Glory bright

If it be mine

This race to run

No matter the damn

I’ll not hide

On my face I’ll smile

When head raised up

To catch this glory bright
                                                         
                                                                                    24/01/2014

What binds and bonds?

That which binds and bonds

That which soothes and relieves

That which puts smiles on their faces

... it is not money

Though more precious than gold




11/05/2013

Overflowing Shadows

shadows blow

like echoes

overflow 
their fall

separate 
the old

hay 
coast

under the trees tiny tall

where the streets tarred all

filled with leaves

where tired feet

the path leaves

higher louder

than the object

the sight 
will see

Bleeding heart

Her heart bleeds

What my lips shot

March turned June

She still bleeds

Thought long healed

Her scars gone faint.

Unwashed, still remain

Slowly to suffocate 

LET IT BE WELL WITH US

We knew our lot

We had no choice

Many the waters that perforated through our hands

When we went to the water side with a cracked pot

Many the effort of men

Many the spoils of the enemy

When we lost after our fight

We ran to fight again someday
Like today 

… let it be well with us

Through the torrents

Through the remains of the torrents

She went,

Long before I found her

A baby’s eyes shining bright

Covered by a single cloth

That held it across her loins

Full of understanding at its age

Towards the legs

whose feet have been painted in golden mud

18/9/2014

I laugh it away

Even in what I am going through

I laugh hahaha

Even in my predicament

I laugh

Even in this pain

I hahaha

17/9/2014

Blow me a whistle

A strong blow of a whistle

Fell into the mouth of the calm air

And I turned and gazed

To know from whence it came

A woman’s whistle like a man

Cutting deep like a knife

Through the abyss of a tuber of cassava

15/9/2014

Little Fingers

Little fingers break no bone

Little fingers break only shell of snails

How your touch lighted up

A dead nerve brighten up

You throw a wave across the sky

To meet up sometime

How time says it all

How beautiful it renders them

How did you come this way?

All again? 

I never thought.

Onward On

Their feet march on

         their bodies remain not

                         their soul will live on.

Oh Terrible Thou Art

Oh terrible thou art

To pass me by

Thou calabash of old age.

I fear thy terrible waters

Sour on the tongue

And gripping my teeth.

I fear thee terribly

Twisted bones at the hips

Growth of contours at the neck.

Descendants of men will pass by thy feet

To lie on them as thou will.

Thy anger is terrible when they provoke thee at their youth

Unbreakable hard as steel

Cooled from the molten furnace when invoked by thee.

11/9/2014

Sons and daughters of the sun

We are sons and daughters of the sun

Are you the sand on which it falls?

Hot and heavy to make you.

This place is our home

You call it Africa, Ghana.

We dance in the music of the rain

In tenderness our souls are nourished.

On the elephants we ride in glory

With the lions and tigers.

We call it beauty

When they grow green

Adorned by their flowers.

We call it peace

When they fall from their heights

And our mother shines through them.

O Africa, Africa, where art thou?

Virgins and wild of the undying mother

Your sons will flourish like the stars in the dark night

And your daughters like the sands at the beach at day.

Forever bowing to your glorious call, o mother.

Forever proud to be from you.

I guess they call it love

Is it the look on the face

And the smile that receives it

Is it that tap on the shoulders

That warms up the fingers.

I guess they call it love

But is it like a soothing through the whole being

A presence that is longed

That satisfies an unknown thirst

An inexplicable hunger.

Oh she is here…,

He is there…          

Can I tell her?

Should I tell him? 

13/2/2014

Pity be the prey...

On the green hill

Hanged lose their dropping wings

Not for a sip but a pick.

Could it not be a worm like a twig

Whose cover was not so swift

Just after its loose: a sudden fall in flight?

Pity be that prey

When the sky and its host

Moisten up their path to trap

In a sticky juicy gel.

 13/6/13

A search for rescue

A search for rescue   

Sharp was her cry

That passed into the dim distance

Above the red earth, the dry thatch

Back and forth, side to side

As if being tossed by the wind

… disappeared from sight

Came again two voices

Two bodies in definite direction

Passed me by in flight together

14/6/13

Bulls At The Water Banks

Will I use my strength again?

The bulls must go to the water banks.

Should one watch them

If they decide with their feet alone

The cool calm waters to stir.

Well, at sunset, surely

One will drag them home.

Should I mind if they still thirst?

9/1/2014

SHOT WITHOUT A GUN

Bathed with the gel of beauty

Smiling like a sister to the clear sky

When suddenly a burst out from the bloom

The unexpected early morning rays

Oh how she jerks her head in the arena

Only an audience I am

I feel I should do same

The only way to get a clear shot without a gun

Dedicated to Naa Atswei after a view of her photo shot

on the 21st of August, 2014

DOES IT END HERE?

Does it end there?

With falling leaves

And drying greens

And farming soil

Does it end there?

With falling rain

And scorching sun

And dry windy air

Does it end there?

Strong tide lifting

And anchor drifting

And cables straying

When tears get dry

And clouds roll by

With its darkness

Will it end there?

2014 UNESCO POEM OF THE DAY

Tomorrow will hurt me

It hunts me

Like a warrior’s arrow to his enemies

Dipped in fire towards the thatch.

I am the elephant grass consumed by drought

The hope of the famished mind

Who ceased not to graze on my scattered hay.

Oh yesterday the hand that tilled my land

Failed to nourish and nurture me.

 That hand is frail and feeble

Once fierce and bold.

Yesterday is gone

Its fruits still stay on my land

Ever staring, still glaring

What will tomorrow be?

Oh tomorrow that hunts me

I fear you will hurt me

Oh help me today

While you live.

This was the main poem of the day to commemorate the 

UNESCO World Poetry day celebrations organized by the 

Walk The Talk Group at the Maison Francaise, Legon in 

University of Ghana. It was written by Leander David and 

read by the UNESCO Ghana director, Tirso Dos Santos 

on the 21st of March, 2014. 

None like you

Tonight will also by pass

as i walk on that lonely path

without you at my side 

without your quarrel or smile

oh who takes care of me like you?

In the stable the hay goes stale

while grasses green bloom under the open blue

and none still came with a sickle.

I no longer wish for another you

because there will be none like you.

where do we go from here?

The rains fall

And crawl

From its belly

Into the gutters, rivers, lakes or seas

Who said it knows not where to tie its knot

It will enter with all the dirt on its feet

The raging white foamy waves

Against, it will roll again

From side to side till all absorbed by the blue deep.

Where is your home?

Where do we go from here?

Brooms in the fathers room

Oh brooms in the fathers room

Sweep clean your legs on the ground

Sweep clean those tinny legs fall

Tireless wrist breathe in deep

Breathe not their hate to clean

Incense green smoke

As wax light glow

Smiling away

smiling away
a wave from afar
smiling away all to part
not in a haste
so short a wave
for a pain so long
into the dawn
soon to be gone

Crown of Chastity

I saw her pass me by

she mourns over her loss

like she always does

several times each month

Even in her dark apparel

she wears yet a smiling face

an invisible crown of chastity

Oh victorious she has been 

in the fight against promiscuity

Dedicated to a friend, Jemima Aniagyei,
who did her national service at the Spanish section
 of University of Ghana, from August 2013 to May 2014. 

Oh Rafia

By Phoebe Liew http://www.123rf.com/                                                                                              

On your high places

we encroached,

to expose this serenity

blessed thee from above.

Like a branch in the winds

our tongue blew thee

each time each blow,

returned thee to stability

even with our cherished fruits.

19/05/2014

A figure through an alien land

I searched for a heart

when the heart sought after me

through the lonely woods

meandering earth paths

where I found their sandy snakes

blackish brown on the red earth

They flew to announce their presence

their branches intertwined to express their love

they called for silence

as they rubbed their dried leaves together

I heard no more my foot steps

but my beating heart

The rains sneezed on my path

I walked through as the dogs run and bark

turning their heads behind

an unknown figure passing through an alien land

discovers a desire in an alien culture

with which to satisfy himself  

Alikoto in the fine sand

Vuu vuu

Slowly takes she, 

her bow

Vuu vuu

Alikoto enters the fine sand

Twisting twisting in gorgeous turns

For a hand to take a hold at the waist

When shame flees at sunset

The dark hides their beaming faces

Yet their sight brighter in the night

On painted lips and showy eyebrows

Haha haha hahaa

The moon the stars

In the spectrum of my eyes, shines

Deeply transformed by my touch

Their stuffy and cold pleasures

When my kisses gashed out of its wells and oases

Like sweet sugar honey,

Their banks will overflow, unending

All that I do

Is all what I want to do

Undress like I have well done

Not fearing the eyes the moon nor the sleeping sun

When I hide in the empty alleys

On the boulevard plain

On top of the office tables

Among the powerful public servants

I search a man:

A man, not for home but of money

Oh painted lips showing opened belly top

I see all of it move with her gestures

Like a snare, I the by- stander and all her guest to embrace

As our steps fall in her glue, our wings in her woven web

Your standing crowns unveiled

The flashing lamps in the dark

Twist your alikoto,

Hear the sound that dazes

My steps to stagger 

As I hold it in my palm

Left to tickle every part of my receptive being with its top

From the centre of it

Vuu vuu

slowly you’ll bow to her command

Vuu vuu

Alikoto in a pretty fine sand

Vuu vuu

Within invisible determined confines

Vuu vuu

Twisting twisting her gorgeous turn

A hand to take a hold of a waist

And shame flees at sunset

The dark to hide a face

Will leave bright in the night her sight

Oh eyebrow that goes before painted lips

The night is my day

The day my night

Sweet night

How I wished I could tie you to my wishes end

The fire sticks in her hands

Never ceases to be rekindled

By the poker of her lips

Young and foolish are her guest

Who enters her gates

Spiced with fragrances of gel

Under the shadow of the night

They fortified and mounted their base

Eyelids in mascara, their covering

With two little deities which will subdue You,

Bewildering to the eyes

Their sight, naked to the eyes

Adorable vampires decorated by nature’s beauticians

In abundance we have

This is what men wants

Come hither come nigher

Have what you’ve longed for

The light is gone

The night is long

Darkness covers it all

Come hither come nigher

Then your night forever will be short

With its mark you’ll be left

To tarry at day with all glances

A perpetual shame, a lasting regret

Unwashable stain in white linen

With time, dirty and dark

The white linen becomes the stain itself

Like the dark night around her

Flowers in a new hand

I gave a flower from the bottom of my heart

She held it and dropped it

I now see my flower in an unknown hand

Being nurtured and tendered

This hand I see not like her hand

Not like what I knew

Like that touch which sent flying

My wet eye lashes

To dry like the desert

The eagle eyes bright

I yearn to have my flower

When time and tide brings me nigh

My flower I will not touch but leave

To possess this new hand that bears it now.

Going in and coming out

I went in with them

And came out alone

with plenty of myself at night

Out with a tap alone in the morning

Pity filled their compassion

A favour they made undeserved I know

But I will still go in

Hoping will come out one day

Not alone

Within a Husband's Arms

the morning just began
so fresh and so green
like a hot breakfast of lemon grasses
not served when the kids are there to say Mom and Dad
Putting them apart for fear of attention
not alone on a saturday morning's bed
nor by a sweet voice away on the telephone
but within a husband's arm

Hungry Tommy

Bearers of hungry tummy

Appear gay flickering in colour

Mixtures mixed in different colours

Colours of the sun and rainbow

Turned white on the surface

Dark when broken down

Into the deepest depths

The depths of the deep

Doing what you can

It is more than money

when each does what he can do 

when he has to do it

It is like a strong wall, tower and fortress

which anger and boredom and quarrel 

never can pull down

and like a ladder 

will lead you through the entrance

flled with everlasting joy,

into the arms of the maker.

HISTORY OF THEIR CLAN AND LOVE

With their fresh green memory

They tell over and over again

The history of their love and clan

It fell like dew and salt on them: 

Yet their listening ear failed to grab.

Lost into time with time

Into the deepest depths of the deep

Unspoken words are spoken

Long before they were spoken

From the dark corners of the mind

Where the eyes with aid can’t see

Can the blind see?

And how long this ugly rage of mine live

A giant gorilla each moment breeds

And if a genial sensation turn

Will it pierce and melt through

Even the darkest and iciest hearts of men?

AT THE GATE OF AKOWE

Did I miss the old lady at the gates of Akowe?

I greeted someone

We exchanged pleasantries

Old just as they have said she was

Didn't you see the lines on my palm?

Oh, how long will they remain the same, unchanged

As my head grows bigger

Adding to the weight on my elongated legs?

It should never be a bother. There are times when those you know will live far from sight and those you love, behind your cloudy sky.

30:01:2014

I found them all

I found them all

Twinkling stars above my sky

I found even more

Coming from the north with a nod

Those I knew far remained on sight

Those I loved showed behind my cloudy sky

But you, my shining star have remained closer

never failed your light on my path. 

OH WORMS

Oh worm from the red earth

Get rid of your enormous pleasures

Served to you on a silvery plate

In white gloves

That hand which held it

Your mouth will water

Your thoughts its passing not perching

The blowing wind impregnated with dust, gives birth at the feet which caresses it.

12.12.2013

Tear drops fell on me like ice

Tear drops fell on me like ice

Not from my eyes

And I almost vowed a quest

A quest I cannot reach

Tonight is my last night

Tomorrow will not find me here