THE LAZY POET!

The muse kept knocking 
But my lazy soul was wandering
While the words kept pouring
My ink wasn’t flowing  

I was under no pressure to write  
So I daydreamed over an Italian diet 
And when I came to my senses
I had lost all the sentences  

I sat admiring my thumbprint 
While I had a poem to complete 
I racked my brain for the lost words 
But each time, the outcome got worse  

I felt like my brain was on temporal retardation
I felt like I’m responsible for the joy of a nation Yet all I do is a crafty manipulation

Of the words I learnt from basic school dictation  

 

I tried closing the book

But my conscience gave me a look

I felt I offend the Creator

When I decide to continue later 

 

I penned down all the nonsense 

In the end they all made sense 

Proudly, I admire my finished work

For which I wouldn’t even get a peck!

THE LAST RENDEZVOUS

Dearly Beloved,

Thanks for honouring this meeting

You don’t need to wear that frown

Here, I bought you a beer

You don’t need to check your watch

I promise, it will be brief

I brought you your heart’s desire

On a golden platter

Today, I’m walking away

To a place our paths might never meet

With these thoughts eating me up:

That to you, I’m never good enough

I probably might never be

In this world and in the one to come

But I still hold those cherished memories

Of our meetings on the shores

I have your pictures in my album

I will flip through them everyday

I have your number on my phone

I will delete it after here

Will that even be necessary?

I know those digits off head

I will be tempted to call

But I promise I won’t

Today, I’m walking away

And it’s clear you are not bothered

Have you even checked today’s date?

It’s our 10^th wedding anniversary

For better or worse, you said?

Well, here are the keys

The keys to the car parked there

A promise I made on our wedding night

Do me the honours

Make me a keeper of my word

And one last favour:

Tell me where I went wrong

What did he say that I never said?

Dearly Beloved,

What’s that mark on your face?

He’s abusing you already?

Why do you have tears in your eyes?

Oh no! Don’t let them fall

Did you just say you still love me?

Should I believe you?

Well, this meeting is one of farewell

Not one of opening dead wounds

I wish you well dear

But against all odds,

Today I walk away

And I walk away smiling.

A HEART I WON!

Roaming like a stray dog

I met a maiden in the fog

She wore raiment of old

And bore a crown of gold

Her smile betrayed her white teeth

Yet I could hear her heartbeat

She had dried tears on her cheeks

Her fear, obviously in its peaks

I walked close to where she sat

And slowly took off my hat

I tried to reach for her arm

I saw the blood in her palm

She whispered, it’s a curse

Who ever loves me, life expels

At least, that’s what history taught me

So go your way and let me be

But the beauty in those eyes I beheld

Made me immune to the words I heard

So what do you call a boy?

Who thinks a tiger’s whisker is a toy

These words made her smile

She found one ready to go the extra mile

One who thinks the past is gone

And future, open to be won

I got her up on her feet

And asked if she’s ready to dance to my beat

She said, whoever fills my soul with laughter

I promise to love ever after.

MENTAL BOUNDARIES

The uselessness that weighs his heart down

The ineptitude that runs his blood cold

As he watches the tears run down her cheeks

And his palms are too wet to dry them

His hands too weak to lift her up

His shoulders are hers if she wants to lean

His ears so close to pick her whispers

She cannot tell her shadow from his

But she’s a very smart Princess

She knows he won’t be there forever

Temporal is never enough

Permanence knocked on her heart

And she gladly opens up

She asks for his blessings

He couldn’t help but wish her well

But then she comes back wailing

On his shoulders like she owns them

Yeah! She owns them

They are all hers but not for keeps

And that’s the silent needle in their ribs

Society says it is forbidden

For they are bound by long blood chains

The world says they are distant cousins

But what they make of what the world thinks

Only the future can tell!!

CHORISTER ON THE STREETS!!

I watched her through the cracked windscreen

The windscreen of a rickety old trotro

She looked quite malnourished

But she wore a bright smile

Her eyes fixated on the traffic lights

As she stood on the pedestrian walkway

Patiently waiting for the Red

And unto the asphalt, she came

Carrying her iced water in a bowl

I doubt if she would be over 12 years old

Yet there she walked in the traffic

Aspiring for world’s best hawker

The academic calendar is active

So what’s she doing here?

Could she be too intelligent?

To have completed basic school beforehand?

Could she be too blockheaded?

She gave up on schooling?

But, is school only for the academically upright?

The random thoughts kept multiplying

And then I woke from my slumber

As I heard her yell “Pure water, ice”

Everyone turned in her direction

She is a chorister on the streets

Marketing with a 3-worded hymn

Like every performer, the crowd owed her

I reached for the blue cedi note in my pocket

But I saw her run fast back unto the walkway

The traffic lights had turned Green!!

Trotro  ………. Ghanaian public transport