SHE TOOK MY HAND

Lost in the middle of indifferent humanity

An innocent infant hanging onto life

Just a heartbeat from destitution

Crawling from door to door, a voiceless cockroach!

Playing hide and seek with fate's misfortunes.

She took my hand

To a haven safe from inhuman customs

Insulated me from religious intolerance.

She took my hand

Led me from a garbage bin

Onto the table of kings.

She was one of a kind, one of a big heart

She took me on a voyage

To a paradise where I'd never be hurt.

She took my hand

Placed me closer to her bossom

A world where only roses blossom

Where love for humanity reigns supreme.

She took my hand

Ignored the voices of the heartless

Stood the heat from the callous

Proving she was selfless.

She took my hand

She took my troubles

She took my weaknesses

She took my failings

She took my hand

When others evaded me

Like a  leaper.

This poem is dedicated to my late mother who despite the stigma and hostility towards adoption had the courage and the heart to adopt us and bring us up as her very own children. This gesture remains as a living proof that " LOVE IS MIGHTIER THAN BLOOD"

WHEN YOU ARE AWAY

I hum tunes with no rhythm
I speak words with no meaning
I dance to routines with no drum-beats
I dream of emptiness
I talk of hopelessness
I plan for loneliness.

I drown in tears
I shrink in fear
I surrender to life's rear
I engage emotional low gear
My conscience is never clear
Thinking I'm the cause of the tear.

So next time when you plan to leave
Notify me so I can plan for the grief
So I may know it's just for a while
That you'll be back to return my smile
Next time lend me your caring heart
So I may hold it close to mine at night
Next time leave behind your lips
So I may kiss them goodnight before I sleep
Next time leave your love below my pillow
So from it my dreams will flow.

LITTLE BOY AT HEART

I play like a little boy
I roll in the mud muddling with my toys
I play hide and seek and drown in childhood joy
I look in the mirror, to my amusement
I've already grown a beard
I can sense teenage is no longer with me
I can feel twenties flowing out of my veins
Yet I'm still a little boy at heart
Jovial, innocent, playful........
Yet as stubborn as can be
Whenever life demands that I be.

DEAR PENIS

This is not just a letter
But a struggle to break away
From your friendship cage
You of the hyena dynasty
One that vets not its prey
So you taught me to feed
On the remnants of the lion kingdom.

Under your iron fist
You've led me to carcase feast
I foolishly devour along
Even the rotten beasts
You have infected me
With a malady called greed
Where a full tummy is all that matters.

So we feed on sickly wild pigs for breakfast
Compete with vultures for tea break
Haggle over one long-dead gazelle for lunch
A thousand of us each a piece of the corpse
We wait for others to kill the prey
To enjoy the best the jungle can offer
While we later scramble in the garbage bin.

I now must find a new friend
One of the lion kingdom
One who patiently studies the herd
One who picks on the tender prey
Without blemish and for himself
Chases till from it he sips fresh juices of life
One to whom a carcase is an abomination
One who despises  remnants of other predators.