Category: poetry

For a Dear Friend Who Recently Died

His soul has gone to heaven,
his body left behind,
his friends are all a-weeping,
his loved ones all resigned

to what they deem unchangeable
– the Almighty’s stern decree:
The soul, although immortal,
must soon the body flee.

But still they bravely carry on,
their grief can’t overwhelm them.
They know the One and Only Son
will comfort and sustain them.

And tho’ their loved one might be gone,
’tis only for a season.
The One and Only Son shall come,
and he will rise again!

(Written on 03 December 2017)

The Vision

It is midnight in the chambers
Of my melancholic soul;
Witness are the empty hours
To my struggle to be whole.

Listless faces, unsmiling,
Fill my vision of despair
While the voices of the dying
Sing the burden that I bear.

Tears are lost in the uncaring
“That-is-not-my-problem” stare
Of my icy eyes unfeeling
Common anguish we all share.

I have seen the hungry dying
I have heard the cries of fools,
And the hopes of men a-waning,
And the misery that rules.

Yes, the misery proliferating
And the poverty of souls –
Men alive but no more living
In their void-of-meaning roles.

I am near to realizing
What before I did not see
That to live a life of loving
Is to set my spirit free

From the selfishness that binds me
To the coldness of despair,
From the midnight of my misery
To the dawn of loving care.

1-13-90

One Sleepless Night

The tick-tock of the electric clock
disturbs the late night’s silence.
I then discern the crickets’ hum;
the gecko also joins in.

I see no stars or shining moon
outside my library’s window;
but the night feels right – the peace and quiet
soothes my fractured ego.

I thank you, Lord, for simple joys:
the fact that I’m alive
and able still to breathe – inhale! –
without a worry on my mind.

I think more often I should do this
during times I cannot sleep:
Let the words flow from my pen unbidden,
and let gratitude run deep.

Of Doubts and Leaves

Doubts like leaves blown by the wind,
frolicking by the roadside,
dance painfully in my mind.

Which should I choose?
Only One can be my bride;
all the rest must be left behind.

Shall I be a poet or a preacher,
a jazz pianist or a lawyer?
Shall I be whole or torn apart?
But to be whole is to be torn apart!

Hagar’s husband was heartbroken
when he left her with his son:
What a cruel fate he gave them!
But the thing once done is done.

If I choose to be this one and not
the other one that I could be,
I will be murdering one self so that
another self might fully be.

In order to be truly me
I must decide to not be me!

The leaves are lifted by the wind
only to fall gently once again
dead and silent on the ground.

Of Aches and Anxiety

Fear bites like a mosquito
and gives an itch to my right brain.
“I’ll live to be a hundred – no?”
Mortality is my name.

Every ache I ponder deep:
“Is this the beginning of the end?”
I find it difficult to sleep;
When will darkness be my friend?

Sing like a mosquito’s hum
When it buzzes near my ear;
That’s the melody of anxiety,
What I hear when I sense fear.

The Transient

A fleeting breeze am I; a flame
About to die; the final note
Of a concluding dirge; a warm
But swiftly passing touch. And why
Must I desire to be a star
Eternal in the heavenly realms
When I am not forever? Soon
My flesh and bones will turn to dust,
My footsteps in the sand erased,
Because I am what all life is:
A fleeting, passing, dying breeze.

But ere I pass this be my joy:
To touch thee ere this breeze pass on,
To warm thee ere this flame be gone,
Ere this sad soul melt with the sun,
Ere my life’s dust fly with the wind,
Ere my brief candle turn into night
And I be a forgotten dream.

This be my task while ’tis Today,
Ere I conclude my fleeting stay.
Mine is to touch and pass away
Mine is to touch, then… pass away.

4-14-89

The Roach

Always escaping when you should do so no longer:
a roach that scurries back to the dark
in fear of its life.

Being squashed – not a prospect to be relished;
but if life has no risks, then
it isn’t worth living.
Commitment is key, even if tomorrow
is uncertain.

To fear is to escape all the time,
instead of standing one’s ground
against your worst fears.

Have faith, make a stand,
commit and don’t budge!

(Photo by Jesper Aggergaard on Unsplash)

My God is Not Stupid

My God is not stupid;
He’s wiser than you are.
Do not presume to judge Him;
He knows you from afar.

His thoughts are higher than our thoughts,
His ways above our ways;
Our wisdom’s but a tiny drop
In the ocean of His days.

If it were easy to discern Him,
Then He would not be God;
To pit your puny mind against His
Is proof that you are mad.

Look to the mighty stars of heaven,
The worlds that fill the sky;
Great is the wisdom that has made them.
Kneel, then, and weep, and cry!