Which Way, Lord?

Staring out into the ocean, with no land in sight,

The world seems so vile ‘cause here and now,

It’s just me and Elyon my hope.

Often, I raise my hands in supplication,

In search of some direction,

To seek clarity in every purest ambition.

The wind and water hit my face, like pellets of reminders,

They tell me the air and water I depend on can hurt me

Just as much as they can nourish me.

Yet still, I hold on to them. I can’t let them go,

Because as much as they hurt at each step

And as much as they nourish, I have nothing else.

And I need them to understand my journey.

The Love of Elyon is pure, yet it comes with pain and pleasure

And we’re told it’s for lessons and satisfaction on the journey.

So, here I stand alone staring out into the ocean,

With no land in sight, it’s only the air and water I depend on.

With nothing in hand, I stand beneath the wings of seagulls.

Logosu, tell me, when the New Year comes to my door

Will my words need plumbers though I rest under his shelter?

Or I’ll need carpenters to reshape how I sit at my place?

The Year Is Now Dead, What Next?

We have come to where the sidewalk ends

And tonight, when the dreary bell rings at Midnight

Each of us will ponder over each second of our days

When we were weak and weary yet life went on

Some with thanksgiving will remember God’s grace

Like many mothers mourning for their children in the storms

Others like wives bereft of husbands and fathers singing dirges
For the loss of their flesh, with their spirit misplaced in tears

While blissfully some drums would thrill with champagne

In august and royal homes where lights glow, yet we can’t forget
Songs of sorrow the music of desolation of many wearing masks
Just to drown their songs of lamentations carried for miles

Do you remember how you once baked bread with your sweat

Then dare not to forget and never forget the ABCD of our lives

Armory, Bullet, Calamity, Devastation in “I can’t breathe”

They walk through lives of children of our Motherland

You may have experienced freedom from want
But I understand freedom has more colors than one
In fact more than I can explain today or tomorrow

In the Mouth of Wealth there are wounded souls

Can we have God with songs in the future

Straighten limbs of men and women to glow

Enter into tomorrow where life's visions never vanish

And dreams live on and we no more bath in tears

Will you celebrate the me and mine and sing of the self again

Let’s leave behind that place where the smoke blows dim

To go to where our desires are and our hopes profound

Now that the Old Year is dead and a New Year is born

Let’s go to where the moon shall be bright when we are dust

To where the stars are starry in the time of our darkness

Let’s pause now at the place where the sidewalk ends with all

And on the new street we dance with our innermost hearts out

Can’t Find Another You

Darling I’m knee deep in loving you

I done got deeper than I wanted to
It’ll probably drown me before I’m through
Because I can't find another you

When first we met I wanted Love

And you brought it down to me
I wanted you to stay but the next day
You flew away to the far end of the world

I thought I’d wade easily through my tears 
Instead it wet my feet and drenched my beard

Too late to find a dried place on another route 
So I just keep sinking deeper in your love

Today I’m knee deep in loving you
I’m done got deeper than I wanted to
It’ll probably drown me before I’m through
Because I’m knee deep in loving you

Where Will I Be Without You?

Yesterday and today are both present in tomorrow

And should tomorrow start without me
Or should the sun rise and I’m no longer by your side

Will I find your eyes filled with tears

As life without you is like a starless night

I know you love me much as I love you
But when tomorrow starts without me
Or you are told an angel came and took my hand
That my place was ready in heaven far above

Will me without you be like a colorless rainbow

For all my life you’ve always been on my mind
And I had so much to live for in your heart
It seems almost impossible I could live without you.
So when I think of today and what tomorrow will bring 

Where will I be without you if not a beach without a sand

I’ve always thought of the love we shared,

And if I could live just for a while
My only treasured possession is your smile

Which I want to take with me wherever I’ll be
But I realized nothing did I bring nor will take away

The emptiness and memories of me would bring tears

And the silence will blossom like tumors on lips

When you think you heard my footsteps on the stairs

So when tomorrow starts without me by your side

Let your smiles see me at home beyond heaven’s gates

Where is the Love?

How do we go from here to love

When violence wrecks our nations
When indifference is the gain of pledges

How do we go from here to cherished hope

When corruption is the order of the day

Around us are war, hunger and destructions

Everywhere unity is just a word on lips

And grinding of teeth the order of society

Where is the love when mothers nightly cry

And the bereaved can’t be comforted

Around the world I see countries

And families torn apart by war and strife

I can’t see peace when the people are not free

Where is the love that blows in the gentle breeze

That every soul can breathe a sigh with smiles

Where is the love when children disappear
And fathers are lost in deep agony

Where do we go from here to hope

When darkness becomes our companion
And our land is watered by bloodshed

Where do we go from here to love

When the land is uncertain of what next to come

When the haunting past storms into the present

And the future mourns of its failed mission
Can we find love again before hot sun overwhelms us

Where is laughter when defeat is our destiny
And how can we get to seasons of hope
When the sun sadly walks us by to its place
And our tears become the cloak of our existence
Oh Lord, where is the love they promised

My Love and All

Last night I fell asleep
And saw you dancing in my dreams
Just like the autumn leaves
Have fallen for you, all for you

And you changed my life
You changed my ways
I don't even recognize myself again
It must be a reflection of you, that made it

I can't remember the last time I felt love like this
I can't imagine living life without you by my side
Day after day you find a way to make me cry
Really, I can't remember the last time I felt love like this

My arms still hold you tight like in my dreams
I want to keep you warm in the coldest night
Where my hand would pull your hair right back

Away from your eyes for you to look into my face

If I knew just how to do it, I'd hang the moon,

And the stars around you to adorn the horizon
But I couldn't make it more beautiful than you
Darling nothing compares to you, my love and all

Where I Come From

where we come from, joy
floats around us like clouds
the way leaves rustle in the breeze
and love and beauty swing in our embraces
and smile with all our senses from sunrise till sundown

where I come from dreams do not rest on fences
when the cock crows the young and old rise
take to the road with sparkling powerful arms
songs work-songs harvest-songs and jolly-songs 

hold us tightly in fragrant dances
and kinship are to us scents of magnolia and frangipani
and rituals of the elders look toward the skies
from where cometh our Help of Ages

where I come from on every village lane

and on footpaths you could see something lovely

you can see our children's smiles white and glistening  
young girls in braids as precious as gold 
the swing of their hips the rhythm in their gait
the smile on soft-brown cheek and the movement of the eyes
leave the lanky brother in the heat blowing kisses in the air

once I heard low bass voices crooning

on a Saturday afternoon when the Rainmaker

came out of the forest with the Dipo girls

the magical flowers of breasts lost many in the garden of chimera
and they disguised their racing pounding hearts
in the melody of the music in their heads

strangers who won't be for long be spectators
left with their manhood shooting loudly ahead of them

where I come from are many things to sing about
not these hard core blues low bass voices crooning
nasty cruising thoughts on corrugated Freeways 
turning nouns into verbs and fetching dreams
strewn with bones that melt melodies to huge fires
but with my smiles and deep dark eyes

I’ll continue to see there's so much to life than gold teeth

For a Friend

seeing the sun rise with glow this morn
its rays dancing among the leaves in the grove
I saw my tears dry like dew on village lanes
and for once, I found again the lost smile
that was missing for a long time

seeing the moon with the choir this night
this heart holds hope like a rock
to see this old heartache in love's cradle leave

maybe I no longer will cry at night
as if all my dearest friends are gone

Her Journey Just Begun

don't think of Ablavi as gone
her journey has just begun
life holds many facets and the Earth is only one
therefore, think of Mother as resting
from the sorrows and the tears
in a place of warmth and comfort
where there are no days nor years

think how she must be wishing
that we know, life brings tears, smiles and memories
and though our tears may dry, and our smile fade
it is only our memories that live on forever

so we must think of her as living,
living in the hearts of those she touched
for nothing loved is ever lost-
and she was loved so much

so, don’t stand by and grieve and weep
she is not here nor dead
she is the thousand winds that blow in the veldt
she is the diamond glints on the sky
like the sunlight on ripened grain

she is the soft refreshing rain
that falls on a hot summer afternoon
and when we awake in the morning's hush
she is the swift uplifting rush of quiet birds in circled flight
she is the star that shines at night
to bring you a smile that none can steal
when death leaves a heartache no one can heal

To my Ancestors

my silence salutes the tall Dreams

of the Dead who withdrew from here
to roam over fine mountains and
frighten hawks reshaping my dreams

sometime the sound and throbs of their breath
is a rage of blood in eons of anger with stones and axes
at times they come as Fumes of Smoke
on a Dark Noon to take me across rivers of Solitude

but I sometimes wonder if while tip-toeing

in the fog of foreign suits we have not lost sight

of the ancestors' humorous laughs

at the steps we place in the quicksand 

and call ourselves special names

sometimes I stroll around the roundabout of my memory
when carving affections for my dead soul
in unforgettable words like a master-butcher

who picks up the axe and dismembers parts of goat-meat

that tastes so good and says, tonight there will be another party
with champagnes in place of palm wine

I have grown sick of songs of sorrow
I want to cross the rivers of solitude
sing new songs of joy to celebrate the past and present
and sing and dance in gratitude for life at Home

but will my ancestors be accustomed to forgiving me
every day for the loss of my Soul
the Soul lost in the fog of foreign suits

I Appreciate Your Kindness

thank you is not enough
to tell you my deep feelings
about your thoughtfulness and the gift of love
but in the absence of the right word

let this note thank you and say
the memory of your thoughtfulness
will be remembered for many days and many nights
till this Breath leaves for Home by your gift of love

I have come to know

you are a person who makes life easier and better
for everyone around you

your continual acts of thoughtfulness and kindness
and love brightens each day of lives
and what you did for me will glow in my memory
reviving pleasant feelings every time I think about it
and should I not tell you in person
how much you mean to me
let this note tell it now, I appreciate your kindness
and thank you forever for the gift of love
that has made a difference in my life

Let's Get on It

One day when time races against us

And your legs can't work like they used to
And I too can't sweep you off of your feet
Will your mouth still remember the taste of my love?
Will your eyes still smile from your cheeks?

So Darling, let’s get on it now
Take me into your loving arms
Kiss me under the light of a thousand stars
Place your head on my beating heart
That’s where we found love the first night

Time waits for no one in the world

So when my hair's all but gone and my memory fades
And you no longer can remember my name
When my hands too can't play the strings the same way
Let me know if you will still love me the same

I love you because our souls never grow old,

They’re evergreen and I’ve buried your smile forever
In my mind and I’ve kept in my memory how we fell in love
Maybe it's all part of a Divine plan that we fall deep in love
That’s why I fall in love with you every single day

So, Darling, let’s get on it now
Take me into your loving arms
Kiss me under the light of a thousand stars
Place your head on my beating heart
That’s where we found love the first night