Poems

Free?

In a country not my home

Walls robed in black uniforms bar us from progressing

Boom!! Bam!! My head hits the pavement

Slightly waking from my concussion

Blurred images of whites range about

Like a plague set on us from hell

Months have turned into years

Just dark nights

I’ve yet to see brighter days.

My nostrils immune to the burning skin melting from the bones of humbled men

My ears are now able to hear clearly the shout of terrified women over the ‘ratatata’

Of the guns.

Like a plague set on us from hell

Months have turned into years

Just dark nights

I’ve yet to see brighter days.

Mothers hiding their children in baskets sending them down stream

To protect them from a sin brought upon them by their majestic melanin

Not knowing whether they will meet again.

Is it a blessing?

Is it a curse ?

For my temple to be coated with the colours of the Africans

My shades signify bad and their tint implies good

Yet still many fall by the hands of wicked men.

No!! Don’t she’s just a child. No!!

Please please

Don’t take her innocence

I couldn’t help

I was too weak

Too weak to fight

Seeing her bleed made me cry.

Like a plague set on us from hell

Months have turned into years

Just dark nights

I’ve yet to see brighter days.

My only daughter a curse upon herself

Never to see herself as the beauty she is

Forever to be reminded by the painful invisible scar embedded in her mind.

Like a plague set on us from hell

Months have turned into years

Just dark nights

I’ve yet to see brighter days.

In a country not my home

Years have turned in to decades

Freedom! Freedom! Never to be my own.

Finally! I found my resting place my name

Engraved on a stone

Finally I’m below the ground

Finally I’ve been set free

Gone from the pain

Finally I see my bright day

Finally I feel like I am home.

– Lenford Jackson

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Think on These Things

When your thoughts are messed up, going black and blue

When your mind is confused and you haven’t got a clue

When your burdens are sticking to you like Crazy Glue

Just dive into God’s word and absorb the things that are TRUE

If you are feeling hurt and betrayed you can still find rest

Don’t stay angry, don’t get bitter, try not to protest

Fast, pray, resist, and pass the test

Your lingering pain is not a must

Just remember that God delivers those who are HONEST and JUST

When you get caught up in the world with its enticing lure

When your mind has drifted into pollution seemingly without a cure

Some have written you off and Satan thinks he has you for sure

Renew your mind, change you focus and think on the things that are PURE

Our mind is battlefield for the good and evil fight

It is a constant spiritual war occurring every day and night

A vicious boxing match for your soul and you cannot leave the ring

So you must will yourself to always think of LOVELY things

Never underestimate our sinfulness or the gravity of our depravity

A spiritual loss of connectivity to God affecting humanity

But God has given Jesus as our lifeline to re-enter into His port

So we must grab a hold of Salvation and meditate on God’s GOOD REPORT

Jesus came and died for sinful man giving us Salvation

Now there is hope, there is life for God’s most cherished creation

What an invaluable sacrifice Jesus made to place us under His ‘wings’!

So if there be any VIRTUE, and if there be any PRAISE, think on these things.

– Maurice Coke

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Always Yours

Always yours you say

Until you change your mind.

Someone new comes along

Erasing always

Erasing the time we shared

Erasing the carefree moments of youthful years

It doesn’t take much

To cripple dreams of forever mine

Just an unkind word

Broken trust

An intrusive friend

A flame dancing towards the wind

That quickly blows it out.

Always mine chokes on hate

It slams the door shut

Closing the chapter

On the happily ever after

– Carol Thomas-Johnson