Eclipsed

Eclipsed by fears of wishes unfulfilled
Shadowed with expectations numb and unhopeful
You say you are happy but you and I know well
You have just learned to survive in the mediocre

You have locked your pleas, your dreams your desires
Submitting to that which is given
But patience doesn't mean dictating a marionette
Rather being happy in each decision

You have become a fossil of truth
Wrapping up yourself in your cocoon
Hanging you head and moving along
A nonchalant existence, immune

I wish to see the eclipse pass and see the sun
As of now I only see a ring
Your potential of life surpasses your state
For you were never born a dispassionate being

I can not imagine the life I'll see
Once the eclipse has gone
Such Radiance, life, and incandescent joy
All illuminated in one

I want you to be the sun again
Live, wish, want and be happy
I want to see you joyous again
Rewrite the beginning to your story

From Gardens to Paradise

Petals of Crimson and White

Measure the weight of love

Unearth raw passion and purity
Expose bare silence above

Shed the mask of disguise

From Gardens to Paradise

My Nuvole Bianche (White Clouds)

New fallen snow, draping Roman Castles
Enlivening purity, whispering hope.
Silent ecstasy
Enchanting, gripping.
Lives tied in clouds of breaths.
Frozen moments defined

Emerald Peaks Glimmer, subdued lights flicker
Once alive now subtle.
A life under morning melodies.
A day spent beneath plucked petals
Shadowed by where we choose to hide.
Never gone, forever mine

In drifting Rain and blown out candles
Death awaits in sleep, unheard, gentle
Life, Love, Faith and courtesy
Trust, shattered bowed in humility
Loss of one
One world, One Life, One Love.
Be not afraid of running consequences, fear has no hold on you.
Charge forward Gladiator, you'll win this war through

It's when I hold you that I fell solace in words.
Breathe luxury of the finest, set apart the destitution.
I've fallen prey to your magnificence, drawn to your charisma.
All allure has fallen blind, outshone by your presence
If I had to choose one over you, I'd have chosen none. 

No gladiator
Can win against the vulnerability
Of piling wishes

Haiku By Maria Yousuf

In hot pursuit of the past
You forged the future
Into an emblem of ashes and pain

Haiku By Maria Yousuf

My greatest war has begun
And I'm on the battle field
Fighting against myself

Haiku By Maria Yousuf

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Twinkle twinkle little star
How I wonder who you are

The glitter I see in the blind of night
A sea bed of anchored hopes obscure from sight
The throbbing dream in my heart
A longing wish a hand apart

The longing looks to make dreams a reality
Awaiting miracles unseen
White doves setting prayers free
Guiding them beneath their angel wings to your eternity

A last held breath
As time elapses
The last twinkling hope
With hands clasped 

The approaching morning of blinding rays
Falling tears of your leaving grace

Twinkle twinkle little star
How I wish you weren't so far

Passion Fruit

A duet of black and white roses

One crowned a mystery

The other crested tender

One sung intense blazing 
The other subtle, a kindled flame

Tangled harmony of harp strings and violin

Tender waves under the noon sun

A ballroom with bow ties and dresses

A dance barely begun

Wrapped velvet overlapping

Rich in enigma, Soft in sensation

Immaculate in weighing both equal

Fierce against amiable

A Passion fruit

A song poised

An empowering presence

An endearing essence

The emblem of your entity
Comprised magnificently of depth
Hushed into invisibility
Secrets well kept

Strength obscure form plain view
What you know, what you knew
A broken fragment from the entire truth
An aged soul in budding youth

Surface silk, smooth and placid
Curtained storms wailing vivid
Protected, shielded from hearts that see
Saving oneselfs an eternity

Harmonizing the past like gold threads hung
All a lesson, a memory sung
A pattern of love and constant defeat
A bequeathed experience unknown, unseen

Composed melody of a rising dawn

Traced silhouette of a fiery sunset
Parallel in the universe living apart 
Emblazoned together on your heart

Embellished whispers upon your soul

Fragmented sorrows making it whole

An exempliary life of a passion fruit

Passionate in being with the sweetness of a fruit

Passion Fruit

Imprisoned

Tempted by surrounding colors
I am imprisoned in a circus
Joy my mask, sorrow my sentiments
I'm your entertainment, your amusement
Among colors and laughs My tears fall
As I walk the wire without stall
Distracted and bruised I try and see
the blurred destination, the stark reality
With the freedom you think bestowed upon me
I live an imprisoned identity 

The Sleeping Child at Night

Like the sleeping child at night holding his mothers hand
Who stirs as she moves
Refuses to let go when she tries to leave

Whose life is encompassed within that one entity
Who lives her every presence
Wails lost in her absence

The sleeping child with harbored attachments
Which he keeps protected under his umbrella
Holding on tighter as time moves further

His weakness, his Achilles heel
The sinking ship of loss unthinkable
The absence of a lighthouse unimaginable

I lie in bed asleep holding your hand
Grasp it tighter as you move
Refuse to let you go

I lie in bed asleep
Afraid that you'll be gone when I wake up
Afraid that I'll loose my ship's anchor and it'll float away
Afraid that an arrow will strike my Achilles Heel
Afraid that I'll be lost in the black death of your absence
Afraid
Like the sleeping child at night

Scattered

We are all travelers and passerby's the same.
We accompany others and are accompanied towards the eternal fate.
Change is the one constant
Bridges are the one connection
Burnt bridges or paths forgotten
Dissipate clarity, submerge mists into a haze
Crisp tears soaked in change stand a wall of opaque fog
As yesterday's dew shines as a reminder on your clock

Maria Yousuf

Even if I find peace in the whispers of rustling leaves
Fall may not always be happy for me
Even if I find harmony by the subtle seas
Waves may not always be friendly with me
Even if I enjoy being in the company of the spilling moonlight
The fallen darkness may not be tranquil for me

Maria Yousuf

The Message of Farewell

I sit in the tree house wondering at the full moon
See the the flickering shade of the single lantern in the room
The passing breeze chills me
I wrap my blanket closer
There is no one around
Goosebumps rise at the absence of sound

Silence screams & loneliness pricks my skin
The moonlight and lantern quiet and dim
The plague of loneliness begins setting in
One presence is all I wish
I stare at the bouquet crowned with  black & white roses
Stare at death and silence coming my way

The Message of Farewell

I don't fly with wings, I rise in an air balloon
The gentle ascend, the expanse view
All the more pleasant and new

Maria Yousuf

Travel on air
Upon invisible steps
To dreams and wishes
Among impossible quests

Maria Yousuf

Don't just count the stars to form a constellation, connect the glitter
Don't just lie staring at the brilliance, recognize the significance
Don't mystify the the reason of joy, share the moment

Maria Yousuf

No astonishment lies in truth
The words I speak will be yours one day
Your rhythm

Maria Yousuf

No reason

Nothing lasts in this world
It shall vanish with your existence
What traces are left behind will be the moments
If shared in mutual presence
In synched joy
In bestowed pleasure
A reason isn't needed to be good
Be a reflection of what you want to see
Be a reason for your reasons

Abandoned Throne

That sheet of paper you feather your script upon
So lovingly inscribe the flicks and swish from the felt tip
The flickr of the lit fireplace dancing upon its memory
The depth of the moment engraving upon your heart
As you pour out the treasures from your casket
Your casket of sentiments and stories untold

A tale whispered in the winter silence
Sung among the mocking flames
Your words, so loved and treasured were they
Bled from your core of vulnerability
Now they lie peeking from the crevices of a crumpled dome
With the significance of an antique that once shone

An L in the valley of the fold, an O further below
A V at the peak of the mountain, an E nowhere shown
The smoke of the burnt wood and cast out flames rise
The morning rays light a path to the crumpled dome
Once so very loved and treasured
Now a forgotten and abandoned throne

Maria Yousuf

Carved Story on the Bed of Sand

I'll sit here and carve a story on this bed of sand
Lay it down by the sea and watch as the waves draw near to kiss it away
Watch as the golden beams touch its edge and drown it into its symphony
Watch as the tide comes in and wipes it a blank slate

It tells of lies and deception,
of daggers and wounds
of morning shadows and stabbing icicles
of cold mountain peaks and damp dews

It tells of dreams and wishes
of smiles and eternal laughter
of the rainbows and pots of gold
of riding clouds and speechless beauty

I'll sit here and carve a story
Spill my heart to the one beside me
At end of the day it may remain or vanish
Bespoken or silent.
My Carved Story on this Bed of Sand

Maria Yousuf