Bullets In the Soup Pot
BULLETS IN THE SOUP POT
I
BEFORE THE MIRROR
Sometimes, I sit on my sofa
Pondering on why war, poverty, hatred
and anguish has become a comforting bliss.
They say life is an unending quest; is it?
They say true love lasts forever;
Is there really anything called love?
Is life’s race really for the swiftest, the wisest or the dumbest?
I rake up my head to frenzy
yet no answers are formed.
Looking at the mirror, all I see is the same confused old look.
My lips charred, my hair falling
My face an ugly mask of wrinkles
Is this the real me? If it is, if it isn’t, then what is real about me?
In the distance
I hear a church choir singing that “God is Love”.
If God is love, then why is there so much blood, hatred and filth in the world?
Too many questions without answers.
II
I draw open my chest of history books
And I begin to wonder why Lumumba died and
Why Mobutu Sese Seko became president.
Flipping through my history books I see how the Europeans
came to Africa.
They claimed to be on a so-called civilizing mission
But it was only a cloak for their real intent- Exploitation.
With their collaborators; Africans themselves,
They subjugated and dominated Africa so easily.
Flipping further through mores pages, I see the same trend
Life is a story of betrayal and trust.
Every major event in life is bordered on trust and betrayal;
Everything might seem to be real on the outside, but on the inside it is vain.
III
BEHIND THE MIRROR
I draw open the window panes trying to find answers.
Gazing at the stars and the moon I remain clueless,
But in the dark blue skies I see something;
A world divided between two lines- Good and Evil.
Whatever line one chooses is a matter of choice,
But choice most times eludes the most enterprising
and most determined individual.
Many end up becoming monsters,
Many end up becoming what they are not
Not because they are blind, not because they fail
to make the right choices,
but because they have bullets in their soup pot.
IV
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MIRROR
Many try to find peace and true freedom.
They seek; they ponder, but are left without answers.
In their desperation, they become lost in the dark
clammy cesspits of time,
Their lives become miserable.
Whatever is real is real because it is real
Whatever is fake is fake because we’ve not allowed ourselves to feel it.
If God is real, God is real because we feel his presence in our hearts;
If God is love, then love is real for it lies in our hearts.
V
Life has so many unanswered questions;
Questions without answers
Nothing can fill the vacuum created by unanswered questions,
Except one thing;
One thing most people have locked out from their hearts,
and that is love- True love.
In life we make so many choices,
yet let us not allow the choices we make destroy what we are,
rather let love make the right choices for us.
Love is why we are here,
Love why we are what we are
And love will take us to the place of our dreams,
So let love fill our hearts and overwhelm us with its warm
cool gentle feel as we ascend the windy staircase of life.
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