Best Zambezi Poems
If you are cathedral of consecration
I'm the voluminous chime summoning souls
If you are the moonglade mountain peak
I'm the fedora of snow atop you
If you are the bantam flame of hope
I'm the mammoth lantern you sit in
If you are the magnificent crown of laurel
I'm the koh-i-noor glowing your majesty
If you are the whorly petals of the gypsy-sue
I'm the daggerlike thorns of flaw
If you are the bard of the Zambezi
I'm the first sonnet of your anthology
If you are the mythical firebird
I'm the scarlet embers of reincarnation
If you are the forsaken pirate ship
I'm the glubs of your drowning
If you are the ancient persian pearl
I'm the millions carats speaking your worth
If you are the sacred vial of eternity
I'm the gluck to the kingdom come
If you are cathedral of consecration
I'm the open arms of the door of mercy
Categories:
zambezi, analogy,
Form:
Free verse
My Mother, like many saints, is compassionate,
Though lion-like, my father is considerate;
Like banyan tree, my family is well-branched out,
Grandmas, Grandpa, Uncles, Aunts - all are good; no doubt...
Precious among all, Pink Pearl, I am so lonely,
Cause - though ponder and wonder - I don't know wholly.
My talks are mad monologues; songs senile solo;
I'm my partner to my duet with heart hollow;
I'm a plant getting sun and water with no care,
In friendly fondling freedom folklores, I've no share;
I feel human beings, here, is mortal Islands,
Hearts heartlessly hard; minds murked; life barren dry lands...
I'm slow, soft, somber; savorless; no glory glow,
Deep down in me, like the Zambezi, whirlpools blow;
I look at the sun, moon, stars; not relishing them,
My mind mocks and knocks and cracks in a moody hem;
Seas surreptitious; ships succumbing surmise, shake,
My existence seems like someone's sad mad mistake...
Stories secrete; poetries pour; in my lone tour,
Losing, longing, languishing leads - love's lustrous lore;
Quill leaks; notepad nostalgic; words wildly wide,
Haunted heart - highest hopping horse- rugs rue rough ride;
Love lone, though looks lost, has its marvelous turning,
Lamenting lonely life lures cheery churning...
15 September 2021
''L'' Contest New or Old Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Constance La France
Categories:
zambezi, life, lonely, loss, love,
Form:
Rhyme
I love Africa, my beautiful Africa
I can roam in the bushes
I can run up the mountains
Down the valleys
Across the plains
Or get lost in the forests
Or the caves
I can soak the sun
On the sand at the beach
Or bake in the desert sun
Until I should find an oasis
I can stand on the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro
And if that is too tall
I can try the difficult Mt. Kenya
And touch the floating cloud
I can swim in the ocean or in the lake
Or in the dam or pond or paddle
I can also swim in the Nile or the Congo
Or the Niger or the Zambezi or the Limpopo
Or a thousand other rivers
I can catch kamongo in Lake Victoria
Or the bream on Lake Tanganyika or Malawi
Or bait the tiger fish in Kariba or Cahora Bassa
I can mine diamonds in Congo or Chiadzwa
Dig for gold in Ghana or Tanzania
Or just pick gems and cowry shells wherever I roam
From Cape to Cairo and from Timbuktu to Mombasa
Or just in my dreams.
Categories:
zambezi, africa,
Form:
Free verse
Water lapping at edge of the boat beneath the silence of the sky
Swaying branches of mopane trees and fish eagles cry
Wind of changing seasons and melting palates of hue
in the blood red sunset glow and murky silvery water blue
Elephants in numbers dot the shores
hippo’s and crocodiles are at the core
of many memories and visions of old
Lake Kariba, in land sea
full of tiger fish and bream
The endless blue that roles into the distance
where the sun rises and falls in panoramic vista
The skeletons of petrified monuments scattered in the sea
forests of pre historic trees swaying in the breeze
It wasn’t always peaceful, tranquil, and still
nature has no chance to relax and withdraw
Scheming and dreaming in the depths of men’s mind
Up Up Up goes the building and climbs
Man made dam, Damn big problem
How could this feet of engineering the power of ages old be so easy
to tame such a wild beast as the zambezi
POURING OUT THE CONCERT
RAMMING THE RODS OF STEEL
DRIVING THE WATER BACK INTO THE HILLS
HOWEVER, THE RIVER REFUSED TO YEILD
THE WALL BEGAN TO TIP, BUCKLE, AND KEEL
NOT ONCE, TWICE, WATER MARCHED THROUGH
LIKE A FACELESS WARRIORS, DESTROYING THE BARRIER
THE FORCE OF THE RIVER WOULD NOT BE SUBDUED
LIKE ALL NATURAL EVENTS, THE WAVES BEGAN TO SUBSIDE
THE SOLDIERS OF BLUE WITHDREW
UP WENT THE WALL, COMPLETED, IT WAS ONLY A MATTER OF TIME
Animals and people lost in the rising tide
from river, to dam, to lake to inland sea
Great and panoramic became the horizon wide
Like a whisper on the edge of wind
was a grand concert of ages gone by
Played out by wildlife, land, water, and sky
A harmonic existence of sublime serenity
Life here brings closure to one’s perspective
the sent of dust and adventure is quiet infective
The place of the skeleton trees, mountain passes, and copper sun still
where the stars in the universe, scatterings like lost thoughts, visions, and chants chill
across the forging path, that strides through this african wilderness blue
Lake Kariba, the artery of the north, run straight, run true.
Categories:
zambezi, adventure, beauty, inspirational, life,
Form:
Blank verse
Redoubtable, unparalleled
Victoria Falls displays the
power of the Zambezi River.
Carving through basalt rock
from an ancient volcano the Zambezi
deserves the awesome accolades of its
native audience - the Smoke that Thunders.
Work more trenchant still, this river
provides subsistence, protection,
and inspiration for people in six
southern African nations.
The Zambezi is rightfully called
their river of life, christened by
their hallowed, Nyami, Nyami!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Victoria5.jpg
Categories:
zambezi, adventure, inspirational, travel,
Form:
Free verse
Six to eight African nations
count on the powerful Zambezi.
Rightly called their river of life -
its wilderness lets wildlife roam free.
Batoka Gorge attracts tourists as
Victoria Falls' wet smoke thunders.
Two dams provide hydroelectric pow'r
but many in south Africa wonder -
What "dam"age would another one bring?
Does an ecosystem have a right to
freedom from economic encroachment?
Think what a Zambezi Seaway might do?
started February 27, 2017, revised April 3, 2017
with rhyme and new focus.
Categories:
zambezi, africa, anxiety, appreciation, beauty,
Form:
Rhyme
Ripples of blue and silver dance
impala males jump and prance
In a land where imagination roams to and fro
and the waters of old eb and flows
Dust holds memories from near and far
The sky, escarpment, and water beat out a rhythm of
The dreams of many, the thoughts of a few,
ZAMBEZI, O MIGHT OF THE SOUTHERN HINTER LANDS OF AFRICA
GIVING AND TAKING. YOUR PRIDE IN LIFE IS LIVED
YOUR COURSE DIRECTED BY THE THINGER OF THE MASTER DESIGNER
FORCE AND STRENGTH BOW BEFORE HIS MIGHTY HAND
Deep is the current and long is the stride of Him who taught you as a child O ZAMBEZI,
where your banks and streams will go.
Were you there at the beginning?
To see His plan, hear His words, savor His counsel.
Take heed to give life as He has given you so much life.
The sound of life echoes long and hard through this valley below the falls and the open sea.
Elephants, hippos, and lions create and compose an elegant cacophony.
Animals play on the banks,Birds dance on the wind.
The escapement sits and watches. Ever still, but never stagnate
Mana Pools, place of meaning. Where water parted mountains a mellinia ago.
Escarpments looking north and south, watching, waiting, guarding.
Life here moves at leisure, no race.
The life of hustle and bustle has no place.
In a way, even time and space seem pleasantly married together
So whether you a travel from far or near, they meet you and greet you and treat you.
Here on the flood plains.
Where a recollection of memories are locked away in the safe of sentimentally.
To a feast of the soul, spirit, mind, and body.
Where you can relax and let worry be forgotten.
Categories:
zambezi, adventure, animals, nature, travel,
Form:
Blank verse
Dainty queen undevoured
Bride of the rising sun
Beautiful Africa,
The savor of thy fragrance
Calls my tongue to sweet ballads!
Your velvet skin carved in black gold
On your loins do diamonds glow
Your perfume is the silky oil of Cairo
And your smile is like the sun
Upon the hills of Kilimanjaro.
From the Nile to the Niger,
Orange to Zambezi,
Hypopo to the Congo,
Beneath your mounds are treasures
That oozes beyond measures.
Africa my Africa,
Daughter of the ancient days
Sister of the untamed braves
Hunter of the thousand forests
Goddess of the black race
How much I love thy gaze!
Here my lady,
A sandal of precious stones
For our moonlight dance
On your carpet of liquid ore,
Oh Africa , my Africa!
Categories:
zambezi, adventure, angel, art, beautiful,
Form:
Free verse
The black panther; no spots for fear,
Accustomed by the frails of the forests,
To the long stretch of the Nile,
Such beauty, I marvel at.
Grazed fields, wetting bullock's appetite
For the savannah- a stone throw in distance to the mighty Sahara!
Oh! Africa! What a mighty creed envelopes your wits!
In strength and might, she stands unequalled!
Daunting cultures via tribes,
Stretches the Zambezi river,
Encombed by the beauty of the Niger,
These caves of treasure brews heritage;
Of untold generations.
The moonlight stories savour our bellies;
For each morsel we ingest; joy beams.
The scent mild one's thought; for our meal trickles away the temptation of the past!
Such panther irks the spirits of conquerors.
Oh Africa!
Categories:
zambezi, africa, appreciation, beautiful, blessing,
Form:
Chant Royal
FEEL AFRICA
Silence!
Silence Africa!
One can hardly get Africa to be silent;
Africa habours a pulsating bubble.
Everyone in Africa bounces to rhythm resilient.
Africa, like Zambia, or
Zambia, like Africa;
Dear ones, whichever comes first
Swells with energy in the sun!
You see not the pulse;
You feel every ounce.
Feel it now!
Woo! Woo! Is it fun or funny?
Africa loves to dance.
The continent is one huge drum;
One complete dance!
They work hard too.
Mothers and daughters,
Fathers and sons;
Mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law
Of Africa work hard
They fetch water; they collect wood.
They pound corn; they cook their food.
In all their creation,
People of Africa have one ingredient;
SONG!
You hear them sing while pounding corn.
Phew! Phew! Wow!
At funerals we sing and dance,
At weddings, even more song and dance.
Nothing has ever stopped Africa from dancing;
Yes! Even the tragedies we’ve known;
The genocides and ethnic cleansings,
in the heart of the continent.
Apartheid in the Cape of Good Hope;
Starvation, hunger, war;
Famines, droughts and floods
In the great lakes and the horn of Africa!
We have mourned;
We have questioned!
Mmmh! Courage!
Courage is what kept us alive.
We felt like throwing it away;
Accepting defeatist tendencies;
Choose revenge; and hurt;
Not with Africa.
We have come out reassured.
We have emerged tested in fire;
More finer and stronger than before
We can afford to pray!
We are like lions; the pride of the universe.
Our pride lies in our landscapes; the mountains
And the valleys;
the plateaus and the savannahs.
Free flowing rivers,
Connect us with worlds near and far.
We accommodate strangers as our rivers instruct.
Strangers of the Indian and Atlantic Oceans;
The seas and lakes!
They brought the world to us
as they did bring us to the world;
the Zambezi, the Nile and the Congo.
They have made us larger than we have ever been.
We can join in the songs and dances of others
As they can join ours too.
Come join us; feel at home!
Feel Africa!
One Zambia, my dear one;
The little star of copper.
You shine deep in the heart of the continent;
Warming the cold and frightened neighbours!
The blessing you are is the blessing you offer.
You exemplify unity in multiplicity,
Of languages and ethnicity;
Be not afraid copper star.
Shine as bright as you do;
Only warmer!
All rights reserved.
Categories:
zambezi, art, history, heart, work,
Form:
Dramatic Verse
A place to be; a home to live,
Full of cultures and traditions,
rivers of live.
In crossing the Mediterranean,
‘criss-crossing’ the continent, you see…
A mountain of rivers,
running the Niles to desert,
crossing the Niger to the ocean,
a Congo in the Basin, an orange of waters,
the Silver of Gold Coast.
Africa! A Limpopo in Zambezi.
Wild wild cat mewing on jaro mountains,
climbing the Zuma face,
and ascending from the Jos-Plateau.
Africa! A sight and sound,
a sound of Saka Zulu,
and a sight of Mandela.
A sound of Mau Mau song,
and a sight of Jomo Kenyatta.
The voice of Nkrumah,
prompting tying broom sticks together.
The zikist Movement,
and the freedom of the child.
Africa! A child once weeping,
but Ngugi says, ‘Weep Not Child’.
Once tried,
in ‘the trial of Brother Jero’.
Once chained,
Kaunda assured, ‘Zambia shall be free’.
Achebe saw ‘Things fall apart’,
observed, ‘The center cannot hold’,
but, Addis Ababa held the center.
Africa! Chanting a new song,
the song that unchained the chains of Mandela,
replacing the guns with tables and chairs.
A song written in ‘So Long a Letter’,
making brothers sit with brothers,
a song recited while sitting around a table.
A song of reasoning; a song of understanding;
but the last stanza of the song says;
Not yet Uhuru
Categories:
zambezi, nature, people, places, song,
Form:
Epic
Zambezi's strength rules
who can harness our river?
electricity from water?
Nyami, Nyami
Kariba Dam damaged
by six decades of water
the Tonga tribes celebrate
Nyami, Nyami
May 10, 2022
Joseph May's contest on Naani.
Two naani of 24 syllables each
current statements about currents
When the Kariba Dam was built on the Zambezi, the Tonga people had doubts.
The dam was built on gneiss and quartzite and is made of concrete — 80 feet at its thickest point. But over six decades of the waters' rushing through it, tumbling over it and crashing down on its other side have carved a pit at its base and erosion threatens its foundations. July 22, 2020
The very thought of a naani about Nyam Nyami sparked my muse.
It is the River God of the Tonga people.
Categories:
zambezi, 11th grade, courage, god,
Form:
Verse
I am the wounded, standing
nude in thy midst
Showing to your eyes the
stripes of thy iniquities
Tears dripping down my chin
as drops of rain from the grey
clouds
My face wrinkled with the pain
of the violent conflicts within
this ancient house of stones
My body bruised by the
whipping of your politics and
democracy
My hearing deafened by the
loud cries of innocence and
justice crying for their freedom
of being
my soul blackened and
sorrowed by our loss of sense
and hope of morrow
The memory of our heroes
which in its remembering
should teach us not and never
to be inhuman again,
Is but a mere miasma to this
generation of a people who are
victims of the lash of tyrannism
A people whose sad silence is
audible from the quiet Limpopo
banks to the turbulence of the
Zambezi flow
From the wonderful sights of
the eastern mountains to the
frightening caves of the
western side that harbor the
spirits of our ancestors
A people that woke up
everyday with an unutterable
question of survival,
A people I stand up for now
with a blasphemous finger to
this council....
'How can a bird that's born for
joy sit in a cage and sing...'
We shall cry!!
Categories:
zambezi, allegorypeople, people, , western,
Form:
Free verse
Zebra,Donkey,Giraffe,Hippo,Elephant
Mango,Hibiscus,Neem,Baobab
Zambezi,Nile,Euphrates,Kafue
Victoria,Ontario,Tanganyika,Bangweulu
Everest,Kilimanjaro,Nanga Parbat
Red Sea,Mediterranen Sea
Pembrokeshire coast park
Victoria Falls
Lochinvar hot springs
chipepo lwele
PS;the reminder of the natural world around us.
the poem about animals, plants,rivers,lakes
,mountains,seas ,waterfalls and hot spring.
Categories:
zambezi, allegory, nature,
Form:
Classicism
The brook thrums as it vaults over the piled rocks
Rolling on deep into the Zambezi valley
Twisting, flirting with the rigdes that compliment the escarpment beyond
And the indigenous lass strolled to the rivulet a rose
A dragon rose burgeoning before the morning glory of the sun
Her corn-rows tufted with the vermilion splendour
Of marigold petals she picked along the footpath
The sleeves of chives thriving along the watercourse
Weaved in the refined breeze sweeping across the wafting water surface
She surged on a jade
A jade turning, swinging in the butter sunrays
With every step, every turn
Seeking a new face, reflecting a new light.
Her supple skin freed from fetters of freckles and blotches
By the enchanted resins of the savanna balm
The hale and hearty of the chlorophyllous lily-pads
Reclining their backs against the waters
Consuming their limpid, shading enigma below
Genies, river monsters and cold blooded demons
That loll beneath the swish, patient, cuddling an ambush
She reached the songful stream
With her khakied antique clay pot clasped against her left hip
A treasure handled down her lineage
A pride of the tribal women
The gold then rested in her arms
She furled the pot beneath the mesh of lily-pads to quench its thirst
Offering the thyme of her bountiful body to the monsters
Her clamor short-lived while her breath sheared off
The waters gulped her, with the dye of her flesh teeming off
And the stream clad in red
The ceramic whimpered into shards
The seering forest kept vigil, languid
As it guttered down her tears along its wrinkles
Her palm couldn't bridle her fate
But let it sip off between her fingers
Categories:
zambezi, africa,
Form:
Narrative