17 lives

 

Valentines day

should be a day

where hearts are aflame

with burning love.

 

Where cards

get sent

and tokens of hope

are left wherever

love speaks

in her

whispered tones.

 

But not today,

In 1818,

as fire broke

through

dawning

loving dreams.

 

Atkinsons cotton mill

in the morning haze.

Sunlight yet to graze

upon the distant fields.

 

A boy.

 

Just a tired child.

Early to rise.

Sleep still sits dreamily

in his eyes.

Takes the stairs by candlelight...

 

The naked flame catches

with the cotton threads

and a plume of smoke

drifts high above his head.

 

Panic stricken he tries in vain,

frantically to slow

the marching of the flame.

To stop it dancing between

the wooden beams, but alas

it’s not to be.

Fearful eyes now wide awake

watch as the flames engulf

like a wall of hate.

 

The workers

in the cramped rooms above,

Deafened by the grind

of loud, dusty machines.

Girls and young women

working themselves to the bone

to earn the dream,

a world where food sat

upon their tables at home

and they had a future full of love.

 

As the heat rose.

gloom and smoke surrounded them.

Choking fumes,

as the cotton and grease

of oiled machines

becomes a plume of death.

A swarming fever dream,

as the blistered wooden beams

start to creak and break.

 

17 lives were lost that day.

 

17 lives

never to feel the sun on their skin again,

never to walk the Yorkshire hills again,

Never to feel the rain soothing.

 

17 lives

never to receive a valentines card

with all the hope and mystery.

Never to hold it in their hands

and feel the warmth of love

as it casts is spell

so majestically.

 

 

Thanks for reading
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My newly released book, 'Paper Brick'

is now available along with 

all of my other books, 

at Amazon

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Paper-brick-Kyle-Coare/dp/B0F9LCD487/

 

Please buy a copy if you can

it would really help me
continue to do this.

Peace, Love & Poetry
Kyle

 

All work copyright - Kyle Coare  

One foot in front of the other

 

As I dry the tears

away

from my eyes

I leave the lies

where they lay

bedraggled.

I walk into night

one foot

in front

of the other.

Slow staggered steps,

as I keep falling

down the cracks

in the pavement where

all the hurt is kept.

 

I try to catch

falling stars

to grant me a wish,

turn back the clock

wipe away that kiss.

It was never love.

I was kept

controlled

hidden

in a lovers hold.

Lies spoken in

serpent tongues.

Lies to which

I gave my world.

 

As I amble through

pained days

I shed skin layers,

peeling away reminders.

Washed clean in the rain.

Those memories.

Those hurtful memories.

The putdowns, the glares

the look of anger.

My own look of fear

staring down

the barrel of

a loaded heart,

ready to explode

in my face.

The look of manipulation

disguised as love.

The look of trepidation

in my own weary eyes

as the tears embrace the air.

 

I am not who I was.

Who am I? Someone

I once knew, only now

the hurt is lost down

the cracks.

I am released.

The grip from which

I teased free

now something

distant to me,

but the memories

they return some days,

and though

the world continues to turn,

I have to relearn

to walk with pride.

For I’m still going,

and with every strike of my pen

I find even more meaning.

 

 

Thanks for reading
Follow this link for more.
https://linktr.ee/Wordsandfluff

My newly released book, 'Paper Brick'

is now available along with 

all of my other books, 

at Amazon

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Paper-brick-Kyle-Coare/dp/B0F9LCD487/

 

Please buy a copy if you can

it would really help me
continue to do this.

Peace, Love & Poetry
Kyle

 

All work copyright - Kyle Coare  

Cabin in the woods

 

Maybe we could stay

in a little cabin in the woods,

a place hidden away from the world

and all those disapproving looks.

Where the log fire burns

and we can hold each other there,

we can drink hot cocoa as we

cuddle for warmth,

watching the flames dance with the air

under the brightest moon

that has ever taken form.

But then, I've seen enough movies to know

that this will end in a horror show,

a rain of blood will flow from

the scratches in the walls

and our getaway will end on a low

as we run into the trees

trying to escape

from some demonic entities

and their howling calls.

 

We could escape

to a little shack

by a secluded lake,

where we can watch the moon skim

over the surface skin,

listen to the loons calling

whilst our whispers are kept

where no hidden ears can listen in.

But then, what if there are evils within?

Living dead ambling through the blanket night.

Unleashed from some ancient curse

or a book of words written in devilish verse.

I don’t think I can stand to see you

torn in two by a creature

from another dimensional universe.

 

Maybe we could find an hotel,

complete with a maze of corridors.

We can talk until late,

staring lovingly, lost

into each other's gaze,

but what if we were

to meet an awful fate?

Blood spilling from the elevators

flooding those corridors

whilst madness entices us.

I don’t think I could survive if you were

to take on a possessed state,

chasing me down

with an axe to cut my door

into splinters upon the ground.

Id lay my life on the floor,

for I’d never want to sever our connection

for any reason at all.

I’d let you hold me there in your lair

because I could never leave you, I fear.

 

Maybe we could seek some quiet retreat

in a quaint little village by the sea,

a little island getaway, perhaps,

where just a few locals stay

and the only passage away

is a boat that travels once a week

as the dawn light laps upon the shore.

But what if that was our downfall?

Surrounded by a cult who worship the devil,

ready to sacrifice us when the last bell tolls.

I don’t think I could watch as they subject you to evil.

I’d have to let them burn me at the pyre

to give you an escape, which would be my last desire.

 

Maybe we could take a break

in a castle far away,

a gothic work of art, only accessible

via horse and cart,

driven across mountain passes

through misty passages.

But I fear we could end up

surrounded by the children of the night,

sucked dry in the blink of an eye,

and I don’t want to watch

as you become one of them,

sinking your teeth into me.

Maybe we are best to just stay

where we are, in the arms of love

where no monsters can get

a stake on your heart.

 

 

Thanks for reading
Follow this link for more.
https://linktr.ee/Wordsandfluff

My newly released book, 'Paper Brick'

is now available along with 

all of my other books, 

at Amazon

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Paper-brick-Kyle-Coare/dp/B0F9LCD487/

 

Please buy a copy if you can

it would really help me
continue to do this.

Peace, Love & Poetry
Kyle

 

All work copyright - Kyle Coare