Joshua Hillard, 11 july 2013
It seems as if my past is here to stay,
I suffer every day,
But it seems there’s no other way,
I thought since it was done my past was gone,
I did wrong,
And now I know it’s still standing so strong,
You still phase it, with emphasis so gold,
It was old,
But your actions say differently than what you are told,
My past is beating me with no future at the end,
I’m starting to bend,
All I needed was you, my best friend,
It turns out that is was all a lie,
Why do I try?
Even when we’re unable to compromise,
I should’ve seen it by the look in your eyes,
That my past still cries,
The vengeance in all the honesty and lies,
Because of it, I suffer so greatly,
You act as if you hate me,
And day by day I hold on with a maybe,
Maybe you have forgiven, to start new,
But it’s never true,
Now I’m lost, there’s nothing I can do,
So what is it I have left?
This last breath,
And I’m taking it until my death.
Joshua Hillard, 11 july 2013
One love whose soul burns fiery hot,
Burdened by the mystical we call life,
Yet thy love feels like a warm summer day;
Drifting wind whispering through our branches,
So slim, so tall;
Echoing through thy birds that nest their home,
Courtesy as thy birds share with nature;
Thy love, oh sweet generous love,
Praised to the chirping; such a harmonic tune;
Ringing loudly throughout thy leaves,
Tumbling down thy sap;
So sticky, so sweet;
Thy leaves soon change color,
So vividly under the night sky;
Red, orange, yellow, and green,
Falling to the earth in a beautiful rain,
Sweeping back and forth – forward and back,
In a constant motion; so beautiful;
As it burrows its new home onto Earth’s ground,
Shedding its way, lusciously covering thy Earth;
Mixed in a variation of colors,
That changes thy face;
So bare, so bold;
Long winter seasons bring thy cold breeze,
As thy branches are thickened with summer warmth,
Tackling the next four months fearlessly;
Bravery trickles as the soft white snow reaches Earth,
Thy roots toughen, blanketed by the freezing snow,
Patiently awaiting for winter to bypass;
As thy branches and thy hearts grow larger,
Gradually to watch the cold snow soak into the ground,
Thy sun reaching its highest peak each morning,
To bring thy Spring back as our branches begin to stretch;
Outward the new beginning, a beginning of life,
Miraculously, yet divine;
Oh thy heart – sweet calling you may be,
So warm, so majestic;
We wait towards our new seasons,
To bring thy branches out for their fullest potential,
To begin our meaning to the center of life.
Salvatore Ala, 10 july 2013
In so much rain the homeless drown,
If this rain was bullets they’d be children of massacres.
If this rain was petroleum coke we’d already be Pompeii.
If this rain was a pesticide we’d be innumerable bees
Found dead in parking lots round the world.
If this rain was plague we’d be shadows among Pharaohs.
If this rain was money we’d drink from the same well.
If this rain was food the hungry could eat their tears.
If this rain was love, hatred would dissipate like haze.
If this rain was peace, peace would water our lands.
If this rain was rage, God would haemorrhage
From a wound at least as mortal as our own.
Gert Strydom, 10 july 2013
A farmer walks up to his horse and it is spring again
and he bridles it and there is pain
in the old man’s body,
but the earth is soft underfoot after the rain.
In the distance a red Massy Ferguson tractor
ploughs drawing neat lines, but he’s still the administrator
and it’s early spring with every thing living rejoicing
but the ache in the flesh reminds him of the words of the doctor.
His son is out there tracking the field
and it’s as if he has now to yield
before the young, who are vital and strong
just have to go along, but he still has some power to wield
and his eyes measure the ploughed field, the smell of fresh earth
surrounds him, almost like a token of new birth
and his young wife looks up and smiles with eyes full of promises
while he secures a saddle with a girth,
puts a foot in a stirrup and reach up
for the knob on the saddle and for moments they look at each other
and her gaze is enticing, filled with spirit
her hair is blowing in the wind like surf on the beach
and the ardent Arabic horse knows its master well
acts with love, as if under his spell
while they gallop away
and he has got cancer, is a dying man, unwell
but life is really great and the sun, wind and sky
is familiar like any other day, where he is saddled high
and they meet him as friends, companions before he turns,
rides home to a wife who looks lovely to his eyes.
Satish Verma, 10 july 2013
Everybody was half-naked on the trail
of curves. Braindead. Emptied thought.
A single vacant look.
"Why me? " I ask. Stay stupid in the crowd. Looking
at the moon, indulgent. Plucking the nector from
knobs of naked flames.
No coming back from days of unknowing
the secrets of unskopen words. A cry stifles
in the throat of a prayer.
A moon was found on a dump!
Satish Verma
Gert Strydom, 9 july 2013
The hunger in my heart tonight leaps
like a panther,
while I miss you more than I can tell,
there is no other
that can even quench this empty longing,
just together
life, the world seems functional, good and great
and you remain my life-long love and mate.
Gert Strydom, 9 july 2013
Tonight the silence caries its soft message
between us both
the moon is distant looking white and old,
the pitch black cloth
of many ages tells the stories of love,
we have sworn troth
to each other and you are know to me
as if this night long has been meant to be.
George Krokos, 9 july 2013
I
Today my heart is beating a sorrowful tune
and I don’t really know if it will end soon.
Since your departure all seems to be amiss
a pale reflection of that once heavenly bliss.
I have been left stranded on an alien shore
to fend for myself groping near your door.
The aftertaste of delight which our union once exuded
lingers on now in memory and feels like I was deluded.
Something doesn’t seem to be quite the same
even though I remember and repeat your name.
Your presence was what made the difference then
such a tangible feeling: will you not come again?
I can only endeavour to lure you back once more
so please don’t any of my genuine efforts ignore.
II
I look for you everywhere that I happen to go
but where you’re to be found I’d like to know.
Some say you’re in the heart and to look within
while others assert that you’re in the next of kin.
Life is really a situation of relationships with you
and knowledge of the ways of love gets us through.
If we come across difficulties and obstacles by love they’re resolved
which engenders compassion and understanding as it gets involved.
There are many people in the world who look in all the wrong places
searching for the same thing here in the available surrounding spaces.
Hoping that what they’ll find is what their heart most desires
and to fulfil this craving their mind with their heart conspires.
Our inner being or soul though is the silent witness observing it all
and expresses itself as our higher conscience when we heed its call.
III
To suffer in the agony of a lover’s separation we learn
that being away from the Beloved makes the heart burn.
It is even worse when the Beloved has gone away not saying why
and the lover has been left alone in the throes of love high and dry.
The heart cannot bear the pain of love in separation
and the mind seeks to achieve a suitable reconciliation.
When the power of love rules the heart mind hastens to obey
and doesn’t need any other reason to cause unwanted delay.
If all the lover’s efforts to a reunion only end in despair
then it may be better to let the matter rest awhile there.
True love cannot be really denied except at a great personal cost
and in desperation we seldom realise the value of what’s been lost.
There is a saying that: ‘love will always find a way’
and that a heart full of love over the mind holds sway.
IV
As I was never given a reason why you suddenly left
I can only assume that there isn’t one and love is bereft.
The heart has its own reasons which the mind can’t fathom
so the mind depends on the heart for matters in its bosom.
Where the Beloved goes there the lovers also have to follow
because love is the magnet that draws them all nigh to go.
When the fragrance of love is in the air and lovers imbibe its scent
the intoxicating effect is a strong potion which on the heart is bent.
Man’s feeble mind relies more on the heart when the matter of love is concerned
but if the mind dominates and rationalises through the intellect love is adjourned.
If the mind of the lover is centred in the heart where the play of love is unfolding
it will experience anguish and misery when the Beloved anything is withholding.
All true lovers will always seek the company and well-being of their beloved
and are never satisfied with remaining at a distance if love is being uncovered.
V
Whose fault is it may I enquire if anyone falls irresistably in love
and the processes of love in separation overwhelm as from above?
What can one really do but follow wherever their heart leads
and undergo the agony in seeing that love is not displeased.
In seeking the pleasure of the Beloved one’s life becomes fulfilled
which otherwise would remain barren like a desolate land untilled.
When the Beloved sows the seeds of love in the fertile soil of one’s heart
all that was in there when that time comes must be sublimated or depart.
The arrows of love seek to pierce their target which is the heart of the lover
and the Beloved is the one drawing the bow with intent to kill we discover.
To die for love is much better than to live without we’ve heard often before
and those who lose their life in the cause of the Beloved will live forevermore.
When the heart is purified and pure love is awakened by the Beloved’s grace
any who are the recipients thereof realise that love in separation has its place.
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George Krokos, 9 july 2013
They say there's a reason for everything which man's mind must know
however it is by intuition that beyond the mind man really strives to go.
The transcendence of the mind can be effected through discipline and grace;
without the help of one established beyond it is difficult to reach that place.
_______________________________________________________
George Krokos, 9 july 2013
When thine eyes become single thy whole body is full of light
thus has the apostle written of the words of Jesus being right.
This opened eye of the awakened soul can see things far and wide
and by which one can also see that light of God being there inside.
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