Deep in the Heat

It’s a harsh light,
This summer sun, baking the earth.

But why is autumn
Coming with a soft light, wit

h long shadows?

Sad to say, winter lights are cold

And blue, and we shiver with our teeth 

clapping like cymb

It’s only in spring-time
That we see a new light 

that’s bright with daffodils.

Do you also have the light 

of understanding
in your eyes? 

Once, I was there

Clouds are poems Nature writes in the sky

They sing, for us to hear their songs

And what fear they bring us leaves us

When we sit still and what is stirring

In the ticket becomes quiet and like babies

We sleep away from what is afraid in us.

Then many days after laboring hours

When mute in a universe that roars around us

We may hear at last again the uneasy songs in the poems

And when we sing those poverty-stricken songs again

The clouds move as if their awkward task is done.

Sometimes, the whirlwinds sparkle like rollers and screeches

But the seamstress of the Universe leaves the scissors

To cut through shapes designed even though it wounds

When the designer draws the long thread to knot the corners

Like tomatoes nude on the ranks faces torments as it burns in oil

Its teeth only grits uncomfortable tense; but what can it do?

Soon, the designer will return like the evening swallow with smiles

To pour the sobbing tomatoes onto a plate and stretching a smile

Rejoices in the shadow of a cozy comfortable homey shade

Not remembering the discomfort of the destitute moments

When the unsuitable restless whirlwinds blew painfully all hopes

And disgust argues in the stomach and in the pocket was pennilessness.

Once, I was there, an unacceptable embarrassing needy, unsuitable

For the ashtray where I tried to stand up in the poem but rising

My dreams were like a bird without wings in a world

Where pain and disturbingly troublesome glances greeted every hope

Who wants that when we know 
The Titanic was sunk by only an iceberg? 

You can’t have what you want

We all want what we don't have, and such is life.

We all want to go to heaven but can’t afford to die.
Often our favored doors are under lock and keys.
The beautiful apple on the hill is too high to pluck,
What song shall we sing when we can’t have it all?

No one is happy at where he or she is,
There's greener grass in the neighbor’s yard.

Some want to be happy, but can’t afford the pain
We all want a bigger house and a faster car,
We want to hear the truth, but tell lies each time.

We want the world, but is there room enough in the world?

We all wish love doesn't hurt, since it’s meant to be forever.
What do you do, when your best friend is your worst enemy?
Or when saying goodbye is such a painful word, since often

Unwanted pregnancies stick harder than leeches?

I want to be the face you see when you close your eyes
I want to be the tad you need every night when it’s cold
I want to mean your world, to want you burn like a charm

But you make me like a tree in the shadow, like a river frozen.
How can we live when I want you to need me like the air,

But everything I do is a seamless rock, and not what you want.

Hard Road

Sometimes, it is necessary 

for everything to flower from within;

and discover the gold and silver is the hurricane.

Sometimes, it’s self-blessing

to bitterly relearn a thing of its loveliness, 

that after nights of whirring rain, the earth is green again

Sometimes, it is necessary
to put a hand on the grimy brow and sigh

when you remember what made you once sad and cold.

Whispers

There are whispers in the silence

Following your steps and they are obscured

From your ears with nothing to be told by lips.

In silence, they float on the streets

Looking straight in your rimmed eyes.

They’ll soon wash you away from their shores.

Do you remember when the people sang

About the drought and the famine only to hear

Their own echoes pitched in confused tones?

Yesterday, circles of sound filled the alleys
And nothing is heard except the feather that hit the floor.
Peoples’ tears are embedded inside their screaming heads.

Did you hear the final pin drop?
It’s no more a lost echo carried in night sweats
Their forgotten whispers will tell tales of their chilled souls. 

The people kept looking at each other

And they let their eyes whisper the secrets.

The hands around your throat are your own.

Left too soon

Like a comet blazing across the evening sky, he was gone 

before we could raise our heads up.

Like a rainbow fading into the twilight;

he was gone before we could blink an eye.

Like a star shiny and sparkly, we lost him
before his splendid light shone brightly on the horizon.

We saw him like the sunlight
on a cloudy afternoon, but he was gone before his sun set.

What is life if not like a castle built upon a sandy beach;
or like a perfect flower, that’s just beyond our reach?

Are we born to be here today
only to be gone before nightfall?

Or like sunset we die with the rising moon
so as to be born into a Glory before morn?

Gone too soon before we could girdle our loins
and for our goats to grow beards.

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?

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

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

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

Something inside me is so strong

Have you heard, when a man has a greater power than him
guarding his house, his belongings are undisturbed?
Have you also heard that greater is he that is in you,
than he that is outside in the world roaring at you?
The higher you build your barriers, the taller I become
The farther you take away my breath, the faster I will run.
You can deny me, you can decide to turn your face away;
no matter what you do, there’s something inside me so strong

I know I can make it because I know too well
that there’s is something inside me so strong;
and so long as my Redeemer lives, I’ll make it.
Though you’re doing me wrong, so much wrong
though you thought you’ll crush me dead before sunrise,
you are wrong; there’s something inside me so strong
You can deny me, you can decide to turn your face away
No matter what you do, there’s something inside me so strong
 
To you I’m not good enough and you insist
I’m not good enough, but the more you refuse to hear my voice,
the louder I’ll sing; even if you hide behind walls of Jericho,
your lies will come tumbling down like a dream.
Deny me my place and you squander your time;
my flesh may feel the pain, but it won’t touch my soul.
Soon, my light will shine so bright that it will blind you
because there’s something inside me so strong.

Life Is a Matter of Survival

Life is a matter of survival. In this world we meet different people every day. Each of them leaves profound impressions on our lives. Some rub you the wrong way even before they say a word to you. Others bring you joy and happiness never before experienced. Whatever side they show, they affect you and leave you with something to always remember. But, how they affect you depends on who we think they are. Some could be the victims of stereotypes, playing into unwarranted fears, or simply resisting the personal growth that interaction with other persons may offer. On the other hand, sometimes that inexplicable feeling that this person is "bad news" may be your instinctive response to danger or what you are forced to believe and that is what you try to honor, hone and hold on to. Sometimes, our views of people from other cultures are clouded by perceptions we receive from others. And that affects how we could love them or enter relationships of a sort with them. How many times have you found too late that your initial response was valid or invalid? How many times have you come to lately realize you were wrong and said 'I should have listened to my own gut'?  Many hearts are always broken by our perceptions that the future with such “other” persons will yield no pleasant fruit. Well, it is not easy to let someone into your life who elicits a gut reaction in people who may tell you to stay away. No one can blame you for being judgmental and unfair too. Life is a matter of survival. But if your love is strong you two could weather every hail and storm no matter the consequences.

A Matter of Survival

It's not all that unusual to think things with your gut
despite the tendency of men to trust in all things and fail

That visceral response to man and things keeps you secure
a remnant of survival skills in fact that's what it's for

In ancient days it honed your knack to choose to fight or flee
it mattered not if justified by things that you could see

 It's not being judgmental, quite the opposite in fact
it saves you from the weight of thoughts that might keep you off track

 So careful to trust in impression, or trust the way people make you feel
for nine times out of ten you'll find it's borne out as quite unreal.