Sunday 25 October 2015

Three Poems for the Road.




1. We Talk Of War

We talk of war

like evening tale of tortoise

and fable of foolish elephant

lured to the throne of ruin

with songs of pretence

We all talk of war, we wish it coming

but who has ever been to war

without scary reports of blood;

of guns and dreams of men dying

under the shadow of bloodshed?

Wars, not like cold pap, sweet on palate

taken to calm the yearning of hunger at morning

war is not like august yam, fresh and sweet

nor putting honey in mouth,

A person struck by thunder shall never wait

where they talk of thunder-god

with song of discord and detest

Let there be harmony, and farewell to fight.




2. Plea to the 'ember Months

'embers

they said you are months that come

with cursed cowries of cries

they said your revelation

is the catalogue of misfortunes

they said you are the maker of doom,

the missal of miseries

that sees the year down the lane of ruin

But take me as the son of the soil

not the shunned of the soil

and spare me of my soul

when you open the gate of grave

for the victims of the roads

Womb me with your mercy

when you beat your drum of doom

into the auricles of earth

For I know your name

that weighs like aged rocks

your name made of mystery.

* * *

3. Tarnished Pride

All ripe oranges are fresh

they are the food of famished eyes

at first captivating contact

but how do we know

the curious ones dented

by the beaks of scrounging birds

How do we know

the punctuated gourds at the side of a river

by a mere gaze of distance?

All faces are beautiful, luring

but how do we know the social stigma

among all these redolent flowers

that has bartered its pride

in hasty response of exuberance

for the calling of the ignorance?

We live in a world at the center of puzzle

riddled by the flash of fantasy

one doesn’t know the value of gemstone

until it is lost in the wilderness of forgetfulness.

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