Lonely People

        – in a hollow place –

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Lonely People

        – in a hollow place –

Why do they stay
As bereft beings, 
To live the way
Hardly seeing,
They so accept 
A life forlorn,
And suffer yet 
The sorry state, 
Of lonely people…

In sad seclusion 
As tho allure,
Be the darkness
They so endure,
Alas to languish
In thorn compose,
Endlessly without
Respite’s dispose, 
While they await
Indifferent gods, 
For a better fate
While they at odds, 
Chose contemplate
For far too many,
Found lonely people!

            © Jean-Jacques Fournier

Imagery -Source Wikimedia Commons
Music - Maurice Ravel – excerpt of Pavane Pour un infante Défunte
Audio - Jean- Jacques Fournier  

                                                                     written in Vence
                                                                   February 25, 2002
                                                        rewrote in Grasse March 24, 2008
				                    edited in Sweetsburg January 28, 2022

This Face

     – be as tho painted –

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This Face

     – be as tho painted –

This face you see
Be as tho painted, 
Told idiosyncrasy   
Disorderly related,
Still has a grandee
Fixed thus to elate,
Not au contrair be
Of a mindful trait,
But of astute being
In that erudite state
Affects as depicted,
Note ingress's place
Tho ilk’s affixed bait,
See face, as tho painted...

A face will so emerge
In life unacquainted, 
Yet ‘tis discouraged
At seen underrated, 
For fruit of one’s urge 
Begs shan’t be wasted,
As but a dreamlike hold
Life fancied be untainted,
And that you not fail extol  
This face, be as tho painted!

                                                 © Jean-Jacques Fournier

Imagery - Oskar Kokoschka
Music – Maurice Ravel – Pavane Pour une infante Défunte 
(for a dead Princess) 
Audio Recital – Jean-Jacques Fournier

                                                                           ov written in Montreal
                                                                                 January 2, 2002
					                                   rewrote in Sweetsburg
                                                                                January 25, 2022

Another Face

             – looking for shadows –

Image by Amedeo Modigliani

Another Face

             – looking for shadows –

Tho time mayn’t hold 
Another face indicates,
Would insist ever bold
Search to find migrate, 
In yawning sculpt lines
Of craggy viewed traits,
Etched deep to the touch
By each journey so traced,
Wants bare story nonesuch 
For be mortals’ life travels,
Found embrace life as such... 

In time dawns to follow
Find hides age’s cruelty,
Neath dimly lit shadows 
Where fashions discreetly,
Not of wind burnt or blue
Thought be rather as brail,
Affixed carve its path thru
Another face might prevail,
Convincing mindful of true
Yet ever looking for shadows!

                                                                              written in Montreal
                                                                        © Jean-Jacques Fournier
                                                                                January 2, 2002
					                                 edited January 23, 2022

The Look

        – of a forlorn smile –

Flora Priestley Lamplight, by John Singer Sargent

Listen to audio

The Look

– of a forlorn smile –

I picture the look
Of a beguiled face,
That wants to brook 
Find an affable place,
For the very long while
Hence want not lose pace,
Nor to misplace found smile
Tho all gods shan’t pay grace,
When irrelevant be man’s guile 
Who wouldst try calm sadly face,
With the tacit mind, of a forlorn smile!

                                 © Jean-Jacques Fournier


Imagery - Amedeo Modigliani & John Singer Sargent
Music – If I Should You – by Chet Baker
Audio – Jean-Jacques Fournier

                                          written in Sweetsburg

                                              January 18, 2022

                                                         

While Ye Sleep

          – life aims to recur –

Falk’s Sleeping gypsy

Listen to audio

While Ye Sleep

          – life aims to recur –

Ought to count
Ye contemplate,
A given amount
Thus undertake,
In a set response
End futile haste,
With life too fast
Fixes we’ll waste,
Even a mind blur 
Finds lessen state,
Life aims to recur 
Tho be fates take,
We fail not deter
Yet whilst awake,
To find won’t last
The while ye sleep,
Life ever rushes past!

                                   © Jean-Jacques Fournier

				                  written in Sweetsburg
					         January 15, 2022

Imagery - Source Wikimedia Commons
Music - Alone Together - Chet Baker
Audio recital - Jean-Jacques Fournier

Shadows – where faces hide –

Listen to audio

Shadows
         - where faces hide -

In time dawn’s shadow
Would dim the cruelty,
A face deemed bide 
From its carved path,
Will transmute hide
Said nature’s trap,
For wind burnt flesh
That reads like brail,
Or weathered mesh
On skin humanly frail,
Finds soon be paired
To rock-strewn canyons,
Reflection of a dire face
As pain unravels memory,
Of its passing shadows
Hence where faces hide,
Among phantoms of the past 
Where these faces did emerge! 

                                                           © Jean-Jacques Fournier

Images – Private authors; Malik Earnest 2015

Music – Leaving by Chet Baker

Audio Recital – Jean-Jacques Fournier

                                                                             written in Sweetsburg

                                                                                   January 2, 2022

                                                                       edited January 10, 2022