Patriarch

I had never met him,

He stepped into the metro,

Wearing an aged glorious crown of white,

His infectious smile lit the coach,

That sun from his face shone at me,

Unconsciously my tired face muscles loosened,

From my heart I looked at and greeted him with a smile,

He settled to sit,

Then hesitated and staggered to a sit by me,

Shook my hand with a father’s assuring hand,

And was just as happy to share,

As I was happy to learn,

Without warning nuggets of wisdom dripped from his lips,

Like honey from the honeycomb of experiences to many to count,

I sat by him, transformed into one big ear,

Soaking in all he could share in the short ride,

Hating that I reached my stop so soon,

The joys of riding back from work,

With the man on the clapham omnibus,

Real people in touch with real life,

One of us,

But a patriarch of our humanity.

Afesehngwahilary, © 2012

Be yourself

Be yourself.

In a world where perception is everything,

The image you portray who you are thought to be,

Choking and caving,

Under the burden of being what society’s defining us to be,

Ushering in the mighty great tragedy,

That many go through this world,

Living a life foreign and alien to who they really are,

And may never be known for who they are,

Even by themselves,

Against all odds and by all means,

Be yourself,

Let somebody teach you,

And pour the best of them in you,

In the process,

Giving yourself permission to do the same,

But be yourself,

For the best you can give the world,

Is the very best of you,

Remember that whoever you are,

Even that person you are trying to be,

Even that image you’re so desperately trying to project,

No matter who you are,

Every once in a while,

And maybe ever so often,

On these sometimes perilously agonizing corridors of life,

You’ll still meet betrayal from those considered friend and foe,

Open rejection or silence pregnant with spiteful disgust,

Entertain an unwelcomed   encounter with pain and heartache,

A broken heart,

Even in the midst of the possibilities of countless pleasures of life,

Small and big,

Remember above all,

That the delusive fog of inevitability,

Is spawned by the poisonous seed of pride,

And no matter who you are,

No matter what you do,

No matter how cavalier and noble,

Wretched and despicably wicked,

Though obligated to do right by man,

Even when that breath of life is gone,

As Robert Frost so impeccably captured,

In three words which ring with truth,

Truth of unfathomable depths and breadth and height,

When he said to sum up everything he’s learned about life,

“It goes on”,

Inevitably,

Unavoidably with or without you,

But while you are here,

Humanity can be better because you lived,

Do the world a favor,

Be yourself,

Boldly, courageously, unapologetically.


afesehngwahilary, may 2012

When mere friendship says bye

hello, Have you ever struggled with falling in love with a friend, and despite the fact that it felt so right, it wrestled with a dislocated societal mores that one of love's deeper calls automatically violates friendship? I wrote this for you, not to share a lesson even though there might be one to learn, just to express a struggle which in my experience only stubborn prayer settles. You might identify.

When mere friendship says bye.

When shall we shake off the pretense,
Can't you see this is getting intense?
When will you see that as time passes by,
Mere friendship's said its byes,
We hang onto a mere friendship which is no longer here,
If you were more keen you would hear,
That something better than friendship calls,
It echoes in our many calls,
How much longer shall we hide behind this mask,
This friendship mask,
Friendship's morphed into its better self,
Mere friendship belongs to the archive shelf,
Though this is so surreal,
It is time to get real,
I love you so much,
The best attempt at describing,
Diminishes it.

afesehngwahilary.