Wednesday 2 April 2014

COLLECTED POEMS


SWEET FLIRT
Listen! unrequited love is not love,
For reciprocal, true love ought to be,
Yet to love and to be loved is love;
And equivocal, lover’s feelings needn’t be,

So respect my feelings and tell me:
Do you love me or not, oh sweet flirt?              
For your tempting poses confuse me.
Yet your enticing beauty I can’t skirt.

How long must this feeling go on?
You’ve whetted my appetite for far too long
Yet your seductive stunts go on and on.
Your on-and-off attitude has become a pong.

So I took a good long look at myself
And I decided to tell, to tell you this:
For your sake I keep on hurting myself
Since your inviting lure I couldn’t miss

For how can I resist your unique charm
When I am attracted to you like a needle
In the presence of a magnet? There’s no charm
As potent as your looks; you’re a riddle.

Yet the attention you gave me was wanting
So I waited all this while for improvement
Even so, you described my effort as wanting
At least, just consider my bathetic statement

And gladly give me a deserving response.
For my feelings for you is right and real
And to your query here is my response:
One of the wandering wantons I’m not; I’m real.





WHAT DID THEY LEAVE BEHIND?

They came
before us,

Yet some lived
beyond us.

Among those who lived
beyond us
were those who thought
beyond us.

Among those who thought
beyond us
were those who had

vision,
passion,
mission,
compassion;

Soaked in hope,
they braved the odds;

Flooded in faith,
they dared the uncharted;

Engulfed in love,
they cowed their fears.

We saw them not
yet we see their deeds.

They died before us
yet they live after us.

They took from us nothing
yet they gave us everything.

We know them as:

heroes,
avant-garde,
the sharp end,
frontiers people,
the leading edge,
the great thinkers

Their deeds are their accolades.

Though mortals,
they immortalized their names.

Though handicapped,
they trimmed enlightenment

Though oblivious of our current needs,
they laid the foundation of our success,

And at the dawn of our civilization
they stretched and pushed back

the frontiers of life,
the frontiers of life herself

like the blind bat who flies at night,
they had vision in darkness

like the stars that light our night,
they shone best in darkness

they dandled civilizations
on the lap of crude technology

they used inspiration received
from nature
to conceive ideas to deceive
the doubting future

They did all this at their peril …

A day will come
when posterity will look back

and ask: what did they leave behind?
The ‘they’ will be you and me!





NO CONDITION IS PERMANENT

The caterpillar will not eat leaves forever,
for there is a butterfly that must fly;
the tailed tadpole will not swim forever,
for there is a frog that must hop;
and I guess they know this too:
‘no condition is permanent’

The Ants know best,
yet they do not rest
until they stock their store;
for they’ve seen the rains before
and; ‘no condition is permanent’

The sun will rise again
the sun will set again
the rain will fall again
the sun will shine again
still; ‘no condition is permanent’.

The slave might mount the throne,
the prince might tend the goats,
the messenger might send the boss,
the boss might bear the messages
yet; ‘no condition is permanent’.

Now, I am eating
now, you are starving
later, you will be eating,
later, I will be starving;
for ‘no condition is permanent’

I know you know
my tears will not last;
you know I know
your laughter is transient
for ‘no condition is permanent’

‘No condition is permanent’
so wake up; and bathe; and eat
and work; and eat again; and re-bathe
and when you are done—sleep!
‘for no condition is permanent’



CONTENTMENT

I was yet young when I was told                                      
‘Marry content and be happy’                       
I regarded this advice as gold                        
And yet it still sounded creepy                                  
Nevertheless the old saying still holds                       
Out of the frying pan into the fire                 

Man will take things for granted,                              
Perhaps due to their bloated pride,                
Just to see their actions perfected.                 
They may even do this on the side                
And yet, the old saying still holds                             
Out of the frying pan into the fire                 

The greedy will ignore this truth                                
For their insatiable needs must be met           
Hence they futilely wander on earth             
And strive after things they’ll never get        
However, the old saying still holds                                       
Out of the frying pan into the fire

It’s expedient to ignore certain blunders
Yet it’s human to try to right a wrong.
 Is it always useful to do this, oh our elders?
Do not hesitate to caution your young
Since the old saying still holds
Out of the frying pan into the fire

A man, who’s desirous, will forever bear                  
Ungrateful youth with a greedy wife            
And since their youth mature without fear                
They carelessly rush through life                   
Oblivious of the old truth that still holds      
Out of the frying pan into the fire                 



VANITY
From the cradle to the grave,
This and that ‘man’ will crave
Yet when their brief time expires
And their lungs no more respires
Within the earth with worms they dwell

From the cradle to the grave,
The storms of life man must brave
This they must do in order to survive
Amidst the harsh reality of life or dive
Abruptly into the cold grave they dwell

From the cradle to the grave,
People deemed dear ‘man’ will love
Yet others, unbeknown to them, they hate
This might lead them to their tragic fate
Or the graded grave they’ll finally dwell

From the cradle to the grave,
About their vain gains ‘man’ will rave
As if on them their entire survivals depend
Yet when suddenly their dreaded toils end
Nothing they take to the grave they dwell.

From the cradle to the grave,
Whether they will succeed or not,
In their own wisdom, ‘man’ knows not.
                                                                                           

 


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