My Soul's Core

By S.B. O'Riley

My Soul's Core is a poignant collection of thoughts and life's experiences delivered in poetic form.  It is based on the premise that no matter where we find ourselves on this journey called life, we have all shared, in one way or another, the same ups and downs that we may, or may not, need to come to terms with. My Soul's Core is a collection of 100+  poems written mostly in free-verse form.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Soul's Core Press
• Release date: Oct 7, 2022
• ISBN: 9798215638910

S.B. O'Riley

S.B. O'Riley is a self-taught writer, poet and nature photographer, trying to bring a touch of joy and inspiration into the lives of those who read and view his literary and photographic works.

Book preview

On A Rainy Night

On a rainy night

The wind blows in from the North

Maybe it’s the East,

It’s so hard to tell anymore.

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With it

Comes a thousand misplaced memories,

Well, at least I thought they were forgotten.

Some are of a time, others

Perhaps  a place,

Most seem so distant now.

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On this one, rainy night

Like so many nights before

I find myself staring out into its darkness

Pretending I’m somewhere else

Anywhere, but where I actually am.

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I sit, listening to each rain drop fall

Each one just another second off my life

The one I’ve wasted so,

Watching as it passes me by

Frame by frame,

Lost dream, by lost dream.

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Hidden in the shadows,

A face (sometimes more than one)

One I almost recognized

Strays briefly into the light,

Only to fade away again

Back into the darkness

On this one, rainy night.

Searching For Redemption

I’ve cried beneath the pale moon’s light

Each tear searches the darkness

For my soul’s redemption.

My heart aches

With sin’s past burdens

No escape from my torment

No reprieve,

Even from my dreams.

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Faces of those I’ve hurt

Dreams I’ve crushed

Hearts I’ve broken,

Loneliness is my punishment

Tears become my lashes,

Pain becomes my penance.

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I search the vast darkness

Night, after endless night

For my soul’s redemption

For their forgiveness

That may,

Never come my way.

Into The Darkness

Into the darkness

His thoughts start to creep

Looking, searching

For all that he’s lost.

Faces, places, things of the past

Tormenting his memories

Then haunting his dreams.

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Into the darkness

His hope now strays

Lost in the shadows

His own mind creates.

His sanity lost

Or was it taken away?

No one’s left to tell him

Everything will be okay.

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Into the darkness

His spirit now fades

His humanity lost forever

For the decisions he’s made.

What becomes of him now

Only God really knows

Because into the darkness

His soul now goes.

Forgotten

A tear falls

Silent,

Unnoticed by whom it was shed for.

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No one really knows

Or, even cares

What has become of him.

What once was

Is no more,

A distant memory.

What could have been

Should have been

Will never be,

Lost in the darkness of his loneliness.

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Another tear falls

Silent,

Unnoticed by whom it was shed for.

Forever Lost

I search throughout the cold night’s sky

For anything that could reveal to me

The reason for this continued existence.

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The chilling winds now blow

The rain, beats relentless

Against a dirt streaked window,

Loneliness is my constant companion

Hope, faint and fleeting as it is

My only ally.

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Tears fall,

One after another

For all the time I’ve wasted.

I lie here alone

A taste of what I could not have

Lingers once more upon my lips,

Existing now,

If only in my dreams.

Scars

Scars,

Most of us have them,

Our vanity tries so hard to hide them

Yet, in one degree or another

We have no choice but to accept them.

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Where they come from

Doesn’t really matter,

An