Regrets

When I was young, maybe fifteen or so

I heard the Diviner say to us, the children:

Give away every gold and diamond

Including your love for fun and red lipsticks;

Keep yourself fancy free to gain knowledge

But I was young and only fifteen or so

Too young to care and too young to remember.

Too young to care and too young to remember.

I was very young, fifteen or so and who cares

I heard the diviner say this to us often, so near me

But we heard him through one ear and out the other.

We skipped the farm and enjoyed life till we paid lovely;

We paid with sighs and sold life to endless lament.

I am ten-and-twenty, too old to learn new tricks.

Truth only comes to the goat in hawsers and when there’s

Chaos in the crowd, when the sleeve is taller than the head.

A painting goes waste when futility chokes the image; but

I was too young to care and now nature has given up on me.

Even the roses are distant and aloof as if awake to my fate.

I, who sought beauty and found it at where it never belonged,

Now, every foliage crackles with a soothing morbidity beneath me.

Here they come again with the Hashtag

Everywhere people are shedding tears

Their cities are burning, and families are mourning

But they could not be comforted.

Each day mothers and fathers worry

About their children leaving home and never returning.

Men and women, black as me, are the fallen victims,

Those they trust rather snare them to death

Whom do you trust when the protector is the perpetrator?

And the law stands by while the pain intensifies.

Remember Emmett Till, Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice,

Freddie Gray, Eric Garner, and Mike Brown.

How many miles more to walk to Selma?

And they looked into the tall sky till they dropped:

Lord, how long will righteousness come?

How long will their hopes die in the rain? 

The Presence

Your presence dissolved everything I was

and made me the object of love’s affections.

I remember looking in your eyes one day

and wondered how I can make it out to you?

I wasn't expecting to fall in love so easily.

All the same I gave myself to you completely

and there aren't regrets to make me weep.

Soon we were a pair to be admired in the alleys.

We had the kind of love told only in fairy tales.

I accepted you, and you embraced me.

The meeting itself was simple, but endearing.

When first I saw you behind the mud-house,

you looked so elegant and I was very shy 

I lost my tongue and you took my breath away.

Meeting you was my dream come true.

I’ve never known a love so true, as undeniable

as the one I felt for you deep inside me.

Each night I saw you in a new light, you glow so brightly,

so tenderly, very endearing, and when you welcome me 
into your arms, I feel complete, full of admiration.

Now that you are in Accra, will someone take my place?

I know we won’t have the time to spend together,

But, please forever keep me close to your heart.

Don't let the village curse me with laughter on the streets.

I’ll be here, can you remain the love I knew?

What Is Dying?

What is dying?

I am standing on the seashore alone
Like a ship about to sail this morn.

But the morning breeze is far from me.

How do I sail? Am I not a dead man?

At the seashore I see many ships sailing freely.
Mine is an object and I stand watching her
Till at last the sun fades from the horizon.

What is dying and am I not as well dead?

I looked up across and someone at my side said,

“Your boat is gone!” and I wondered “But gone where?”
“Surely, it’s gone from my sight,” I thought to myself.
What is dying if this is not death?

Today I’m a mast, a hull and a spar to all ships,
I bear the load of living freights to their destinations.
But soon, I’ll be diminished in size and I’ll be

Lost to sight, totally lost to all faces, to all voices
If there were love, someone would say, “Where is he?”
And other voices would take up a glad shout,

And they would find me alone in the hay-store.
Without a love, I’ve been dead many years ago.

And God said: who can bring these dead bones to life?

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

What Is Your Fear About

Fear (fear of failure or perhaps fear of success) has been such a paralyzing factor in everybody's life and so we have to commit ourselves to change and overcome that challenge. We all have fears now and then, here-and-there. There are two passions that I have been drawn to pursue and I have been blessed with souls who have dedicated love and time to my efforts. The first is my love of poetry and my strong desire to use my poems to help people feel good about the lives we live. In the quest of celebrating life in my own way, I seek the wisdom of others, through poetry and through other artistic expressions...which led to the creation of this Friday Inspirations. In this pursuit, I've found that sometimes my role is quite simply to show up to let others know I too, I am human, I leapt, I lost, then licked it, woke up, jumped up and I lived to tell the tale of how I emerged victorious even when my head was bloody but unbowed. It's the little push I give to serve as inspiration to get others rolling again.

 An Easy Roll

 Sometimes when you're lost
and you start giving in to fear
All you really need to know
is yes, the road's still there

Sometimes when the engine's on
but wheels just don’t seem to spin
A touch is all it takes
to free you from the mess you're in

Sometimes when your vision's blocked
beyond the crests and turns
Reminders of your goal appear
and clarity returns

Yes, sometimes on this road called life
the easy role you play
Is giving hope by meeting
those who've yet to make their way

Just knowing those who traveled
who're alive to tell the tale
Makes possible the dream
you too can prosper and prevail!