Melisa

When those fingers and faces
smiles and cheers
surround you
while you cut your cake
and blow out its flame,
they mean to say
that there will always be a home
far away from home.









Emperor Leander David

Dedicated to Melisa
on her brithday

2018 Unesco Poem of The Day

Wherever their alluvial soils desolately lay,

where the raging waters shrink,

there they long tarry,

within those binding boundaries of quick sand:

the winner takes all

loser stands small

only the strong survives.

Yet the staggering beggar

drops a coin in the hand of a blind beggar.

Swollen red eyes still flood their banks

and among your people your hunchback limps.

Many the waters that perforated through our hands

When we went to the water side with a cracked pot

Many the spoils of the enemy

when we lost after our fight.

There is hope

Hope for the weak and strong

Who here, a purpose and place have.

Victor and vanquished

and poor and rich alike

who will with us be

till the end of the years.

And while the battles still last

May it be well with us.

Emperor Leander David

21/3/2018

On the occasion of Unesco Day of Poetry

Life is full of surprises

We all need a friend
a best friend
Some may come and go
while others come to replace.
The best will always stay
waiting and hoping
for that bright time
correcting and healing
motivating not faulting.
Today if you have none
still be the best friend.
Life is full of surprises.



NB.

Inspired by Reina
13/3/2018

What you know not

What you know not might be nought
not when you think of it.

What you know not
like darkness, is scary, slippery and gripping.

A step in this darkness
like a million year's walk in eyes blindfolded.

Better it is, not taken
and better it is the humble pie to swallow
to pursue clarity and even make amends.

It pays.

No, not one.

Is there any excuse?
No, not one.
If even there be
I will say it not
I wont say it all.

2017 Unesco Poem of The Day

Pressing heavy on the shoulders bold 

in anger, bitterness and regret born

She marches on! 

Her whole life hanging on a hold

imprisoned in a wooden sieve

She marches on!

Weighed down by a baby at the back

lungs exhaling, sweat oozing up 

She marches on!

Weariness disfigured her face

not knowing how far a hand on a third leg will go

when the whole body it holds

She marches on!

While at her side the falling sun rays

a lip opens to close 

in a lost speech 

in unfound thoughts. 

Yet her screams follow her on

her feet painted by the noon dust

to send her hand into her mouth 

finding hope in her beating heart

Oh help her march on!

Eating with both hands

What about me 

who gave you all 

Mine and more. 

After all that 

why won’t you fly  

even if you will borrow 

those wings just for me

'Fair is foul

foul is not fair' 

The song of a woman 

with colour in her eyes

eating alone with both hands.

The Dancing Night

Smiling breast born with
dancing in her blood
Boils off its sweat 

even to pant
Loud cheering glances
precede her humble presence

which is engulfed 

in a never-giving up short strong arms.

Going is coming

dancing not stopping
meeting a happy night

The open sky reveals its womb
no blood nor chord
but fresh air guarding a starless night
A defeated prince 

who will come back with the moon

to fight against time and chance

To send the night packing

not with a kiss
nor a diamond flickering gaze

but a detachment
on a lonely seat.

Hands fell low in shamelessness
seduced by a speedy feet in hasty boots
Their blinded eyes reflect their cold wet reception

which none should emulate

I wait for you.

I wait , I wait for you

At the corner of this dim room

watching the time go by.

When, I asked…?

When will I get into your sparkling

waters that surround me?

I yearn, I yearn

but I don’t want to get wet.

My clean plate will one day be dirtied by food

Oh when, when I asked..?

To be there with you

and still different from each other.

To speak like you do and not lose my language.

I am, I am quiet

but I know what I want to say.

Just a little afraid of how it will go when I say it.

Will it go well…?

Oh I wait, I wait for you

A spoon already in my hand

while a cup of ice cream cools in front of me 

I wait

... for you

Solamente un sonido

Un sonido sólo,

“Dame una mano”

una mano vino

pero con un beso

Fuera del viento que me da la vuelta

por los caminos no conocidos:

de sonrisa y vergüenza

de franqueza proclamada y  enfado sumergido

donde el águila tiene en su mano la serpiente

vengo frente a frente a los dos.

Esta mano de autoridad y poder

me guiará a mi futuro.

no estará cansada o débil

pero se alzará arriba y encima de las estrellas.

Y con este beso que me ha influido

a aprender algo nuevo: un pueblo de otro continente y su cultura;

Aquí he encontrado una casa nueva, lejos de la mía

Alguien que puedo llamar a mi Madre

Ya se fue el antiguo

y ha llegado el nuevo

conmigo en el medio

entre una mano y un beso

andando hacia común destino.

¡Viva Ghana y México!

¡Viva La Embajadora María de Los Angeles!

¡Viva la prosperidad y la felicidad en nuestro nuevo año!

Dedicado a Su Excelencia,

La Embajada de México en Ghana
durante el día del Nuevo año

© Emperor Leander David

Yo vibro

Sonrisas como flores

vida como muerte

en el medio

yo vibro

Bonita, oh bandera linda

en el ritmo de viento baila.

Su oscuridad me quedo

fresco viva abajo.

Yo vibro

como pesos fueran del mar

como cabras en campo de verde

Dos continentes viven juntos

para realizar única causa yo trabajo

Yo vibro

A ti que te gusta cuidar el planeta

de donde está la bandera: verde, blanco y rojo

Y en el medio el águila come el serpiente

Contigo yo trabajo

Yo vibro

               

Vibro pero muero a tu lado

Muero porque para vivir

comemos y dormimos

Y qué … y nada mas

Ya no vivo

no te mates

la planeta para salvar

a tu lado

Yo vibro                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Fight your fears

No more be a silent corn

thrown in a fowls compound

Nor run away, a frightened chicken

at the mercy of a hungry hawk

Fight your fears when they come

even the fastest hungry hawk

your grounds stand

Fight it even If you die

like an angry mother hen

at the sight of a predator

@ Emperor Leander David.

Made accessible to social media pages of
Walk The Talk Group/ JP International (Jubilee Projections International)
and their allied pages.

You are a failure when you do nothing about your failure.

Watching the sea

Silent as the rock remains

at the edge of the sea looking onward

White foamy waves embrace

to drown in a rage boisterous

But silence, dumb founded

overshadowed by their invasion

Solid turned liquid but a moment

Rock and water losing impurities

Rock losing all the water but in puddles

Till they meet again in a clasp

Guess what?

Sunny the sky with flowers ready to bloom

smiling their white like wool

as they show sets of teeth

Guess what?

Before the clouds thick form and they wither

brewing burning hatred

hot red like scarlets on the faces

meandering their separate path full of thorns

beautiful were the hands which held her waist in the lock

Fount Of Love

If I must sip but once

and quench an inevitable thirst,

where will I go between two clear rivers?

In onward wonder a river will keep me;

deep reflections of regret, another.

While each step meanders,

thou fount of love

through me that will flow

do find me quick

that perfect outlet slope.

For in weakness I bear this hold

so strong to let you show.

© Emperor Leander David



NB
Dedicated to a fellow traveller, Ruth.

Who Has The Hammer

 

Eugene Edzorho (b. 1986), Untitled "Governor III" 2017,Rocks from Galamsey sites, Dimension variables

Explosion

                Break asunder

Chipping the pieces to collect

Washed to refine

To pollute the lot

In your bosom Oh nature

We ruin

We no more drink the ancient waters

The waters of our fathers

They stink

And our catch on the surface motionless lay  

 Whose untimely death our actions caused

Fallowed earth

We’ve lost

We’ve ruined

Like rocks though in pieces

Left to hang above

On our waiting heads will stray and fall

We say aloud and paint them around

“Foreigners  foreigners” as if they did them all

Not locals who in turn their living made

And now join the crowd to hoot and shoot

Our own lurks around while they, we soon deport

Say no more if you can’t punish them all

“Foreigners foreigners” as if they did them all”

© Emperor Leander David

Prince Oduro (b. 1996), Stop Galamsey, 2017, Mixed media, 4ft by 4ft 

NB

In support of “Orderly Disorderly”

Ongoing end-of-year-exhibition held by blaxTARLINES Kumasi

Open daily: Monday to Sunday, 8am - 6pm

Closing: Friday, 1st September, 2017.

@ Museum of Science and Technology, Accra.

Made accessible to social media pages of
Walk The Talk Group/ JP International (Jubilee Projections International)
and their allied pages.

MATILDA

Matilda my love and Empress

A virtuous woman who will get

Together our paths have intertwined

In love inseparable from the deepest depths of the soul

Laughter, long life, abundance and good tidings I wish you

Dearest love that will be bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh

As long as I live; so let it be..

© Emperor Leander David

NB:

Written for Michel

a dedication for her Love, Matilda on her birthday

which fell on 29th of June 2017.

Angel en mi sueño

Oh angel

bastante brilla

me iluminas la noche.

Al cielo me toco

cuando cierran mis ojos.

Ver te espero

en tu elemento

una ola fuerte

que me llevará  

arriba cuando salto

y miedo no tendré si caigo.

Porque sé que estarás

alguna parte, toda parte conmigo

aun en mi sueño

en mi trampa más oscura. 

I Won't Drink From Any Again

I longed and desired

when I got lost in your rivers

which carried me not away

but washed the shores of my soul.

I asked to keep a part of you

a part I would have thrown away

but I still have.

It’s right by me now.

Oh I won't drink from any again

than from the calabash I took from you



© Emperor Leander David


NB

First publish by 'Our Empire' on Google blog

Made accesible to social media pages of
Walk The Talk Group/ JP International (Jubilee Projections International)
and their allied pages.