Satish Verma, 3 january 2014
Dignity of knife in hope or fright
cuts the outer edge of desire.Huddled
anxiety oversees the fringe bites
of comforts. The child you abandoned
on road becomes a tree I nurtured.
A leafy town grows in the calyx of capricious
impermanence. Calisthenics permeates the
vibrations in foxgloves.Dragonflies become
vulnerable in feckless shadows of eyes. The
lithe body metastasizes into a mausoleum,
you adore. A tiger mauls a gift of bed.
Your whispers start hissing for intrusion.
A pilgrim of negation raises a non-belief,
creates a stimulus to bestow an endless
pain in summation of all night.
Satish Verma
Bob Gotti, 3 january 2014
More change, Lord, please help me, in a future I know not or can see,
Please help me with grace along the way, abiding in you, day by day,
While things appear even darker still, remind me that I am in Your Will.
Knowing that you are watching over me, what is ahead I need not see.
You’ve held me in my trials and fears, sustaining me over three years,
Showering me with all needed Grace, through whatever I need to face,
Wherever my journey had me go, your plentiful Love did always show,
Pouring love and grace in my life, not only on me but also on my wife.
Lord please continuing sustaining me, through a time we’ve yet to see,
Please guide both me and my wife, in a future where uncertainty is rife,
While relying not on man’s medicine, but your Spirit, Who dwells within,
As our pathway again has turned, guide us to live out all we’ve learned.
This disease is not pleasant at all, but, You Lord are big and it is small,
Please Lord afford us both Your Mercy, as the end we have yet to see,
Lord, I know we’re both in your hand, in this time we do not understand,
So please fill us both with Your Peace, so through all it will never cease.
Lord, it’s your place and your time, when I shall see my path so sublime,
That reality as I enter into Heaven above, all promised through your love,
For what this cancer cannot do, is take from me the fact of knowing you,
So if this cancer does take my life, I’ll be in the presence of Jesus Christ.
(Copyright ©01/2014 Bob Gotti)
Bob Gotti, 3 january 2014
Something that I could not foresee, is what they call neuropathy,
Chemo’s effect on extremities, well below the elbows and knees,
Numbness in my feet and hands, something no one understands,
Unless they dealt with the same, then empathy they can proclaim.
The neuropathy started in my feet, whether I stood or took a seat,
With a feeling both night and day, just like I had socks on to stay,
Soon my walk would be hindered, as the numbness daily lingered,
Causing me to slow my step’s pace, as impediment, I had to face.
The effect in my hands was worse, although my feet were hit first,
Losing my feeling in each finger, as the numbness began to linger;
Now little things I could not grip, even plastic bags, I could not rip,
But this isn’t the end of my story, as Christ gets the ultimate Glory.
Like my taste, that was taken away, it is coming back, day by day,
Becoming more apparent and real, getting stronger with each meal,
It was The Lord to help me cope, as there appeared to be no hope,
But, my taste was stronger each day, returning very shortly to stay.
It is my Lord God and my Creator, not to mention He is my Savior,
By Whom, I can be totally restored, for by Him I am never ignored,
God can restore my hands and feet, putting this malady to defeat,
For it is God, Who will restore me, for He’s The God of all Eternity.
(Copyright ©07/2011 Bob Gotti)
Bob Gotti, 3 january 2014
The Lord God did so much for us, when we came to Christ Jesus,
Wickedly lost and so depraved, sinful men, by Christ God saved,
So far from any thoughts of God, living upon this sin cursed sod,
Who, when found in Jesus Christ, are now clothed for Eternal Life.
We were chosen by God’s Grace, then destined for a better place,
To live forever with Jesus Christ, this, as we enter into Eternal Life;
As He who loved us died for all, to redeem man from Adam’s Fall,
Saved from that curse of death, when we’re granted eternal breath.
Yes, God bought us with a price, so we could enter into Paradise,
The Precious Blood of The Lamb, so to live with The Great “I AM”;
Cleansing us from sin and stain, not through our trial, but His pain,
Through Christ’s death on Calvary, so that man could live eternally.
He robed us in His Righteousness, far from our wicked sinfulness,
And His Righteousness will endure, from this time, to forevermore;
As Christ keeps us upon this earth, through His Spirit of New Birth,
Being kept for greater things, to serve eternally, The King of kings.
By Christ we have been Glorified, so that in Heaven we may reside,
In that Mansion, prepared for us, by our risen Savior, Christ Jesus,
To live with The Lord God forever, with Christ’s Church all together,
Being together in Heaven eternally; all attained by Christ at Calvary.
(Copyright ©08/2011 Bob Gotti)
Bob Gotti, 3 january 2014
Feeling well and then my friend, will this illness ever end?
From feeling well, I soon fall, back insides hospital walls,
Being home or there I know, God is with me wherever I go,
Carried to an emergency ward, within the arms of my Lord.
If it’s not bad enough for me, living daily, with neuropathy,
While infection rears its head, I’m back into a hospital bed,
All effects from my therapy; what the chemo’s done to me,
Lowering my body’s immunity, I lean on the God of eternity.
Since my chemo has finished, my abilities have diminished,
Like the ability, of each hand, and my ability to firmly stand,
But, I continue trust in the Lord, by who these aren’t ignored,
While, I lean upon my faith, that He’ll give me needed Grace,
Grace that helps me every day, as each trial comes my way,
Along with a supportive wife, who is with me, in all the strife,
While we fix our eyes on Christ, Who, controls our entire life,
Each and every waking hour, all, by God’s Grace and Power.
Traveling upon this weary road, Jesus Christ shares the load,
The load of burdens, which I face, by His all sufficient Grace,
Even at times truly carrying me, in ways I did not think or see,
God’s with me, there’s no denial, through this very weary trial.
(Copyright ©08/2011 Bob Gotti)
Bob Gotti, 3 january 2014
Many souls religious at their best, will surely fail their final test,
A test that man created friend, where good works are their end,
Ignoring The Words of The Son, God’s Only, True Chosen One,
Christ’s very words, “It is finished”; His Salvation is diminished.
Religion is man’s way to God, from down upon the earth’s sod,
In their works, they add to faith, ignoring Christ’s Saving Grace,
Letting religion guide their way, ignoring what Christ has to say,
Final words spoken by The Son, words from Him, for everyone.
Every religion is created by man; a salvation, not of God’s plan,
Led by the one who lied to Eve, so the religious, he will deceive,
Creating religions formed by men, of which, God shall condemn,
When Christ judges every nation, not by works but His salvation.
God, from above, sent His Lamb, Jesus Christ, The Great “I Am”.
To bring salvation to every land, Truth, all men must understand,
The Lord, who died on a tree, finishing salvation for you and me,
As Christ alone is the only way, no matter what religion does say.
All, who ignore the words of Christ, shall never enter Eternal Life,
As Christ alone paid the price, so that man could enter Paradise,
Good works won’t work friend, as many shall see come the end,
Ignoring Christ’s words on Calvary, will only bring wrath eternally.
(Copyright ©08/2011 Bob Gotti)
Gert Strydom, 2 january 2014
Reckless you wait in my dreams
with a pouting mouth
and at times I dream of us both
being together on holy ground
where the mere presence of God
does fathom love
but in life day and night interchanges
while love does bind us
with a kind of magic power.
Satish Verma, 2 january 2014
I could not take it, the fear.
Transient flesh
vibrant in a sunken ship.
On a coral island
deconstruction of a fallen window.
Jumping on million skins.
The level of violence was rising.
Rebuttal will not convey
the truth, the reality.
A thin line of lips
skates on the ice of power.
In a palm grove
I was held by music of death.
My arms unwrapped
around the portrait of life.
White swellings on the knuckles
betray the gliding priest,
who denies the god.
Satish Verma
Satish Verma, 1 january 2014
Strange thoughts give words
a pain. A mountain unfolds
a tunnel.He who carries a vase of ashes
must enter the gate to plot a path
for history.Ideas have turned into stones.
A violence erupts in long winter night.
Nobody understands the bird of time
who has lost the flight.
The bones learn the absence of house
in the forest of men. You realize the anointment
of unlearning. A gaudiest opulence
comes slowly in huts. The body becomes
blue in gentle fall of skimmed silence.
A prayer has a pernicious omen.
Satish Verma
Gert Strydom, 31 december 2013
In this stretched out country
many an Afrikaner is stranded
and we are all bound to the ground
to a place that at times wound us deadly
but daily we do still see the sun shine,
do notice how the late afternoon does disappear
and at night the stars glisten in their beauty
before the next sunny day.
Some people still live with integrity
in love, sadness and in joy
in a world where murder and robbery
reach each one at a time,
where every silent word and deed do reach out far
and people also want a place in the sun,
want to rest in peace at night in their beds
but still every day is full of oppression and violence
and nobody is free of this.