I tap into your pouch
And drain all the dew
You carried within
I embellish your blazoned sign
Your skill is antique
Of unnumbered years
But your bones now hang
Over my stale eyes
To blind the vision
Which led you on
Till the trumpet sounded
Now I hear your call
Circling, atop the crouching hills
Urging a retreat
To the graveyard of time
Where your soul lay spent
After you brought words alive
In the warmth of mankind,
The season bares all your glory
For all who shall trail
Behind your vanishing prints!
Stalking on your next quarry
Long drawn from the damp thicket
And the lumberjack's blade
I'm slashed. I'm felled.
Night comes with fear
To feed the fetish lips of sin
Whose kiss man crave still
Wrench me out of its grip
But don't keep me either
For the hunt is nearly over
And in the receding day
When your kill brings delight
You too shall become prey!
In the dead of night
When shadows retreat
I shall come after you
When the fruit bats gather to mate
Only then shall I eclipse your moonlight
You shall wail, and I'll make merry
I shall dance to my triumph over you
For ever so long
Have I waited for this hour
In the dead of night shall I come!
There you go again
Victim of silence
Forever condemned to see omens
In our wild celebrations
Lulling every beat to rest
Where oaths shrivel vocal cords
I heard you hum
Sister! Why not sing?
Just so your midnight chants
Might steady the flickering flame
And censor the errors
Of our unspoken words
Could you come away with me?
That I might moisten your tongue
And hear the music in your voice
Divulge secrets you once shared
With the famous undertaker
When he planted your silent soul!
I will call you by your name Lanchata!
Periscope of evergreen collage
You unclick the lens of transformation
The bright smile of a weary mind
I will call you by your name Lanchata!
I hear its abiding echo
From the skies which claimed our nylon kites
To the clump of earth beneath our fore bearers
I will call you by your name Lanchata!
And wait outside in the thunderstorm
Seeking the flood which must follow
To cleanse your curse upon me
I will call you by your name Lanchata!
When the night reveals its message
When no one is present
To see childhood tears dry up on graying beard
I will call you by your name Lanchata!
If you ever hear me
Then my voice shall be your awakening
To the essence of this name that you bear!
Who was he?
That impeded his steady stride
Making him crawl in disgrace
Who was he?
That opposed his destiny
Assigning him only to the stars
Who was he?
That shaded his vision
Plunging him into injurious darkness
Who was he?
That exposed his impotence
Drawing jeers from rustic maidens
Who was he?
That directed him wrongly
Setting him up for a naked crossroad
Who was he?
That recounted his mistakes
But veiled his innumerable virtues
Who was he?
That cried for his help at dusk
Only to spite his name at dawn
Who was he?
That cursed his farmlands
Making a jest of his harvests
Who was he?
That accused him falsely
Compelling a lynch-mob on him
Who was he?
That caused him so much grief
As to make him take his own life
Who was he?
Tears are not enough
For the orphaned boy
Sulking where flies gather
Empty bellied, aloof he stares
At the misery around him
With no respite to ease the pain
Sobs won't do
For the weary eyes of those
Trapped in the clutches of poverty
The pale skin flaunts the forlorn souls within
While the skeletal frame
Knocks with every stride
Let no wails assuage the plight
Of the deprived
Who seek but never find
In the ruins of surplus
From the conspicuous glutton
To the famished poet
Could any petition
In jaded hope
Attempt to banish the afflictions of the sick
Whose broken bed hovers death 'round?
The dreaded last breath
And the pain of our existence!
Lets dwell together and never part
For your smile ignites my heart
And leaves a burning flame therein
Concealed from death; the crown of mortal life
Wooed by distance, to wear us thin
But never faltering as man and wife
Across the meadows and the shady grove
Where we fondly trace the contours of our love
And the even'ng breeze stroke our tender brows
There, where I shut my dreamy eyes
To savour this sweet union as it grows
I hear yet your mirthful cries
Amongst the twinkling stars; the moon glows
Like the love we share in tows
Fidelity, trust and care displayed
The vase of our blossom flower
A perfect picture of bliss relay'd
With strength accrued from celestial bower!
The rains came too soon
Soaking up my dreadlocks
Which hid my every thought
As the drops in anger
Fell upon the tarred lane
So did my countenance transform
Into a frozen smile
At the thought of what I knew
Whoever sees insanity in me
Risks being struck
By the lure my isolation
For I altered my destiny
Just to lie at the base of the abstract
Like all geniuses dead and alive
I claim the narrow path of self-realization
In this (my) own world
Clustered, yet free- free from the frets
And passions of earthly life
I take consolation in silence
Which I chew up in meditative hunger
I stare oft at every forehead
And think of the revelation
Which exposes light in the guise of darkness
And calls us away from the foremost plan!
When we must leave this soiled life
To counter tales of guilt
In the abyss of doom
Or find a place in cheery heights
What verse shall be on our lips?
That we may jolt the mourning lot
And to them reveal all the pain we knew
What sighs to break the dirge?
And put away regret
When we must sojourn alone
To darkness, to unknown cries of grief
Or rest among bright balls of bliss
And drown in jocund laughs
What head shall carry all our thoughts?
That they may bloom and not wither
When we must leave!
Stranger than a lost call
I have roamed around your wilderness
Searching to quench that raging flame
Which burns in my lonely soul
But the search seem elusive
Perhaps the world has changed
Or you have changed with it
But I know that at the sight
Of those lips which I have fed from
My thirst will be quenched
By this tide which keeps us apart!
Every night conditions a routine
The chuckling laughs of delight
Which the rich know too well
But it also cloaks our downy smile
Which belie our daily pain
Our eternal pill of failure
Soothed by bedside supplications
Since our voices are frail
Today our mindsets shall
Task the allusion of a motherland
Drugged by promises of a future
That may never come
If only the green and white would give
We seek an encore of a latent anthem
Before they roll out the drums
And aggravate the bile of the destitute
Before the flags fly in coerced freedom
And soar away with hopes of an ailing lot
Lets have the drinks in cupfuls
Water is sweet, only to the thirsty
Cheers! We must drink to that
Whose wish was it?
That our travails should outlive us
Mindful of an encumbered past
In a land flowing with milk and honey
Yet famished by elitist contrivance
Through the storm we've trudged
Amid the hurricane, we now make familiar pleas
We shall rest today
Not because our hands are sore
Or our feet heavy from use
Not even because our belly is empty of shit
We shall abide in exaggerated calm
For as time drags on, I realize that
We are all dregs of a sunken generation
But we may yet pop up and celebrate
Happy anniversary!
