GRANT NOT POWER TO THESE DEMONS OF DARK...

To DEMONS that echo their lies, their illusions, their taunts, their disquiet. The plea is heard, the poet responds...

GRANT NOT POWER TO THESE DEMONS OF DARK...

Grant not power to these demons of dark
Hush hush their haunts erase their mark
Be free of judgments and reprisals cruel
TRUTH and SPIRIT of SELF in light anew to rule
Addict me not to a false quieting of the pain I feel
Make the liberation from a shadowed self a beauty real
MASK not these agonies of the abiding soul
No longer allow deception to demand a toll
Pay not the price of life relegated to sorrow
Live the promise held within each tomorrow
Depression be not a donned cloak of despair
Hold the Faith yet borne of GOD's loving care
The gift of life and power of will in your story be told
Hail each breath, the cleansing, 'tis the alchemist's gold
See behind the MASK beyond the veil
See the denied pain that is yet to prevail
The masquerade and pretense held to conceal
The SELF that TRUTH alone is to reveal
Reveal, I hear this blessed command
Cloak not the quiver of shadow close at hand
Remove pretense and the MASK donned to conceal
The TRUTH, the deep knowing, this knowing real
Confront and resolve, the supernal summons a call
Beyond all consideration, TRUTH to lay bear ALL
To the plea of this petition I to heed
For TRUTH, 'tis ever the rightful creed.

Rose Marie Raccioppi
Poet Laureate
Orangetown, New York

A Companion Statement to My Poem, Grant Not Power to These Demons of Dark

In a world where suffering is too often hidden behind silence, denial, or profit, we are called to remember the sacred truth of our shared humanity. My poem is a petition — a plea for awakening — and this statement stands beside it as a vow.
We must not allow the forces that thrive in darkness to shape our conscience or our culture. When harm becomes tolerable, when exploitation is ignored, when the vulnerable are left unseen, the moral fabric of our society begins to unravel.

This is a call to reclaim our moral responsibility — individually and collectively.

A call to see what has been hidden.
A call to protect those who cannot protect themselves.
A call to honor the sanctity of life in every person.

Truth is not merely an ideal; it is a force of liberation.
Compassion is not optional; it is the measure of our humanity.
Awareness is not passive; it is an act of courage.

Let us stand together in the belief that every life holds inviolable worth.
Let us refuse to look away from suffering or injustice.
Let us choose to be the light that reveals, heals, and restores.

We will not be silent.
We will not be indifferent.
We will not surrender our humanity to darkness.

This is our creed — to uphold truth, to honor life, and to protect the vulnerable with unwavering resolve.

— Rose Marie Raccioppi

Poet Laureate, Orangetown, New York

BE

A question, a consideration, a dialogue... "BE" calls to the numerological value of 7... B = 2, E= 5, 2 implies connection, 5 implies freedom... 7 implies reflection... and so WE, the Wondrous Eternal, perceives. reflects, and is called to BE, Birth Eternal by volition, by grace, by soul.

Hamlet, Act III, Scene I [To be, or not to be]

William Shakespeare

1564 –1616

"To BE, or not to BE that is the question:

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,

And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;

No more; and by a sleep to say we end

The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks

That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation

Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;

To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;

For in that sleep of death what dreams may come

When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,

Must give us pause: there's the respect

That makes calamity of so long life;

For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,

The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,

The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,

The insolence of office and the spurns

That patient merit of the unworthy takes,

When he himself might his quietus make

With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,

To grunt and sweat under a weary life,

But that the dread of something after death,

The undiscover'd country from whose bourn

No traveller returns, puzzles the will

And makes us rather bear those ills we have

Than fly to others that we know not of?

Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;

And thus the native hue of resolution

Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,

And enterprises of great pith and moment

With this regard their currents turn awry,

And lose the name of action.—Soft you now!

The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons

Be all my sins remember'd.

William Shakespeare

.BE

what be this awakening sweet

where grace and intention meet

what be this thunderous sounding in heart

where all that is has its knowing start

what be this soaring of spirit and soul

where vision is one with heart and goal

this be the Self, the TRUTH to embrace

where all that is blessed in knowing I place

where judgment, reprisal, illusion and demise

be cast aside by Spirit, an awareness wise

beyond the drama and lies yet heard

is the beloved glory of the divine WORD

joyful gratitude to fill my days

so BE the embodiment of SELF in PRAISE.

Rose Marie Raccioppi

APOGEE Poet

Poet Laureate

Orangetown, New York

WORDS ~ .Pen in Hand

Calls... headlines... tasks... and too, a pen in hand...

WORDS... to sound the silence, to echo the heart, 

to sing the soul...

Pen In Hand

calling calling be heart's command

and here this pen in poet's hand

a smile, a gesture, the setting sun

a creed, a mission, a task now done

'tis not what I alone to answer nor unfold

the pleas of love be too, your story told

all to awaken each vision yet held

purpose and right intention in glory meld

with word and reach and faith in command

here be this pen in poet's hand.

Rose Marie Raccioppi

APOGEE Poet

Poet Laureate

Saint Valentine's Day ~ 2026

Saint Valentine's Day ~ 2026

Within each heart there be

A longing, 'tis love's decree

The call to self and another true

The blessings of devotion on to you

Within each heart a questing fair

To embrace another with love's tender care

Within each heart a knowing divine

This ever yours, this ever mine

Love to ever find its sacred way

This moment, this hour, this day.

Rose Marie Raccioppi

Poet Laureate

Orangetown, New York

Georgia O’Keeffe', "Red, Yellow and Black Streak," 1924, oil on canvas.

"The popular customs associated with Saint Valentine's Day undoubtedly had their origin in a conventional belief generally received in England and France during the Middle Ages, that on 14 February, i.e. half way through the second month of the year, the birds began to pair. Thus in Chaucer's Parliament of Foules we read:

For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne's day

Whan every foul cometh ther to choose his mate.

For this reason the day was looked upon as specially consecrated to lovers and as a proper occasion for writing love letters and sending lovers' tokens."

From: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15254a.htm

AND THIS IN RESPONSE to my Offering...

:

"Your message feels like a beautifully layered Valentine of its own — poetry, art, history, and devotion all braided together. It’s a lovely way to honor the day, and it resonates especially well with the painting you shared. That abstract sweep of reds, yellows, and dark contours has the same emotional temperature as your poem: warm, searching, and full of movement toward connection."

Here’s a way to bring all the threads you offered into a single, cohesive reflection.

A Tapestry of Valentine’s Day: Poetry, Art, and Tradition

A Contemporary Blessing

"Rose Marie Raccioppi’s poem carries the classic Valentine’s Day spirit but with a contemplative, almost ceremonial tone. It treats love not as a fleeting sentiment but as a sacred calling — something that lives “within each heart,” urging us toward tenderness, devotion, and mutual recognition. It’s a reminder that love is both personal and universal, intimate and archetypal".

A Visual Echo: Georgia O’Keeffe’s 1924 Canvas

"O’Keeffe’s Red, Yellow and Black Streak is a fitting companion. Her work often captures the emotional essence of nature rather than its literal form, and this painting’s flowing strata of color feel like the inner landscape of longing itself. The warm lower bands could be read as desire, the dark horizon as mystery, and the luminous upper swirls as hope or transcendence. It’s a visual metaphor for the poem’s journey from yearning to union"

A Medieval Root System

"The historical note you included adds a charming dimension. The medieval belief that birds chose their mates on February 14 gave the day its early romantic associations. Chaucer’s lines —"

For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne’s day

Whan every foul cometh ther to choose his mate.

— helped cement the idea that mid-February was a natural season for pairing, correspondence, and tokens of affection. It’s fascinating how a simple observation about birdsong evolved into a cultural tradition that still shapes how we celebrate love centuries later."

A Day That Holds Many Layers

{Your message brings together:

The personal — a poem of blessing and devotion

The artistic — O’Keeffe’s emotional abstraction

The historical — medieval customs and Chaucer’s influence

It’s a reminder that Valentine’s Day i a long-standing cultural meditation on connection, renewal, and the courage it takes to love."

And so the Celebration, the Divinity, the Deliverance...

Rose Marie Raccioppi

BREATHE I

BREATHE I...

This day in its giving... breathe I, a resonant breath, all in homage, a bow to the blessings that sustains us...

            a breath that remembers,

                a breath that honors,

                   a breath that aligns,

                        a breath that becomes its own prayer

                            a breath that breathes GOD.

Rose Marie Raccioppi

APOGEE Poet

Dogwood in Magical Light

 Haiku

evening hour to come

dogwood in magical light

snow in crystal blooms.

Rose Marie Raccioppi

APOGEE Poet

Photo: Snow in crystal blooms, CAR, Collectible Clicks, 

@Rose Marie Raccioppi, 2026.

~

The Blue of the Sky

Haiku

the blue of the sky

proclaims itself in beauty

this the supernal.

Rose Marie Raccioppi

APOGEE Poet

Photo: Blue of sky, CAR, Collectible Clicks, 

@Rose Marie Raccioppi, 2026.