Take a selfie

Take, take, take all you want,
Bite, bite, bite all you can chew,
Be, be, be all you can be,
But first and foremost, take a selfie.

Take a selfie;

Take a selfie of your life,

of your past and present,

and of the future you desire.

Take a selfie of your ambition to succeed,

and of your fear to fail.

Take a selfie of your highs,

and of your lows,

your YESs and your NOs.

Take a selfie of your has-been,

and of your could-have-beens,

of your accomplishments and your regrets.

Take a selfie of your perfect imperfections,

and of your imperfect perfections.

Take a selfie when you are in the moment,

and when you snap out of it,

in your zone and out of it.

Take a selfie.

It is not until we take a selfie that we realize,

how beautiful an ugly can be,

how pretty disgusting can be,

how adorable despicable can be,

how amazing boring can get,

how extrospective introspection can get.

They say: "You never know until you try"

and I'm sure you'll never fully spread your wings until you fly.

Take a selfie and fly,

take a selfie and touch the sky.

You are your own drive,

your own ambition. 

The further you can see, the closer you will get there.

You are your own vision.

You design your destiny. 

You will know how to build it by knowing who you are.

Go stand in front of a mirror and, wait for it,

take a selfie.

Take a selfie at your weakest point and you will determine your strongest.

Take a selfie at your lowest point and you will rise to the highest.

A selfie a day keeps the doctor away,

the doctor that would remind you how much you hate yourself,

the doctor who will prescribe doses of insecurities on insecurities,

the doctor who will show your bad side to the world,

the doctor who will wreck your self esteem to fix something else,

not broken.

I repeat, you are your own doctor.

Treat yourself to a selfie,

examine your life in this sense,

broaden your knowledge,

and cure your issues,

cry if you have to,

and while at it, take a selfie with the tissues.

Healing comes from within,

if only we'd look back, pose, smile,

and take a selfie.

I'll wind this up with this corrupted new saying,

"When life gives you lemons, take a selfie;

then make lemonade and take a selfie, another selfie"

Never Again

A tear is shed, a prayer is shared,
of a fear smeared into our hearts,
of a spear pierced deep into our souls.
Cheers gone, drowning in beers,
ears unclosed, eyes wide open.
It's clear there's care,
as everyone stares into space,
but still, nothing appears,
save for the glare of doom,
and shreds of terror,
the music of gunshots,
and screams, loud screams, pleading for mercy,
broken and wounded, beyond repair,
shattered and wrecked, into despair..
The sores on the scores of people that are here,
the people I endear, are terrible,
very painful.
For flashback's sake, 20 years into the future:
2 years back then, 2 decades wiser.
Wiser enough to know never again,
never again.
Lessons from the past,
first, because, once bitten,
second, because, twice shy.

Third, because, why not?
Why not learn from the wounds,
the scars and the trauma?
and save the drama.
The pain, the regrets?
Never again.
Different paths were created then,
over a thousand hills and into the world,
the rest of it.
My prayer now,
is that these paths converge,
and intentions merge,
towards peace,
towards forgiveness,
towards reconciliation,
and towards healing.
Onto a higher level,
the "onto the future" level.
Never again.


In remembrance of the Rwandan Genocide, 1994.

Shisha to my lungs

Shisha to my lungs? yes!
You are, Shisha to my lungs,
You are, good poison to my fangs.
You are the air I breathe, the life I live.
Yes! You are, Shisha to my lungs.

You are an amazing invention by yourself,
devoid of imperfections.
Maybe that's why all of me loves all of you.
Maybe. But honestly, you're like a diamond.. my rock, my diamond,
You look so good, every night.,
that you'd make Beyonce reconsider her flawlessness when she wakes up,
With all the stakes up, like Drake, up,
you leave me countless times on my worst behavior.
You are my savior, for in countless times you've saved me,
and that's why I want you to show me..
Show me. Why? Because you remind me of something,
and I don't know what it is.
Show off. I just wanna show off too.
Because, guess what? What I live for is to spend every Weeknd with you,
is to catch a grenade for ya,
throw my hand on a blade for ya,
But would you die for me, or nah?
is to be in my zone and declare "No new friends"
because you're more than enough.
is to pour it up, pour it up,
and still got my money.
Even if we'll party like we are 23,
you won't need to twerk,
for me to let you know how much I adore you.
We can't stop. & it won't stop,
'Till we get it, I'mma get it,
this should be simple, we'll love more.
I'm prepared to love you long,
even to the year 3005,
I pledge bed peace, no Childish antics,
Jhene Aiko knows.
Now that you got me up all night,
let me take you on a power trip,
or to the stars in the outer space,
and we gonna let it burn burn burn burn.
I'll sing you Songz like oh na na,
and get your head BOBing up down,
because it'll be so good.

I'll make you addicted to my music playlist,
and all these tunes will ring through our ears,
throughout the years.
See, you flavor my worst fears,
and vapor my last tears..
just like Shisha would.
So maybe sing to me or listen with me,
chill to my playlist, as we share this session,
feed this obsession with confessions,
and relieve out our stresses on meditation.
We'll shuffle the tunes,
and replay the playlist..
but before we're done smoking,
please let me remind you,
that you are Shisha to my lungs,
Yes, you are beautiful.