The Divorce

Fudzikomele, who will believe this?

I walked through the front door,

And you said, “Get Out of my Face!”

You said, “Else, you will find yourself finished.”

Today, I walked through the front door again,

And you said: “Look at the time! Look at the time!”

Thank you; I stepped out through the front door again

I didn’t see a thousand flaming trees on the road.
Instead, hills fell over each other, royally, to greet me.

By daily dying, I’ve learned to be.

I hope my silences are accurate and true

Maybe, it’s true, in the dark eyes begin to see better.

Ballard of the Sand

Fudzikomele my dear,

The mother we hired to birth you
Because she does not love me, leads you

Into deep waters, to the deep end

Where the water is darker.

Her open, encouraging arms
That never get nearer you are merciless.

You will dream of this water always
Where nothing comes nearer to your comfort,
Wasting your valuable breath now and then
You will scream choking , but no.

Unknowingly, she is drowning
In a forever thin air of the fog on her nose

Down at the deep end and she is doing nothing,

Really, she never did anything harder.
And you want me beside her. Maybe, in imagination.
Where the water is darker everyday unending.

Think positively and the sound will be music

And your moves will become a dance for you.

I wish I can turn this wry smile into laughter

And our long drought into a celebration of joy

But, you are learning how in this helpless water
It is with our skill we live else it will kills us.

I Love Tennis

I love women's tennis

and God knows I do
but it’s more complicated 
to watch

in every shot

three balls bounce and bounce

and bounce and you get confused
about which ball to see

and my mine 

and Jesus wept

Yours Forever

Strip me, petal by petal and slowly;
Touch me…and fondly mold me in your open arms.....
Let me feel your breath and the heartbeat in the dance

Let imagines paint me with the trail of your tongue....
And I will forever dance for you and with you alone

See how slowly my body sways, and begs for you
See how my hips whisper to your fiery leaps,

To lead you to my temptation's gate...

Do you hear me? Do you feel me?

Can you gather my tears?

You are the one I have been waiting for

To savor in my well of elegance
To melt me into your waiting arms
Let’s fuse body and spirit when you run the tip

Of your tongue along my spine
Oh this will ride my pulse higher and higher
Leaving me wet and wanting to devour you.

Envelope my sweet surrender
And awake to my addiction to your devilish embrace
Sip my liquid gift of abandonment for you to know, I burn....
I burn for you and for you alone and please,

Take my soft sparkling surrender with you
I’m craving....I’m craving always for the singe that
Trembles my silky will and sparks my hidden desires
That we live forever on this playground with sighs...sighs.

Ooh! Why did I do this? I’m yours forever.

Do You Remember Me?

Hello Dear, do you remember me

We danced together at Tip Toe Gardens before

That was many years ago, many, many years ago

And I couldn’t let you go because of many things

Your love was so divine and your embrace so warm

That I wanted you to be mine though you belonged elsewhere
Do you remember when you made me surrender that night

Today, I’m helplessly helpless, your memory is all I cherish
So when next we meet again I'm going to hold you tight
And squeeze you with all my might because
I am head over heels in love with you
Remember, if you love me like I love only you
No knife will ever cut our love in two
Hello Dear, do you remember me

We danced together at Tip Toe Gardens before

That was many years ago, many, many years ago

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

How do I love you?

(For You, on Mother’s Day)

Since the morning of that day we met

I’ve seen the moon refusing to set
Nature itself has declined to go to bed

I’ve seen the rainbow play long on the sunlight,

As if there is something going on in the universe.

They all saw our love as supreme in the veldt.

Ever since we met, I’ve told myself,
You will forever find me waiting for you,
Painting pictures of us on every single moment of time
I’ll always be joyful with you and no one can understand,
Why I love you so much since the morning we met.

Each day, I see minutes take so long to drift away
They just want to catch a glimpse of us in love

And dream of a season like ours when they’ll know love
Let them wait, when in the evening I fly you in velvets
They’ll stare at the ceiling of the sky and smile at us.

I’ve promised myself that wherever I'll be

I’ll let the sun of an unequaled love shine on you
We’ll carry that forgotten fire of love across the universe
To kindle yawning spirits with the language of love

Which you taught me since the morning we met.

The Jewel

This morning you and I are being toasted

In every alley of the village because you are mine. 
The day I met you was a wish come true for the women. 

Grandma says: your smile brings out the best in the village,
The women also say you are the greatest gift ever.
It’s the way you smile and laugh and show your love.

Ever since you came, the sky shows a new shade of blue. 
It is brighter, like the gods are revealing their feelings;
And we melt every day when we look into your eyes. 

With you we will make it through every thick and thin;
As long as you are with me like the pea is to the pod, 

Our heart will grow together to weather every storm.  

One thing do I ask of you: can you never say never;

Can you always be loving and kind, so gentle, and so sweet, 
And with you by my side, life will be simply complete.

How do I carry you with me?

On and on, going on and on,

I live apart from you

Thousand miles of the ocean is between us;
who knows when we’ll meet again?

Day by day the wait grows faint into the distance,
Day by day shifting clouds block the face of hope.

Though the traveler yearns for a feast on the return.

Thinking of you and the years that go by makes one old

Lost and abandoned, I will say no more,
but pluck up strength and drink my tears.

Is the Price Right?

Marry in gray, and you’ll go lost far from home,

Marry in black, and you’ll wish yourself back home,
Marry in brown, and you’ll live out of town forever
Marry in red, and you’ll wish yourself dead
Marry in pearl, and you’ll live in a whirl every day.

Marry in green, and you’ll be ashamed to be seen,
Marry in yellow, and you’ll be ashamed you did,
Marry in blue, and you’ll know he won’t always be true,
Marry in pink, and your spirits will sink and stink,
Marry in white, and you’ll know you have chosen alright.

Marry on Sunday and you’ll feel sorry forever

Marry on Monday and you’ll mar thy days

Marry on Tuesdays and you’ll twist your life

Marry on Wednesday and you’ll wed the ignorant

Marry on Thursday and you’ll turn blue

Marry on Friday and you’ll fry your heart

But, marry on Saturday and you’ll be soaked in something.

Is the price right?

Do the math.

Wishes

Wish we could be the harmony in that great song
Wish we could be that great song
Whose sweetness echoes beyond circles in the orchestra.

 

I wish your heart could throb with those lost by solitude

When the universe itself has no heart for them. 

I wish
And this soul went Home with the wish.

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 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

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

Hold Me

Hold me gently, touch me softly,
With your beautiful lips, kiss me mildly,
Put your hands on my hips, make me want you,
It won't hurt.

Do it passionately at this hour
It's the middle of the night
And my body is calling your name,
To hold me gently, to touch me softly,


Just touch me, I need it,
I need you to sit here for a minute

To hold my hand, to listen to the heart beat
Yearning for you, to feel your lips


And travel with you to new places in the Soul


I want to feel your hand flow through my hair
To feel heaven as if we were there
Because you are next to me, and there's no other place

I would rather be, than in your arms

Yours Only

When the Sun rises today

I want to be the Smile on your face,
The First thought that comes to you,
I want to be the Joy in your heart
When you walk through the day.
I want to be the last voice,
the only Laughter, the perfect Kiss,
In the comfort of your arms.
I Want To Be Yours, and only Yours.

If I could be any part of you today

I would be your Tear,
To be conceived in your heart, born in your eyes,
Dance on your cheeks, fall on your lips

And Die in your bosom.

Just to Be Yours and Yours only.

I want to hold you tight.
Kiss your lips, and hug you forever.
I want to make you feel wanted
I want you to feel my love and Call you mine.
My sweetheart, my Only true Sweetheart.

To my Children: A Dedication

to you my children whose love I forever will sing
in the songs of silence

and to you, who gathers my tears and bury them
beneath the earth crust and rain joy each morn
on the desert fields of my agony
I sing these notes in memory of you

these are rhymes graciously strung with intent
than words that are scentless but ageless with love

they sing for you in a passion of dearness
and they come from a song-less tongue
who in the deepening of dawn awakes
with warm wild winter winds with a love
to sing you songs in silence and to celebrate
floods of dreams nursed for you

today the dreams are freed by storms
and the floodgates are loosened by desires
that the heart may pour out torrents of love
stored in the heart many seasons ago

come lets harvest dreams and drive
sleeping selves out of swarms and move
through grieves to joy-fields praising the Moon
who stood by a father’s dream till the sun arrived