Along with reams of short stories, and longer attempts at fiction, I’ve written countless poems over the decades. The bulk were written in my teens and twenties and I literally have folders full of handwritten and typewritten compositions.

I’d been threatening to put a selection into print since the mid-90’s. I remember discussing it with an old girlfriend in ’95 but a number of things always seemed to stop me. Part of that was not really being sure if I wanted to share them with the world, part was never having the time to go through what was amounting to thousands of bits of paper – ranging from typed and formatted finished compositions to hand written stanzas on the back of paper bags, or anything I had at hand when inspiration hit.

A few years ago I finally got round to sorting out a collection and published them under the title “Wild Card Symphonies”. Consisting of three smaller volumes of my work, “Wild Card Symphonies”, “Cry To Me”, and “This Graveyard Heart”, the book totaled just over 120 poems. You can buy a copy (plug plug) through Lulu on one of the links at the bottom of the page if you like what you read and want to have more.

Betrayal

Take away my one entire friend

And complicate me further.

I stand and watch my own demise

Without being able to cool my fever.

You take from me,

You always have,

And now that I want some back

-You walk away.

–

Closing your eyes won’t help a thing,

But you’d prefer to keep them open

To watch friends knives cut me down,

To watch old lovers take my blood.

–

You know that I need you now

But you’ve left me behind

Crying at the bar,

Wishing for a resurrection.

You take from me,

You always have,

And now that I need some back

-You walk away.

–

I love you, and I really need you now,

But you’re a thousand miles from me

And I haven’t a shoulder to cry on

That won’t stab me in my back.

–

All my friends are wearing masks,

And my old lovers they are wearing smiles

Because of the lies they were told,

Manipulated before my own eyes.

You took from me,

You always did,

And whenever I wanted some of you

You walked away from me

Acting like I wasn’t there,

Showing that, somewhere,

You really did care.

(BETRAYAL By A R J Abranson, 30-06-95/19:26, 01-07-95/00:41)

My poetry anthology, Wild Card Symphonies, is available to buy now on Lulu in both Softcover and Dust Jacket Hardcover.

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Wild Card Symphonies, Cry To Me & This Graveyard Heart are Copyright ©2015, Angus Abranson. All rights reserved.
Cover design by George C. Cotronis (Ravenkult Studios, www.ravenkult.com) Copyright © 2015 Angus Abranson
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
No reproduction in part or in whole without prior written permission from the author of the copyright owner.