Sleeping giant!

Sleeping giant.

At birth there's a reason babies cry themselves to life,
In response to that gentle shocking slap,
Foreboding the coming pain of the new kind of growth,
Growth beyond the comforts of the womb,
So it is okay for grown up men and women,
To cry themselves to the new life,
Just be sure the tears don't stop you from living life,
In the same way that crying from the shock of that birth slap,
Could make the newborn baby take its dying breath,

In the same token there is always a better person in every one of us,
Waiting to be shocked to life,
With an indefatigable prayerful hard work,
Wake that giant from its sleep,
With the gadfly of distressing hunger for a better you,
Whip that giant to life if need be,
With the flagella of painful enduring patient focus,
There is always a better person waiting in us,
In the womb of our status quo,
Which will only be born in the place of prayerful work.

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

Hijacking of womanhood!

Hijacking of womanhood.

In your true womanhood,
You were more than all the treasures in any war chess,
Now you leave me groping in the dark with a guess,
Unable to recognize you in this mess,
Take off that extreme feminist dress,
You steal and derail the initial noble cause of feminism,
Modern day woman,
Better education and better jobs,
But mostly sorry woman,
Along the way you crossed an endangering line,
Lost your womanhood and most which makes you woman,
You are now neither a woman nor a man,
And not a hermophrodite too,
It was the woman I married who made me feel like a husband,
Now I just feel like another ram in the house,
Locking long horns trying to drink from the same bowl,
Unbalanced feminism makes a woman less,
Reach your fullest potential but never at the price of your womanhood,
It is your most prized possession,
Your most potent charm,
Your greatest strength,
Shake off that extreme feminist dress,
I long to feel married again.

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

It all depends!

It all depends!

Like somethings are better said unsaid,
Somethings are better seen in the dark,
It all depends!

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

December First - AIDS I SPEAK TO YOU FOR MAN

Today’s world aids day,

Aids, plural of aid,

Aiding to death’s bay,

Helping life fade,



It is not AIDS we celebrate,

It is the survivor’s mettle,

It is the path we deliberate,

It is not yet time to settle,



Today we draw our determination,

From the lives you maim,

We come against your insubordination,

In the victory we claim,



Today more than ever before,

You will not set the pace of the race,

As we indefatigably restore,

The dignity of the human face,



Oh Aids, your wife is penury,

You both thrive in perfect symbiosis,

With a vow, we shall not be guilty of perjury,

We come against your parabiosis,



We are all infected or affected,

Whatever it takes for winning, one victory at a time,

As we get our minds disinfected,

If we need to swim to safety we will become maritime,



I got a message for you orphaned child,

I got a message for you faithful widowed wife,

In your enduring patient hope do not grow wild,

Wild makes Aids rife,



Grandmothers become mothers to grandchildren,

Stepping in to fill the gap,

Praying children can stay to have great grandchildren,

As economic effects ripple all across the map,



The human resource and middle class choking,

Shocked by Aids’ deadly sting,

This is not time for joking,

Friends put on your wing,



Together we have to fly,

And make the frontline water tight,

This is not the time to lie,

We can’t win if we never fight,



Couples be faithful,

Spinsters and bachelors abstain,

Aids’ cousin is unfaithful,

Use a condom if you can’t handle restrain,



The enemy strikes veiled in passion,

Making you blind,

Effecting its mission,

Before you find,



It wouldn’t be easy,

If we don’t want to be queasy,



I know victory is on our side,

Together we can turn the tide,

So take a moment and look inside,

Find that something you can give with pride,



Never think what you give too small,

Little drops make the tide of might,

To sweep AIDS to a mighty fall,

So we shall not only make AIDS slight,



Together we can dwarf the AIDS patient estimate,

Together we can decimate,

In God we trust,

To give us a thrust,



We can prevent the next orphan,

We can prevent the next widow,

We can save the next worker,

The next life is waiting.


© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving.

Could have easily been a heartbeat away from death,
But you make it a heartbeat to the next moment of life,
For everything I give thanks for,
For every worthwhile thing I dare to do,
In my moment of truth,
When pride is drowned and humility brought to life,
There's a reason why I say it wasn't me,
Because God's fingerprints are all over it,

Today I am thankful for the things I take for granted,
Like the breath at my nostrils,
Like sound and peaceful sleep,
I am grateful for the ability and willingness to learn,
For knowledge of my own ignorance,
For the air in my lungs,
The bread in my stomach,
For potable water,

For teeth to help me chew,
For the pumping of my heart,
The blood of life in my arteries and veins,
I am thankful for the hands which type these words,
For the feet which still carry my weight,
For the hearing in my ears and the sight in my eyes,
For proper toilets,

I am thankful even for the difficult things,
The things which test me and tax me,
I am thankful for how You use them to make me better,
In exchange and traded by barter for the bitter me,
I am thankful for my family and friends,
Woes and throes and foes,
For in one way or the other they help me grow,

I am thankful for those who spend today in the heat of battle fire,
So that the bastion walls of freedom can remain standing,
For those who spend today away from loved ones and home,
To make sure I can be at home with mine,
I am immeasurably thankful for their selflessness,
For the lessons they teach me in their service,

I am thankful that I have a choice to choose to worship baal,
But if that choice was ever taken away,
And my only choice was to bow to baal by force,
Dear God,
Even in my thanksgiving I make a request,
If that day ever came when somebody or anybody,
I don't care who the person is,
Dared to take my freedom and ability to worship and commune with you,
If I was ever forced to worship anything but you,
Take me home with you before I bow to baal,

I am unspeakably thankful today,
For everything I have become,
For everything You do for me,
Big and small,
I am thankful for our humanity,
For all these wonderful people you bring into my life,
To hold me and help to mold me,
I am thankful for opportunities to serve,
To touch a life or two,
In ways big and small,
Above all I am thankful dear God that I still belong to you.

I am thankful today,
You are amplified and magnified in my praise!

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

Ground Zero

Ground Zero.

This very place in which I was burned,
Hallowed spot where my giant structure tumbled,
Tumbled and crumbled,
Here I met life with a clash,
Parts of me hit the nearby waters with a splash,
From the purifying fire my ashes emerged,
Like the proverbial phoenix from the ashes I rise,
Taller than before,
Stronger than in the past,
Help me God,
In this place where my demise was hatched,
Let a better me be rehashed.

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

Refugee child

Refugee child!

I watched those near hopeless eyes,
Very faintly lit on a listless body,
Body familiar to hardship and suffering,
Testament of the inner strength of man,
She carved a more genuine smile than most,
Lean flesh on malformed bones,
Hapless and helpless,
Yes but not hopeless,
Hope didn't shine forth like a new moon,
But I could see it brewing in her every breath,

Oh life behooves every man,
With greater and better opportunity,
To reach out and lend a hand,
In lifting up every such sorry frame,
No refugee child earns that title for themselves,
Adults usually connive in their greed to make them so,
Nature might help catapult them to those depths,

But we have a collective responsibility,
Doesn't matter how you look,
Or where you're from,
Babies are innocent across the board,
Whatever you can do,
Make a contribution to protect them,
Show them some love,
Send them some care,
Educate somebody about the preciousness of children,
Keep their abusers away,
Raise a prayer to heaven,
Revolt against wars,

Every violent war is fundamentally against a child,
They cannot protect themselves!
They are the future of the world,
The child you can and fail to reach today,
Might be your nightmare tomorrow,
The nightmare of the world,
The bandit on your door,
Help a child today!

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

Scary day!

Scary day!

I got up this morning,
To a day as scary as hell,
Because I feel no opposition,
Opposition from the devil,
I might be on his side,
And the thought of it freaks me out,
I don't want to go without you God.

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

The arm pit of Africa

The arm pit of Africa

See the African map,
Neighbor to Nigeria,
Gold mine,
With a few seeking to call mine,
Cesspit, Cesspool,
Dirty pool,
Arm pit of Africa,
Harboring lice of corruption ,
Accumulated sweat of mind and spiritual pollution,
Infested with bugs of greed,
Insensitive to common need,
Arm pit of Africa,
Starless night time with no moon,
Cee aiiye ehm eee and add the roon,
CAMEROON,
Exploited, manipulated,
Used and reused,
Misused and abused,
But there is hope,
Buried in those willing to pay the price,
And let another get the prize,
No prize too high to pay,
Any time, any day,
Hope, doggedly stubborn hope,
Born of those ready to cope,
In the fiery furnace of faith,
Indefatigable, selfless and loving,
Prayerful, patriotic and resilient,
Insistent and consistent,
Willing to work hard,
But also to work smart!

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

If you mean it!

If you mean it.

If you mean it,
Even when you eat,
Do it like you do,
Mean it when you say it,
Say it like you mean it,
Mean it when you do it,
Do it like you mean it.

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

Give it your heart.

Give it your heart.

Give your work your heart,
Do it with passion,
Unleash some compassion,
Give it your soul,
Otherwise it ends in still birth,
Child without a heart,
Art with no pulse,
That means it is dead,
Do not work at all,
OR
Give it your best,
Give it your all,
Give it your life,
So work can come to life,
No one is immune or indifferent,
To work that throbs with vivacity,
Reaches out with vitality,
Work that grows on humanity.

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

Why did you marry?

Why did you marry?

Did you marry for the glory and fame?
Be careful that can be the price for shame,
Why did you marry?
Was it to grab headlines,
And at worst hit footlines,
Lines like 'wedding of the year?'
Where you conscious of all you have to bear,
All the storms you have to endure,
Which punctuate the bliss and make your humanity pure,
Why did you get married?
Was it merely an escape route for the sexual urge?
Is it a vent for all the things you feel the need to purge?

You'll be sure to find out life is bigger than emotions,
Larger than promotions and demotions,
Why did you get married?
Was it in order to make a social statement,
To get a waning prestige re-instatement?
Why did you get married?
Did you crack under peer pressure,
Pulled by a killing desire to meet the peer measure,
Was it used as a wheel to office,
Was it for the auspice,
Did you marry an engineer or doctor,
Or did you marry a human being - the human factor,
Was it for the title,
Or was it for the mettle,
Was it for nationality,
Way out of internationality?

Why did you get married?
Was is just for the kids?
Sanctify your deeds,
You will be disappointed when you miss the point,
It is a union where purposes are joint,
It is deeper and more profound,
If you hurry experience will painfully expound,
Purify you motives,
Before you get on the marriage locomotive,
Know marriage is to make better,
Shouldn't be a fetter,
Let love be your aim,
Your method,
Your end,
For in the end,
Love still conquers all.


© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

What society made me.

What society made me.

Hard-work's great,
But balance is the trick,
I am what society's made me,
Both parents spend long hours at work,
Leaving me starved of much needed love,
Starved and left with no other choice,
I tried to fill that gap without,
In a life of wine and crime,
Because somebody spent some time with me,
And loved me in the gangs in the street,
I tried to find it in the laps of another,
Sought to fill the gap with crack,
Pumped it into my veins and arteries,
And even sniffed it,

High like a kite,
I tried to soar like one,
But I am yet only human,
My wings only in the figment of my imagination,
Before reality of my winglessness dawns on me again,
I am behind bars,
For crimes I can barely recollect committing,
Claiming a cop's life for example,
Dad and mom worked so hard,
And fed my delinquent lifestyle with their excesses and their lack,
Excess cash and lack of love,
Love never present,
Never shown, never expressed,
Material things poorly substitute,
I am what society's made me,
Delinquent children like me,
Classical products of delinquent societies,
The answer's not in the jail cells,
The answer's a reformation of households,
A reformation of society,
A radical reformation of the world.

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

No man is better!

No man is better!

No person is better than the other,
All born to the same wretched estate,
Only grace makes the difference,
So stop drinking from that cup,
That poisoned cup of arrogance and foolish pride,
Subtle yet more sure than the hemlock cup,
Which stopped the flow of Socrates' genius!

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

Worship

Worship.

The waves bellowed in base,
The gathering storm of praise drummed,
The winds sang in a shrill falsetto,
The trees whistled against the blowing wind,
Singing in tenor,
The dry leaves played a unique instrument of their own,
The flowing rivers played an instrument of their own,
The moon greeted from above,
The stars flashed lights to the earthen stage,
In a thunderous praise,
Nature roared worship to the King of Kings,
Who came down in showers to inhabit the praises,
What a chorus!
What a choir,
Better than any human voices could ever sing,
What an orchestra,
Better than any human hands can play,
A celebration of the genius of His creation,
It seems to me of all the works of His hands,
Humanity worships and praises Him the least.

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

Curtains are drawn!

Curtains are drawn!

As summer exits nature's stage,
The curtains are drawn in showers,
Autumn's in dress rehearsal,
Readying to come on,
Flipping over to nature's new page,
Trees clad in colors of every hue,
Lighting up the world with mind blowing refulgence,
Before they fall in preparation for winter's cold assault,
All what's summed in summer,
And bloomed in fall,
Will fall in autumn's gentle winds.

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

War!

War.

When we go to war,
Because of our want for more,
Not because there is a need,
But fueled by rabid greed,
Choking a love creed,
When a good war is maimed by avarice,
Fought with cowardice,
Sheer force is glorified,
Inhumanity magnified,
Peace is dethroned,
And violence enthroned,
The global village imperiled.

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

Strife in life!

Strife of life.

As long as you have life,
You will have strife,
If you want nothing to do with strife,
Then take away your life,
Escape to a death cape,
Coz in a spineless coward's cloth you drape.

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

All you have is now...

All you have is now...

The last moment and yesterday like spilled milk is gone,
The next moment and tomorrow like rain might come,
Leave the past behind,
To neither future nor past be bound,
Even when past and future ghosts hound,
Because every tomorrow will soon become today,
If you focus on tomorrow you never fully live today,
Today and now is all you have,
Give it your best,
Let the lessons from the past shape it,
Let the dreams from the future guide it,
With yesterday gone,
And an unsure tomorrow yet to come,
Live your all in now,
In case the next moment and tomorrow never come.

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

Ethnic cleansing - a people at the brink of extinction.

Ethnic cleansing - a people at the brink of extinction.

Once upon a time, royalty was the fashion cloth of many a nation of the world but gone are those days. Even though Kingdoms ruled by autocratic Kings have faded out of vogue, the vestige of this once sought after status resides in the small land locked Kingdom of Swaziland in Southern Africa, no more than 200 km north to south and 130 km east to west. While Kingdoms are typically associated with wealth and prosperity every wise, prosperity in any sense of the word is a guise worn as a mask by a few elitist royalty and close associates in Swaziland.

Something is happening in Swaziland, something similar in proportions to the ethnic cleansing which threatened Kosovo and Rwanda which the world needs and must pay more attention to or never again will we as a race ever be able to look in the mirror of our humanity and see humanity, all we would see would be distorted inhumanity, thick skinned enough to let an entire nation evanesce from the face of the earth. HIV AIDS is slowly, deliberately, subtly, fazing, and decimating an entire people with the certainty of a high richter scale magnitude quaking tsunamis. All of this is happening before the idle watch of the world.

Ever since the first Swazi cases of AIDS were reported in 1986, the virus has spread untamed and now 26.1% of the country's adult population are infected, effortlessly making it the highest HIV prevalence rate in the whole world, and the spread is still on like a wild harmattan fire. To better appreciate the devastation AIDS is causing the country, out of a population of about 1.1(one point one) million, around 10,000 adults and children died from AIDS in 2007 alone, and around 15,000 Swazi children up to 14 years of age are living with HIV, with an estimated 56,000 children orphaned by the disease. As a sequel of this unspeakable devastation the life expectancy of Swazi’s is now just a meagre 32 years - the lowest in the world. This figure projects that for every child now born in Swaziland, ceteris paribus, they would die in 32 years, almost two score years shy of the Bible prescribed three score and ten. This fractures my mind to imagine that if I were Swazi, because I am living through my thirty first year now, and not even at the prime of my youth yet, I would have one year to live. I cringe at the thought – God have mercy.

If these facts and figures hold true then this country is one at the brink of preventable extinction from the hands of an enemy which we now know and can ably contain. To get a better perspective of the woes of this nation, if you can, watch "Without a King", a documentary which literally tugged my heart strings and drew a tear to my eyes, with realities of life which made my whole being coil back in protest, almost refusing to accept them, yet they are true for so many. Some of the realities leave me almost guilty for the quality of my small life.

Oh my goodness, before my eyes I can still see that kid drinking from the dirty stagnant cesspool which is an only source of drinking water, I can still see a people so oppressed it has almost become an acceptable way of life, a people so choked by fear of the iron fist of a cruel and selfish king, so much so that, they would embrace, worship and adulate the same hands which oppress them; I can see before my eyes, behind a haze of tears a gap between the poor and rich so wide it makes good and evil look like brothers; I can see the contrast between the ruling and the ruled so stark, it makes light look like darkness. A person is a person, born in a palace or born in a cave and no person should go through what some go through.

Oh how the twin fiend of poverty and HIV AIDS, wedded in polygamous union to ignorance can ravage and decimate a people!!... There is an unfolding tragedy endangering the entire existence of a people before the watch of the world and a selfish King. There is possibly more work to be done than we can finish in our lifetime and while it might be naive to expect to see these multiple and unacceptable yawning gaps closed and completely bridged in our lifetime, God helping, we must watch no longer. I personally feel dwarfed by the enormity of the challenge but let it better be said that we didn't succeed, but never that we didn't try.

With a story like this we can have a better appreciation for the freedoms and luxuries we enjoy, what we have become, and we honestly didn't do anything to be born in our countries or families and not so much to be in circumstances where we can continue to pursue the dreams of our lives. While my heart strings were painfully tugged, a fine chord of gratitude was struck by 'Without a King' and getting to know Swaziland. The world must act now or history will judge this generation harshly. We have borrowed this present from our children and we have an obligation to give it back to them better and brighter. Let the international organizations of the world and powers which be, help this nation out of this dark valley of despicable health and economic malaise.


1. UNAIDS (2008) 'Report on the global AIDS epidemic'
2. Government of the Kingdom of Swaziland (2008, January) 'Monitoring the declaration of commitment on HIV/AIDS (UNGASS) Swaziland country report'
3. UNAIDS (2008) 'Report on the global AIDS epidemic'
4. CIA World Factbook (2009) 'Swaziland'
5. Government of the Kingdom of Swaziland (2010, March) 'Monitoring the declaration of commitment on HIV/AIDS (UNGASS) Swaziland country report'

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary


I am also including with this post, comments from my friend and brother, Kingah Stephen Sevidzem who has way more experience with this issue than I do. He worked on it as part of his PhD thesis. He has worked/works in Brussels, Belgium as an Oversight for Commission relations with the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and other regional development banks wherein EU Member States are shareholders (08/09); and At the University (EU Commission; Free University Brussels), drafting publications on a) international and European rules on access to medicines and b) the World Bank; and also acting as visiting lecturer, i.a, at the College of Europe and at the Universities of Amsterdam, Mozambique and Strasbourg.

"Which article I found to be really good and strongly worded. And rightly so as this is an issue that provokes passion and neglect in equal measure. I felt so strongly about the issue that it was part of my thesis. Yet one is often baffled by the mismatch between the need and resources. I have actually come to realize that some efforts are being made to deal with the problem at various levels or scales. However as you rightly noted the enormity of the task is great. This is not eased by the fact that various countries are confronting different kinds of problems associated with aids. It is a complex issue bro. I believe that the Global Fund, the Global Business Coalition, the International Aids Vaccine Initiative, the Gates Foundation, the Clinton Foundation and even some trade flexibilities have been put in place to help some countries.

But the snag is often at the receiving end where governments may be ignorant of the challenge and solutions or where they me be simply unprepared or unwilling to deal with the problem. So there is an issue at the receiving end that can be partitioned into a problem of political will (which you rightly raise in the case of Swaziland); ignorance and poverty. The giving side of the equation is not entirely holy. One can always bullet the bureaucracy and delays that stiffle efforts to channel resources to those in need. In addition, solutions are often to generic and detashed from what is happening on the ground. I have moved around a bit in Southern and Western Africa and came back with the impression that those at the headquarters are often not aware of what they are talking about par rapport the field. Even in the field, international diplomats and NGO types are so tugged in their own ghettos that no one really knows how to match the enormous resources that have been earmarked to the needs of those in Kayelitcha (SA), Nyanya (Abuja), or Old Town Abakwa. The challenge is enormous but as you rightly put it we have to try."

Estella

Estella.

Oh Estella,
I thought you were stellar,
Oh What a reception,
What a deception!

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

She is my mother!

She is my mother.

She might be a whore,
By the whore clothes she wore,
But she is my mother,
She might be vain,
Cocain in her vein,
Marijuana in her brain,
Hitch hiking life's train,
But she is my mother,
She might be homeless,
Because she is jobless,
But don't mess with her,
She is my mother,
She might be just another woman to you,
Just another human being in the world,
Swelling up the statistics for Aids,
Just another face in the crowd,
One more delinquent to deal with,
But don't you dare mess with her,
She is my mother,
She bore me for nine months,
Fed me and sheltered with whatever life she had,
She never gave me less than she had,
She gave me her warmth and love,
She gave me what she could,
In a silent moment of loving me,
Giving me all she had,
Right in the womb she gave me AIDS,
But don't mess with her,
She is my mother,
My imperfect mother,
Beaten and broken by circumstances of her birth,
My weak mother,
My sinful mother,
My precious mother,
She felt all the birth pangs of my birth,
And I hear I had a big head at birth,
Don't you dare mess with her,
She is my mother.

*one of the things which rings so true in my personal life with that of the young man/institution I impersonate in the poem is the love for my mother...

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

Critique

Critique.

When they criticize your work,
Court a better luck,
With a better work,
The charm is hard work.


© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

Smile

Smile.

A smile which charms,
A charm which disarms,
Breaks the defenses,
Drops the pretenses,
A smile which warms,
Pleasant emotion which swarms,
A smile which travels the miles,
To the heart through dangerous river niles.

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

Who are you?

Who are you?

I have a question for you,
Who are you?
I know you are black or white or brown,
But who are you?
Yes you are from America, Asia or Africa or Cameroon,
But who are you?
I know you are a doctor or engineer or banker,
Who are you?
Beyond the clothes and shoes,
Beyond the color of your skin and the hair you wear,
Beyond the nationality and the tribe,
Beyond the career and the job,
Deep down within,
Who are you?
What substance are you made of?
What is the fibre of your mettle?
Who are you?
What is the weight of your humanity,
The content of your love and grace,
The expression of your compassion?
Who are you?
What is it which makes your heart beat,
Makes your adrenaline rush,
What is it which keeps you grounded,
When all is breaking around you,
What is it that gives you peace,
In the midst of that heartbreaking storm,
Who are you?
Behind all the veils and the masks,
What do you do when no one watches,
The thoughts you think in the secrecy of your mind,
That is who you are!
So tell me,
Who are you?

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

I am leaving and living!

I am leaving in a moment,
I am living in the moment,
I am not living for the moment.

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

Too young to die!

Quench that fatally deceptive thought,
It'll make you postpone battles which you could have faught,
Go check the tolls of war,
They will make you very sore,
I have seen them die at every age,
Some without a dime to their name,
Both athletic and maimed,
Some worth a million dollars and some minimum wage,
I have seen them still at birth,
Born to mothers with plenty and mothers with dearth,
I have seen accidents sweep all ages to a massive grave,
Seen disease sweep the young in a mighty wave,
Without warning and without known cause I have seen them eternally sleep a peaceful sleep,
Leave loved ones behind and bereft to weep,
I have seen death visit the hamlet and the palace,
I have seen death visit Bafut and Wallace,
I have seen death surely fatally gnaw the begger and the rich,
I have seen death steal a young life through poisoned sandwich,
I have seen it claim a life through a serpent's sting,
But that is better than death through a traitor's sting,
Doesn't matter how pleasantly or viciously he comes,
He despises age, wealth and knowledge in tomes,
I pray you will live long enough,
But kill that deceptive thought,
Give this moment your best,
Just in case the next moment never comes,
You are not too young to die.

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

Another girl!

Another girl.

Canal which has seen the passage of eight female lives,
She lay there wasted from the pangs of labour,
The labor and work of child birth,
Takes a scolding for having another girl,
Hopeful anticipation of the coming of a heir,
Morphs into hateful deception,
At the reality of a contending heiress,
Foolish frown from the foolish man,
Who holds within his loins,
Power to make a female or a male,
He is spared nine months of pregnancy,
And spared a smacking,
For the scolding he now dishes out,
Which should be rightfully doled to him,
It must sting with killing ache,
To be blamed for circumstances,
Far beyond your control,
God have mercy on us.

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

To a very special doctor.

You are very special,
I don't get a chance to tell you many times,
So I write this note to say,
You are special and very much so,
Endowed and blessed beyond compare,
Long hours at work may ache your muscles,
And bring you fatigue,
But the positive difference God uses you,
To make in the lives of your patients,
And those around you,
Puts a pretty crown,
On all efforts and energies spent in that endeavor,
Those who can go back home,
Back to living life again,
Because you went to work and worked,
The hope you bring with the doctor's touch,
And the unique privilege for that touch,
To replace the frown of pain,
With a smile of hopeful anticipation,
Be nourished from the sweet nectar of His presence,
And may you continue to find strength,
And reason to enthusiastically give,
So that somebody can breathe easier because you lived,
That is a lofty noble call,
Whose highest reward is in it,
keep that smile on your pretty face,
It is still the best make up known to man,
And by doing so, just maybe,
You give others permission to do the same,
The patient who comes in,
Not sure if the next second will come,
And even if that last next second doesn't come,
You can help them spend the current one,
The very last one,
With love, care, hope,
And a smile on their face ...
God bless!

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

Nature's master stroke

Nature's master stroke.

In a quick moment,
You bring torment,
In a few strokes,
You carefully stoke,
A tornado strikes,
Power on wind bikes,
In the next stroke,
Again you carefully stoke,
The fires of fine art,
With one of nature's parts,
The most beautiful rainbow paints,
Work without a taint,
Your master strokes,
Your genius strokes,
Contrasting events with contrasting effects,
One leaves defects,
Both inspire awe.

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

Pleasure!

Pleasure.

The appetite and pressure for pleasure,
Fed and met without restrain,
Soon becomes an addictive drug,
An addiction on growth hormones,
And pleasure which otherwise should be a treasure,
Brings us double trouble in full measure.

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

Stop the hypocrisy.

Stop the hypocrisy.

If you hate corruption,
Don't you dare give a bribe,
And don't take one,
If you court the end of illiteracy,
Send an illiterate to school,
If you hate the hunger in the world,
Feed a hungry mouth,
If all the lying makes you sick,
Give the truth some life,
If you hate the hatred in the world,
Love somebody today,
If you hate the frowning in this place,
Put a smile on a face,
Even if it is yours,
It is as contagious as the cold,
Leave the things you hate alone,
If you can't stand the dirty streets,
Don't litter them yourself,
And pick up that littered paper by your side,
Do the things you want to see,
Stop the hypocrisy.

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

Memoire fatale.

Memoire fatale.

Memories of our time in the woods,
Knight me with a thousand knighthoods,
Memories which hallow an otherwise common place,
Where you resurrected the dying sun with the smile on your face,
When we watched the doe and the buck,
Grazing daintily with the grace of swimming duck,
Deer romance which made ours pale to nothing,
Oh that magical moment I will trade for nothing,
Memories of you in my arms,
Memories which turn against me with arms,
Which nourish a killing desire,
Light an all consuming fire,
Desire for one more time,
This time we'll celebrate with the finest wine.

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

Wild Beauty!

Wild beauty!

Oh my goodness,
She is beautiful,
Modestly clad in skins and beads,
Expression of a wild kind of beauty,
Without the encumbrance,
Of the make up hand of (wo)man,
Soaring and towering,
Unfurling and unfolding full expression,
Conjuring images of that oasis of beauty,
In the heart of the vast natural forests,
Flowering trees and greenery,
Wild orchids and flowers of every hue,
Wild bushes of roses,
Planted and nursed,
By nature's very hands,
Enabled by the Almighty God.

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

Father

Father.

Fatherhood does not end with the donation of sperm,
It is in fact the beginning of a father's term,
Head of the family,
Live the good father's homily,
If you've been an absentee father,
Know it hurts when you're farther,
Work and the past is not an excuse,
You can't be recluse,
If your father was terrible,
Strive to become adorable,
Children don't just want your money,
Even with that childhood can be horny,
The family needs your time,
A complete family clime,
A father's best gift to a child,
Is time spent grooming the child,
If you have been a bad father,
Choose to be a better father,
Be the role model,
Or the world will provide any model,
I thank every father,
Especially my own father,
Happy father's day.

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

The best criticism - the best revolt.

The best criticism - the best revolt.

The best revolt,
With a healthy dose of electric volt,
Requires better than a colt,
The best criticism,
Requires better than an eye trained to see the flawed ism,
It is concrete action,
Might require interaction,
Actions taken to change a broken status quo....


© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

Present.

Present.

God's best present to humanity,
Is the present of His presence,
Through the vicissitudes of life,
That present is in the present,
Receive it,
It is now,
Material gifts can be gross,
Gold as good as dross,
All I need is you Lord...


© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

The blessing

The blessing...

There is not a better blessing,
Like the blessing,
Of being a blessing,
There is a not a better place to be in,
Than in the position,
Where blessing is your name.

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

Blind mother.

Blind mother.

I salute the blind mother,
The mother who sees so profoundly she is blind,
The one who has seen enough to be blind,
To be blind to the tribal origins of a child,
To the circumstances of their birth,
To the color of their eyes,
To the color of their skin,
To the name of their country,
This mother's day,
I salute the woman who only sees a child,
And every child summons the mother in her.


© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

Jayne and Fru...

I wrote this for bosom friends of mine within an hour of learning that they were engaged and planned to get married! They are now married and I am fondly thinking about both of them today... I have been privileged to watch their love story unfurl like a fern... may the full essence of marriage become a magical reality in their married life... in putting this up, I salute you - Jayne and Fru...


Jayne and Fru!

Shakespeare must bite his finger in his grave,
Wishfully thinking he could satisfy his crave,
To write the love story I see nature tell,
One which nothing has been able to quell,

I saw it when it was just a fragile bud,
I saw love bloom from friendship's bud,
Love which weathered the storms of adversity,
One determined to ridicule the tempter's atrocity,

Love which will cling on anything to revive,
Do everything necessary to survive,
Ride the waves of the pangs of separation,
Hitch a hike on the back of trust,

Sail in the ship of hopeful anticipation,
Against tides of assailing seas of loneliness,
Love which has endured pain,
Made some tough choices,

Love which has embraced hurtful sacrifices,
Refused to give up,
Denied to break up,
Vowed to make up,

Love which has survived temptation,
Healed from the fatal stabs of betrayal,
Neutralized the poison of jealousy,
Doing whatever it takes to go on,

Every time with bigger vitality,
Suffocating a benevolent neutrality,
Investing in another,
Until one becomes the other,

Without losing individuality,
Giving each other room to grow,
To grow for the other,
Letting the wings of adventure grow wider,

And now the two shall become one,
So today as I continue to learn from love,
May you two love one another to the death,
Fru and Jayne...

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

Nature's tantrum fit.

Nature's tantrum fit.

Can you see nature?
Can you see it continually throwing tantrum fits?
Can you see how nature quakes,
And shakes the earth in violent indignation?
Can you see the cyclones and tornadoes and tsunamis,
Run across the earth at break neck speed,
Ripping and leaving a massive destruction in its wake?
Can you see, Can you see, Can you see?
Vast skies shower the earth in copious diarrhea,
Flood the lands and drown the tallest man,
Yet a famine rocks parts and pockets of the same earth,
As parched and thirsty grounds die to quench their thirst,
Dormant volcanoes erupt in apparent protest,
Spewing and puking enough to paralyze the skies,
Unpleasant surprises cook up in the bowels of the earth,
Question for you nature!
What do you protest?
What is it which angers you so?
Are you just a pawn in God's divine hands,
Fulfilling the inescapable Biblical prophecies?
Are these birth pangs for something greater yet to come?
Where have we gone so wrong?
Humanity is helpless and hapless,
In the enormity of your strength.

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

I marvel.

I Marvel.

Winter's barely gone away,
I marvel this morning as I watch blades of grass,
Still wet from the bath of morning dew,
Shining in the morning sun,
Oh they bore the brunt of winter days,
More than man will ever know,
Carrying feets of snow,
Yet,
They refuse to cling to that painful past,
And grow at the slightest chance...
I want to be like those blades of grass...
Help me God :-)

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

Trigger of vengeance

Vengeance is a cold meal,
Never been known to seal a deal,
When you pull this gun's trigger,
You make every problem bigger,
Vengeance lacks ability to troubleshoot,
It has great potential to kill every thing's shoot,
It is an act of imprisonment,
The birth process of a disillusionment,
That it can make you satisfied,
When all it does is make you dissatisfied,
Forgiveness is the antidote,
And one of freedom's many notes.

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

True peace!

True peace!


True peace is not the absence of storms,
It only exists in contrast with the truest raging storm,
It is the still,
It is the quiet,
It is the sang froid,
The assurance that somehow the next moment redeems itself,
That the almighty is in total control,
In the eye of the angry storm...

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

Wasted hours

Wasted hours !

All the time I cry,
When I should try,
All the words I say,
When I should pray,
All the time I am embarrassingly ridiculous,
When I should be meticulous,
All the time I spend misjudging,
When I'll be better off not judging,
All the time I spend unbelieving,
When I will be better off believing,
All the time spent courting foes,
When we should be close,
All the time I criticize to demonize,
When I should empathize,
All the hours spent hating,
When we should be loving,
Wasted hours.

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

Fall of a great man!

Fall of a great man!

Many a great man have met their fall,
Not at the barrel of the gun,
Neither by the edge of a sword,
Nor by a friend's tongue of betrayal,
But by the flames of lustful passion,
Stoked by rabid fleshy desire,
For the fire of sinful pleasure,
That listening ear to the skin’s pleasure plea,
That second look,
The one too many glance,
At the wrong place,
Those secret meetings,
Under the guise of too much work,
It is on that wave of satisfaction,
In an illegitimate passionate frenzy,
That many a great man have ridden to their fall,
The cremation of life bodies,
By the nibbling flames of lustful desire,
So Beware!!!

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

Don't clench the fist...

Don't clench the fist!

Don't clench the fist,
It is not a physical war,
It is mental,
It is spiritual,
Don't clench the fist,
You wouldn't be able to hold a hand,
Open the hand,
So that a blessing might be received,
When received stop clinging to the things,
Let them pass through you,
Let the blessing flow,
Be blessed but bless another too,
Otherwise clinging to things,
You wouldn't be able to shake a hand,
You wouldn't be able to give a hug,
You wouldn't be able to receive one,
You wouldn't be able to carry your baby,
Don't clench a fist,
But if you must,
Make it mental,
Make it spiritual,
Let your target not be man,
Make it evil and every negative ism.

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

What Colour/What race????

What Colour/What race????

Strip the multicolored skin,
For evidence of closer kin,
The color of the blood,
Gushing in a flood,
When a black man bleeds,
Because a white man leads,
Or the other way round,
We need to come around,

Take away the scalp on the skull,
Just a brain beneath the skull,
Neither white nor black,
Like all the organs beneath the belly sack,
The color of the bones,
Unlike the different kinds of stones,
Is the same across race,
We are all tied by a human lace,

Tighter than we will ever know,
A better/clearer sight will show,
That beneath the color of the skin,
We are a closer kin,
All wanting the same basic needs,
Driven by the same Divine creeds,
So we have to show a better love,
Confront division in the human clove,

Love transcends all high walls,
Reaching to all noble calls,
Smile and care are eloquent in every language,
Can be a good race gauge,
So let us mock our divisions with healing,
Celebrate our differences without killing,
Look beyond the the skin of every human,
And just see a man/woman,

For...
What is the color of care?
What is the race of love?
What is the tribe of a smile?
What is the village of compassion?
What is the dialect of a hug?
What is the mother tongue of a kiss?
What is the color of sex?
Answer please, answer, answer, answer!

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

Child Labour

Child Labour.


Not writing about a pregnant woman’s child labour,
But about child labour,
About child prostitution,
And child destitution,
About children in the army,
When they should be with their mommy,
About children in factories,
And children in industries,
Who work hardest,
Their jobs the crudest,
Their pay minimal,
Their treatment animal,
About children hawking,
And children working,
When they should be in school,
Studying to make their future cool,
This is what we, God and nature are against,
This is what we need arms against,
Not guns and bombs,
To multiply the tombs,
We need love and peace,
To regain every valuable piece,
To negotiate a bright future,
Which follows the laws of nature,
To avoid to get the future complicated,
We need to get our children educated.

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

Opportunity!

Opportunity!

When the stormy winds gather,
They carry the seeds of opportunity,
Chase not your seed away,
Put up the sail,
Catch the wind,
Hands on the oars,
Use adversity to steer your rocking boat,
On the backbone of prayer,
To your destiny,
You only see the small picture,
There is a grander plan,
There is a bigger story,
More beautiful that you'll ever know,
But it is written with the ink of adversity,
On a vast sky of impossibility,
Hinging on countless possibility,
It is defined by risky periphery,
Only safe in the Hands of the Almighty.

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary.

Weeping World!

Weeping world!

Can you hear the world's rueful cries,
As the human conscience fries,
In the fiery furnace of extreme compromise,
Fanned by the flames of extreme lack of compromise,

Shedding tears of war,
Flowing thoughts from an inhuman core,
Fountain of blood from battle,
From unborn children slaughtered like cattle,

Can you hear the thunderous protest of lightening,
Caterwauls which court an enlightening,
Can you hear the quakes,
Protest for the hungry in need of flakes,

What about those who live in abuse,
Abusers in dire need to be disabused,
What about those who mask their fears,
And only their pillows in the mask of night know their tears,

What about the causing of pain,
Which always comes around with more pain/no gain,
What about the suffocation of hope,
Stifling a people's ability to cope,

The world weeps,
So much it causes floods,
The world weeps,
In so much agony the tears are blood.

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

Compassion!

Compassion!

When we see ourselves,
In the weaknesses of fellow man,
We unlock a floodgate of compassion,
Which aids our passion to reach out.

Many times the things we condemn,
Are the things we do,
So when we judge another,
We judge ourselves.

Arrrh but that core human instinct,
To be better than another,
Can be a dark cloud to common sense and reason,
Seek to be better than former self,
That can be as former as one second ago.

In order to feel like a saint,
We are quick to demonize,
It is alright to firmly but lovingly say its wrong,
Tough love if you will,
But neither judge nor condemn,
That's God's prerogative,
Only He knows enough to Judge.


© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

Nothing like the love of a mother!

Nothing like the love of a mother!

For nine months they carry an extra load,
To work, to the toilet, to bed,
With all the sickness it comes with,
Never complaining, only enduring,
Focused on the glee of that day,
When the life God incubates in them,
Transitions to earth,

Then with a very excruciating birth pang,
And all the strength and grace God can give,
They push in birth the life they nursed in them,
May even cry in the process,
Before the baby cries,
In that first drink of earthly air,
As evidence of new life,

Yet after birth motherhood has still only begun,
It is more the raising and upbringing than the birth,
More tiring days and sleepless nights set in,
Painful adjustments to accomodate this new call,
A woman's noblest call,
A call to rock the cradle,
And as she rocks the cradle she rocks the world,
The mothers shape the future of the world,

With every life in them they love,
They nourish and care, fiercely protect,
They nurse and hang in there,
Through the bitterest storms,
They stay in there to savor,
And share our best accomplishments,
Yes, there is nothing, nothing in the whole wide world,
Like the love of a good mother,
She may not have a biological child of her own,
Yet a mother to one and all,

That is why even in the evening of my life,
At a ripe old age,
I will still be mama's baby,
I celebrate you mom,
And if you know a mama like mine,
Pomp a fist of celebration in the air,
Find the time, make the time,
Tell and show mom you appreciate her love,

You rock mom, you rock,
You are better and stronger than a rock,
Yet soft like a drifting fog,
There is nothing like a good mother's love.

© 2010 Afeseh ngwa hilary.

Mount Letch!

Mount Letch

Who is this poor girl,
Acting surrogate on the altar of deceit,
On the summit of mount Letch,
Getting laid in someone's stead,
A vicarious love making,
Through the body of another.

How many options does a man have,
When the love of his life,
Is thousands of miles across the oceans,
In a far and distant land... ?
Million dollar question which begs an answer,
To do or not to do?
He yielded to the weaker part of him,
He chose to be a letch :(
How sad,
How very sad!

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary.

What if!

What if!

What if there was a camera on you,
Wired to earth,
Projected on the giant screen of the bright skies of the world,
Live images of all your activities and thoughts,
Would you still do them?,
Would you still think them?,
If not, then don't do it!

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

Greed!

Greed!

Arrrh greed,
Macadam to the place of ultimate destruction,
With an allure of satisfaction,
As fake as the wig on a bald head!

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

Mighty wave...

Mighty Wave...

A mighty wave of the emptiest vanity,
Sweeps across the world,
Unless you stand firm,
It will sweep you off your feet,
Help me God...

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

Fueling the medicant cycle

hellooo,

I also blog every once in a while with a group of young people. I recently wrote an article for that blog and you can see it at

http://www.worldopinionjournal.blogspot.com/2010/02/fueling-mendicant-cycle.html

I will be glad to learn from your own thoughts... thanks for stopping by... come again...

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary.

The storm is raging!

The storm is raging

Beyond taming and beyond reach, the storm is soaring;

With nature’s loudest voice , the storm is roaring;

Caught in one of nature’s cruelest mimes;

Almost losing my mind;

As life teaches its best lesson yet;

In the process transforming a mindset;

A lesson of beauty and of pain;

A lesson about the price of gain;

That the thorns take away nothing from the beauty of a rose;

The rise from a planted naked stalk to beautiful, enchanting, charming rose;

That some of the most astounding petals of beauty sit on stalks of thorns ;

And every natural rose bush comes with thorns;

That those who refuse to brave the thorns;

May settle for petals of the flowers of corn;

That redemption's greatest possibility ;

Lies in the eye of the greatest storms;

That even the finest eye of faith;

Cannot see beyond the storm;

But it can trust, trust, trust;

An all loving, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God;

Beyond the raging storm and more.

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

Grim diagnosis

Grim diagnosis

She could have been anyone,
Nothing had prepared her for what she was to hear,
As the doctor uttered that one word,
CANCER,
She wished she was suffering from auditory hallucinations,
For a brief moment she lived in a world of denial,
The world seemed to have come to a still,
She panicked,
Flooded with an unexplainable cocktail of emotions,
Channeled in a river of tears,
Gushing from the fountain head,
Of a ready producing gland of tears,
Then she quickly pulled herself together,
For after the diagnosis,
Comes the prognosis,
This needed her full attention,
Some decisions had to be made,
Combination therapy,
A knife on her,
Some poison in her veins,
Some poison from the rays,
You would know from her hair!
She'd seen some win the battle before,
With exercise and diet and deeply abiding faith,
She will not lose without fight,
Help her God,
Combat,
All,
New,
Cells,
Escaping,
Rules of proper living.

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

Valentine's day!

Valentine's day!

I embrace you as a reminder,
Reminder of what everyday should be,
A ceaseless expression of love,
I despise you as a single one day,
When we show our love,
If you choose today,
To make everyday Valentine's day,
Happy Valentine's day.

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

How!

How?

How can we win if we do not fight,
How can we triumph if we run away from the challenge,
How can a breakthrough come when in the face of the impossible,
We redirect our path to the previously done possible,
How can we be original when a taxing and daunting creativity is left to die ,
And all we seek to do is imitate,
How can there be a mountaintop without a valley,
How can there be a high without a low,
How can there be sweet without bitter,
How can there be joy without sadness,
Bad makes good possible,
Failure makes success possible,
Every negative makes the positive possible,
Fear not,
Fear only makes courage possible,
Don't embrace fear,
Don't dismiss it,
Supplant it with bold action.

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

Down payment with precious 27 years of a Life - Mandela... lessons for my African generation!

Down payment with precious 27 years of a Life - Mandela... lessons for my African generation!

Never before in history has the world paused in a moment packed with a flurry of a medley of emotions to focus all attention to the thresholds of a prison gate. Though many a young person may have scant memories of that time,as a little boy of 11 then, I have the relevance of the events of that momentous moment etched on my mind, just as surely and indelibly as they are on the pages of history. Coming from a continent where it wouldn't be so wrong to say it is largely ruled by a cabal of bandits who are driving the continent with an engine of greed to the edge of a fatally steep precipice; 11th February which this year commemorates 20 years of Nelson Mandela's release from prison, fans flames of a healthy pride in me for a sterling statesman like Mandela. Mandela belongs to a crop and league of statesmen who only come to a generation every once in a while. He is among the few which Robert F Kennedy talked about when he said "Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation. It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped." As he walked through the doors of his cell, he brought away with him a freedom which to a large extent liberated both the oppressed and oppressor in the despicable apartheid South Africa. A political genius, a charming negotiator, an endurant hard worker who despised and mocked the low road of unforgiveness and rose to the majestic heights of forgiving and finding partners in his jailers. I salute Mandela and all his compatriots in the struggle, dead and alive... Even as I salute him, I cannot help but wonder how he could not bring his charm, ability to forgive and genius to bear in salving his ailing marriage to Winnie Mandela who in no small way stood by him and made significant contribution to the struggle... Could a marriage be more difficult to fix than an apartheid south africa? that is a question for another time and day. As I salute the legacy of Mandela I think of lessons my generation and I can draw from his journey.

While Mandela made the down payment with probably the most precious 27 years of his life, there must have been some who shamelessly watched from the sidelines of passivity as the apartheid drama unfolded to the finale which saw the beginning of their emancipation, yet savored the prize of the price payed with precious lives... as many toiled for change at home, there must have also been some who gave the struggle an invaluably important voice from exile... So as young people whether at home or abroad I hear a call today for us to become a little more selfLESS and give a little of our brains and time by thinking constructive, bold, actionable ideas directed towards the self healing of africa, a request I believe any and every young person can meet...

Mandela could well have easily traded his jail time for a life of ease abroad...If you read the Anatomy of a miracle: The end of apartheid and the birth of the new South Africa by Patti Waldmeir you will see that Mandela had a plethora of choices and if you read South African History well you will also notice many many many blacks ran away from the country. In fact Mandela had more choices than we have today as a people of Africa yet he walked the hard road. See the except from Wikipedia to slightly buttress my point... "In February 1985 President P.W. Botha offered Mandela conditional release in return for renouncing armed struggle.[54] Coetzee and other ministers had advised Botha against this, saying that Mandela would never commit his organisation to giving up the armed struggle in exchange for personal freedom.[55] Mandela indeed spurned the offer, releasing a statement via his daughter Zindzi saying "What freedom am I being offered while the organisation of the people remains banned? Only free men can negotiate. A prisoner cannot enter into contracts."[53]" - Wikipedia

It would of course be naively akin to wanting to live forever to expect to find a path which leads to the mountain top which was obstacle free. When a people are bent on developing, if they don't find the path they will make one, and both involve an indefatigable hard work... When Mandela dreamed many years ago it would have been easy to say he was living and dreaming in sky-scapers of the future which he could not afford... it was not a passive inactive dreaming even against the barrage of pessimism from within and without which probably came his way... it was an active waiting which never lost hope and which was never idle even from a jail cell. We will only become noble and develop by the things we do... one thing however which the way forward cannot tolerate is any excuse for not giving or for not participating... inaction is always the easier road and great men and women never walk that path...Africans have walked down that path long enough and we have the results to show - needless to name them here but we can begin to say, not any more... inactivity will always seek to stand in the way of action, we can not let it, not any more... As a bright future beckons our generation to put our act together and step up, steering away from the mistakes of our forbears, history is watching and will judge us... No action is small, none is dumb, all is important... we can belong together and whether we realize now or not, we can rise together... the ball is in our court, the choice is ours...

It cannot be easy... It takes time and I am painfully aware of our impatience as a young people. We cannot be in the process of building an airplane and flying it at the same time, so it will be important to go back to the drawing boards. We cannot expect results before the work is done... We cannot expect a harvest before the planting season has come... The failures of yesterday cannot stop us from succeeding today unless we choose to... If there is any hope for Africa, we must stubbornly press on and we must, together with like passion driven minds, from within or without Africa either find the path forward, create one or die trying, God being our helper... We will like to see results in our lifetime but lack of results in our lifetime and potential for change only in another must not stop us from acting today in anyway we can... I am convinced in the power of ideas, I have seen their magic, their charm enthralls and the right, bold, actionable, root cause removal oriented ideas to real problems will always attract their funding in the long run... I believe, I am a believer in the things unseen, that is where tomorrow's reality is... those who wait to have enough to give never really give... Today let us begin to drive the last nail on the coffin of selfishness and burn it so that like a phoenix selflessness might rise from the ashes in stead.

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary.

One heartbeat away!

One heartbeat away.

When your success has gone astray,
And every step seems to take it further away,
And that thing you have been waiting for donkey years,
That special person who can share in your joys and tears,
Now seems to be only a pipe dream,
And your progress wagon refuses to gather steam,
And there is but a dying flame to help you grope in the dark,
With the grim realities very stark,
When your God seems so far in a distant land,
And a following wind blows away your footprints in the sand,
Tap from that indomitable spirit in the heart of every man,
Let the sun of hope kiss your skin for a healthy tan,
For like death, it might only be one heartbeat afar,
Every heartbeat might take you closer to being that dream star,
One heartbeat, one heartbeat, one heartbeart so far.

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

Deterrent for bad behavior!

Deterrent for bad behavior.

Don't just give me a sermon about hell,
Like you were born and raised in it,
Don't just give me a deterrent for bad behaviour,
Give me an incentive for good behaviour,
Tell me about heaven,
How it is the surest haven.

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

Why I write!

I have given the reason why I write deep thought many times and it is a role which I take very seriously... as I a poet/writer I don't believe in writing for writing's sake...while I believe style is the garb of thought, I also believe that the words which are the wheels of the same must be deeply substantive and seek to highlight/dramatize and bring attention to an important issue which is receiving not enough attention or a deaf ear, to encourage, to give hope, to offer guided counsel, to identify with fellow man, to whip our common conscience and give life to our collective humanity, to share an experience, to unlock some positive energy in the reader as I try to take them on a mental journey with me about our common reality etc... tough call so I can only count on God... I think poets/writers should be impossible to bribe hehe haha :-)...

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

To those we love the most.

To those we love the most.



To those we love the most,

We give them the power to hurt us the most,

Love was never wrong,

It has never been wrong to love,

Even as intensely as you have loved Lindsey,

In spite of and despite what you got in return,

Yes love might hurt,

And very much so,

But love was never wrong,

Sometimes it is only in hindsight,

That we are wise enough to make it right,

But the tragedy or commedy if you like,

Is usually that by the time we can make it right,

The chance is gone and lost,

With every life in me,

I believe that He(God) still makes all things beautiful,

Beautiful in its time,

She might be part of some of your most cherished memories,

But now that she chose to walk away the way she did,

Even as you continue to cherish her memories,

An undue focus on them might bring you to the unfortunate place,

Where you fail to see,

And reach out to that sweeter song,

Which is always there waiting to be claimed,

By those who refuse to wallow in the regrets of the past,

And cling to the comfort of the moment,

I can imagine how you feel,

Pray for her always and wish her well,

Give instructions for your letters to be sacredly kept,

They sure will give us a window to a love which never died,

One whose undying embers will still be fanned to a fiery flame,

Any day , any time by the harmattan winds of mere sight,

Tomorrow I can bet my life you will realise,

That you were spared life long worry and sorrow,

Not being a life long partner to the woman you have loved so much.

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

Communication!

When there is no communication,
There is no understanding,
When you do not communicate,
You do not relate,
When you do not relate,
Relationship is stifled,
Relationships are the life wires of community,
Stifled relationships make up fractured communities,
Find time to communicate,
Tough call in a busy world,
Right call in a busy world,
Right relationships keep you grounded and sane,
Easy to drown relating to materialism and fame,
Relating to the validation of the world,
What we really need is one another,
Come on make time for one another.

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

Shame of my game!

Shame of my game!

Now that you caught me in my own game,
I accept I have brought you shame,
Really the shame is mine,
I pray this will be the last time,
I took you for granted,
Now my reward is granted,
Nothing said or done can change the past,
I want to make sure the pain in your heart doesn't last,
I refuse to believe things will never be the same,
I know the best excuse is very lame,
You married a man with imperfections,
Even as he makes genuine efforts towards perfections,
I might look all sleek, strong and invincible,
But beneath that veil lies the vincible,
I am not a mistake,
But I make mistakes,
Don't throw the baby with the bath water,
This is not the time to scatter,
It is a moment to gather,
Gather the very best of you,
Help me with your strengths,
I'll help you with mine,
We can help each other,
Become that better person we want to see,
Lets commit to do whatever it takes,
In stead of mar let us choose to make,
Exercise patience as we sharpen a conscience,
Change doesn't happen by wave of a magic wand!

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr.

I salute your memory kind sir,
A far from perfect man,
Who taught us that even with our imperfections,
We can successfully rally against humanity's greatest foes,
You taught us that might is not to suppress and repress the weak,
But to protect and uplift them,
You taught us that our gifts and talents are not to impress the world,
But to serve a fellow man,
You despised your tender age,
Trusting God to make up for the lack in your scanty years,
You rode Christian living on the wheels of reality,
You resisted the strong and almost justifiable urge to violence,
With a ceaseless strong surge of peace,
You fought your wars with arrows of poetry,
Shot from a bow of an indefatigable unquenchable love,
You refused to let doubts have the better of you,
You suffocated cowardice,
Cowardice which makes a man cow in the face of mindless intimidation,
Even death threats could not deter,
You endured the pain and humiliation of jail cells,
You hoped even when no changing circumstance pointed to hope,
Time after time you rose to the majestic heights of unyielding faith,
Stubborn determination to succeed,
Success meant the aim, method and end had to be right,
For peace and justice you paid the ultimate price,
The laying of a life on the altar of sacrifice,
A selflessness which partially paid for the prize my generation has received,
Even though we receive it in unfinished installments,
One which makes it possible for every child,
Regardless of the color of their skin,
To rise to the summit of their fullest potential,
The wagon of racial equality and common humanity is yet to finish its journey,
But it has come a long way,
You can make your smile a little broader in your grave,
The work is on...

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

A thought is born.

A thought is born.

Conceived in the mind,
Nurtured by the careful,
Yet careless hand of time,
An almost timeless gestation,
Long hours of labour,
In the maternity of the mind,
Delivered by the dexterous midwifery,
Of quiet meditation,
Born ready to run,
Fugitive creature,
Failure to catch at birth,
Could mean permanent loss,
Of a precious child of thought.

© 2010 afeseh ngwa hilary

Special...

Special!

Let everyday and every moment be special,
Every day, every moment might be the last,
So get the special sheets out,
That special china,
Light those special candles,
Make that special meal,
Have that special chat,
Write that special poem,
Read that special book,
Make that special call,
Pray that special prayer,
Do the special things now,
If you wait for tomorrow for the date,
The next moment might be too late.

© 2010 Afeseh Ngwa Hilary