Shades of Blue: The Journey of Awakening

By Gino Vallejo

-A psychedelic odyssey through dreams of love and death-

Comprising one hundred poems by Gino Vallejo, Shades of Blue: The Journey of Awakening is truly a trip-one brought fully to life by the haunting artwork of Stephanie LeVasseur. 

From Bethlehem to Byzantium, from ancient Egypt to modern Iraq, from co

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gino Vallejo Books
• Release date: Oct 14, 2020
• ISBN: 9781735822211

Gino Vallejo

Raised in El Paso, Texas, Gino Vallejo moved to Los Angeles at age 11, and inspired by the memory of Jim Morrison, found an innate desire to express himself through poems of his own. As bidden by family and friends, he compiled his first book. "My Heart's Whisper," in 2009. 2011 brought "Between Two Worlds," and in 2015 "Blood Moon Rising."

Book preview

The Heavenly Gate

And the world seems to amaze me,

on a clandestine dimension, in a zeal to release me,

on a pain of longing, as it clashes on a nightingale of dreams,

in a distant seam

As the night pearls into a heavenly sweet perfection...

Suspended and dejected from that pearl of manifestation,

the world awaits the embodiment of glory encapsulated in One.

Shadows of Heaven

Transcending a world away,

lifted high upon a spectacle of life

gathering the distance

on the palm of His hands.

Dazzling within a perpetual light

inside an incredible joy,

as a child in a carefree world

that no human can gather into words.

Sojourning out of time

upon a landscape of euphoria,

where Angels and Saints sing and roam

and bathe in the essence of bliss,

attaining an abundance of colors

with golden roads marveling

a beautiful abode on a sea of glass,

as living waters endure

in a crystal-clear perception

abounding in spellbound.

No death or curse

invited in this exotic transformation

of paradise and youth

where eternity never sleeps

in the wake of an avenging time,

but harmonizes an eloquent choir

in an enchantment.

Filled with lush gardens and majestic peace,

cultivating an ethereal beauty

amid high mansions in the sky,

where nothing grows old

or becomes weary

inside an everlasting love.

The realization that this life

holds the key to happiness

in the absence of truth

 is a damning lie

from the depths of hell.

God never promised us

the importance of success

to be something,

or to have material things

that would fill us.

For this deception is a shadow

from the heavenly glory that awaits us.

Cleopatra: The Song of the Nile

Gazing on Egypt from afar,

unwavering from an ambiguous oracle

swallowed by the sea at Actium’s flee.

In a horizon of bleed,

as the wind chimes an evening wake

gusting at my distant gate.

Roving in a dormant slide,

soothing like a dream on ancient glide

upon a timeless bend into the Mediterranean gulf

dissipating into a portal fade,

awakening my preternatural fate.

Searching beyond the Valley of the Kings

and past the prevalence of time,

in empty pyramids that scheme lifelong ambiguities

upon naked vessels that thrust sparingly

into an interjection of legend hurled in the absence of mind.

Channeling over vast distances

in guided sequences along with the flow

to an identity that permeates at the glow,

seething upon the cornerstone of Alexandria

in a world buried in time.

Combing out the sands of possibilities

heralding from the throne of Isis

in an intriguing manifest of destiny

encircling a majesty blanketed in enlightenment.

Summoning the last vestiges of royalty

conceived in Antony’s arms

confined to a hindrance of power etched from the afterlife,

revealing the afterglow of her life.

‘O’ beautiful queen of Egypt,

phasing through the Eye of Horus

in a lovely spellbound hazing within a madness

enthralling on a universal serenade,

seeking to free you, and free us from the confines of this world.’

Gorgeous eyes staring through the years

in beautiful scenes of a gathering of time

underlining in precious jewels on a banquet of gold,

elaborating an exquisite beauty in an entombment of bliss.

Curving in between the lines that gap

in an enchantment that fills, and bides in glory.

Finding her in a youth of intermittent fold,

holding no precarious abode.

Abiding in a Caesarian summer and gold,

Tantalizing upon glittering thrones

decorating the gilded passage of Antony’s woes.

Alluring her mortal lovers

with lustful kisses of pomegranate and fire,

consumed in a beautiful glance that captivates

with a voluptuous desire,

and beguiling the gods in a long afternoon of lies

baiting in a glorious procession of pageantry met

at the obstinacy of Rome.

Seducing the world in mystique

and charm,

an intoxicating belle in the underworld of busts,

delving into famous trusts of love.

Endowing on royal emblems of dust

upon a myriad of stars

bestowing a lovely embrace of myth.

Falling in love within Antony’s dream

cherished at the crux,

in an exotic transformation of guile and youth.

Snaring her conqueror with an undying kiss

gathered in an aesthetic bind,

burning within an erotic enthusiasm that blinds.

‘O’ beautiful song of the Nile,

enchantingly musing the world over

in surpassing beauty and wit,

exuberantly riding on a great conquest

of ambition

dominated by passion under an umbrella

of romance

unifying Antony’s dream to become yours,

and ultimately ravaging your soul to become his.’

Alas, unraveling the mystery of the goddess

founded in that epic tragedy

from the splendor of the past,

culminating within a viper’s den of thieves

veiled in a golden mask on the eve of Octavian’s rule.

Inspiring graces from an eternal flame

entreating upon her broken heart.

Sojourning over a netherworld

outstretched in the flight of the Phoenix,

arousing in the intimacy of dark secrets and perpetual fade

in perfumes of lust, meddling on trials of trust

borrowing a tragedy from a sarcophagus of old

desiring to fill that lonesome