Jacob’s Ladder

Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman,

Sojourner Truth, John Brown, 

Ogalala, Adoeette, Nkrumah

Turner, Biko, Lumumba, Sirowiwa

Mandela, Martin Luther King and all

they saw the ladder

burning in their dreams 

and they climbed it

yet sleep today pressed us like a stone

in the dust
when we should have risen like a flames

to join their choir,

but we were too sick of running

and we closed our eyes to the Seraphim

ascending and descending

too conscious of the impossible distances
between our steps 

and we missed it

to mount the crystal ladder

and slowly we disappeared

one by one into the dark

beneath the stars to sleep forever 

and stone upon stone will thump
our cold shivering bodies into dust

wish we could have grown greater dreams

than desires

Meeting Him Riding in the Clouds

(for Agbonugla Kofi Awoonor)

His memory stares at me, dreamy and melancholic

On his head is a tiara adorning a charming face. 
He turns gently his head towards the gathering
A single tear fell from his tender daring eyes 

It carries the anguished burden of a world.
I bowed and saluted him and our eyes spoke.

With a nod he protested the muddle his father’s house

Why trained dogs bark to veil any cries of the people 
Why there are segregated benches in the lecture halls

Why they tortured and broke the legs of the innocent.
And he held up the sign: The Writing is on the Wall
Saying as he prayed: Soon this too shall pass

Before he left, he planted on me nature’s sweetest hug 

From the banks of the clouds the moon gazed at us

I welcomed the farewell, but I shuddered, I stuttered,

And the closer he gets, the further I fall sadly into the mist

Around my terror-stricken ears he whispered his last words

Then he went past into the twilight unseen beyond

* AGBONUGLA: Is an Ewe word for an elder statesman
   KOFI AWOONOR: One of Africa's leading poets, a novelist,
   a statesman who was murdered by the terrorist attack in the
   Kenyan Mall incident on September 21, 2013, Nairobi, Kenya

Unreturning

I’ve been acquainted with the night before,

But I walked out of its rain to the furthest end

I know why I did not call back or say goodbye

The music I heard with you was not my music,
The bread I broke with you was not my kind of bread;
Now that I’m no more the luminary clock on the wall
All that was once so beautiful is dead in the mind.

It is Agbozume-laga who said, he needs no interrupted cries

What dropped his eye this dawn he is unwilling to explain,

But anyone who comes to the twilight knows leaves whisper.

Once your hands touched this table, this plate and this silver,
And I have seen your fingers hold this glass a dozen times
But these things do not remember you, the once beloved,
Your joy crushed out the day and our dead fear to return home.

Before his helpless sight, Agbozume-laga had dreams

You plunged at him, guttered him, choked him and drowned him

You placed his dreams behind the wagon and hang his writhed face

It’s not the landing on strange beach under a broken sky

But besides the salty herb, it was the lengthening biting sun
A heart that’s cold and wild, and doesn’t remember anything.

Please, be careful where you step; the grave is so wide.

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

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

It’s Time for New Beginning

Many of us are in bondage within ourselves but we don’t know it. What could you accomplish once free of the ropes of resentment, the bondage of blame, and the fetters of fear? There's freedom in forgiveness of a nature you can't know, until you take the time to cut the chains and just let go.

A time for new beginnings

From baby years to present fears
let sinners be redeemed
Then lucky eyes will see
that things aren't always as they seemed

A cosmic shift, a needed gift
when all the stars align
And clouds reveal the long lost sun
that's been there all the time

Forgiven past, a brand new cast
your lesson is at hand
But dwellers in denial
miss their chance to understand

Embrace the new, a different view
let go of blame and shame
It's time for new beginnings
seek your glory stake your claim!