Saturday, February 28, 2015

Because I've known you!


I'll be remiss,
If I were to miss
To let you know,
As we continue to grow,
That beyond compare,
I am thankful for all your care,
And for all I've learned,
For all I've earned,

The smiles you bring,
To hope you help me cling,

Thankful for everything we've shared,
For everything I've dared,
All because I've known you,

You my boo,
And I owe you an incalculable debt of gratitude,

For giving my dwarfed stature better altitude,
Thank you.

Brussels © February 2015 afesehngwaHilary

Friday, February 27, 2015

When physical beauty fades!


When the glamour of physical beauty,
Under the weight of nature's ageing duty,
Wilts as surely as the most beautiful flower,
Unwelcome visit from wrinkle's power,
Beneath the walls of beauty's tower,
When trusted youth has cowered,
Youthful vigor and vitality clobbered by passing time,
What shall be left?
What character?
Beyond the chamber of voluptuousness,
What substance is there?

So if you married somebody just for physical beauty,
You'd be a widow(er) once the same has faded,
Even though they're still alive and life quickly becomes jaded,
Wisdom also seeks the beauty within,
Beauty not always so evident to the casual eye,
Beauty so deep seated that time and age cannot reach,
And nourished it grows from bloom and bloom,
Blossoming to an eternal climax,
When dust returns to dust,
And it is liberated into the eternal company of the creator,
From whom all the true never fading flare and beauty come.

Brussels © February 2015 afesehngwaHilary

Thursday, February 26, 2015

A visit from the heavens!


The skies are little darker tonight,
In fact this has been true for two nights,
One of its stars is here on the earth,

Heavenly stars know a dearth,
I look to the east,
Before I know my eyes feast,
In unspeakable delight,

As I am helplessly drawn to The light,

Dazzling the eastern lawn of the beautiful garden,
You are so beautiful,
If the lilies and the roses,
And all the prettiest flowers in the world,
Could feel jealousy and envy,
They will instantly wilt on their stalks,
From the poison of a surfeit of the two,

As an envious jealousy becomes their suicidal pill,

Yonder years,
It was a brief encounter,
Just a few years on the counter,
Just when you were about to fully bloom,
You left leaving an unshakable spell of earthly gloom,
Back to the heavens,
Back to the heavens.

Brussels © February 2015 afesehngwaHilary

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Sometimes we have to say goodbye!


Inasmuch as I hate to sometimes we have to say goodbye,
I wish I could conjure what it takes to have a good buy,
Forever buy the time till now from the first moment my eyes discovered you,
Bring it with me as I negotiate the next bend of life's treacherous paths apart from you,

Even though I am now acutely aware that wishes alone fall miserably short,
I hope I can at least convince you to come with me to the airport,
This one stings me with the intensity of a thousand angry hornets and bees,
After now I am left bereft of a critical part of me despite many desperate pleas.


Brussels © February 2015 afesehngwaHilary

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Magic to tragic!

It felt so right,
Nothing prepared her for the brutally prolonged night,
Pure magic,
On its way to the painfully tragic,
The irresistibly inviting cruise,
Left her with such a terrible bruise,

Magic can be fleeting,
Leave you unconsciously tweeting,
Then leave you feeling so fake,
Consumed like a birthday cake,

Confused in the wake,
Of the magical deceptive blindness,
Teaching at a heavy price that purely magic is not sustainable for very long,
Let your magic be grounded in some reality,
Even though any reality robs pure magic of what it intrinsically is,
There is not another way to make it sustainable.

Brussels © February 2015 afesehngwaHilary


Monday, February 23, 2015

The Movie!



They went to the movies,
He held her hand,
She asked him why,
He said ‘you are too smart so please don’t ask me why’,
It was an interestingly mysterious movie,
You’ll find out why,
 
There was a guy,
Who was sent for work,
To a far and distant land,
There he met a beautiful young girl,
Whom he secretly christened sweetness,
 
At first there was nothing,
Then as they worked together,
And the masks were dropped,
As they saw each other’s heart,
They fell in love,
 
They denied it and frantically fought it back,
But it was an overpowering thing so they gave it up,
Many weekends they endured a painful urge to call,
And for some foolish reasons shove it aside,
Even though many times they found many excuses to hear each other’s voice,
 
Though it felt so right it didn’t seem so right,
Society’s taboo, colleagues shouldn’t be in love,
And all the erected tribal barriers standing in vain in the face of love,
They both were smart so it didn’t affect their work,
In fact it made work better,
 
They fought a lot but it brought them close,
It was complicated,
She had a boyfriend,
He asked her to pray for them but she only did for him,
 
Along the way he left and almost never came back,
But in the end he did and for other salient reasons threatened to leave again,
During that time they stayed in touched,
Tortured by the possibility of never seeing again,
It was tough but in the end because of her and work,
He chose to stay,
 
The end was near,
His assignment was over and it was insanely tense,
The fights multiplied,
Over the silliest things,
He told her bye,
In a sequence of heartfelt notes over the last few weeks,
He tried in vain to convince her,
To elope or move or visit at least,
 
She was young, mischievous,
Sometimes naïve,
Sometimes bold,
Sometimes crazy, mostly fun,
She had a curfew and mostly nestled at her mother’s breast,
 
What he thought was possible,
She thought impossible,
Paralyzed by fear of the unknown,
She was not ready to take the leap from impossible,
To the magical possible,
 
They shared a lot,
A lot of magic,
In simple moments,
Like Silence which spoke a thousand things in the quiet holding of hands,
Magic of shared, heartfelt, laughs and smiles,
The admirable look in each other’s eyes,
Until one person shied away,
Lunch in the restaurants, in the car, on the lawns, on the beach, everywhere...
Rides to and from and through work,
Rides to the cinema,
 
On his last day she came to visit,
They worked a little and cried and hugged and looked each other in the eye,
They stood together from the balcony and looked over the beautiful garden to the peaceful ocean waters,
The setting sun cast its beauty from above like a tattoo on the earth as the distant land kissed the skies in the horizon,
They resisted the urging temptation to kiss,
Then on their way out took a ‘selfie’(self taken pic of two - a we fie ) in the elevator,
And wished that time will stand still and that moment will never pass away,
With the magic of that moment frozen and embalmed and protected from all adulteration... 
And then came the dreaded moment when they hugged a final painful goodbye,
 
Unknowingly, those two went to the theater to watch a movie of themselves,
One still unfolding to an uncertain end,
In the theatre of life,
For one of the most beautifully attractive things about the future is that it is mysterious,
And no one can tell it for sure…
 
He told her in a voice which quaked as he choked back tears, cursing that day for coming too soon:

"To see a new world,
We’ve got to try and reach out to it…
So let us go see a new world…" 

"You know I can't" she said, bawling her eyes out as she cried a river of tears.

The End…

“A suivre… To be continued…”
 
Brussels © February 2015 afesehngwaHilary

Sunday, February 22, 2015

The deafening sound of silence!


Silence,
Can become an oppressing violence,
Fascinating word,
In a fascinating world,
Silence can speak clarity the loudest,
Confusingly it can also speak the cloudiest,

It can be a helpful mask,
When knowledge is called to task,
Hiding the ignorance,
Shielding the arrogance,

It can be a knife,
It can save a life,
It can fuel injustice,
Sanction every prejudice,

It can mean there is no voice,
There is no noise,
It could also mean we cannot hear,
Even though it is so near,
And the voice so clear,

In the same vein God's silence,
Is when we are so caught up in self and violence,
That His voice is drowned,
Where self is crowned.


Brussels © February 2015 afesehngwaHilary

Friday, February 20, 2015

Royal Blues


The way you jived in to the melodious sound of the country blues,
Dazzling from the crown of your head to the sole of your feet in blues,
The donned hat crowned you in royal airs with a royal shade of blue,
Looked like you were born in that party dress channeling the fullest glory of your outward beauty in appealing shades of blue,
Those sandals looked happy to have your feet grace them completing the beautiful ensemble of royal blue,
Like the clear blue skies of the brightest summer days you left the room enchanted in weekend blues,
Daintily cat walking with a gracious beauty better than that of the pretty butterfly on the window pane clad in different hues of blues.

Brussels © February 2015 afesehngwaHilary

Thursday, February 19, 2015

In awe of you


They all spoke glowingly of your inside out beauty and intellectual prowess,
No matter how much they tried they couldn't mask their wonder at your professional progress,
You left them in a helpless state of awe,
In number they were four.

Brussels © February 2015 afesehngwaHilary

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Power full high hills


Year after year after year they say the future belongs to the youth,
The very lifelong leaders who are dictionary definitions of uncouth,
Slogans dripping with deception and lies that the youth are the leaders of tomorrow,
When the reflection on the leadership mirror,
Shows over 30 years of the same people saying the same things,
Through a perpetual bullying presence on the corridors of power they clip young wings,
Ensure a lack of apprenticeship so the young never learn to fly,
Give them just enough to make sure their ambitions learn to die,

If the young will ever step into the shoes of leadership,
Somebody’s gotta make room for the younger fragile feet to fit,
Get used to the power full shoes,
Acquaint themselves to the high heels and hills,
Learn to walk in them,
Climbing and learning the ropes of power,
And if the old will not let the shoes be filled by younger fresher smarter feet,
The young must employ every smart strategy to force them to make the room,
For the changes the countries need,

If we will ever truly lead,
Let us make their fake promises true,
Not because it was said but because it should be so,
If the country will catch up with the transformational changes of the times,
Then the young must lead,
Fully leveraging their best ideas,
Minimizing influence of the worst,

Fully learning the best lessons from history and the old,
Flushing the bad practices and all the destructive isms down the toilet drains,
Making sure to keep the link between the heart and brains,
And leaving behind the delusive thinking,
That much needed change will be handed on a platter of gold.


Brussels © February 2015 afesehngwaHilary

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Love is a loaded gun!


Loaded with a bullet of jealousy,
The kind which makes you lousy,
Conjuring a thousand reasons why they are unreachable,
You get the mental investigations wrong every time but remain unteachable,

Loaded with a bullet of heartbreaking loneliness,
When a dreaded distance makes you miss their comeliness,
Beautiful memories of the last meeting aggravate the pain,
Thoughts of hopeful anticipation bringing a momentary high to the brain,

Loaded with a bullet of care,
A care that almost makes you want to be their air,
You worry whether they are alright,
Praying they perpetually walk in a horizon that's all bright,

Love is a loaded gun,
A beautiful rose with thorns,
It must be plucked delicately,
Or the hand that plucks it bleeds.

Brussels © February 2015 afesehngwaHilary

Monday, February 16, 2015

Graffiti of poetic interpretations


In a world where it is more important to be right,
So that the other person can be wrong,
Than it is for all to make genuine efforts so that love can reign supreme,
Where it is increasingly less important to build and construct and grow together,
Where it is more important to destroy another and whittle them down,
So that the destroyer can seem tall, talk big and be in charge,
Sometimes the beauty of poetry lies in the fact,
That one can escape to it without need to be right or wrong or tall or short,

And the magic of poetry sometimes lies in the fact,
That there  may be no right or wrong interpretation,
And a numberless myriad of genuine interpretations,
Can paint the literary wall in the cosmic and mental space,
A wall like canvass connecting like and unlike minds,
Spanning different generations and different geographies,
Painting a graffiti of poetic interpretations,

Telling symbol of the potential beauty in our diversity,
Each one brilliantly telling "In our differences I am like you",
Different but human!

Brussels © February 2015 afesehngwaHilary

Sunday, February 15, 2015

The day after Valentine!


It is February 15th,
And the world rises slowly from the drunken stupor of yesterday,
Rising to one immutable fact that must not be drowned,
Drowned in memories of a single day of all what was or is called loved,

That the world is just in need of love today,
Like it was yesterday,
The day before yesterday,
And the day before many yesterdays,

That the world will be just as much in dire need of love,
Tomorrow,
The day after tomorrow,
And the day of after many countless tomorrows,

So may the powerful strides of love,
Which paused to celebrate itself on Valentine's day,
Never be stopped in its own all too important and life sustaining tracks,
For we do in fact need love every day,
And the world is better for a daily fest of  it,

Amor vincit omnia,
That age old timely and timeless truth,
Still ringing as true today as when it was conceived,
Help us o God.

Brussels © February 2015 afesehngwaHilary

Friday, February 13, 2015

The way she walked into his life!


Like the rain that comes to end the long protracted drought,
Quenching the thirst of the patched and thirsty land,
Satisfying the tips of foraging and searching roots,
Washing the air, cleansing it from months of piled up dirt,
Dousing the skin licking flames of heat that even a thousand fans will not tame,
Riding on the back of a soothing gentle breeze,
Just as needed as it is welcome,
That is how she walked into his life,
And things were never the same again.


Brussels © February 2015 afesehngwaHilary

Thursday, February 12, 2015

I won without practice!


Without prior practice,
Not even once,
With no previous knowledge of the track,
Launched, I learned the track as I found my way to start a life,
Drawn by the waiting cell whose life depended on meeting someone like me,
And my life's one and only mission,
One on my which my very life depended was to meet with her,

When she dies she is sure to make somebody bleed for it,
When I do it is in quiet indignation for failing to fulfill the sole purpose of my life,
Millions like me have cruelly met their death,
Millions who ran the race with me did earn their death by losing the race we ran,

You can be thankful that I won that race,
You can be thankful for the God who gave me pace,
I greet - I am the sperm who gave you life,
You are my prize and I won without practising a second in my life,
Not even for a fraction of a time,
I learned my track as I found my way to start a life,
To save her life - that egg,
To save my life,
In a life giving race of survival.

Brussels © February 2015 afesehngwaHilary

Monday, February 9, 2015

Theft of the magic!

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3851/15031895976_dafc0dfd27_b.jpg

Theft of the magic!

The anticipation of magic carries with it a bitter sweet charm only possible in the figment of the imagination, one which the consummation of the wait itself cannot match.  In the wait the mind is engaged and it engages itself, loses itself in wonder and wanders into countless possibilities of what the reality will or could be, until the experience itself robs it. Then the magic is stolen with all what was once possible zeroed into a single moment of one possibility out of all the countless and disappointment rushes in like air into a vacuum.

This was the moment she had been waiting, the moment they had been waiting for. The moment had finally come. They were both dressed in immaculate white as a symbol of unadulterated purity and a new beginning, one removed from the stains and dirt of the past, a virgin page. Fuh waited at the altar like a dying man waiting for the second wind which will give him a new lease on life, for an angel who walked in from the other end and couldn’t come soon enough. Her name was Fideline. She looked resplendently beautiful in her wedding dress and her eyes shone so bright, it made the sun look like it was not shining. As she walked down the aisle in feline majesty, delicately and meticulously placing each step as if she ran the risk of stepping on the life line from which all humanity drew their breath, she was stormed by volleys of confusing thoughts. Out of a sudden she wondered if she was doing the right thing, she wondered if she was walking into a sentence of life imprisonment plus hard labor, she wondered if by the act she was about to finalize she wasn’t being the fish that voted the budget for the hooks, she wondered if she was not by the words of her mouth and the signing of her hand clipping the wings of her free reigning spirit. Fideline wondered if she had disclosed all what should have been disclosed, knowing fully well that she had not. There were ugly skeletons in her closet. She wondered if her marriage will live up to all the hype which had helped quicken her steps into it and for how long, she wondered if she was now only a few steps away from the magic she had dreamed of from the first day she donned the consciousness of a pretty little girl.  

The pastor raised the tone of his voice as he repeated for the third time, asking if there was anybody in the crowd who knew anything that should stand in the way of the union he was about to bless before God and before man. With each time he asked Fideline’s heart raced with increasing speed, reaching velocities faster than Usain Bolt and it was not hard to see her heart pounding within her chest, held tightly in check by her tight fitting wedding gown which hugged her like her second skin. Because Shakespeare was right when he said there is indeed no art to construe the mind’s construction on the face, it was impossible for anyone but Fideline to know the true cause of the pounding.

I, Fuh, take you, Fideline, to be my partner, loving what I know of you, and trusting what I do not yet know. I eagerly anticipate the chance to grow together, getting to know the woman you will become, and falling in love a little more every day. I promise to love and cherish you through whatever life may bring us.” There was a pause which hushed every noise in the room and you could hear a pin drop. And then he continued: “Fideline is coined from the French word Fidelle which means faithful, and every time I call you it will be a subtle but real reminder of the nerve center of fidelity around which this union revolves. Fidel, je serais fidel avec et envers toi”. This was followed by thunderous applause which waned to nothing over time as hands grew tired of meeting like cymbal pairs. Fuh’s vow eclipsed Fideline’s rather shy and quiet profession of marital vows.

The wedding ceremony was followed by a reception full of pomp, dancing and fanfare but the couple was eager to go back home, retreat into privacy and catch their breath from the tiresome marathon which had characterized the preparations to that moment. When they went back home the host in the radio from the living room which was never turned off started reading a poem titled:


“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, some fancy profession 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.”

The poem got Fideline thinking and suffering even more. She brushed aside the funny feeling making a firm but short lived resolution in her mind to embrace what had already happened and make the most of the new journey.  On many levels they had a wonderful first night together, and woke up to ordered service of total pampering delivered at their sea side home in Limbe.

The second day was quiet and reflective, both parties of the union spending all day together but not talking very much. Suddenly there was a ring on the door which Fuh responded to, and found out it was the mail man with one mail addressed to him. He reclined into the lazy chair on their balcony and opened it. A terse, succinct sting loaded in a few words waited for him in the envelope – a bombshell waiting to detonate.

“ Dear Fuh,

Find attached FYI – marriage certificate. I have been married to Fideline for the past 5 years she has been in Germany. I worked my connections and circle of friends to find out she was stealing herself away to marry you in Cameroon. I am in Cameroon and will like to talk.

Angela – tel: 237XXXXXXXXX”

He sweated, his mouth was dry, he swallowed many invisible lumps, his lachrymal springs opened, he was confused and caught in a web of inexplicable emotions. The joy and bliss of marriage was short lived for these two. They quickly learned that fairytale weddings like the one they just had are just that, fairytales and only belong in the figment of the imagination and in books to be read by young boys and girls waiting to be lured in some deceptive web woven in lies and unrealistic expectations. While their wedding was the talk of the town and their names dripped from every lip, the joys of marriage which is real and true to some, had eluded these two.


Brussels © February 2015 afesehngwaHilary

Sunday, February 8, 2015

Distracting barks and side shows!


Do not be distracted by the  attention seeking barks and side shows,
Keep your dreams very close,
Pray through the highs and lows,
Even when opposition grows,
Think on your toes,
Be ready when life deals you throes,
And so called friends become foes,
When you cannot understand your woes,
Ask God to show you some of what He knows,
He can help you face the situational snows,
Fill your life with those,
Who’ll keep you grounded when life’s river violently flows,

God can thaw all His wonderful plans you froze,
You are not one of those He throws,
Through His eyes you will see your future glows,
He’ll bless you but not because He owes,
Only because by His nature He chose,
You can be one of the pregnant seeds He sows,
But when He sends be one of those who goes,
Don’t deny Him like Peter before the cock crows,
In Christ your life can be one rocked but gloriously equipped prose,
Before Him you must watch your pose,
Just let Him choose the doze,
Unleash the arrows from the bows,
He turns the cons to pros,
You may not get all you ever want,
But all you ever need you can be sure to get.

Brussels © February 2015 afesehngwaHilary