STOCKHOLM SYNDROME

Once again
we stand naked, here
at the crossroads of despair and hope
holding onto each other's abusive hands
gazing into the teary horizon

we stood at the midpoint of it all

behind us
familiar crowds
chants of reconditioned anthems
hopes repackaged and visions regurgitated

yet still we fell for the anthem
or did we?
a tyranny of blunders ahead
a litany of murders behind

what a season of cynicism
what improbability of hope

yet daylight must surely come

©December 2017

WE WERE ONE. STILL

must it take adversity to bring us together
our oneness merely but temporary
we are one is not but a maligned anthem
a forced reminder of catastrophic failures
in the nationalist project

ethnic geographies, orgies of theft
myths of oneness abound
the burden of history brings trepidation
as a nation gropes through its worst fears

It is the season of plunder
and wanton abandon

why are we like this

© March 2017

GIGIRI

What is the beauty
of promises unbroken
or heartstrings unstrained
in one way  streets of justified jealousies

here the coastal strips
of my cautious heart
gasped for air
intermittently
a glorious pain
from the caressing white sands
of the promises you kept

what happened in Gigiri?

can true heartbreaks affirm love
or vulnerability affirm strength

beyond love
what more must humanity ask for

© 16 February 2017

LEGACY

Sometimes it may seem unlikely that you matter

and that you too matter

yet you both do

when the dust settles and

the drumbeats of war drowned and

the ghosts of companionship stand appeased

by the steely silence of an empty seat at the top of the dinner table

when the roaring ambition dies

to be replaced by complacent acceptance 

of fate as it shouldn't be

you still will matter

rest then

in solid solidarity of oneness

knowing too that you too matter not only now

as you were but then as you'll be

always.

for in the fullness of time, when the thunder dies and

the skies clear and

the props drop and

everybody recedes in the bitter-sweet aftertaste of farewell....

only you two must carry the legacy

shall carry the legacy

carry the legacy

the legacy

my enduring footprints in the sands (mud?) of time.

© August 2016