Sunlit Nights

By Paul Zeppelin

Sunlit Nights contains 211 poems and illustrations by Paul Zeppelin who is an artist and poet who address the wide variety of subjects from his life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Feb 13, 2024
• ISBN: 9798823020022

Paul Zeppelin

Paul Zeppellin incorporates the fragments of his lifelong experiences into an undeniably vivid and masterfully defined imagery which leads a reader into an exciting journey across the wide-ranged world of Paul’s poetic vision. His distinctive poetry must be heard from the first row.

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© 2024 Paul Zeppelin. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 02/13/2024

ISBN: 979-8-8230-2003-9 (sc)

ISBN: 979-8-8230-2002-2 (e)

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are

models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Also, by this author:

Shattered Silence

Naked Trees

Evasive Paradise

Eternal Carnival

Fading Lights

Unpainted Portraits

Unknown Pathways

Sinless Mirrors

Burning Bridges

Foreword

Paul Zeppelin writes his poetry as a passionate but convincing stream of bright ideas, intense emotions, and laconic clarity without any taboos, whatsoever. He comfortably writes about Forbidden issues as religions, sex, politics, and ethics. His verses unearth the deepest layers of our beliefs and doubts, of our dreams and hopes. Travelling sometimes brings one to sunlit nights.

Paul reflects the world we currently dwell in, but quickly realizes that his vibrant curiosity leads him into a no-way-out labyrinth of, at times, dark conclusions about humans as such.

Being a pragmatic optimist, he often sees a ray of light at the end of his lifelong journey.

Judith Parrish Broadbent

Author of Golden Days: Stories and Poems of the Central South and Beyond; Who’s Who in American Poetry 2023; Best Poets 2023

P.S. Paul never hides his admiration of Irish and Russian limericks, lullabies and counting rhymes.

Contents

Foreword

Prologue

The Sun is Rocking in the Pond

Ebbs

The Primary Colors

Journey

Collage

Art

Rebirth

Premonition

Boring

Route

The End of an Endless Sky

Defiant

Without Peace in Sight

Coldblooded Rhymes

We Kill

I am coffin ready

The Sky Was Our Blanket

Weeds

Archnemeses

Clue

Death Carved the Cross

Eccentric Comfort of my Days

A Sunburned Grief

Delight

Goose

Tragic

Puzzle

Pursuit

Sorry

Blame

Andrew Jackson

Avenue

Sinner

Rabbit

Motion

The Tango of Broken Hearts

Geishas

Cousin

A Letter Home

The Street of Truth

Revenge

Sins

Boon

Uniform

Tamed

Fiends

Meanwhile

Ending

Curtains

Yolk

Chaos

Debtor

Snifter

Belated

Desire

Claws

Boasting

Cherchez La Femme

Bouquet

Ashen

Ills

Voice

Zeros

Fourth

Sheets

Vaporized

Ceilings

Phrases

Hailstones

Austerity

Whistles

Ropes

Shrouds

Shadow

Halves

Sauces

Hoarder

Owl

Nil

Goodbyes

Hurdles

Embraces

Antimatter

Fiddle

Grueling

Tastes

Pages

Purpose

Cellar

Sixties

Vases

Enough

Snowflakes

Chicago Blues

Mississippi Blues

History

Counting

From Yesenin

Cage

Reality

Wobbly

Freedom

Sounds

Knees

Herds

Axiom

Mud

Refill

Rival

Aim

Nuances

Void

Overload

Villains

Aorta

Quarters

Mystifying

Ideas

Trough

Montmartre

Moneychangers

Echoes

Bloodline

Cinder

Advice

Corner

Fraternity

Patrician

Wishes

Thread

Kindness

Scene

Wager

Cash

Paranoia

Prayed

Aphorisms

Tears

Blues

Frog

Defeats

Infamy

Clarity

Dismay

Maze

Trepidation

Brandy

Oculus

Exhausted

Amazon

Amnesia

Gilded

My Soul Must Learn to Fly

Pirate’s Limerick

Ripples

Orgasms

The Night has Opened its Umbrella

The Night Fell Quickly on the Pond

Rachmaninoff-Piano Concerto No. 2

Adieu

Nightmare

Talents

Vines

Euphoria

Blindfolded

Worse

I am Leaving Earth

Rowboat

Silhouette

Abilities

At Eighty-Seven

I Hope to Be Around for a While

I Built a House from a Dream

I Cannot Play a Second Violin

A Monolog of Anna Akhmatova

Spider

Haystack

Elected

Goodbye…

Lafayette

Garden

Vacant Chapel

Hourglass

Unachievable

I am coffin ready

I am Leaving Earth

Ode to Chopin

Unachievable

Void

Solitude

Farewell

Acknowledgements

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Prologue

I softly walk behind my shadow,

And drag my dreams and hopes

Over the friendly climbing slopes

To see the most exciting outflow

Of our endless wrongs and rights

Into the sunlit nights.

The Sun is Rocking in the Pond

The crescent resting on the pond,

A baby dawn isn’t too far beyond,

The stubborn ripples rock my boat,

And run its quiet circles toe-to-toe.

It’s freezing cold, I need my coat,

Sunrise postpones its fiery show.

The night is on the brink,

The fish forget to nibble,

The lazy sky turns pink,

My catch is just a giggle.

The boat is docked,

I walk my shaky pier,

The door is locked,

Please, open, dear.

My lovely wife wakes up,

Turns rusty, squeaky keys,

Opens the door, What’s up?

And gets my kiss and squeeze.

She talks; I listen, read the paper,

This time is our prized trophy,

She makes my breakfast later:

Two eggs, a toast, some coffee.

The sun is rocking in the pond,

The moon is just a dusk behind,

The ripples slap my weary boat.

We went to bed. It’s all I wrote.

Ebbs

Without yesterdays the world is not complete,

Regrettably, our history is hidden or forgotten;

We are polite, well-read, refined, and civilized,

But beg the trudging boots of young soldaten

To recreate the terrifying wartime deadly beat

That wakes in every soldier a bloody butcher…

We vaguely recollect the labyrinths of future,

Their melancholic mysteries were pulverized.

Meanwhile, a seamless melody of yesterday

Noiselessly sings a lullaby to our tired hearts,

Reciting tales of the past ebbs gone far away

As newly reappearing waves of modern arts.

The Primary Colors

Blue ocean of the foreign sky

Over the yellow sandy spread;

Whether my foes or brothers die,

Their blood is similarly red.

We went to war, we went to hell,

Dreams, hopes and futures