flickering moonbeams …
on ancient shores
retracing steps
wet sand beneath bare feet
sipping kisses
hungry
sweet.
in distant streams
soul heart body mind
bathed as one
in sundrenched streams
flowing
ebbing
teasing
tugging
tasting
lapping
meandering
breathing caresses
wildly flickering
like
giddy moonbeams
on the cool wet sands
of
our beach of dreams
that gentler way …
sometimes in dreams
this world feels a much gentler place
where hunger stalks nights and days no more
where we share this earths gifts
more equally
less greedually
a gentler place
where we’ve bade farewell to war …
sometimes in dreams
i taste the hope
of a gentler world
where songs of joy may be heard each day
a gentler world
where we all
all of us
together
as one
always
always
always
strive to find
that gentler way …
( inspired by Pete Seeger’s “Last Night I had the Strangest Dream” )
http://stopwar.org.uk/music/pete-seeger-last-night-i-had-the-strangest-dream
Words
tears trickle down
the
bruised cheeks of time
eroding splinters
smothering words
churned out without reason of rhyme
just words
words
now impotent
simple sentences
blurred by tears
though never
ever
blurred by fears!
oh yes!
words defy fear
words repel hate
words are alive
may they thrive
as we strive
for a more just world
with less tears
less fears
nostalgia tugs
seductively
subtly
whisking the mind away
away
to
those
custard-apple evenings
of
monsoon drenched rain
whistling between trees of rhyme
peacock feathers
lying listless
as
beaten as these lines
and still beyond it all
past rainbows fractured
the sun still shines
mending soggy feathers
aflutter
alone
always alone
on cardamom clouds
leading me here
to now.
this moment
trapped
vacuum sealed
anaesthetised
through
countless
incense-smoked paths
crumbling
on
ever on
with
many
dreams strewn asunder
as heartless time
tireless time
rages on
shedding fatigued smiles
over the countless
numberless
exhausted
miles
Rains over Jozi
The parched African earth soaks up the liquid offering from the heavens,
birds sing,
ululating,
a chorus of relieved catharsis flows through my barren heart,
the steady rain continues,
elevating just another day,
transforming a dry insipid moment,
into a cacophony of jubilant life,
life!
life flowing,
streaming down the desolate avenues,
dripping like perennial teardrops,
down the cheeks of this crazy,
maddening city of gold,
moments of undistilled supreme mirth,
heralds the arrival of a new season,
a triumphant rebirth,
jubilant,
relieved,
ecstatic,
as the Gods of Africa,
and the spirits of the Ancestors,
smile down,
on us,
we of flesh,
and of blood,
and of muscle,
and of bone,
soaking hardened hearts,
dead as cold stone,
infusing new life,
amidst the fragrant scent of rain on dry soil,
while the bronze sun retreats,
seeking respite behind the dark, hopeful clouds of charcoal grey,
while the rains shower their blessings,
banishing the winter chills,
and graciously beckoning spring to stay.
The rains over Jo’Burg caress the leaves on the trees,
cleansing the accumulated baggage that only yesterday so listlessly hung,
over the dryness in my soul,
scorched by a merciless winters’ sun,
Ah! But today,
today,
there are songs to be sung!
today,
I feel complete,
I am with the heavens,
no longer splintered,
into a thousand and three fragmented pieces,
at last I am whole,
at last,
I am one…
when im broken
torn
with
all my conceit
neatly
shorn
perhaps
then he’ll know
the hopes stifled
muted
hushed shushed
though still
as still as innocence
reborn
dawn breaking.
1.
willowy brushstrokes
conjured sketches
painted
etched
embossed
hewn between forgotten morns
waking
splintering
straining
against another
ceaseless
relentless
endless
empty
vacuumed
abyss
of
night.
2.
and
still
still
hope blazes
bright
radiant
smiling
though
measured
disciplined
while
embracing
enveloping
and always
always
surrendering to the eternal promise
raging
hungering
aching
that promise of a new dawn breaking …
neither here nor there …
traversing the meandering bylanes of life
tears fall
through the cauldron of strife
memories like jagged shards of sorrow,
embedded
hewn
into a torrent of emotion
flow on
and on
cascading over raw wounds
reaching without
seeking
peace
within
clinging onto
filaments of hope
while hollow words
crawl
fade
mope
slinking away to settle
on tattered scrolls
while life persists,
so long as the river rolls…
years days moments minutes hours months weeks decades,
pockmarked,
weary,
skidding,
clinging onto,
raging roads,
hobbled,
shovelled,
dragged deep,
wrestling demons without,
within,
yet always,
always,
hugging hope,
as night yawns,
and a new day dawns …
marooned, alone,
on
cobwebbed shores,
far from home,
‘home’
is it truly home,
if
jagged feelings slice & shear?
can it ever be ‘home’
when
meagre verse shrieks out for all to hear
peace | love | uBuntu
anchored by guilt,
echoes of promise snuffed out in the frigid air,
guilt hurls its snarl my way,
remember this and remember that,
as tears fail to fall,
from dry eyes,
weakened by the fight,
the unending skirmishes,
trench-warfare,
bleeding,
gushing hope,
for a few more tidbits of light
peace | love | uBuntu
seeking escape
oblivion
sleep
where I cannot weep
where pain scurries off
melting into a night so deep
escape
oblivion
sleep
Night gathers the shards of my splintering heart,
mending fractures.
Ever mindful,
knowing,
that tomorrow may shred it all apart …
effortlessly soaring into abandoned flight,
yesterdays’ pain surrenders,,
drawn gently by,
departing moments’ caressing ebb and dreamy flow,
seeking only sanctuary,
to finally rest,
where wild grasses grow …
morning tugs at the monnlight,
another night slips and slides,
winding through hazy dreams,
to finally embrace the oncoming tides …
beyond words,
mere paltry scribbled verse,
rolls across empty streets,
while today crawls to a fade,
as night descends,
offering comfort,
the solace of anonymous shade …
broken rays of sunlight pierce through the casket of night,
murmurs of gentle persuasion echo within a tormented soul,
the respite from nights’ smothering,
sneaks between the gathering smog,
urging the faltering spirits of this tormented soul to rise up from the clingy bog,
and in rising,
liberating this soul from the desolation of being a phony, fickle cog …
raindrops,
like celestial nectar,
drench my winter coat.
i stagger,
wounded,
half-blind,
though no longer filled with dread,
for i walk on,
unsure,
oh yes, most certainly so,
yet filled with murmuring promises,
as i welcome the myriad paths that lie ahead …
A New Dawn …
shackled,
the noose tightening,
stealing promises,
of tomorrows yet to be born,
yet still,
hope takes root,
offering solace,
a glimpse,
of a less harsh tomorrow,
as the moon resigns itself,
to the embrace of the coming dawn …
Eternally Optimistic …
morning breaks in,
shattering the mute night,
infusing the silence,
with the joyous mishmash of all that that little thing called hope brings,
that no matter how bleak the weeks may seem,
and how desolate the minutes may feel,
every night of emptiness must end,
as with each new dawn,
the sun does its renewing warmth,
to us all, extend …
squandering moments,
precious, few,
lost in the twisting maze,
work,
play,
consume,
walk around in a inured daze …
while,
by the by,
life’s moments sit idly by the wayside,
tiring of the inertia,
yearning to flap their unclipped wings,
into the soaring sky,
and …
liberated at last,
simply fly …
Scribbled Verse 