Triffid

Dining in Dar es Salaam

2024-12-11T12:05:10Z

Far beyond the embrace of soft lights,
beyond the darkened branches of the towering trees,
the sickle moon hangs in the night sky
above the distant city lights,
beyond the cares of daily life.

Soft tones of Aramaic songs mingling
with the faint nocturnal hum of insects
wash over the terrace
on a light summer breeze.

The tablecloth flaps languidly
in time with the rhythm of the night.
The wine diffuses the dancing candlelight
in a melancholic burgundy hue.

The faint murmurs of conversation with friends
and the intimate silence of couples mingle with my thoughts.

Alone, at peace, I sit and imbibe the quiet joys of life.
Wine floods my mind with bittersweet memories.

Why do I miss you on such nights?

The Destroyer of Worlds

2024-12-11T13:09:30Z

The destroyer of worlds does not come on dark clouds

With lightning flashes and thunderous din

She does not come uninvited upon the raging wind

Her visage is not dark nor twisted

Her eyes do not burn with shimmering flames of hate.

Doors are not barred against her

Ramparts are not erected.

Her coming is not resisted

She comes upon a gentle breeze.

Laughter drifting through the trees.

Her beauty beyond compare,

her eyes gleaming as if filled with the joys of life.

The summer sun caresses her soft skin

Her honeyed words pure delight.

She comes bathed in light with promises of paradise.

She does not use force nor might

Woe to those that are not vigilant

Against promises of earth bound heavenly delights

Too late will you realise your fate

Too late will you despair

At the horror of the price of an easy life

All you sacrificed will be in vain

All to avoid the burdens of a fulfilling life

The End

2023-12-06T21:17:00Z

It's hard to let go.

Especially at the end.

To admit defeat.

To know that it was all in vain.

That everything you tried,

the compromises you made,

went unnoticed,

taken for granted.

The self centred, absorbed

assumptions of the modern.

The refusal to live for the other.

A misguided victim hood ideology

gnawing at your soul.

Your beautiful mind

sedated with alcohol.

Now you are alone again,

as when we met,

and you still don't know why.

Easter

2024-12-11T14:12:44Z

Time to emerge from the tomb
Time to start anew
From the death of hope
Arises another
Like a phoenix reborn
Colours dull and faded
Now bejeweled
Shimmering with iridescent life

From promises made and broken
A new future beckons

From hurt and frustration
Forgiveness and redemption

Shed the burial shroud of past grievances
for garments of shimmering white
Dawn routs the night.
As love forgives and embraces

Love & Sacrifice

2023-03-12T19:18:10Z

Alone I toiled
Alone I stood
Alone, against the odds,
I survived for those I love
For the possibility to be more
For a future still uncertain
Was it worth the sacrifice?
I never asked for help
It was never tendered

Yet now here I stand
Surrounded by my fellow man
Celebrating our success
Each hoping for their fair share
but truth be told there is nothing to divide
When merely surviving is the prize.
I cannot give what I do not have
I can only tell you about love and sacrifice

Only If

2024-12-17T07:52:32Z

Silence grows
Time slows

The work is done
Yet more remains

My mind floats
No were to go

Waiting for the
Seeds to show

Empty and calm
Waiting for things to change

I cannot make it rain
But I can prepare the soil

Let's begin the toil
Before peace becomes a wasted gift
Before fate shifts
Before I live to regret my rest
And lament only if

Existence

2023-02-26T19:40:35Z

Time trickles by

Life ebbs away

between the tik and tok

of an anachronistic clock

Out of place and out of time

Lost and disconnected from this place

Floating in the nothingness

Rudderless and adrift

Time flows and boredom grows

Colour fades and silence pervades

My heart slows its beat

My every thought begins to weep

Sadness and melancholy seeps into my soul

Trapped between nothingness

and the unreasonable refusal to not exist

Life's enigma, its purpose

Like an off-balance high-wire circus act

I plummet,

but the trampoline of existence,

breaks my fall

and I hurtle back into the strive of life.

Once more to take to the wire.

Too busy to wonder why.

But for those I love.

The Bar

2023-02-20T18:23:19Z

The indistinct chatter of the crowd surges back and forth on inaudible music blaring from distorted speakers. The dim light hides the imperfections of the world. For a brief time they can make believe.

Outside the rain falls with a constant rhythm. In vain glory, they weave their tales of obstacles overcome and victories won. No one calls out the hollow stories that they tell. It's better to pretend, for tonight the world can be a fairy tale and people want to belong, but even in the writhing mass and cacophony silence creeps in.

Its dark tendrils hidden by the pale light coils it's way around their hearts. Amongst the pressed bodies the isolation grows. The bartender offers some respite like a love song full of empty promises.

They grope their way in the dark hoping to find what was promised. That for a fleeting moment the mirage of their hopes and dreams coalesces into the present. But it's a dream that leaves them hopeless deeper and darker than before.

But the human spirit is the greatest fool and hope will spring in the darkest places and once more they will set forth to find that which they seek desperately for.

We all hope for love. But love can only be found in the light. Where we cannot hide our imperfections. Better to know and love despite the cold reality because to be human is to live and to love regardless. To live and know that that which we love will disappoint but is still worthy of love because without love we are nothing. And to acknowledge that we all deserve love because we are alone and all imperfections. For the world was never perfect and imperfection make it so.

To forgive and forget, that is what makes it perfect. Only God can forgive and love despite the hurt so we are like God if we love despite the pain and unacknowledged sacrifices. I have forgiven when you cannot forgive yourself. You will never know how deep my love goes but love accepts that it may be forever misunderstood and knowing when to surrender is the greatest love of all.

My Love

2023-02-05T07:50:48Z

My love is a damsel fair
Her beauty beyond compare
Her laughter like a summer breeze
Her eyes bright and brimming with delight
Her wit sharper than a rapier tip

Alas our love is bittersweet
For we have been shattered by life
Our sharp edges cut and slice

But from the shards of our lives
What was once two broken things
Can be one and whole again
What was once lost can be made anew

Let us let go of our bitter anger
Let us discard the fragments that rip and tear
Let us bind what we want to keep with love's golden lacquer

Our imperfections on display
Now greater than its parts
Transcendent art

Made more beautiful than before
More than what we ever hoped for

Sunday Chilling

2023-01-26T20:11:57Z

Summer sun soothes the soul
The band plays songs of old
Wine quiets the mind
And Tomorrow has its own time
Lost love will be found
The world goes round and round
And God will provide

Love

2023-01-26T19:28:59Z

Love is a siren song
to dash your dreams upon
Splintered into smithereens
Upon the uncaring rocks

Melodic laughter for such foolish hopes
Ripped away upon violent winds
The reef tears at your skin

Lashed by waves that pull you down
Into the black depth of despair
Cut and bleeding hoping for death

But one is not left to die
But to survive
For love will not let you abide
In the realm of happiness
It calls you back again
And drags you back to the pain

For the emptiness of life
Demands an even higher price

That necessitates trying again
Even if it is in vain

Hope is lost

2023-02-05T07:50:35Z

With a struggle I force it back,

Into the black,

It wants answers

That I do not have

In the dark it feeds

Fed by frustration,

Now desperation,

Anger slowly turning into hate.

Getting stronger.

I tell it everything will be ok

I tell it of my plans

Reminding it of what it once was

But It has no use for reason now

Its pleasant form transformed

Now disfigured and misshapen

By those who put it back into the cage

Back into the night

By those who squandered hopeful faith

Weary of the lies

It finds them vile, beyond redemption

Disgusted by their betrayal of its trust

by those filled with greed and lust

Soon it will no longer be contained

It's weary of the same refrain.

It prowls back & forth

seething with rage

It hurls itself against my restraints

It wants them to know

It will not be ignored

It's getting stronger

Justice could contain it

Hope could tame it

It's starting to thirst,

A growing thirst,

A thirst for vengeance

When it breaks free

It will have its full

Consuming me

Chun-Li

2023-01-07T21:09:46Z

Chun Li please help me
Lighting in a blue dress
Fierce as a tigress
Thighs like a fine wine
In knee high white commando boots

Holding a horse stance
They don't stand a chance

Ox horn hair so fair,
delicate as a spring flower
Show me your kung-fu
You got them moves
fight them in the nick
take them out with a round house kick

2022

2024-12-11T12:07:15Z

Behind is desolation
Hope is a delusion
Love is lost

Faith comes at a cost
Anger is a drain
Exhaustion is all that remains

The end inevitable?
Fate unalterable?

Too tired to care
Condemned for the sacrifices one has made,
by demands insatiable

I search for that which I cannot find
I am denied and cast aside

What is not, cannot be
What is, always was

Destruction is its own demise
I will survive.

Photo by Markus Spiske

Shedding

2023-01-06T09:40:30Z

walking home in the darkness,

illuminated by headlights speeding past,

between the surging and receding traffic

silence struggles to be heard,

crickets play their violins,

frogs croak their mesmerising melodies,

traffic surges, silence recedes,

headlights reveal uneven paving,

I scan ahead for government excavations lying in wait,

One needs data to buy data,

I am out, like the lights, like the future,

yellow Calpurnias emerge from the darkness as they struggle through

the dusty patches of dry soil at the edges of the broken paving,

alone, in the darkness of Johannesburg,I see the stars,

I see the moon, as I did as a child, constant, it whispers this too shall pass,

I recall the conversation with the uber driver from the afternoon,

before the sangria,

12 months he said to get back on his feet, then he would be ready,

ready to do what he wanted to do, graphics design,

I gave it 12 months too, 2 years ago,

but the grotesquely inept and greedy robbed one and all,

the president is giving a speech, his cabinet is meeting,

no one is listening,

one only hopes they don't make it worse,

home is in sight, even in the darkness one feels relief and

the comfort of home,

the solitude,

the island of hope and love in the darkness,

tomorrow, tomorrow

Photo: by Sherissa R