Sunday, 8 June 2025

Five Poems by Maria Downs

 






            

ANOTHER WORLD ANOTHER REALM                     

 

Imagination so alive dies not 

within those realms of sleep, 

where each phantasmagoric fantasy dwells, 

within this land of dreams. 

 

Where those angels resonate  

sweet delights upon the ear, 

charming with each feathery dove,  

bringing such deep peace, 

while soft white feathers float layering the air 

sifting filaments of heaven’s light,  

that descends from above. 

 

Where you may waltz within a purple maze, 

of tinkling bluebells that wisp and ruffle loose,  

making a violet sea, 

where this hostile world remains far away, 

 

from those merry elves and gnomes,  

that dance around each toadstool  

and those leaf – strewn,  homes 

                        

where those paradise clouds can be seen, 

as white as the thrill to espy, 

the small round house at yuletide 

attired in linen snow. 

 

Where no grey or gloom exists,  

amidst the azure skies so bright 

and little children smile and laugh, 

kissing a gentle doe, 

frolicking in the fields upon a fairy trail, 

with each tiny robin ringing out  

its velvet song to hail 

 

while slowly the mind will alert,  

to the sound of church chimes, 

that toll those dawn hours,  

of yet another morning's light 

 

awaking bleary – eyed, 

from this nirvana upon the breath, 

of wonder and miracles baffled  

by why you left, 

                        

this place of bliss so far away, 

from this worldly earth we call today, 

to know as this life so be each death, 

returning to this Elysium at last 

 

to eternal dwell where the light will blaze  

and lost secrets by angels and demons,  

will reveal all will tell 

 

of all that lies in truth to be at rest -  

each vice and virtue, 

'twixt heaven and hell, 

so lost by this oasis painting,  

this fanfare spell, 

where your heart with joy,  

will endless swell.



GATEWAY TO THE PEARLY DRAY                         

 

Heart beats and swells in bliss, 

to know of this ardour alone where the butterflies flit 

where fairies kiss to entrance the child 

and bluebirds soar with plaintive tone, 

across the clear skies. 

 

Where the soul rests cocooned  

where dreams swoon in love’s bower, 

where the roses and lilies bloom. 

 

The mind rests in the apple grove, 

espying each caress from sweethearts’ love, 

to be as a song that floats upon the starry air, 

in a freedom as the dove - 

no more captive but in tune with each music, note 

each resonance from all song birds, 

exuding rhymes from each throat. 

 

Little pixies dance in a haze, 

chanting tales with the elves and gnomes, 

under each toadstool,  

 

where bluebells parade in an embroidered maze, 

trailing about those tree trunks 

where little sprites picnic  

at the noon day sun aflame, 

 

while a huge kite flies off to paradise, 

as tiny imps frolic by the brooks and willowy grass 

looking for leprechauns  

with the coming shadows of the night, 

 

when all will quiver at the cold, 

though nothing dies and no  - onegrows old, 

shivering in fear of each legend ghost, 

where infants fret within 

 

your very mind so young once more, 

to know of love before this door, 

this entrance to another world, 

a place before a little girl’s birth 

 

finding as heaven the child within  

where nirvana lives 

 

an oasis though fading still, 

as a vision gone into the distant dim.



ONE JOURNEY                                                         

 

Standing before those immense seas, 

by the lonesome bay, 

to be as an island devoid  

of human voice full of noise, 

save only, with those wild seagulls that wail 

 

the heart thus questions old traditions here 

of piety and belief of legend Gods, 

even the pagans of ancient times  

lighting their mystic fires of night. 

 

To adhere to these fabricated deities, 

seems futile feeling this magnetic sun 

outpour its gleaming rays, 

espy the lustre of the enigmatic moon 

to sing with those yearning waves 

perceive the lavish host  

with this matriarch of stately trees 

the rich verdure of earthy green, 

sweeping its panorama  

across the heather – topped prairie meads, 

                                                                

the huge wide plains of the lonely bleak, 

 

while the heart beat pounds,  

with those hurling winds that resound 

and weary feet dance once again,  

through those sheets of wintry rain. 

 

Alone at last amidst this solitude, 

this inner solace that nurtures each instance - 

from each stir to wake  

till each night of silent sleep, 

bringing such emotions close to the soul, 

leaving the mind in a wonder, 

 

at this constant flux, with all in motion,  

this ebb and flow that alerts the brain,  

as to where to go. 

 

But only yet upon this road travelled within, 

where this inner realm will send at last 

this intrinsic peace, 

that intoxicates your very breath, 

                                                           

that holds your dreams 

peace with this for sure  

rests sweet amidst the soul, 

where affections need no other, 

but only this calm enduring  

as those white crests beat and roll. 

 

At last finding the self to no more be, 

as an angel’s voice that speaks of bliss, 

with every verse to read 

 

to be dead yet still espy 

all of Nature’s wild -  

the flowery grass,  

where you will one day lie.



SOUL’S SILENT PLACE 

 

Dreamer’s heart’s abode,   

musing alone, within this mystic home, 

that projects amidst this essence of peace, 

one, that longs for the distant remote, 

what lies so obscure and so far, 

beyond amidst the deep amidst this dream, 

like the winds that moan each haunting song, 

like this pining for the end, 

when each voice threads and weaves its resonance 

collecting amidst an inner realm of grace, 

to flow at last as a stream unto death. 

 

Yet to create to outburst with each thought, 

still only this floats as etherealas the spirit of the soul, 

as each melodic refrain of lonely birds, 

that reveal this secret pathos, 

this endless sorrow embedded within the crux of life, 

with each plaintive call. 

 

So remains this vision pictured,  

in such mysterious beauty, 

only to dispel as dust as filaments of cool light, 

that drifts into the faintest dim 

 

yet permeating as the gentle breeze  

as unreal as illusory, 

this empty space betwixt each other 

that swells with each nuance of wonder,  

with all that resounds. 

 

Demanding only for this solace profound 

that abounds amidst Nature’s realms, 

to emulate but only what the very Gods ordain 

amidst this world of paradise sounds. 

 

Colouring eternal all seasons lain 

where the heart stays close, 

as each sense that thrills, 

as the songbird warbling shrill 

and the sun that bursts aflame.



VELVET SOFT HUSH OF WORDS                              

 

Aspire to love, yet only, from within, 

as the lullaby of night, that sends its melancholic tale, 

that is carried upon the winds 

heard, in distant towns,  

as music, from each warm – lit, room 

 

where the lamplight will gleam,   

at all, that is heard and seen, 

while the stars glimmer, their bejewelled light above 

so glows the lustrous moon. 

 

Listening still to this echo and resonance, 

floating sweet upon the ear, 

like the serenades of birdsong by day, 

that ripple their velvet tones,  

in each shaded, woody clear - 

 

all calling harmony breathing  

each knell and chime soft upon the air, 

while the church bell tolls every hour 

and voices exalt in glee to host with joy 

                               
those times of mirth. 

 

Yet the mind yearns though all be as bliss 

to be as the dead with nothing to miss, 

to let these sounds pound nevertheless their beats, 

yet longing stillfor all drawn as hushed  

straining faint into the obscure 

 

to be unseen invisible finding this point of nothing, 

yet made up and enriched by all that fulfils from this, 

as these fading melodies that send their dream 

into the distant dim, 

 

like a child who strums the golden harp 

only to rest in a sleep from all that is plucked,  

from this carousel left to hear that whirls - 

the heart trembling the quivering nerve. 

 

But to rest at last amidst the still quiet unheard 

by a single soul save in this silent world to know 

this place of peace, where dwells eternal  

the heart’s dream, 

                              

where all thus created ebbs and flows. 

 

The realm of silence that rules, 

over each word each phrase that ensues 

with this eternal knowledge resting within 

as the endless song as those haunting winds.


Maria Downs - Has been playing the piano for fifty years. She a has painted over 150 artworks, of garden scenes, moorlands and seascapes for fourteen years and has been writing poetry, concerning Nature’s realms, the universe and the soul, for forty years, writing over 2200, verses.

Maria has lived in Lyon, France, studying French and in Florence, Italy, studying the history of art, musical drama, history of Greek theatre, aesthetics, Italian language and classical music with emphasis on the composers, Robert Schumann and Debussy.

She reads excessively and now, mainly loves writing her verses, reading biographies about interesting gifted people, playing upbeat pop music, easy listening, and Motown, Rhythm and blues and Soul music on her piano. She loves to read, a genuine “good book”.

     

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