i refuse …
to bow
scraping for scraps in the dirt
i refuse
to kneel
cowering before the altar
i refuse
to lose
hope for a better tomorrow
i refuse
to stop believing
that love will gently prevail
where mirth peace respect may again walk tall
in the very places
where once roamed nothing but sorrow
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 …
a quick scribble …
aren’t we all the same?
aren’t we all confounded broken pained ecstatic fractured joyous sad indescribably happy proud secretly snooty twisted within our own hearts yearning for something more than this crappy deal called ‘life’ cos’ there’s got to be something better something bigger than the lustful pursuit of monetary physical emotional psychological sexual gratification that last but the blink of an eye yet we hunt prey upon choose profits over people whom we see as cannon-fodder for our wiles schemes capitalist profit filthy rich obscenity and still we bring up our kids with (trumpets sound) traditional values religious beliefs norms cultural shackles the need for greed by emphasising material and social gratification over respect and understanding for one another as a race, the human race and we shove this down our very young ones’ collective conscience and then in mock shock and horror we feign surprise indignation even at what they’ve become while we carry on living our hollow lives an empty shell that needs to be stuffed with God and Nations Flags Religions Castes Tribes Ethnicities and yet we feign horror we plead ignorance
I like that. Pleading ignorance.
because it is true
words paltry meagre words that are just that ink on page binary on screen meaningless if not imbibed drunk soaked in absorbed lived breathed made love to lost hurt cried over beaten up
because nothing changes until we you I me him us her them she all of us the race the human race shun greed love one another repect tolerate at the very least each others uniqueness in this cosmos of unimaginable size our pallette our shared human night sky and just as the ancients spoke of the night sky as a blanket and the stars as being little holes in that blanket piercing through seemingly all-encompassing darkness so to may we know that the stars are suns like our own and that like all suns they too must flicker and fade and i dare say that if that cosmic connection, between the singular you me him she her and a star of immense mass, the shared fate of both star and me her him she you are essentially the same – to burn out and to have the embers spread through the oceans of emptiness that float between you her him she I and the countless blazing suns – if this insane weird worthless nugget of cosmic coincidence or not is not enough to keep us from tearing at each others throats perhaps then I shall concede defeat and yield to those who cling to hopelessness but not today
not at this moment
not now
not yet
talkin’ double-standerds blues
i am bewildered,
the hypocrisy wrapped up and glistening,
plastic foil skin deep,
disregardin’ the ‘others’,
yet we feel pain,
&
yes we weep,
for ‘our own’,
cos’ ‘our’ pain is true,
and,
‘they’ after all,
are savages,
&
ingrates too,
they bite the very paws of those who kindly let them out of the zoo,
so don’t stand there so smug & fuelled by righteous passion,
’cause you and i know that soon we’ll be last decades’ spent fashion,
i don’t know if you’re catching my drift,
or am i being simple,
nuanced subtleties being in short-shrift,
i don’t even know if that sentence makes any sense,
or any of the yakkitty yak yak i scribble,
but i swear i can feel it,
machete-like in my bones,
my own hypocrisy slithering within,
as i you him her we she he & coming back to i again,
wrapping ourselves in that awful plastic foil,
skin-deep,
all as we drizzle lemonsalt on long open wounds,
rubbing some depleted uranium in there so it really stings,
while we shop till we drop,
&
while we pray for the glorious bounties the next shopping-mall brings
ps: rest in peace, empathy & compassion
peace | love | uBuntu
Night gathers the shards of my splintering heart,
mending fractures.
Ever mindful,
knowing,
that tomorrow may shred it all apart …
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 