ€™m longing for
Tomorrow

INTO THE VOID

Adventurous is no
middle name of
mine no more. I
had one once but
too heavy to carry
it quietly slipped
into the void it now
shares with that
side of me I will
always miss.

HIBERNATION

Winter clouds
filled with the
snow flakes too
afraid to fall to
my feet. I wait
and long for
the day their
courage return
so I can
huddle up and
sleep

SECRET DWELLINGS ON TERRA FIRMA

down every street,

around every corner,

into every cul-de-sac and back

these castles, abominations

of the land, mushroom.

Behind their thin curtains,

they keep an eye out,

never looking in.

Behind blinds and shutters

their perverted lives,

petty and poor,

crumbles.

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