POEMS

Copyright Reserved

Stepping stones to Truth (5 Feb '12)

"Hello there!" An eagle soars above.
"Lend me your ears amd I shall speak."
"My voice echoe's in your mind, no need to fear."
"You have called, now I am here."
"I ask you small one, who are you?"

"I am the wind and I am strong."
"I do not believe, for I know the wind."

"I am the earth and I am nurturing."
"I do not believe, for I know the earth."

"I am the water and I am flexible."
"I do not believe, for I know the water."

"I am fire and I am powerful."
"I do not believe, for I know the fire."
"Tell me at once or you shall meet with death!"

"No need, for I am spirit, my form is not one... but all."
"Then tell me great one, why are you in flesh?"

"My flesh is warm, for I inhale the air, I bathe in water, I walk on earth and I dance on fire. I am as you are, together we are one."

"Let down your claws, open your wings. Don't you see, we are made of all things."

-Joe

Healing questions

What is it I want?

What is it I seek?

What is it we’re missing?

What do we need?

Tell me father,

Am I your son?

Where am I going?

What have I done?

How could we have known, what we’ll become?

I’m filled with sorrow, I’m on the run.

We are blinded, by the sun.

We’re faced with questions,
That we ignore.
When will we stop?
Looking for more?

We face outside, but not within.

When will we, truly begin.

As I grow open,

My eyes grow closed.

My thoughts go wander, about the rose.

As its thorns pierce my heart,

I journey back to the start.

With every hole, I now know.
That I… have let it go.
With the journey in light and I now free,

Only one need persists – And that is to be

- Joe

A Prayer To and From Nature
                                      
Look into my heart and you may find greed.
Look into my heart and you may find the illness of wrong doing.
But look into my heart and you are certain to find… love… that of pure love, for you have given it to me.

My heart is like a lion,
The lion is calm,
The lion is peaceful,
The lion growls as it yawns,
But if man plays with it’s balls, the lion shall eat him.
The lion knows no truth, agrees to no evil,
The lion only is.

Knows man not that we are the same,
The order in man shall produce all that he asks,
Whether good or evil – thy will be done.
Man only is,
and relies on nature to reveal the equilibrium of truth which shall set her free.
So that man can look past earthly desires and embrace the supernal.

Once aligned with nature – Forever free

-Joe

My father in a flower.

I wondered where I will find you.

I sailed away, many miles over blue,

and I wondered, if you will find me?

It was in the bend of my knee

at the foot of a green tree,

a little white flower grew,

to let me find a little bit of you, again.

The whiff of your favorite flower, `special after the rain.

So many times you walked through the door,

with the white petals, in your strong hands,
and the memory in me, shouts for more.
But all that`s left, is the sweet of the petals
on my hand, the moment I set foot on land.
I squashed them to make them last
but like always they turned brown, so fast.
I tried to keep them longer
in a glass of water, to make them stronger,
but all they left me, is the same as you.
Only to remember, what I already knew.

Fifteen years has passed, since you left me
only to remember you, at the foot of a tree!


Gossip.

I want to confess my sin, Father
what should I do, what should I pay
just to quickly make it go away?

I took a sip, just a tiny sip
and I let it flow from my tongue.
Can it be, because I was so young?
But then I took another sip, a little sip
and the drunkeness filled me...of gos-sip.

It was almost the truth, you know
the secret I shared with you
close to true
but my truth dropped red in the snow,
only for me to know.
But the next one you told,
in it much truth behold
was almost more true
the story of you...

So Father said. "Go sit on the roof, watch the people below
take with you a white pillow
and a long sharp knife
and stab at this pillow, with all your life!"

So I sat on the roof watched the people below.
I took a white pillow
and a mean sharp knife,
and I stabbed this pillow with all my life!

So Father said. "Now be quick, and follow all the feathers
blown by the wind, flying to the heavens.
try, just try
catch all of them where they fly!"

Tiny white feathers, white as snow
flew all over, up and below!
Feathers of gossip.
Feather of truth.
Feather of a lie.

A sip of the true.
A sip of a lie.
gossip



To you.

God, you were so unfair
not giving me the symphony
keeping from me the harp, the violin
and making the voice in me, so thin
not for him to hear,
when I`m not near.

God, you were so occupied
and forgot to give me
just a simple cord
an A, a B, a C-major,
not even a minor
for me to play to him, the melody in my head
the things in me, unsaid.

God, you were so ignorant
and didn`t show me
the brush in paint, the colors faint
no image could fast
a memory, to last.

God, you were so distracted
and didn`t give me, the voice
filled with melody, melancholy, my choice.
And now, I can`t sing him, my song.
The one that to him, so belong,
to let him know, the love that he bestow
belongs to me
to sing, to thee.

O God, you left me with simple words,
to say to him,
to write to him.
How will I put the rythm in them?
How will I get the tune for him.
with my letters, to form a word, to give him the thought?

My God, all that`s left, is the chaos in me
for him to see
bare before the music
that he is the tune
the melody in me, he sets free
the cords,
the words,
the brush,
for me, just to be, with thee!

Skool jare.

“More juffrou, more klas.

Ons is lus vir leer vandag!”

Juffrou,

ek het jou vertrou
ook baie van jou gehou
jy was my juffrou!

Maar al wat jy toe raaksien

is my neus vol sproete
en asof ek dit toe verdien
doen ek my hele lewe lank, daarvoor boete.

“Ek hou nie van sproete!”  het my juffrou gese

en vir ewig het dit in my kom le.
As ou man wat vandag in die spieel kyk
wens ek nogsteeds my sproete wil wyk.

Hoe kan ek van hulle hou
as my kleinkind-juffrou
my sproet-seungesiggie nie in jou arms wou  vou?

En ek wonder oor jou…

Was daar baie jare terug ook n juffrou
wat nie so baie van jou hou?

“More juffrou, more klas.

Ons was lus vir leer vandag…

Raining in the Zoo.

You, in a cage
your life, a stage
only, if
for a moment, brief
you can still remember…

Me, in a cage
my life, a stage
only if,
for a moment, brief
I may still remember…

It took only one single drop
for the charade to stop.
The shocking touch
of what has been.

You threw back your head
to let loose your ancient call.
You opened your wings
and through them the droplets sing,

for a moment, brief
you still believed
your life, not in a cage
and for a moment, brief
I also left my stage…

Half of Earth.

We counted the seconds

just like a New Year,
until the clock said Zero degrees,  Zero,  Zero!
And there before us stood our Hero,

Coming out of the sea,   with no fear,

he sat for a while with his goblet,   filled with wine,

telling passing sailors they``ll be fine.

`If each time you`ll salute me,
care for me,   and treat me.
I`ll look after you,   play with the wind,
keep her occupied.

Stay with the swells,
keep them nullified.
Only if you`ll let me be!`
We sipped our chilled champagne
totally free from the human refrain.

While Poseidon loved his mermaids, all three

keeping us humans,  company.
And then he slipped back
with his three,   leaving us with a smile
to cross over Earth`s half a line
left with a moment so divine.

Silver secrets.
A silver slither
a river of light.

Arresting the deep dark Black

laying white on the surface.
Hidden in the blackness
the secrets

buried in the deepness,

the truth untold.

A shiny glimpse on the surface,

merrily for the world to see
living deep in the furnace,
keeping it safe to me.

Dark liquid

keeping the untold
safe…
secure from the light.

In the Black,   it is fine

hidden from the slither of silver
no testimony to deliver.

Time Square.

Walking Time Square

when you gave me the space,
to be somewhere without a trace,
only showing a face,
part of this being race.

Watching you walking

with back bend,
what then freely can meant
us,  reaching the god, talking?
Begging to turn the Clock
of Time Square,

to a time when we rocked

when the World didn`t scare.
What happened to me
when I was walzing Life?

Starting so free
then chopped  the chains.
And all you left me,
left at a four and a five,
was… being alive.

To live.

To laugh.
To love.

This game of Time Square
my chance,  my only,  so rare.

Melted ice.

I see the ice in your whiskey glass
swirling in the rocks
and it is in me,   it pass
as a life,  unfolds.

And it is in me,   and in you

filling the world,   dropping the dreams
all night through
to me it seems.

When you dance me with blonde hair

to pepper with stains of grey,
and you thought it will stay
that way…

I see the ice melt in your whiskey glass.

A life lost and found,
a life found and lost.
Trying to be not one in a mass.


Mirrors (2)
(refer to the previous poem- Mirrors.)

The mirror in me, is the mirror in you...

When you look at me, my son
and told me what I`ve done,
my son,
I realised that my right was wrong
and my wrong was done.
But now I am looking for the old excuse,
something to let my guilt, let loose.
When I was little, the flaw was hers,
when you were little, the joy disperse.
Now no one to blame, for what I`ve made
when I formed you, the you in you, laid.

This was what I knew,
in your nostrils I blew
the pattern of her in me,
in you, blown with a stir.
This is what I`ve got
my inside,my outside, the lot...

I gave to you...

now you can look through...
her,
through
me,
through
you.

We are the mirrors, no less.
Your virile young body, left to caress
your soul to let grow
with some seeds that I`ve sown.
To grow...
to whither...
to die...

You have to accept, my son.
My son, the mirror of me,
the one that you see,
when you look at thee,
and only that will set you free...


Little chestnut girl.

I put the flower behind your ear

because me and you, we could hear

voices from long ago
faces from another time
but as I drew near the emotions too much to bear.
I saw it in your chestnut eyes
and I saw you, saw
in my green it lies
a meeting
a greeting
so fleeting.

It was my honour
to share a moment, briefly...
 

Sao Fransisco do Paraguacu Cathedral.

On the edge of the wall he sat, 

black eyed the odd bat.

Vulgar vulture venturing what remains,

to his flight, no restrains,

Lurking day and night

living and dead, his sight.

Is he able to see

the monks who once be

the life of this

once full of bliss?

A great hope, to please the Pope.

Now witnessed by the black,

life the only lack.

I am the only one here,

trust me there is nothing to fear.

The Cathedral is empty, the tiles chipped away

not even a bunk to sit on and pray.

The nails keeping Saint Francis to the wall

the only remnants of his fall.

Bleak bones still buried under the marble

a reminder of a life, a fable.

I am still the only one left

and you are bereft,

as I sit on the edge of the hole,

where they strapped them on a pole,

waiting for the tide to rise,

feeling the cold, no surprise.

Drowning from the water, filling from the sea.

What did you do, that was not to be?

I am the one that will stay

to the people's dismay,

guarding the ruins of this place

of prosperity, no trace.

From the village, he comes to pull the rope,

which once belongs to the Pope.

To sound the bell, for the people to tell:

Get up and wake at 7,

at 5 go home, and not to heaven!

Turn the clock.

If you could turn back time,

what would you choose?

Will it be the time we missed,

the once we snoozed

and it was ripped,

opportunity stripped

and you walked away

your memories astray

and we left each other

with the pain,

scarred, forever, a stain.

If you could push back the hands

entangle me from the gripping bands,

to spend a little more

with you on the floor,

sitting cross-legged together

wish it could last forever,

and you didn’t get up

and you shared another wine cup

everything could still be the same

our love could remain.

If you could turn back the clock

would you stop, just to share a bit

sit back and take stock,

reflect, and draw life on a rock.

Would you take the risk

to end your life, a brisk

Would you have considered,

when your life just withered,

to stay a little while longer with me,

to say my good byes

and then to let you free…

What would you…

if you could?

Light of the night

My fingers follow the line

of the white of your light

draw you closer to mine,

my eyes, my sight.

I can touch the man in your face

leaving no human trace,

share you with the world to be

the white, to set them for a moment, free.

To touch the circle in the black

for eons keeping it’s track,

watching us reach out

wondering how you came about…

When were you hanged up in the sky?

Was there an instant to set you fly?

Were you Banged Big up there?

And now I can circle a ribbon, a tie

on the breath of the glass, which lie

to separate us from the sky,

to keep us from fabricating another lie.

You, just be

for me, to see.

First rain.

…when a raindrop, drops

and all just stop, stops

a sigh

an ice cold high

a freshness falls from the top

and in the salt they stop

mingle with a smile

tears from an eye

down run with sweat

a freshness bled

flushing the flesh

into a solo drop

till the raindrop stops

to drop…

My Marco

Kom sit jy in die son

sodat die eerste geel

oor jou sproetjies speel

en ek wens ek kon...

Vertel jy vir my

dat jy jou lewe sal gee

vir n wereld met ewige vree

sodat geeneen meer seer sal kry.

Dis jy wat ons raak

en ons weer opgewonde maak

en ons deur die dag laat lag

vergete ons eie lewensvrag.

Dis jy wat ons bind

met jou liefdesgom

selfs die ander vind

en laat naderkom.

Dis jy wat ons leer

om die klein te waardeer

en ek wens ek kon…

Still searching.

When will I find this peace?

If it is not in the blessed life I have

If it is not on the boat I sail

If it is not in the people I love

If it is not in the sky I was taught

If it is not in the glass I empty

Where will I find this peace?

I am searching…

It is not out there

So how do I get in…within…

What will I do if it is not even there?

Cupped in hands

I hold you in my hands

no one will ever understand

that we are attached by a cord

to me reality – distort.

I hold you in my nestling touch

when life to me is no rush.

Everything came to a still,

only left to Nature’s thrill.

I keep you safe in my palm

to touch the storms, to calm.

When nothing is pleasing me

not even the hushing of the sea.

I will open my hands to let us go

to that place, only we know…

Relationships

Eighteen ships around a lunch table

no relation to another

only relation to ships

that creates relation to one other.

Ships laying in a bay

no need for words to say

connected only with the sea

makes us related, you and me.

Are we related in this world?

Some comparison unfold…

Ships in relation…

Human fabrication…

Is this a relative relationship?

Are we all uniquely bonded?

Ships in relation…

In relationship…

A snail on the ceiling

Life is no good

as I snailed up the ceiling

no food

as I left behind all feeling.

I sailed out of reach

where you can not preach

I pulled back my head into my shell

not gonna get out of here, sure as hell.

It took me a life time to get here

to try to preserve

just to end on the ceiling

left with no feeling.

Is this where it stops

right here at the top

a snail trail to dry

to reach a top and die...?

Flying little fish

Are you a fish flying?

Or are you a bird swimming?

Did you look up at the sky

and wish you could fly?

Or did you look down at the ocean

and thought you want to swim in that potion?

Did you stretch your fins every day

and say: I wish I may...

Or did you dive down to the blue

and say: Fish, I wish I was you...

Or are you just like me

always thinking it is better to be

somewhere else, I've never been

Just never there, just anywhere?

Sea Prayer

We call on Neptune

to hold her calm

keep her gently in your palm

Together with lady Mari

sea mother, set us free.

We call on lady Aphrodite

fish lady of the ocean

to hold her tight

keep the swells from their flight

spill a touch of magic potion...

We call on lady Sedna

to share your sea mysteries

with lady Mor's gracious liberties

keep your sea animals at play

in their organised array...

All angels of the watery blue

let us over the ocean flew

Oh, angels of the bluey water

look after our boat, your daughter

Grace her with your blessings from the sea...

Amen

The first Saint.

I found this man, living in exile

with bread and cheese and salt in a pile

left by the ship, without his ears, his nose, his hand

all alone to die on this island.

But he learnt to thrive

eating from the sea, from the hive

not minding me following him where he went

making me his companion, his friend.

When ships came we hid away

pretending we not part of this bay

but when they gone and the sun shone, we found a letter,

trying to make things better.

But Don Fernando Lopez, who fought for the Muslims

protecting the rights of humans

was banished to this place

scarred his body and his face

all in the name of God and the King

who will do such a thing?

Both outcasts, victim of the callousness of men

me, the cockarel sharing his den

judged by human beings

never to be seen.

to roam this island, wild

leaving his women and his child

dreading to show them daddy's face

let down by his own race.

For ten years he never read the letter

not thinking it will make anything better

the God and the King made a decision

to give him absolute absolution.

At the foot of the Vicar of Christ he stood

confessing about his sins against His people

he just thought all people were good

but it seems they not part of the steeple.

The God and the King set him free

but all he wanted to be

was to go to his island and cockerel

being what he loves to be, a infidel.

Don Fernando Lopez (1512)

He said

The man next to me on the plane

double J was his name

said to me:

Be kind to the person next to you, he said

and I thought in my eyes he read

but he said

be kind to the person next to you

because a battle is taking place

he said

and I thought he saw my face

but he said

be kind to the person next to you,

because each one is fighting his own battle...

he said.

Captured

You always said you'll be the angel in color

in a heaven of white

And  once you sizzled in the corner of my room

hundred hanging flickering red in light

And then you  stayed a moment too long

technology was just too strong

and when your daughter stood in a pose

in a second you froze

And you stayed in the violet

captured in the lense

nothing made sense

in purple distorted

reality reported

in only a moment

you were there

for me to declare

no one leaves

no one griefs

we are still together

............forever.

Mirror

The mirror in me

is the mirror in you

oh, how I wished it would never be!

But the mirror in you

is the mirror in me

it just

Now I'm searching for the flaw in you

and all the time the fault is me!

Oh God, help me to be the face in the mirror I want to see!

Optelfout

...en jy se:  nie n haar sal van jou hoof afval...

toe die chemo-gegifte klos op my kussing val

wat het jy regtig bedoel?

toe die naargolf oor my spoel

wat gaan jy maak as jy my so sien?

vol gegiet met moordende morfien

het jy dit iewers so bestel?

ek vol en dik en opgeswel

...of is dit so verkeerd oorvertel...?

is dit ek wat na myself moet kyk

my binnekant gevul met die grief van die lewe

wat ek gelei het, somtyds sonder spyt

somtyds goedheid uitgekryt

ek gryp die klos, ek sluk die naar

dis nou vir my om te aanvaar

ek kon jou leer en jy vir my

om die hare te tel, van mekaar.

Ekke

hier is n storm wat woed

om als te vergoed

en jy moet maar lees

want dit is my wees

as dit jou grief

gaan uit seblief

dis die goed wat ek in my dra

wat kliphard in my vra

om neer te skryf

anders gaan dit my dryf

so lees of los

hierdie is my sielekos....

Rambo

Ek skryf my naam in jou oor
vir jou dierelyf om te hoor
ons het al lewens geleef
wie was ek
en wie was jy?

Het jy jou band om my lyf gesit
en my rondgelei?
Het jy my bak vol kos gemaak
en my met spek verlei?

Kyk jy na my
soos ek na jou?
Voel jy my deur jou pels
soos ek jou?

Ek los my naam in jou oor
vir jou om laaste te hoor
te wag vir my
die tyd verby

vir my om die ink van jou oor te was....


I gave it to you

I gave you my soul
when you two held me tight
carefully in a blanket you rolled
to keep me from life's fright

I gave you my soul
long, long ago when you showed
me you love me
and showed me you
and I showed you me

I gave you my soul
when my womb tore apart
to let a life unfold
when it was a life - a start

I gave you my soul
when three jumped on me
to let my life tumble and roll
to let the purpose of my life, be

I gave you my soul
when my blue eye baby smiled
and my life was in a bowl
but you held me on the pile

I'm taking back my soul
I'm taking back my life
I'm taking back me

but I'm not letting go of any of thee!


Mama

...lees my blog op die komper
ek weet vandag is kommunikasie stomper
en ons twee raak al hoe lomper
maar miskien raak ek weer jou hart

ek weet dit was my pad
om te sukkel om jou raak te vat
miskien bly ons misverstaan
die pad wat ons harte gaan
maar ek smag na jou vra
na jou omgee, om my in jou arms te dra....

ek weet ek is nou groot
maar voel verstoot

vat my terug
abba my op jou rug
sit my terug in jou binnekant
haal my uit die buitekant

ek mis.....jou...

n  Groet.

Vir mekaar het ons, ons kinders belowe
as sussies, as die voorreg ons nie beskore
was, om ons kinders groot te maak
maar vir my was dit n grap
want hoekom sou die Noodlot ons so onverhoeds betrap?

en toe gee jy hulle weg

en nou moet ek dit maak, reg

vandag seil ek jou jongste op haar pad

om soos haar broers n pad te vat

en ek weet ons het haar als gegee
ek en jy, en jy en ek, altwee
sodra die loop vir my te ver was
het jy in my gebid oorgevat

nou is daar nog net twee
vir ons om groot te kry
maar dit moet jy onthou
al wat dan oorbly is,
ek, en jy

en jy moet my belowe

om my nie van my pad te berowe
maar dit met my te deel
om skelm oomblikke vir ons te steel.

My love affair

with you I will fly over the rainbow
with you I will sail over the ocean
with you I will ride over the earth

You give me the freedom of flight

You give me the wind in my sails
You give me the gravel on my road

You and I we gently touch, just to roughly shove
and then we softly roll, just to harshly scold
we love, we hate
we tolerate
we try to communicate

for measureless miles beyond,
I write

words

endless words
my only companion
on my fligth, my sail, my ride!

You are my secret lover
giving, caring, compassionate  and forgiving
You let me be
re-verse, converse
my words in universe!



84 square metres

Our island in survivor 2010 and on...
is plus minus 84 square metres
the only rule is to stay on

otherwise you'll end in the deeper

You'll learn to suffer through the non-existence of air
when the clever weather said it is fair
you'll shiver in the cold
when the clouds are thick and bold
you'll hide from the heat
when the sun decides to beat

this is our island of 84

we don't have a tribal council
just five on the jury
who will fight with such fury
and no vote for the weakest link
or the strongest link...
just take your walk on the 84 square metres
or escape to a half an hour reader

somewhere on our island of 84



Beaufort 9

Ek is in hierdie masjien gegooi
om te skommel in die blou
die seepbelle se prooi
in die hande van die vrou

Ek is in die blou, besig om te rol
met die lewe se spinnende tol
die skuimwalle se maal
om nog wasgoed te gaan haal

wie is jy?
wat is jy?
waar wil jy?
en waar gaan jy?

Vuil wasgoed seiljag deur my
tuimel en kantel in die blou
Lewe se golf moet ek ry
tot alles swart om my vou...

fok die weervoorspellers!!!!



Luderitz.

Soek ons jou op die see

vind ons jou in die flonker liggies mee

tot daar in die hawe

om ons te begrawe.

Met die koms van die oggend

groet jy ons uitlokkend

met n groot klip kerk

en klippe wat ver strek.

So besand jy dorpe

na mensdom verworpe

net om binne jou n paar te hou

om met my n oomblik te trou.

Hou jou Luderitz as vrou

met jou gaan ek klippe kou

Los jou...laat jou...voor ek berou...

om te leer om meer van jou te hou

Lost

when the student is ready,

the teacher will appear......

who am I?

what am I?

where am I?

where are You?

what are You?

who are You?

will I find you crossing the oceans?

will You be in the dusky dolphins playing?

will you be in the starless, scary night?

and I?

feeling emptiness to be filled

feeling loneliness to be stilled

feeling sadness to be touched

will You fill and still and touch...

me?

Teacher

Student

....will I find thee in me?

One Night

In your arms we snug

lying there without a rug

souls mingling into your branches

taking on life, our chances

under the stars we lie

in our hearts we cry

for the loss of love

trying to find some...above

only to find some...inside.

By Marlene