Best Avails Poems
Crown Him, Our Christ!
When the saints march forward
Win the spiritual warfare in their bid
To prevail against the bits
Of don'ts
When heart- darkened sinners
Are saved,transformed
Are able to abide by the nook
Of the do's
We can with every confidence
Rock our regal swivel chairs
And say Christ has done it all!
Let's crown Him with many crowns!
When the balm of Gilead avails
To quench the crest of woes
The Eastwind blows
When the stream of Beulah flows
Into your deserted bosom
When Storms become stillborn
In the ocean's womb
By the voice Divine uttered
By our Saviour.
When your foes
Bolt with their hoes
From your glorious
And blessed Eden
They feel acrid fire
Behold how bitter the pangs
Of hell throes!
When many a sinner's heart begin
To melt into cushion
As many a sermon penetrate
Therein hook, sinker and line.
When the aroma of a victor's ointment
We smell
Thus have we every reason to say,
Let's crown Him with many crowns!
When Satan's big head
Is finally crushed into powder
And he loses complete interest
In our Bridegroom's dower
When to the Heavens
We all rise at last
And soar through the pearly gates
With yonder brethren
In a ride of billion sevens
We shall all wonder
Shout and say,
Let's crown Him with many crowns!
By Ebenezer K N Baiden- Amissah
"Oh Lord hear our prayer. Oh Lord hear our prayer. When we call answer us. Oh Lord hear our prayer. Oh Lord hear our prayer. Come and listen to us." Jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom. Jesus remember me when you come into into your kingdom."
"The joy of the Lord is my strength. The joy of the Lord is my strength. You give me living water so I thirst no more. You give me living water so I thirst no more. The joy of the Lord is my strength."
"If we confess our sins he is faithful and Just to forgive us our sins. Even to them who believe in his name." 1st John 1:9. "For God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16
The Lord shall hear our prayers and hearken unto the desperate pleas of his children. In times of sorrow and distress. Those of us who put our faith and trust by dedicating our lives and our gifts. To proclaim the glory, wisdom and might of the Most Holy God who will reign forever and forever more.
"Resist the devil and he shall flee from you." The effectual prayer of either a righteous man or woman really does avails much. Keep balance and faith in your faith, in you thoughts words minds and deeds.
"God will take care of you through every day through every way. God will take care of you. God will take care of you."
"Turn your eyes upon Jesus look full in his wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace."
"Confess our sins and leave them far behind us. Turn far away from them. For the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, repent and repent for the kingdom of God is at hand." Each in your own words and each in your own way. Ask the Lord to teach you how to pray, the way he taught his disciples. In the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
Love in Christ Jesus!
Roxanne Lea Dubarry
Roxy Lea 1954
Roxy 1954/ October Country
April 22-23, 2020
Written: November 17, 2023 For Charles Messina Contest
___________________________________________
In peace of mind and unwavering pride
Draw out your inner disgruntled callow
Expunge ailing masks and set them aside
Shackled and phony leaches start shallow
Untamed freedom leaves a rage of delight
Lightning strikes when volition avails reign
As the noise of fists and yells echoes fight
It implies launching rough assaults again
This momentary gladness won't last long
Dark distress derides its way to the fight
And celebrates its mocking with zest strong
Frenzied fractured fragments into full-sight
Constraintis like an itch that chafes the mind
Shields the vile impulse that we must all bind
gladness won't last long
expunge ailing masks aside~
untamed freedom roars.
Shackled leeches start shallow, rage of lightning strikes~constraint chafes the mind
Translation of Cuppiramania Bharathiyar’s poem: Kannamma, My Love! (Kannamma En Kaathali) by T. Wignesan
Yet another poem by the most famous modern Tamil poet, written a century ago – despite the commonplace imagery – follows in the original very complex classical Tamil prosodic rules in the execution of initial and end-rhymes, alliteration in each line and in the immediate and successive lines as a whole, the inner rhymes of assonance and consonance notwithstanding. The non-Tamil can best savour these poetic and/or musical qualities by listening to the version of the poem set to music, and here sung by Mahathi:
YouTubeFR: Aasai Mugam Jukebox – Songs of Bharathiyar – Tamil Patriotic Songs (It’s the 4th song down on the left column)
Does not the endearing warmth of our mutual gaze – Kannamma
Reflect the light of the sun and moon alike?
Does not the precious circular eye – Kannamma
Dispel the darkness of the skies?
Dressed in deep blue-black silk – the sari
Inlaid with choice diamonds
While in the core of pitch darkness – glitter
The scintillating stars – Dear-Girlie!
Does not the blossoming grove fade – lit by your
Illuminating smile?
Even as blue-tinted sea waves –your
Breast heaves in unison – Girlie-Dear!
Just as the enticing cuckoo call – your
Sweet dulcet tones invade, My Dear!
O! You unspoilt young maiden! – Kannamma!
The bridal feast* has yoked my heart, alas!
You speak of comparing birth-charts* - Kannamma
What avails such astrological omens?
For those who can hardly repress yearning – Kannamma
Might the stars forebode greater bliss?
If our elders will bestow approval – nuptial
Arrangements we will later formalize
Will I be waiting for you, My Dear – to seal
Our vows – plant I this kiss on your cheek!
Notes
• According to Hindu custom, the brides’s family has to offer a sumptuous dinner to the formally-invited bride-groom.
• Hindu marriages are often contracted after verification of
birth-charts, drawn up by astrologers, to ascertain the compatibility of the bride to the bride-groom.
© T. Wignesan – Paris, 2015
Now sleeps the crimson petal, now the white;
alone with the enduring Earth, and Night.
With fold to fold, of mountain or of cape;
who wrestles with his dream; as some pale shape.
Their sharp black heads against a quiet sky,
where youth grows pale, and spectre-thin, and dies.
As if the vanward clouds of evil days
Call to the HOURS, that in the distance play.
I'll miss thee sporting o'er the dewy lawn,
the spots and struggles of the timid Dawn
here where seclusion looks out on a scene
not what will be, but what, long since, has been.
So scathe it, as the flocks with venom-bite
And where the red was, lo! the bloodless white.
THE relic taken, what avails the shrine,
or crackling holly, or the gummy pine?
The trees are full of the dark-stooping night
with octaves of a mystic depth and height.
When life is done? Perchance in other spheres--
across the gulf of darkness and salt tears,
I would not tarry if I could be gone,
as one who having wandered all night long.
Among th' immortal pow'rs, and free from care;
even the torment sighs soft in the air.
The shrieking of the tempest-tortured tree,
of her most ancient, chastest mystery;
untouched by morning and untouched by noon,
three months bade wane and wax the wintering moon
with vain Inscriptions, which the Freeze has borne.
But see the sun-beams bright to labour warn?
Every conception that a man can find
that dwell within the compass of the mind
sink tower and temple; nothing long may stay
of watered light and dull drowned waifs of day.
Graveness of iron; moist black earthen mould;
an orb's dim throes, by iron stars controlled.
A climbing moon upon an empty sky;
the grey lawns cold where gold, where quickgold lies!
Light, darkness, air and water, heat and cold,
who can distinguish darkness from the soul
for him, that calls for Succour from the Throne
till either gorge be stuff'd or prey be gone?
Catch the faint voice, and raise the languid head.
what need of name or music hath the dead?
I hear huge Pestilence draw vaporous breath,
come, heavy sleep, the image of true death
with silent feet into sleep's poppied lair.
My Soul. I summon to the winding, ancient stair.
Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men
as silent Suns to meet the Night descend.
I do believe in Santa Claus.
Although I'm scared he'll see my flaws.
I think he knows I pick my nose
and play with jam between my toes.
He probably knows I bite my nails
and burp and fart to no avails'
But what I know for sure is strange.
That I am stubborn and will not change.
I do believe in Santa Claus
who sees me when I'm sleeping.
And hide beneath my pillow
when I think that he is peeking.
I know I've made the naughty list
and even changed my name.
Unless he knows my old address
and holds me to my shame.
I do believe in Santa Claus...
but I am cautious just the same.
On a day never unseen
when our souls are called to rest
And our bodies returned to dust
From whence they came
Whether burdened with age
Or unable to cross life's next stage
If in bed we Lia in wait
Or by force others do take
On a day not unforeseen
When the key to our creation
Unlocks the door to mans destruction
And all hope in life, LOST...!
As men have always been half
in love with death
Cyclically life and death move
For death brings us sorrow
But a day would come we will all follow
And when again life is gone
In new bodies we shall be born
In whom evil dominates
A lower being regenerates
In whom good prevails
A pure soul avails
When found you’re at the end of days.
Strolling along the shore of the placid sea;
What is it to fear the night?
And scarcely know thy fate to be!
All that was fades from memory;
Oh! To hold but a moments bliss.
Within the secrets of your silent soul;
Avails your life no more than this!
Tiny Window to the World
Marooned in the consuming gloom
Cut away from escape or from egress
Between me and the Wild World
Ly a tiny window
Through which I espy the world
By an open vista to teeming life
Sprawling across rolling mountains
And roiling waves of the sea.
Between me and the World
Is a Small Window
That paints and bestows life’s rupture
Window that avails treasures of nature
A small window never opened
Through which diversity of life unfold;
Happy people, sad people, mad people....
A tiny window that never let go
Abundantly giving a whiff of stirring colour
Dancing or twisting in wanton glee!
A tiny window
that never shuts or darken
Yet, forever shut me in its fold, its hold
Captivating with a kaleidoscope of races
Internalising me to its whim;
Not to look in one direction always....
To admire life beyond the gloom
To look beyond the tiny window
Onto the rhapsody of His Artifice
Pouring through the inspiring panorama,
To write with verve and gusto
To celebrate creation with rupture
To reclaim lost dignity with frenzy.
A tiny window,
so miniscule and so minute,
Through which no finger can caress the air
To catch a breeze blowing lackadaisical
To the dry sea and the frigid Equator!
Window that must let go of my lust
And quell the conflagration on the loin
A tiny window that sees not itself
That permanently keeps me in its hold.
That which, if you take it away,
You abduct me away into the darkness
To grope in futility and verdant folly.
Tiny window
Like a telescope drawing creation nigh
Or periscope giving form to tiny pestilent;
Life curling, springing and twirling
In unique idiosyncrasies of its nature;
Man attempting to play flagella’
By mutilations, mutations, castrations
Women and botox and lipstick and all....
Window that makes one want to close
Yet, at times, it makes you a peeping Tom!
This tiny Window, I fancy heard it say:
“Don’t close the window or curtain it
“For Africa speaks outside....”
That Tiny Window is my Eye!
08th Oct’ 2013
Dragontails never ask why
Spiky fronds so scaly
Oh My – Oh My
Lurking shady and shaly
In the dark unfurls
Spiky fronds so scaly
Swirly ferns and curls
Deep greenish and purplish
In the dark unfurls
Close your eyes to make a wish
Wild whirls ever so rare
Deep greenish and purplish
Without a whisper or a care
Bizarre long and curly avails
Wild whirls ever so rare
Whimsically curtails
Dragontails never ask why
Dreamy magical dragon tales
Oh My – Oh My
AP: Honorable Mention 2025, Honorable Mention 2022
Submitted on May 4, 2018 for DANDELIONS TIGER LILIES AND BEARBERRIES OH MY CONTEST sponsored by MAUREEN MCGREAVY - RANKED 6TH
Along the streets..., we run
Chased by our fears..., we run
Seeing our end coming..., we
run
Slaved by their injustice..., we
run
Silenced by betrayal..., we run
Our hands tied from behind,
handicapped
They whipped us, they inflicted
pain to conquer this mind
We slaved in day, and
sorrowed when the moon was
light
When the skies were overcast,
our souls were downcast
lamenting
Till the fountain of our tears
has run dry
and now we cry no more....,
freedom and peace, they have
killed by their democracy
impartiality of justice, buried
forever in the dark tomb of
politics
Patriotism is the fightings they
cause among the youths
brainwashed by their slogans
to appease their insatiable
hunger for power and delusions
of grandeur..,
Now the wise and the able in
fear brave to run
For all that avails is flight
They cannot be fought
They are power, they lose not
They run the race and they
determine the mark
They speak to be listened and
are heard by us
They walk in plain, not their
good talk
In the court of justice, innocent
themselves they judge
They kill fathers with a bullet,
youths they blind their sight
When they dance in merry,
they kill the young with hunger
With fear to mothers, a nation
they have subdued
And now out of bravery we
seek our escape
For all that avails is flight....
To Enter the Kingdom
us answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’” John 3:5-7 NIV
To Enter the Kingdom of God
You must be born again;
Born of water and the Spirit—
Entry to God’s Kingdom.
Welcome the word of God,
Implanted and rooted in your heart;
It contains great power—
The saving of your soul to impart.
The most powerful preaching of God’s word
Avails nothing unless the Spirit enlightens.
The Holy Spirit is its efficiency—
Against sin, our major combatant.
Through the Holy Spirit light appears,
As he enters the heart and mind.
So enter the Kingdom of God—
Death to the ‘old man’ to find.
The divine relationship between God and man
Is renewed by baptism’s power.
Be born of the water and the Spirit;
Salvation’s hope to devour.
To enter the Kingdom of God,
We must choose to be saved;
Baptism in the Holy Spirit,
Brings new life to be paved.
Baptism is a covenant
Between us and our Creator,
But it’s the power of the Holy Spirit
That is the new birth recreator.
To Enter the Kingdom of God,
Let your life be renewed.
Be graced by the Holy Spirit—
By his power become imbued.
© Copyright 2012 Maureen LeFanue
www.maureenlefanue.com
Words come
Thoughts flow;
Meaning lives
~~~~~~~~~
Choice avails
Poise styles;
Creative surge
~~~~~~~~~
Glimpse truth
Urge patterns;
Cheer peoples
~~~~~~~~~
Why worry
About worry?
Two hands tied
~~~~~~~~~
Haiku fragment
Poignant moment;
Mirror contrast
~~~~~~~~~
Sorrow sketches
Water colours slide;
Echoes remain
~~~~~~~~~
Time stops
Abruptly here;
Sadness abides
~~~~~~~~~
Sometimes dying
Paints grand stokes;
Legend starts
~~~~~~~~~
Why all this tears
For just one man?
Loss feels so sad
~~~~~~~~~
New day
New sun;
Goodbye Kuan Yew
~~~~~~~~~
A true son
Immortalised;
By a fond will
~~~~~~~~~
Gracious keep
Mindful stern will;
Common legacy
~~~~~~~~~
Leon Enriquez
30 March 2015
Singapore
Present day film presents sex and love
Sordid spectacle spectators enjoy
Children peep at obscene scene, soon it
Comes back in their inward eye, altering
Swiftly their feel and what they seem to need
Even the world and how they see it
And just when no one is on their way
In pairs, young ones defile their being
Making a shame of virginity
She's thirteen and looks so sweet
Peter comes around tries if she's cheap
If she's carried away, Oh what sweet a tea
Perhaps Paul can enjoy, even Tim
But this is not the way of the Lord
“All my friends drink, take drugs
Have sex, slur and steal”
But why not dare to stand alone?
And be Jesus’ pride, for your sins he atone
Why not pride in a spotless gown
An untouched woman is a man's covert dream
No man eats his cake and has it
Patience avails much
Even the preacher had made it clear-
There is a time for everything
Our bodies a sacrifice must be
Holy and pleasing unto our king
Undefiled and innocent as baby new
A pure self is honourable in all
Haven't you heard that AIDS is real?
And that Abstinence is the best remedy
Television is a catalyst
It has increased the sexual pressure in men.
IF YOU PULL A LONG FACE : Part XXXVII
IF you pull a long repentant face
It avails you to pull it where no one sees you pray
For forgiveness though not after being caught outright losing face
A stricken conscience e'en coached by counsel may not pardon parley
If you pull a fresh Wu Wang face
Better pawn it to those who would the right price pay
Such as a plea-bargain reduction in sentence
Which could pave the way to a bestseller screen play
But if you pull a long mea culpa earnest face
Just when the Eldest Son Zhen spring awakens the Lunar Year
The noble Fa-Ling lined Ganesha " A Daniel come to Judgment " may take offence
And thunder quake : " I'll nail you to the Cross " if you lie this cleansing day
If you yet could pull a long masked vengeful face
For slights or stings being overlooked by the Master riding high in clover
Then all exceptions undeleted none may plan to profit from this case
Might not things right themselves before the year runs out and make villains pay
If you must then pull a long Sacrificial Lamb face
Note how even the Mid-East Patriarch's foundations tremble on the very same day
No Saviour may lead his flock thrice out of the Walled Wilderness e'en into Outer Space
For he " who comes to Equity must come with clean hands " or else the ultimate price pay
© T. Wignesan - Paris, February 28, 2019