Nakedness which announces the break of dawn!

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They part with the monotony of the verdant garb,
And don colors of every hue that paint on the canvass of autumn air,
Streaks of beauty matchlessly picturesque,
Dancing in the celebratory song sang by the gentle autumn breeze,
One last attempt at a joyous gladness,
Before they strip nude,
Baring their whole physiology and anatomy,
In an intelligent act of nature which gives the season its name,
One of the reasons I miss Ames Iowa,
One leaf after the other they fall,
Until a nakedness which announces the break of dawn,
The brief dawn of winter,
Which quickly transforms for many into a long night of cold discontent,
As the animals frantically grow extra layers of fur to cope,
Some go into hibernation until the assault of all the frost bites passes by for that is their only hope,
And mankind change their wardrobes to match the coming times,
For them nakedness is not a viable option.

Brussels © October 2014 afesehngwaHilary

Ambivalent Tremors

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Dazed in a stupor of confusion from conflicting feelings which will not settle in any one direction, bipolar and extreme, a sense of right and wrong, angst, relief and pain tugged her from different directions. She picked up her pen and wrote the words:

Dear Ambivalence,

I have prayed for a while now that I will never get to write these words and that even if I ever had to write them, they will not be in a letter addressed to you... but here am I, sitting here, traumatized by guilt, hurt, steeped in pain yet convinced that it is the right thing to do. I have not come to this place easily... ah the agony which has rocked the path... it is amazing how a conviction of right can feel so wrong. I have given this careful thought, wrestled with every word, rationalized every feeling, debated every justification, and I have come to the unavoidable conclusion that for your good and mine, we stand at a junction in our relationship which offers us the gift of a forked path that we must separately take or forever be miserable on a single path to life imprisonment plus hard labor.

You have no opinions, say neither yes nor no, you quibble, have no positions on issues, and are constantly shirking the tough questions. I have struggled to find your identity and while you come forth as a sweet human being with no objections and a flow designed to shadow me, I have often felt like I was spending time with myself. I feel like I interact with a clone of me, a robotic prototype of my mind. Your detachment from taking a stance voids your personality and denies me the chance of getting to know the real you. When the rubber meets the road, I want to minimize as much as humanly possible the embarrassment of meeting you for the first time after I say I do and then life happens and you finally show up.

For our good, for your good and mine, for the sake of a future we still have a chance to salvage before it is wrecked by blind loyalty to a commitment entered in error and without the benefit of reason which happened to be drowned in the pleasantries of sweet emotions at the time, I ask you to understand and join me in moving on, on separate paths. I have your back... always... thank you for everything we shared, everything we learned.

Wishing you everything good you can become and with one last kiss, albeit virtual, I seal this note. 

Tremor.

Brussels © October 2014 afesehngwaHilary

You don’t have to be jealous!

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Looks like you are really serious,

You don’t have to be jealous,

When I give others material things,

In the process I give generosity wings,

Even if I gave the world silver and gold,

I give you something which could not be sold,

I give you something not as cold as gold,

I give you me,

I give you my heart,

I give you my time,

I only give them things because I have no time for them,

And can’t give them what is meant for you.

© October 2014 - afesehngwaHilary

The younger older lady!

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One of the upsides of using public transportation,

When news around the world is recipe for dark and grim and sad,

One is blessed to catch more glimpses of the finer angels of our being,

Seventy may have been the number of her years,

Her legs were tired but her heart was not,

When she saw the older lady who may have been eighty,

With slightly more tired legs,

And more evident scars of the nibbling effects of time,

The younger older lady sprang to her feet quicker than a running bunny,

Yielding her seat in a celebratory act of some of the finest moments of our humanity,

It was quiet,

It was powerful,

It was pedantic,

I stood there flushed with pride for sharing in their lofty humanity,

I stood there feeling blessed to have witnessed it,

Privileged for the opportunity to be hopeful,

I sealed it with an effortless smile,

There are still glimmers of hope burning with unquenchable rigor around the world,

Challenging each and every one of us to stay open to being those pockets of light,

That give our collective humanity might.

Brussels © October 2014 afesehngwaHilary

Courage which defies her age – what is your excuse?

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She debunks all myths that wisdom and fortitude only lie in age,

She cuts all threads of logic that a certain age is a requirement,

A requirement to make a difference in a world gone wild with unconcern,

Her breed and ilk is rare,

Her courage is beyond compare,

Her determination second to none,

Her most potent instrument is her tongue,

And an unquenchable desire to learn,

An unquenchable desire to make it possible for others to learn,

She opens up her mouth and speaks anywhere she is,

And somehow the world listens,

Maybe she earned her right to be heard by the bullet she took in her head,

Her assailants made their worst mistake with that fired shot,

For they unleashed the growing power of a voice,

One voice which is in no small manner changing the world,

What is your excuse today?

If it is your age then think again,

Look at the 17 year old Nobel Peace Price winner for 2014,

Her name is Malala Yousafzai,

She has accomplished in a few years,

What many live up to a hundred and never accomplish,

Today I salute her.

Brussels © October 2014 afesehngwaHilary

As if he had swallowed a bulb!

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If your light is faint and you want to shine the brightest light,

The smartest thing to do is to find the darkest night,

A pitch dark night swallowed up every trace of  light in his life,

As he groped through treacherous paths asking and making her his wife,

He held her hand and began to glow as if he had swallowed a bulb in one big gulp,

And then he started to shine as if sourced by light brighter than a thousand suns,

He wasn’t that bright, just that it was so much darker around them,

Even a flicker of light was enough to keep them going,

He suddenly remembered how he walked out of solitary confinement,

Into the larger prison yards and felt as if freedom rang from every wall,

You will appreciate the littlest of things when you are in total lack,

In plenty you dismiss the littlest precious gifts with curses and many barks,

So sometimes the sole purpose of your lack is to feed you a humble pie,

And bring you a happiness pill wrapped in packs of gratitude for the littlest things,
It can make you feel like you deserve a Nobel price for gratitude!

Brussels © October 2014 afesehngwaHilary

He was found nestling at her breasts!

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They were quarantined,

So nobody really worried when they were not seen,

A few days had come and gone,

The only door to their homestead still under lock and key,

As the health workers did a street to street tour to meet the endangered populace,

A weak falsetto cry pierced through the homestead cracks announcing the presence of life,

And when they broke the door to let them in,

They were greeted by the putrid stench of rotting flesh,

The air was so thick with the smell you could cut it with a knife,

Totally oblivious of the grim reality which surrounded him,

He lay there nestling at his dead mother’s breast,

Sucking hard at milk that wouldn’t flow,

The stench of death fed by Ebola camped around him,

A sight so inhumanly despicable many of the health workers cried a river of tears,

A sight that is bound to follow any one to their graves no matter how hard one tried to make it go away,

A sight that is sure to conjure nightmares in your dreams,

A tragedy of unspeakable sorts!

One of the health workers picked him up,

Dazed and confused and numbed by shocking pain,

They gave him a thorough chlorine bath and prayed that by some miracle he would live,

The baby boy found nestling at his mother’s breasts.

Their dog showed up,

Smelling the death,

And was the saddest of them all,

Crying uncontrollably!

©October 2014 afesehngwaHilary