My poems

LITTLE THINGS

Look, those little blocks

From which grew those little huts

Where made from little grains of sand

Though block greater than sand

And hut greater that brick

Greatness is dust

From east to west

Little particles rest

Often wiped and often swept

Often gathered hardly kept

Little actions and giant wars

Little actions and great love

Be thought anew of little words

Little frowns and little smiles

Gentle words and angry cries

Little time and idle whiles

Little words of ancient scribes

With little words and great love I bring you these little notes

ALL THAT YOU ARE

Black and white is all that you are

Among many beautiful colors that there are

Blue, green, yellow and red

And all the colors of which you have read

From black and white all colors are made

if you but grow and appetite for how and why

and let your black and white, mix and fade

And send your mind far beyond the sky.

And doubt not in your mind but believe

That in the depth of your heart all colors lie

You can be as beautiful as a butterfly…

AS DRUNK AS THE SEA

Yes we see all

But believe what we will

For all that we have

Little we may accept

and much we may know

but little it may show

 an ocean to drink from

Yet we drown by it

Steadily and slowly

to lands unknown

where love is buried

and hate is born

one gulp then another

at no point we stop to ponder

and life becomes empty

as we drown to the yonder

our faces plastic and bright

our hearts cold and dull

if we could look carefully

we would see

how beautiful, it is to live

if we were not as drunk as the sea.

AS EXPECTED

It was expected that I be this and be that

That I be him or I be her

That I be here or I be there

It was expected of me

To see what they saw

To do what they did

At the time it was expected of me

To be happy with what made them happy

To love who they loved

It was expected of me to be me

The me, that was prescribed to me

It was expected of me to be

till I was expected not to be

 Love came along

And expected different of me

But as expected, I was expected

not to respect what my love expected

but I let go off all their expectations

And set sail to do what my love expected

And arrived with joy as expected

 then I heard what I had never expected

 it tore her apart, to know she would be rejected

Then I wished I was born different

Into a life that expected me to be truly me

this is my second and last expectation.

I expect to die now and be with her

I expect this poison to work ,as expected.

DEAD HOPE

That school and clinic that lay uncompleted

Stem from the demise of doctor clem

Whom the earth has accepted

Oh only if he was rejected

And shame put upon the so called selected

From whom only pride and greed is expected

Always full of resources to extinguish the humble and respected

Whose ideas love created

Whose innovation people oriented

So he was put to rest as we dreaded

For in the presence of the evil one it was expected

Our tears long exhausted

Our hope long deflated

And today for ignorance lives still terminated.

GONE SOUR

For what they once had

Men and even angels where glad

An ocean filled with love and affection

From sweet promises of care and protection

Sweet moment of joy and satisfaction

Long play in quiet places

As they sat staring with love on their faces

But like a dusty wind came confusion

Unguided expressions brought forth quick conclusions

Crazy impressions deposited like  illusions

Ties that once stood on rock

Where on the verge of destruction

Misunderstanding brought distrust

Distrust brought bitterness

Bitterness took peace to war

For what they once had had gone sour.

IGNORANCE

In our live mistakes are daily threats

Inevitable as the scourge of death

Those words you speak arise from your breath

The after thought seldom yields regret

Yesterday your blue pen bled black

When it was your turn the sky turned dark

Your mind hungers for answers

Your time feeds on quick money and fantasy

Your company’s appearance is common and undisputed

Its influence strange and undecided

Even as your mind seeks to be uncovered

The cure of falsehood must first be discovered

You do not behold your position

You are robed of direction

You dwell by absolute imitation

Always an inclusion never an exception

Your essence is unknown

Your seed of thought is ungrown

You are stuck to your present disposition

So the need of beterways in your mind has no position

You accept mediocrity like religion

Throw away the possibility of advancement

You do not follow the sound of your heart beat

Nor the pulse of your mind

You have not sought the end of than bent street

so ignorance still has hold of your mind

THE SAD SORRY STORY OF JOHN

There was once a man named john

His wife was called the don

By those whose advice she had turned down

Her voice was as loud as a Dane gun

She was the worst thing that had happened to john

Her flaws he scarcely complained of

Because that’s when the trouble always begun

She always blamed her foes

Anytime the ills of her actions showed

You dirty this, you stinking that

Like the state of her children’s clothes

She paid back trouble a hundred fold

And gave her neighbors horrid shows

“John is in the kitchen” so it was often told

For sometimes his wife was very old

But proved to have strength untold

Anytime john got too bold

Her words where harsh and very cold

Sometimes john did call out in dismay

“Won’t I eat in this house today?”

“As you can see I am on my way”

“To a meeting with no time for aimless delay”

She was mean she was irrational

She always had something to say

It stunned those that knew her attitude

And to God for their families they gave gratitude

John was known to be quiet and short of words to say

So he drank as his days sailed away

And watched his wife lead his family astray

Johns wife slipped and broke an arm one day

At the same spot where the body of john now lay

There was once a man called john

Who had a wife called the don.

And we would never know

If his life was duly lived

Or he would have changed the tune of his life’s song.

LOVE AT FIRST

I looked beyond her face and saw beauty

She was tall she was black

I thought she was twenty

I looked into her eyes and saw a home purity

Adorned with lights of sincerity

I went behind her soul and saw integrity

It grew by a river that flowed with dignity

I looked into her heart and saw love

And it rushed into my soul

And nothing has made me more whole

Till now that I stare into her soul.

MY AFRICAN QUEEN

Behold the stare in thy eyes

Beautiful as roses spread out for miles

Undermine the beauty of butterflies

A glow over thy face as fire flies

To keep a smile that never dies

An ocean of passion that never dries

To make turn faces everywhere

And be subject of every stare

Pray is that I always be there

To watch a flower precious and rare

Over they body and over they hair

A flower of timeless care

And your voice and that song that you sing

The bell in my heart that rings

The peace and joy you bring

As nature beautiful pure and black

How beautiful to love a queen

How beautiful to love you

My African queen.

NOT ME

My heads beats at this realization

Am I a victim of deceit?

Created by the society I constitute

The mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters

The uncles, aunts, followers and leaders

Whose conducts now confuse me

Plunge me into a deep darkness

Deep into a pit of ignorance

Ignorance of the very soul that makes me

Driven by desires unconsciously sown in me

That have robed me of my heritage

Stole me from my religion

This religion that stole my belief

That stole my faith.

I do not know this road that I now travel

These shadows that I now follow

I am not what I am or who I am

I am what I seem to be not me.

OUR HOUSE SHATTERS

Greed,  it could not be need?

That fires our desire to feed

On the fruits and into the seed

That grow the tree on which we all should live

Green bright and safe as it should be

But for evil and greed

our house shatters

Starving from the basics of everything that matters

Blurring the line between servants and masters

Poisoning the minds of the young and restless

Leaving the pride of whom we are breathless.

So our house shatters

For by the ways of monsters

Our masters have handles maters

So our house shatters

Dividing our streams of knowledge,

Into stagnant ponds of ignorance.

Shedding the blood of our mothers children

Burying the hopes of our children’s future.

Our house shatters

increasing  our distance from the promised land.

 BETRAYAL

Was it not for you, I would have lied.

For so close we were tied

When I say this, know that I cried.

If trust ever stood so tall

It was built by me, in your hall

When it rained, only one name to call

When you stumbled, only one place to fall.

But a decent mind is hard to find

like the temptation of a eve, hard to bind

Or a friend just lost his mind

So when it was told

My heart grew cold

As pain and anger unfold

So be careful to trust

And of what you hear to judge

For they live fellows true and warm

And more fellows, dead and cold.

THE CONSTANT SLEEP.

Before my constant sleep

I believe I knew

My left from my right

What was right and what was left

I new the sight of the sun

And the sound of  river

Then slowly and quietly

The darkness came

Like a dream in my constant sleep

And stole my wisdom away

So her now I sit

 blind to the sounds of the world

Deaf to the light of the sun

It seems now like I am done

And all is lost

Like I live for nothing but breath

I could talk but I can find my voice

All that is left is my mind.

Wake up now

For this affliction comes

Slowly and quietly

Like a dream in your constant sleep.

THE PRESENT

My eyes are open again

I see the Celestial light

Through idle holes of aging thatch

Rays full of pregnant gifts

Stubborn grass and virgin earth

Bumpy paths and patient wealth

Priceless words of ancient birth

Then my eyes are open again

But now, its all gone

It passed away when I closed my eyes again.

THE STREAM

Even dawn does not clear the confusion

It goes to the stream to fetch fire

The truth almost an illusion

Seen by the dreamy eyes

In a sleep of reason, love and justice

Those eyes that recognize the stream that takes life

The know the fruits that bring life

But darkness blinds those who do not dream

And blinds even more those whose dream they do not seek

Who have forgotten the enemy

And now dine with it

Who think in the absence of the mind

Who have gone to the stream and have not returned

The stream that has made them precious fish

That stream has drowned their thought

That stream has drowned their history

The stream that will one day drown them.

THERE CAME FIRE

Fire and a heart of darkness was broken

Open lay the potent of words misspoken

Right and wrong the Ten Commandments lay open

After the fire all was vain

Jericho my joy, it fell like rain

Under my nose turned dust and pain

Much to me was given a gift to behold

Among many flowers beautiful and bold

Unread a book as priceless as gold

Deep lies the pain of a treasure that was

East to west my darkness I curse

Hell is sorrow but pain was worse

Alas the fruit of knowledge is ripe

For a man of this type

A naïve plumber a liking pipe

Alas for the fire did provide

A scroll of reason by which to abide

A shelter of hope in which to reside

A road of faith on which to ride.

TIME AND DISTANCE

My heart is gladdened by those pictures of you

Always on my mind

And that smile of yours that’s one of a kind

Although distance and time

Sour our love like lime

We will stand the test of distance and time

And reap the future as a love mine

I will be yours as you are mine

I will be here always as time.

TODAY, LIKE YESTERDAY

Just like today is yesterday

I still see the sun as it walked away

The wind still slaps my face

The dust still paints my face

The promise still under the rug

Yesterday like today

Action unborn

Just like the other day

Where we sat here

Where these words made yesterday

Still get ears today

Our heads are heavy

Our tongues are light

Today like yesterday

I know exactly what he is going to say

Here we are today

But tomorrow will come

True to some for years

Others for generations

Yet other forever

That wait for that tomorrow

That may never come.

WE KNOW NOT

We know not

Until we know that we know not

For there is much to be know about a thin

Far mot little than a pin

And knowledge as large as the earth

Will arise from a man of humble birth

That will be careful to talk

And more so to listen

That will steady his steps as he walks

And be diligent in his work

And more so in his thought

And stop not until he knows

That he knows not

YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL

Your are beautiful I know

And I know that you know

and I know you have been told

By thousands or so

More beautiful than most

I know your have been told

But I doubt if you are aware

Of exactly how beautiful you are

For I can see what you are

 By my wisdom that is old

That you are as beautiful as you are

You are too beautiful to compare

Not with diamond, nor with gold.

You are beautiful I know.