Anything you want

I will save you the hustle and simple frustrations.

I will cuddle your mind and kiss your desperations.

I will cover you in warm blankets of love

and care, and love, and care.

I will be there. 

And anything you want you will get.

I will protect your happiness 

and defend your joys.

What kills you will build you

and your fear will make you stronger.

You will drive my passions

and you will be my ambition.

As long as you have me,

baby, you will need no other.

And as the sun goes down,

I will travel with it,

I will embrace it and I will shine for you.

You'll lay in my hands and I will make you stronger,

you will drink from my cup

and I will fulfil your fantasies.

We will lie to sleep and you will dream beauty,
images you've always seen in the mirror.

We will wake up and you will be my breakfast in bed.

I will read you like the morning newspaper

because you've craved before 

that I would at least understand you. 

We will sail to far away places,
and see sights breathtaking to ever come back.

I will spoil you.

Anything you want, 

is everything you'll get.

Balloons

The world is colourful, each with their own.

It is what you make it and the harder you blow,

the bigger it becomes. 

You don't blow in too little, it won't look like anything much.

You don't blow in too much, you might burst it into pieces.

You blow in enough, fearless and not too greedy.

& every time you blow in, beat your limits.

Stretch yourself further,

but not too far to ever come back.

But isn't it the thing with balloons?

Like once you blow into them

they never get back to what they really were.

Keep your presence of mind.

& don't mind the other balloons.

They don't have your air in them.

Their air, their business.

Make your balloon your business.

Protect it from the thorns

and guard it from the heat.

Love it with your heart

your lungs spoke life into it.

You gave it existence.

It's elastic as it gets,

there's always room for improvement.

The past is always unseen,

but the present is dependent on it.

So put in 100%

It's the only way to lift it up.

It floats when it's ready

and people will see..

People will relate.

You will join the crowd of balloons up in the sky

and you will coexist.

You do it better, if you blew in better.

The amount of breathe that went into the balloon

speaks for itself.

It glows in your own colour and it aims for the sky.

Don't use a shorter string if you want it

to travel the horizons and around the world.

When it gets tired it might want to

rest in the clouds calmed by the winds.

It will fellowship with their rains and the sun. 

It will see the world from a high up perspective.

It will see how small we all are

yet so big if we ride and rise above our fears.

Let your balloon accomplish what you've dreamt it to,

it will be at its most radiant.

When the time comes for it to go,

release the string and let it float away 

into the vastness that is unknown.

I have heard people say,

"If you love your balloon, let it go"

War has been declared

War has been declared and our night

has mightily be put to test.

Shall we hide in the shadows

or blind the enemy with our light?

Shall we cower before our children

or step out to fight for our motherland?

The winds of despair are approaching 

and the silence of our friends

has betrayed us.

We have been ambushed in our sleep,

our doors broken down with evil agendas.

The pipeline of hope is closing in on us

and the gates are being brought to their knees.

The guards have flown from their bodies

and we are under a great siege.

I pray you open the floodgates of heaven

and restore our faith.

We have been mighty before

and the clouds have crowned us.

We have been untouchable

and nobody could scruffle our feathers.

We have believed before

that the knife that cuts

is broken by our skin. Tough.

And today while we slept,

the enemy approached,

stealthily as if a sinner.

They covered our bases and 

uprooted our defences,

Where were you, O Lord, when we slept?

The King has put his trust in you alone.

Deliver him at his weakest.

Restore him to his stature

and groom him to adore you.

War has been declared and we are going to win.

Ri$k for a dollar

My two cents, please, if I may.

May-weather is the worst still.

A little bit indecisive, (to rain or not to rain)

but punches you the hardest.

The debts come calling,

your bank won't stop calling,

phone bill won't support calling.

They play too much in the streets,

they don't know how hard it is at home.

So, I'll take a risk for the dollar.

I'll peel my skin off if I have to 

and I'll fight the wars you're too afraid to win.

I'll take a risk for the dollar.

I'll put a helmet on top of my head

and put my hands to work.

The roof might collapse, I might fall into a ditch,

these things happen,

but I'll still take it.

I'll take a risk for my family.

My eldest brother dying of cancer,

my sister crippled with debts from her school loans.

I'll take a risk and prove the world wrong,

even if it fights my being right.

I'll devote my life to the skies

and fly planes that might crush.

I will take people places and 

they will trust me with their lives.

I might die one day on this,

but it's a risk I am willing to take.

The night harbours the darkness 

I wholeheartedly run away from.

The lust, the desperation, the evils

I'm clueless about.

The thieves pry the streets and

the homeless are a nuisance some times.

I feel your pain just

don't pour your life frustrations out onto every

Tom, Dick and Harry.

Their minds are their biggest problems,

ours all.

But I'll work as a night-guard. I will do it for the dollar.

I will stay awake and sleep less

since coffee is my new bestfriend.

She understands me,

even if my books don't 

and neither do I, them.

My parents are paying too much money

for my education and I do not want to disappoint them.

See, I don't even know how I will use

this program in the real world out there.

I have so many questions and 

an unspoken fear of failure.

It eats me but I'll take the risk.

My only sister is sick in hospital.

Doctor's said she's dying soon

and she's the only family I have left.

I have no money and I've heard 

stories from my friend, Judy,

that I can do what I hate most

to survive.

I don't want to sell my body 

and I know the diseases out there

swallow you whole.

They eat you from within.

My body, my temple; I don't want to give you away.

I have run out of options

and I definitely do not want to take this risk,

even for a dollar.

Petal Plucked

Some summer day in June, 

12:17 (Midnight)

6am, woke up.

Busy days call for ambition

and the early bird catches the worm.

Warm blankets and cold mornings;

warm breakfast and cold milk.

The sun is out as early as it should

and the busy morning streets

remind me that everyone is chasing something.

I pray they catch it, I hope they find it.

The parking lot at work is full, 

and the offices too, full of drama.

You can pick out mild scents of sweat

from the violent mixture of different perfumes.

You smell so good to run your way to work, nice.

And the burnt tobacco stench, too.

It's all we smoke on our little short breaks.

It's Friday and everyone is trying to be friendly,

maybe a little too hard to catch drinks later.

I am past the fun life now,

I'm just trying to make money.

The view from my office space 

is wholly breathtaking.

The board meetings will not let me relish 

in my space most of the times

but I'm still grateful, always been.

A couple of errands to run after work.

It's creepy how things get messy.

So many little responsibilities.

Like you were never born for fun.

Ha! Find humor in these situations,

it gets priceless.

Drop my daughter to class for dance practice,

I wait for her, parked in the alley behind the school.

I'm tired so I recline my seat and nap,

awake though, checking my watch oft.

I must have been taken away,

because I was woken up by loud noises.

An angry mob was outside,

with stones, baying for my blood.

Lord, this is a good dream!

I must have laughed at myself for 

letting myself sleep too much.

It was a short laugh as the first stone

smashed my window.

They were asking me to step out from the car.

I was so confused I stepped out to my own death. And on time, too.

The first throw had me sprawling on the ground, blood gushing furiously from my head.

I did not think myself a Goliath

and the man who threw the rock 

definitely did not look a David.

I must have passed out a little later

as the thousands other blows 

landed on my rather unresponsive body.

I had not said a proper goodbye 

to my little princess and her mum;

I wailed.

But could barely feel my tears.

I was torn, tarnished,

left unplucked.

June 15th 1993

12:17 (Midnight)

We had had cases of violence in our streets.

We had heard of kidnappings, rape,

drugs and a lot of murders going on

recently.

Recently had we re-elected 

the same people we had sworn not to.

They were doing exactly what they had done before, nothing.

And this same nothing was killing us.

Destroying our sons, defaming our daughters

and robbing us of our peace.

We were pissed. Someone had to act.

Someone had to come to our rescue 

and bring back our girls.

These dirty hands of crime always came

to the safest and nicest neighbourhoods

to infiltrate our well-being,

far away, where the long arm of the law

would never bend toward.

We were safe until now.

So, today we decided to take matters into our hands

and wipe away the stains, our way.

Our first suspect was at the right place

right when we expected him to.

Always in the dark

waiting for the small girls to 

head home from dance practice.

He had used a nicer car this time.

Is he getting this money from where I think he is??

Wow. These people. 

They even threatened a mum once and 

took away her daughter while she lay down facing dirt.

The cowards were using a gun.

She was sobbing, she must have been terrified.

And now they think they can do it again.

Things have changed around here,

I hoped they knew..

The old dog had learned new skills, new tricks.

We surprised him, he was asleep.

The hunter who sleeps on the hunt

is pranced on by his prey. He must have forgot.

He stepped out as though innocent 

but my eye was fixed on his head 

and the evil intentions dancing in it

and I hurled my stone, first,

straight to his head, fast.

"He who has no sin"

It pushed me aback

but I was doing this for a good cause.

This madness has to stop.

We will not let our little girls get raped,

and watch their futures get destroyed!

I joined in the mob and our job 

was done in a few minutes.

He must not have fought hard

because he knew 

he was paying for his shortcomings.

The wages of sin. 

We left an anonymous letter addressing the 

mayor and our councillor saying:

"We will keep plucking"

Why I do poetry

The world is a canvas and I'm here to paint it.

Colours of a rainbow become white when you mix them,

and the purpose is the motivation.

The ignition, the genesis of a new life.

Yet we can only predict the future

if we create it; vision.

The will of the mind is the mightiest weapon,

it makes things happen.

Negativity and letdowns distort this vision,

they create little impossibilities

in a world full of possibilities.

They quieten a prodding for success,

our innate thirst for achievement!  

They dampen our spirits and 

create a false feeling of it might never happen.

& the strongest ones are the ones who rise 

above negativity and hate.

They see the world in all shades of colour

rather than one.

They open themselves up to learn,

to view the world with a different perspective.

They yearn to change the world.

I do poetry because I found my voice

and I'm willing to be responsive to positivity.

I am willing to help people change

and see things different;

in a better light.

I embrace light when I see it

and my soul has found a rhythm to dance to.

I find pleasure, even in the most inane things.

I see beauty with an eye of perfection

because we can all be better.

I criticize, I correct, I admonish, I inspire,

I create, I conquer, I admire, I inquire.

There are so many things I want to know.

Like why people do things the way they do them,

like why the poor suffer and the rich prosper,

like why the mighty might fall in the hands of the weak.

I pry, I visualize, I imagine, I create. 

I do poetry because I believe my words can change our hearts,

and with a change of heart and audacity in our minds,

I believe this world can become an even better place.

Bleach the night

Bring down the curtains and break the windows!

Rush in a hurry outside and come seize the darkness.

Feel this darkness rush and choke you from the lungs.

Things like these make you puke your own blood.

It's that bad.

Let us feel the pain, the gunshot afar.

Let's hear the old woman weep for her hungry children.

Hear the dogs shun away the terrified thieves, hungry

but with a family to feed.

Shatter your eardrums with the young child

screaming help! terrified as well under the hands of a dirty bastard.

Share your pity with the mother crying,

her only son dying under the prick of a mosquito.

Damn, malaria kills.

Don't forget the homeless family lying to sleep 

hungry too, under the subway bridge, cold.

The dark is night now

and the night dark, wow.

and we are needed to save it.

Stand your ground and match with the brave..

We will fight the battle, I'll teach you the art.

We will rise, we will conquer,

I will teach you how to win.

we will paint the skies bright.

We will bleach the night 

and save blemish from its sins.

We are here to create a better day.

We are here to bleach the night.