Selection of poems from our readers

Authentic Love

Softly I heard the gentle knocking at my heart

Persistent, consistent, seeking to take a part

Ignored, but still my attention it sought

Then the longing starts, tugging, it tears me apart

Intrigued, timidity halt, curiously I

ventured to see

What this insistence meant

For surely this intrusion I resent.

Persuasive, seductive

It offered all that I sought

Beckoned for me to open my heart

fingers of passion, soothingly massaging my skin

propelling me to where I never imagined

Eroding all my resistance, it entered in

Then gradually, calmly, I conceded

To this tranquil sensation heeded torrents of joy flooding my soul, my heart

This tantalising tillilation ignited a spark

Oh! How delightful, mesmerising me totally

Intoxicated, I delved eagerly, loving the excitability

Captivated, enthralled I grasp this reality

I almost scream,

Do you know what this means?

I had no option but to yield

to this amazing, enticing tranquillity.

Adorable, angelic, how ravishing thou art

Bewitching me with your radiance without a thought

Surrendered. Your dazzling splendour I no longer fought

Captured, I succumbed to that alluring aura you brought.

Every moment I breathe, I call you mine

For you everything I leave behind

None can be compared, your beauty so sublime

My perfect addition, to you myself I resign

With you I lose myself, without you I find myself wanting to be lost again

Enamoured with ecstasy from you I cannot refrain

In your arms forever I want to stay

Your awesomeness hypnotises me; I can't stray

Your perpetual love doesn't just fill my heart

But envelops, encompasses every part.

Heightened, cherished those memorable moments with you

Passion surges, racing through my blood like nothing I ever experienced

Contentment etched in the contours of my veins reminds me of your existence

Within me happiness grew

There is no other place I would rather be but with you

Basking in your royalty, proclaiming your

sovereignty

Transcending, evoking in me something new

Lord, to you I will remain forever true.

- Winsome Miles

My black queen

As I gaze through her eyes which signify the colour of valentines

And her eyelids that bear a marvellous texture of skin colour

Which is so beautiful to behold,

Beyond that I could see a flowing river of water crystal and clear

And in the midst of it I could see a small patch of land

Which bringeth forth a fruit tree that was so astonishing

Because of the sight of its beauty,

"Fear not" I heard as I turn to see where this commanding and

Divine voice was coming from and as I turn my eyes was dazzled

At the sight of his presence,

"This is the fruit tree of divinity which I have instilled within her,"

He said as my heart felt obedient and calm,

"She is a black woman in the sight of man,

A humble servant in the sight of god,

But in your eyes she will be a black, beautiful queen which will

bear the fruits of faithfulness, Gentleness, peace and long-

suffering,

And unto you she was given and you will call her MOM."

ó Travea Davis

Honestly

"I'd rather hurt you honestly than mislead you with a lie."

I don't know this man

I don't, I don't know

we nuh know yuh

three times till the chickens came to roost

that's why I really don't like the Lenten

period

Holy Week, Good Friday, bound to bring a crucifixion

and a resurrection

It was the women first to tell the news

to break free of those grave clothes

no one never grease my palm

have nothing to wave but my heart

if it were not that you made a difference in my life

and was there in my grief

I would not be what I believe today

I'm on that stage performing shinning

more than "thinking aloud"

acting it all out!

"yuh think seh me done"

I am no predator

it is a relay

if you drop the baton instant disqualification

the race is over on the 'last leg'

"Eye hath not seen nor ear heard" the Miracles God does for His people!

ó Helen-Ann Elizabeth Wilkinson

Man vs Nature

Man is the most deceptive

creature

Yet they tend to oversee nature

Carved with fine wood

Rooted with knowledge as they should

Moulded with camouflage

Clothed with leaves of sabotage

Appears still in rough winds

Yet vulnerable to manly sins

Blinded by lack of sight

Covered by the deafening night

Innocence absorbed by life's soil

Reproduced as the world's

turmoil

Tainted by hatred, deception and greed

Soon buried as a tiny, lifeless seed

Then ... it will become too late

To recover from this entombed state

Silence ...

Terrified by his own breathing

'til his heart finally stops

beating

People whispering ...

"He was corrupted by his own nature

Confused 'til death paid off his wager."

ó Shuancie Barrett

Feeling lost

Today I felt lost

Not in the thick jungles of the Amazon

With its impenetrable

undergrowth

But within the stained glass windows of a cathedral

Amid piped organ music the embodiment of ecclesiastical sophistication

Sitting there in an atmosphere

Of the ambience of holiness

While deep within me there was a feeling of complete loneliness

As the congregrants simply passed me by

As they beamed a convivial hi

To friends and family within the church

And I felt left completely in the lurch

As if I did not exist

And as I sought to make my way through the mist

Of non-personhood within the fellowship of Christian

brotherhood

I felt like Robinson Crusoe out at sea

As I sought to grapple with the conflicting emotions

Deep within me

- Errington Johnson