Brightening moving days Moving with weak tortured legs Smile, frown, cry like moody men II Wearied of short life They work praying extension But tortoise and snails still rule III They push their own selves Glee and sadness in opposite Directions, life is like that Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia (c) 2015
Tag: Death
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HIS EMPTY SIDE CREEKS (HAIKU)
Eyes of you great walls Borrow mouth and talk to me What do you witness II I know I’ve been halfed By the carnivorous teeth Which no eye peruse III Why then does my bed Cry about another’s weight When the part lies blank IV Dear eyes of my walls Please help me know who […]
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CLAYS TURN BASKETS
Who sends pots to the stream of strength only to come back with a basket drenched in hot tears? *** Who tells the tale of pot turning to basket for who to get its joke in dire thirst? Who? *** We need it, water to drink, not hot tears So where is the pot? Broken […]
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WHEN THE EARTH TAKES (TANKA)
Who knows where the heart Of ever hungry earth is? Who can follow his Pulse and take us to his breath? Who can? Who can? Who can? Who? II Who knows where the heads Of the glutton earth relax? Who can follow his Chewings and lead us to those Mouths? Who can? Who can? Who […]
Pranks played on death dens Break bins and stir shocks Tipping tides and war waves In a cluster of fume and doom You call I stall You call I get the ball You call She gets the doll These plays are fun plays Not the crucifier of live charcoal In some phantom rain
I am here watching you standing so near with your beating heart racing and reaching far chasing and hitting hard at dead rock for its symbolism and leaving me stranded as I watch knowing not when rain will fall on this mud *** As much as it hurts, pins, cuts and might kill as much […]
“Sheeiiiii! Papa is gone? Agyeiiiii! I have none left! Wuoeiiiii! I’ve got to go with him” Legs go further from the unknown traveller II “Sheeiiiii! Who will feed me, agyeiiiii! My dark has fallen, wuoeiiiii! There’ll be none to bail me out of my debts” Looks into faces to find a replacement III Eiiiiii! Even […]
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I AND I (STYLISH TANKA)
In the midst of storm The sweet breeze blankets from dust The eyes must take form And close to shield from the storm Who but God gives reflexes? II The arms of the cold Bites when it catches the lone But they pretend to hold When they see others and mourn Who but God gives […]
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NOW THAN LATER (HAIKU)
When tired leaves fall They pray to escape the winds To escape its taunts II They need their quiet rest Under the tree they have served To decompose there III They don’t need to be Whisked by an unknown wind to Unfamiliar lands IV Let me be lucky To fall so quietly without Heeding to […]
In this stormy era Where sounds listen to sounds And birds bed I’m calling on you; Yes you: Death Hurt Hatred Pain Sadness Sickness Shame To stand firm And taste yourselves When you’re done, Please give us detailed reports On death’s death Hurt’s hurt, Hatred’s hatred, Pain’s pain Sadness’ sadness Sickness’s sickness And Shame’s shame […]
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WHEN THEY FINALLY MEET (HIS BALLAD)
(Refrain) When death conquers death He would finally get to ask His slippery mortal enemy And he would be up to the task (I) He would probably first ask What he did so wrong to its claws That its guards kept watching him From birth till he tasted those claws (Refrain) II It was first […]
We are here In this hot sea together Why should one cry the loudest? Water, please stop screaming Pepper, garden eggs, onions Tomatoes, are lost in your world Only their colour seves a reminder through you So why must you make the loudest noise? We are all unfortunate beings Who among us was able to […]
In this driver’s seat, I see the forward and lose The backward, sadly. II If only eyes see Far to the end, I’d feel free But no, they do not III Who made this lone path? Who made this wild mystic path? They say God, fact-less IV I see the wild thorns Feel the taunting […]
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PECK WISELY
This uncanny saucepan Lies on its back To trace its chickens Harbour no thoughts of trickery For it folds when your fruition ends So peck like chickens Don’t use your beaks like lions If you harm earth foods Before their fruition This uncanny saucepan Will help you eat And […]
We are leaves Because I know the world is a gigantic tree No wonder it is free To live for long Watching as leaves come and go Without raising a hand to catch any’s fall And if any of us fall on its branch, It does nothing to seize rotting. To think we beautify it […]
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ARREST IT (TANKA)
I Please no sympathy! Show me no sympathy please! Help me, just help me Please help me free him from death And I will be consoled then II Your sympathies suck! How can you stand idle now? Death holds him in arms And you stand here like vultures Vultures with no beaks! III How can […]
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WOMBS IN TOMBS
I When a pot breaks The earth shakes Because its water pours And takes many “I’m not coming back” tours Into forever loss II The earth takes The pot which breaks The pot with arms for some lonely being The pot with a heart which must protect some hurtful being And its water which pours […]
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THE WARNED
He became abstemious When death taught him And gave him an example An example with the one his heart beats for He hugged a tree and cried aloud Hoping the lesson will be a mock But after the tree screamed in pain And his skin felt the strain He realised the lesson was real So […]
I As fowls search for corn, Hawks search for chicks Eagles search for fowls Some snakes search for eggs Forgetting others’ search for snakes II As plants draw water, air and sunlight Sheep and goats search for plants Cows search for plants Even dogs search for some plants Forgetting others search for dogs III As […]
Sanity tells me It’ll be an illusion If anyone thinks of human reincarnation In any other form But weeds, plants or trees Because yeah, we go back to earth Because yeah, it dismantles us into soil Because yeah, fertiliser is our end product Because yeah, nothing is known after that But my heart tells me […]
I If you know not the taker Please give me your ears Listen and listen through And see its feet II Like sleep It takes to control Like wood It climbs till it’s bored III Like God It darkens in sleep Like God It lightens in sleep IV No shoes No eye can see, no […]
I I came as a pen A pen given by my hen My hen who kept me in her den Her den to help me be among men II Such an interesting pen I am I am a pen which writes to fill To fill but never gets filled Gets filled or deplete for extinction […]
Bubbly blooming and winding winds Catching caressing in mean massages Causing cravings, love and life Standing sitting no patience nor peace Storms stand in dense dungeons Waving win flash in flowing flaws Reigning regrets, wishes don’t win. Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia (c) 2014 (This poem is for those who intend to kill themselves, it is […]
These hands Merging with this mind In the present I do envy Because they are what I give life to But will live on forever The staff of the limper Limping into nothingness Surely decays or turns into firewood But these I’m giving life to Are empowered to beat me, My great great generations […]
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SAVE ME A PLACE
Save a place for me Grandma Please save a place for me I do not know what country or town awaits After my eyes close and my breathe seizes Save a place for me Grandma There may be a long cue which might require one knowing another If the current bribing here is […]
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EARTH DELICACIES
The hands which frets The eyes which call for want The head which battles the heart The tongue which yearns to taste The legs which move and complain of pain The ears which draw attention and hurt The nose which smells good and bad alike Other organs we always wish to satisfy Are all cooking […]
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FOR MY LATE UNCLE: KWABENA BOATENG
You lie on the roaster tonight Flanked by many cooks under a beautiful light You lie being garnished with tears Of those who will never want to be you For they know, they will never eat you Nor sit for anyone to eat you You are the special food of the earth Tomorrow, you’ll […]
When I sniff and sniff I think I stink and stink When I blink and blink I think I’m blind an blind When I listen and listen I think I’m deaf and deaf When I walk and walk I think I’m a crippled cripple When I touch my hair I feel I’m bald and bald […]
The same tick tock Which grows the plant Is the same tick tock Which kills the plant Every leaf, stem and stalk Will dance to the tune It grew to love And learn to detest its hands and discipline A time for one, Tick tock will pass And will never bother To take […]
They needed the inedible sardine But not the working fish They sat and watched It struggling When It was of their flesh And never thought of helping When It finally bobbed up bellywise in a breathless wave They hired an expensive can To transport it to the keeper freezer To keep it fresh for […]
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NEEDY CRAVINGS
Nana, It’s one of those days A day the sun shines But not in my world The storm rages on my head The rain slaps in offence Without any wrong on my part Nana, All the shelters have developed legs And left me Voices in my head spell doom They threaten to stage a […]
Running after her Never catching up In this unpredictable odyssey When I got closer Her smile stayed same But she wilted as I bloomed Smiling sweat, which now fades, sat on my skin Like the sun at its peak Tired sweat cried on her skin Like the rain whipped by storms She […]
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THE COOK WITH THE BLESSED HANDS
It has no sympathy It would have waited a while For you to taste the soup you brewed with love before having you for supper There is also the gods’ apathy Contributing to your being taken Before your soup was done Half done, I cried tears of blood, seeing as other cooks tended […]
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HOW DO I GO HOME?
How do I go home? With empty hands and a clean conscience Or A full hand and a tainted conscience? How do I go home? Pouting like a barking dog Or swimming like a satisfied swan? How do I go home? With smiles on the faces of senders Or tears? How do […]
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CORPSES FOR SALE!
Corpses for sale! Many buy with huge sums Putting them in the river of the earth waiting for its sail Corpses for sale! Many run dressed in expensive clothes Hoping to win the fame bale Corpses for sale! Cars parade with expensive paintings While mouths with their keys proudly brag, “this came yesterday […]
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WHEN BREASTS CRY
He went fishing Hoping for good sales For you to eat For me to eat The sea swallowed him As his mother was busy preparing his favourite “Kpoikpoi” She went farming Hoping for good yield For you to feed For me to feed The farms developed canines and ate her While her mother was […]
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THE DICTATORSHIP OF DEATH
When age married the deadly death They arranged all grown beings to the shore for their honeymoon Because death doted on his wife Now the legs of time has travelled an untraceable path He hunts the young and brings them home His wife lovingly advise age meals Carnivorous death stresses some youthful beings “I am […]
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STATIC
Coffins vary The feet stay the same; Six. Riches are shown The body stays the same; Lifeless. People cry The soul stays the same; Gone. This thing, that thing, All will end at the same; Dust. Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © 2014.
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NEEDFUL WANTS
I live here in lonely wants Going only in troubled fronts All the hollow ears open At every steppy country All the many hands open At every steppy country But I want only those ears of yours And only those hands you wore I want it all to come from the grave To listen and […]
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SKULLY TANKS
Breathe in the flesh suffering, no attention A breathless being ready to join the earth, full attention It’s time somebody thinks If this selflessness in making skulls money sinks Is enough to quench our thirst by serving as storer of drinks. Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia (c) 2014.
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UNSYMPATHETIC TIME
Tick, tock Tick, tock Time travels like a programmed machine Whose only command is to go forward It does not look side ways, Does not look backward, Does not wait for even a second on anyone, We go at its pace. Time feels no sympathy, Hears no pleas, Cares not a hoot about bribery We […]
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FALSE PROMISES
When fathers die Other fathers live Such words pouring like honey onto dry bread On hearts shattered with uncertainties, Minds lost in fear, Eyes crying rivers of tears, Mouths wailing shamelessly and pouring words of desolation, Rested hearts and consoled affected parts Reassuring security, Protection and love Little did they know Delivering Words Is a […]
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THE FILTH
From afar, It is a pile of filth Until you step in Then you become part of the filth So speak not When people talk and are disgusted about the filth They do not know They are the filth You are the filth I am the filth. Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia (c) 2014
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TAKE MY HAND
Thinking of how to feed Or how to get money to buy seeds When there are no pockets talk less of money? Take my hand Sitting in loneliness Looking on while some are held in arms and feeling the unfairness When you too have emotions at play? Take my hands Feeling the heat […]
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DIGGING OUR TRENCHES
We are digging our trenches We are unconsciously digging our trenches With every breathe even if we sit on benches We are digging our own trenches Even as we see a beautiful bird on a great tree perching We are digging our trenches No matter our badness No matter our goodness We are digging our […]
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FEEDERS AND WALKERS
The walker asked his feeder “Why do you not produce much? The feeder said emphatically, “You give me much stress, You throw everything I give you back at me You throw them back in unlikable packages. The feeder now asks “Don’t you know what proper packaging is? I give water and you give urine, I […]
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UNMENDABLE POT
The pot went to fetch water It reached the river But never made it home “efie ahena na abↄ yi Hwana na ↄbἐhwἐ efie yi so? Adidie nnyἐ adedἐdἐw Nsupa wↄ he a yἐde bἐ pia?” Everyone saw how she served The pot was a pot of pot Now it is shattered and unmendable […]
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TAUNTING STROLL
I take my first step to wherever And the ugly song that sings itself in my mind echoes “ἐba yi hena ba ni? Agya Kodwo ba ni Wↄnfa no nkↄ abἐ ase Abἐ ase wↄ nsↄisↄi Wↄnfa no nkↄto onyina ase Onyina bἐbu abↄ me ba Abↄ me bayi Abↄ me bayi Onyina bἐbu […]
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WHO ARE WE KIDDING?
It is when death knocked That I saw that life has not me forked Crying for an end, I reckoned was just lip service If not, I would have entered that bottled and have it cocked But no, I RUN With legs and strength I knew not existed in my bones Who is kidding who? […]
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AN ODE TO PEGGY OPPONG
There is a thunderous sound in the land of words A thunderous sound so noisy that it makes me fear A wordstress has fallen, not on many beds But in the soil. A soul so dear A mother she was with her words Telling encouraging tales which end with “There is a light at the […]
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