The Unspoken

While it is implacably inexplicable
How I feel inside today
Or yesterday or sometime before
When we first met,
It is evidently so, that I find a reason to smile
At every mention of your name, or even so,
A thought that may lead to the idea of you…
That the unseen string that reinforces the
Seemingly strong connection between us
Perceive to me the necessity of your presence
Such that when I look into those beautiful eyes,
Watching as the white of your teeth flash to me
Your impeccably glistening smile
Which spreads your smooth and shiny black skin
With lines of warm twinkles
Twinkles that reflect my eyes to yours
And yours to mine,
The world inside my mind is holstered upon cloud eleven
Where, as I lay down upon its cushiony surface,
Flashes of images;
Beautiful images of you,
Span through my mind, my conscious
And sub-conscious,
Turning into dreams of the reality which I,
Upon the unspoken existence of unmistakable liking,
Wish I would have with you.

You Can't Back Up into the Future

When the grays of life hit you hard
And you choose to sit under the apple tree
From the dawn of the morn to the dusk of the night
Waiting for the apple to fall
Saying: “Gravity, doctored gravity, choose one for me today!”
Your wait will certainly be endless
And your future put on hold.

When you linger on the insurgent pain
Or the regret of a mistake made
When you tell yourself: “Shame on me! Shame on me!”
In lieu of: “Don’t do it again!”
When you are stuck at the endless sharp corner
While you could hitch-hike a joyful ride
You are losing control of your life
Holding your future at goodbye.

The future begins at foresight,
It makes more sense that way
No hindsight camping will give you
A place in a promising tomorrow
And no happiness left behind you
Compares to the one ahead.

So change your perception of circumstances
Focus on what can be changed
For you cannot back up into the future
And hit not a wall instead
Get up from under the apple tree
And start picking up apples for yourself
For gravity can give you apples,
But gravity wouldn’t let you choose!

Washing Ripe Plantains

Have you ever found yourself
doing stupid things in a day
like walking into a glass wall
or falling off a low chair?

Have you ever found yourself
at loss for words or speech
that yes becomes a weak nod
and no an inaudible snort?

Have you ever fluttered eye lashes
a million times in a second
or stuttered through a sentence
you knew so well in your head?

Have you ever lost order
picked up clumsy as your new tune
walking into pots and pans
off the car with your seat-belt on?

Have you ever had a silly smile
as big as east from west
a giant and endless silly grin
till your eyes were almost closed?

Have you taken on a new route
that's abnormally long and windy
hoping for an accidental meeting
oh hello what a surprise?!

Then let's meet at the corner fountain
where the water is fresh and free
and wash clean these ripe plantains
of butterflies and sweaty palms-:)

MISS-PERFECTION

Though she may wholesomely appear, the byword of perfection
Though she may walk with impeccable, and apparent sure footed steps
Though she may appear to have, a clear sense of vogue and style
Though she may exude an aura, of confidence and self certainty
She is a bagful of imperfections, no demi-goddess whatsoever
For she is as afraid of spiders, as any other you may have seen

While she may articulate herself, with grandiose Shakespeare vocabulary
While she may be well versed, in current and past affairs
While she may be as sophisticated, in culture, art and life
While her sense of humor could be, beyond the ceiling above
She may also drool in her sleep, and sometimes talk as well
And her stomach may rumble, for the missed breakfast or lunch

In a social sense she may present,the socialite queen enthroned
She may fit into the jig-saw, with the young and old alike
In philanthropy and in good will, the community she may unite
In leadership and in good cheer, a utopia around she creates
But a hot dog to cook will burn, too much salt or little butter
And the cake in the oven she forgets, till brown is too black to see

If you may perceive her too ordered, for your apparent disorderly life
If you may consider her too advanced, for the steps behind you may be
If you may think of her too straight, for the zig-zaggy life you may lead
You may think again then take time, to see her through the mirage
For you may experience how down to earth, easy to please she may be
That a wild flower by the road side, would charm her heart to sleep.

HONESTY: A FACET OF MORAL CHARACTER

“Every act of dishonesty has at least two victims: the one we think of as the victim, and the perpetrator as well. Each little dishonesty makes another little rotten spot somewhere in the perpetrator's psyche.”
-Leslie Conger-

In the past couple of days, I have either encountered situations or been engaged in different conversations that have led me to a place of deep thought on the idea of honesty.While I consider myself a terrible lier and by default a staunch believer in truthful speaking, I have found myself questioning the degree of my participation in the message of truth. I then decided to look up the meaning of the word, honesty. According to Wikipedia (my ultimate favorite e-resource), honesty is a facet of moral character which denotes positive, virtuous attributes such as integrity, truthfulness, and straightforwardness along with the absence of lying, cheating, or theft. Now, I had never actually looked up the word since I first learned of it as a child. Reading its definition from Wikipedia made me realize the expanse of its territory where moral character and human relations are concerned. It is no wonder then, that those sagacious grey haired missiles of wisdom, who lived way before our time, have been quoted to have said that the shortest story is always the truth, or most famously, honesty is the best policy. While growing up, I measured up these two statements to the fact that I should never ever cheat in my exams( absence of cheat), I should tell mum when I used the remaining shilling to buy candy other than reporting of an apparent hiked price of milk( absence of theft), and that I should not lie to the teacher just so I could escape the abhorred stroke of the cane(absence of lying)...For the most part, I followed this path, thanks to Sunday school, but once in a while my mother was lied to, and the neighbor's fruits went missing; in my tummy-;)

As I traveled in my mind meditating upon this virtue, I ended up deeply engrossed in a debate with myself on one aspect of honesty that I had previously not considered: Honesty to oneself. I have discovered that it is one thing to tell somebody to be honest with themselves, and it is another to actually apply it in my own life. Notwithstanding, I have come to learn in my young life that being honest with myself is the fuel that runs my level of sanity; the key to my personal progress in whatever capacity.Each time when I have skewed away from this fundamental element of straightforwardness and integrity,each time when I have rebelled against the true nature of a circumstance I was caught up in,each time that I have attempted to be somebody that I am not, I have ended up either in regret or having learned a painful lesson. What I know for certain, is that, if I can not be straightforward with myself, if I can not accept the person that I am, If I can not sincerely speak to the person in the mirror about my feelings towards my work, my family, my friends, my life, then I will never know which attributes of my life need pruning and which ones need to be accentuated. How then can I hope to move forward? How can I attempt to know myself, if I do not truly want to know what there is to know about me?

While my train of thoughts led me into thinking that personal dishonesty could be in the form of the depiction of fictitious reputation,it also took me into the conveyor belt of second or third party deception. To spread a string of lies to another person( presence of lying) and to not stand by my own words ( absence of integrity), is dishonesty to my self;in reverse. Leslie Conger, as quoted above, concedes that when I am not honest to my colleagues, friend or a stranger, I am most certainly lying to myself; creating rotten spots in my psyche. It is no wonder then, that whenever I have derailed from the truth or perceived to have done so,I would go through a period of guilt and shame until the situation at hand has been squared out and a coherent understanding established (the rotten spot having been washed away). Now most of us have been lied to once, twice or many times, and we know the feeling when we eventually find out the truth: cheated, betrayed, mistreated, disrespected, you name it. The way you feel when you are lied to, is the same way your inner self feels when you lie to somebody else. I have heard it said many many times in movies, and it real life that, "I lied to protect you".In my opinion, no reasoning in the deceptive facet could protect the eruption of the volcano that would, once the other party discovers that you spoke in deception.This usually is the inception of distrust. Let's think auspiciously for a second, and imagine that the lie was truly told to protect the subject from a lifelong headache or heartache.Then it would only work out if the subject never finds out the truth. However, this is never the case. Somehow, truth finds a micro channel that it uses to seep out of the innermost core of the secret cavern where deception lies. When this happens, it is never a pretty site. Nobody I know has ever said: "How sweet of you to have lied for my protection!" None. When the truth comes out, it is always a hurtful experience and has consequently led to massive destruction of human relationships; be it in marriage,friendships, families, businesses etc. Now, wouldn't it just be simple to speak with honesty when there is still time to heal or resolve the mitigating circumstances?

According to the book of Proverbs in the Bible, of the 7 things that God detests, coming top of the list is "a lying tongue." If this is not a reason good enough to maintain honesty as a vital virtue, then look at it as one of the fundamental and indispensable pillars for the reinforcement of institutions that are based on human relationships. Think about it:If there is no honesty, there would be no trust, and if there is no trust, there is absolutely no relationship. The most agonizing thing that could happen to anyone is to ardently trust and believe in a life that they are leading, only to wake up one day and discover that it is all a facade.Therefore, in doing unto others what I would have then do unto me, I can only strive to inject honesty into my system each waking day of my life. Furthermore, the most demanding life lived should be one that requires the maintenance of a fictitious reputation, a constant scheming of the next cover up plan for the person that you truly are. With that in mind, the sooner I can admit to my imperfections, the better and more rewarding my interaction with myself and others will be.

As my train of thoughts arrives at its terminal, I must admit that I cherish honesty deeply. Therefore, just as charity begins at home, so must my practice of honesty begin with myself. While I would appreciate greatly, that the people I encounter would be truthful and with a high sense of integrity, I would like to see that I too remain the same person that I present myself to be...That I can stand by my words and promises, and that there would be no wine where there should be water... That I can freely express my inner fears and weaknesses without trying to appear too strong for failure... That if I fail in my faith, I can be able to acknowledge the fall and willingly ask God to raise me up again...and that I can exercise my feelings with a straightforward attitude. If I could create a halo of honesty on everyone, I wouldn't hesitate.Unfortunately, being honest is a virtue we must individually choose to actively pursue.So as you disembark from my train this morning,I can only hope that you have taken the shortest route to your next destination via the honesty terminal.

Fresh Act I

On this first day of this new month
I place my foot like a new turn of a page
Onto a white and spotless stage ahead
And I hold the blank ink pen like a mic in my hands
Waiting to blot this white endless stage
With black poetic lines of nostalgic anticipation

Its the drawing of the dark curtains
on the the previous month's theatricals
Its the fading away of the bright lights
At the end of many Acts replayed
Some that I detested and some that I lived to love
Some that I grew from and some that I regret today
But mostly of the added life I was blessed to live.

There was the research Act played
with breakthroughs and successes too
There were long days and starless nights
But great lessons in the end
And the intermission of friendship circles
Both old and new adorned
Which filled my nights with heartfelt laughter
And days with warm cheery thoughts

There was the financially crazy Summers
An act you would detest too
When the paycheck was as slim as not
And the needs in the fat phase route
There were maxed out credit card accounts
And empty fridges at home
Then bills bills bills bills
A song I hated to sing


Then there happened the happy-go-lucky Act
I would add a II, and a III
A celebration of ladders climbed
In age, in life, in love
A walk at park and a saunter by the zoo
with family and good friends too
I danced, I smiled, I chatted away, watched good movies as well
And sprawled on many a water ride en route to Kalamazoo

Now the month is young and the stage so blank
I anticipate for what's ahead
I hope to grow in faith and sage
And build stronger ties with you
To do my best in lab and life
To fight my best fight
And to sit down again at the end of this Act
In review of how good it was.