Good. A sentiment well expressed. But how do you know the fevered sleep is far gone?

I have neither the patiance or talent to even attempt to try and write in this form. Kudos to one who can.

'My daily bread and wine' seems to hold religious connotations. clarification, perhaps? First stanza is my fave :-)

I see the painting's description, but don't get what you are saying. Goelogic fog? Are they really denying the fog, or ignoring it?

i found this quite a sentimental piece and must admit i rather liked the "tucking you in like a child" line as this portrays the innocence that love can be. great descriptive work

A good title - gets us right intoi it. I don't like "misplaced" - too didactic. "A judge with a saint’s reputation" seems to conflict with "An angel with a life full of sin." A good rant.

I imagine it sung to viola drone in a minor key. A fine song for lonely drunk. The key line: "I reject the nature of this life, his gift, and so, reject mortality." That line could turn the whole song into something positive, depending on the music.

I think I have to agree with Ranger on the lines 4 and 5. You have pretty good imagery as has already been commented, but I am not one quite familiar with war settings. I mean, I don't particularly take note of such details, but I do have to give it to you. - 8 -

On the contrary, I thought 'push you away for not sitting close' was extremely clear. He's speaking in contradictions. It don't get much more contradictory than that. I didn't care for 'an enemy has permeated my mind', since in this line you're stating specifically what you succeeded in hinting at - quite well, in my opinion - throughout the entire poem. That aside, I thought it was a well-built and powerful poem; and I understood and identified with it, which is one of the trademarks of a good piece of work.

'Fare price' - the play on a ticket to Heaven is brilliant. Very sermon-y in feel, which is reflected in the limited imagery (in my experience sermons don't tend to be very 'picturesque'). This has the extremes of attitude contained within, despite the 'sell it to all for that ultimate fare price' aspect there's also a fairly obvious distaste of the commercialisation of faith. Personally I love these ambiguities in poetry, the opposing viewpoints will each use this as a vindication of their position while those on the middle ground won't be able to decide which way your attitude goes. Only one crit with this - 'arguing the state' didn't quite feel right grammatically. I think it should be 'arguing for', or 'about' or something similar. That aside, I loved this.

I like this. It creates an almost-complete portrait yet left me wondering whether you'd return or not. That uncertainty works perfectly in here to conjure up both an image of happiness and tragedy. I'm inclined to go with the latter mainly due to 'the child I'll never have'. That line, to me, is the most important in the poem. I have to admit that I didn't like 'tucking you in'; it felt a little un-arty in comparison with the rest, and is a very cliched phrase. That is the only thing I'd change though.

If you replaced the "ands" in lines two and three with something more concrete this would be better. A good effort though.

I'm not familiar with this form, but I like rhyme scheme and I love the rhythm.

I know this happens. We seldom hear about it. I know a woman from Taiwan who escaped from such torture and is now in the US. She is the exception. I don't how you can improve this poem. When a situation is this bad, all you can do is tell it like it is. The word "love" is jarring, because it is not really love; I would use another word.

This is good. From my perspective it paints a very real picture of hopelessness brought on by addiction to drugs. The second stanza is excellent, the strongest of the three.

This is an excellent poem. tight, and to the point. I also like the juxtaposition of lines 6 and 7. good work.

"Loving me more than I hate myself" is classic. An excellent read, as is most of your work.

I enjoyed this as it was a very pleasant, innocent, and naturally rhymed piece. I think your boy would love you reading this to him! I know I would. Suggestions: 'your virtue i pray is never harmed.' - the meter is slightly off. Try something like 'I pray that you be never harmed', or another idea, 'Let silence softly wrap you warm'. it ain't perfect, but play with it :-)

How lovely! And how hard it must have been to write. This is the first paradelle I've read. I'm glad it was a good one. I agree about the 3rd line from the end, though. 'light what grows' is awkward, so I made a valiant effort to find an alternative. It was a bitch. I came up with, 'Of each dueling spark in light, I make hearts ‘round bleeding paint, Deliver what the angst hath built.' It might fit, because in the original, the light grows. Here, it sparks into light. However, this is purely your decision. Have I said what a terrific piece this is already?

First read: I read the comments concerning therapists and patients, but I never associated the poem with either; they're far too mundane. This poem is a dream; and I read it just as though I were waking up, trying to piece together bits and pieces of an idea which was blindingly clear just the instant before I awoke. All I can recall at this moment are scattered pictures; flickering memories; a swoop in the distance. And she left me. Second read: I can see the dream interpretation theme in the first verse, particularly in the first line of every stanza. It would seem as though the first line describes a reality, and the following lines the dream. They could, in fact, be read separately and still make sense. I did however enjoy the puns, although I seriously doubt I figured them all out, though. And of course, your trademark ;-) Solid 10 for a indecently beautiful piece of work. I love a poem that makes me think. But beware of loading your stuff down with too many underlying meanings; you might be too subtle for the rest of us. :-)