If I tell you what you want to hear
Will you actually listen
Or silently cajole yourself
That you have converted another.
If I tell you things you do not want to hear
Will you dismiss them
Without giving them any thought
Deny them the possibility of truth
If I listen to what you tell me
And question the efficacy of its truth
Will you dismiss me as a fool
Or engage me in lively debate
Or have your values calcified
Been stilled by an arctic wind
Blowing cold across a frozen face
Unable to smile at its own contempt
The Blood speaks louder, it paves the way,
No force can take its efficacy away.
From valleys low to mountains high,
His Spirit lifts us up, we touch the sky!
In Him we stand, we live, we shine,
Our faith is strong, His love divine.
So raise our voices, be bold, be free,
His Truth will guide our destiny!
He lights the night with steadfast grace,
Turns ashes bright - His love won’t fade.
His Word’s a shield, a fortress strong,
Abide in Him, this is where we belong.
No storm can shake, no tide can sway,
We thrive, boom, and shout “Jubilee” each day!
Beige-white heat blisters his brow
until sweat pours masking his face
protecting his vision – cooling without a breeze.
His calloused feet burn with resistance to
indiscriminate grains of settling sand
filling his footprint from his labored stride.
White and green linen draped casually
around his heated torso
tugs and shifts from his movement.
Blurred by the endless desert dunes
warped in mirage, he searches
this place with little room for the living.
Following a dead man’s journey to cast hope
amidst an apocalypse in time and space
he clamors with all that is within his will
straining to find the direction
that provides life.
It is a detour taken by youth.
The inertia of the age-old quest
to boldly find the efficacy of one’s soul
while fearlessly striking the citadels
of this desert dominion to declare
“I am the seed of my own existence “–
I am humble, He said
But what of being honest?, another asked.
I am gentle, He yet professed
No, what anent honesty,
That shapes one's integrity?
He was again questioned.
I am friendly, He proudly said,
Seeming to have the world by him accommodated.
No, are you uncorrupted to them,
And corrigible to all men?
The other retorted.
What got I to do with corrigibility? he queried.
For none could in any way be honest perpetually;
So we do have to compromise at times.
No, no, no, that is wrong! the other began.
Honesty is the best virtue
In which all other virtues prevail
The evidence of man's generosity.
For an honest man is an hundred times better—
Than a benevolent man in wonder.
He pays Peter in Paul's coin
And steals from a man and do it a good to another.
What if the world were only generous,
With no sign of honesty,
Would it stand it?
For it brings the worlds to a world
And peoples to a people.
But many lack this golden efficacy of life.
Yes, with it all other virtues prevail!
I am humble, He said
But what of being honest?, another asked.
I am gentle, He yet professed
No, what anent honesty,
That shapes one's integrity?
He was again questioned.
I am friendly, He proudly said,
Seeming to have the world by him accommodated.
No, are you uncorrupted to them,
And corrigible to all men?
The other retorted.
What got I to do with corrigibility? he queried.
For none could in any way be honest perpetually;
So we do have to compromise at times.
No, no, no, that is wrong! the other began.
Honesty is the best virtue
In which all other virtues prevail
The evidence of man's generosity.
For an honest man is an hundred times better—
Than a benevolent man in wonder.
He pays Peter in Paul's coin
And steals from a man and do it a good to another.
What if the world were only generous,
With no sign of honesty,
Would it stand it?
For it brings the worlds to a world
And peoples to a people.
But many lack this golden efficacy of life.
Yes, with it all other virtues prevail!
A miraculously flat prison
A site of utter allocution
Bearing witness to decision
Beholding not of retribution
Conversations with it an act of utter futility
Covering does not instill a sense of humility
Dimensionally free
Damning still is thee
Efficacy is still eluding
Escapism found brooding
Finally, a simple pathway to contrition
Fracture this mirror, my final decision
he sat there in his room
gently shaking his head as
he chalked ducks on the floor
which then he carefully fed
over in the corner
watching him with glee
the asylum keeper counted
from one to ninety three
ceaselessly repetetive
each number chanted out
sometimes in a whisper
sometimes in a shout
the warden made his rounds
with his little boxes of pills
each chosen for efficacy
on a multitude of mental ills
they washed them down with water
on sundays gin and rum in lieu
carefully rationing the alcohol
to never more than a tot or two
and there were watchers watching
the watchers as they watched the rest
each watching watcher watched
in that observed observation test
it all made perfect sense of course
he thought as he shook his head
ensuring that each chalked duck
received its proper share of bread
and every single morning
when their clock struck ten
the asylum keeper blew a whistle
and the routine started off again
I do not have a perfect life
Blue, brown, yellow, black...
Orange and silver, civilize my emotions
Correspond to justify my ambiguity
Like a swarm of bees, protecting its hive
I have succumbed to my delicacy
It magnifies my efficacy
The roar of a lioness.
Lay to rest the troubles of thy self
Unfold the folded and iron the crumbled
Take a closer look in the mirror
Take a closer view in the puddle
Yes, the mystery is muddled up
You dread to look at your own soul
But nothing is much more stabbing
Like the hearts sore.
Different views, different tastes
She is not you, You are you
You wish for clarity, but
Charity you never tried
Purity was never your choice
I smell darkness
The roar corresponds to the howling howls of the night.
Sleep my emotions sleep
The night is still young,
So are you?
It was never promised to no man but,
Tomorrow is another hectic day
Pathetic is no fit to define
Lock the voice-box, sustain the roar
Sleep well my love,
Sleep well.
You who believe in the efficacy of treatment,
Keep me informed of progress.
'Cause what I see are days in a row,
falling off the calendar
Like bodies in an abyss.
In the new season of disasters,
Televisions only report laughter.
Yes... Life insists on eliminating
the bad smell of time,
Distributing fake flowers in every way.
Wondrous…
Efficacy enhanced; potency proliferated;
Encyclopedia at fingertips concentrated;
Communication convalescent; multi-merchandised,
The universe, like a toy at infant’s hands, mesmerized...
Yet…
Psychic eccentricities; emotional erosion;
Disorientation; bedim in vision and mission;
Homes divided; globe compartmentalized, isolated,
Rhythm of cosmos, like music of broken lutes, muted...
10 February 2022
Let's explore digital technology Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Simon Rogerson
Appalachian Mountains for hiking so awesome
Beauteously inviting while snow-blanketed…
Carpeted with ice, Niagara Falls stop cascading
Delightfully stunning along frozen water display…
Enchanting hot springs in Japan offer healing efficacy
Fascination-sites as macaques soak themselves fabulously…
Grand Canyon midst snowflakes shines radiantly gorgeous
Hoisting hopefulness for trekking, never hampered…
Interesting glaciers in Alaska with roaming moose’ impact
Jubilant indeed, along aurora borealis spectacle, wondrously joyous…
Kindled with serene ambiance is Swiss Alps of gorgeous viewing keys
Lake Geneva offering panoramic scenes likewise…
My birth province, blest by God* with garden terraces’ marvels
Nourishes Winter virtual vacation with gladness along nostalgic nurturing….
*1Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
January 16, 2022
"Modified Double ABC"
8th place, "Winter Wonders Within Nature" Poetry Writing Contest
Sponsored by M. L. Kiser; judged on 1/23/2022.
Mind if I tell you, honestly, I’m not
The spokesman for a Holy God I used to be
As time has failed to convince me, the skeptic,
Of righteousness and the efficacy of prayer.
The change has come slowly, over time …
As many a deep concern has gone unexplained
And, as I studied humanity’s gross inhumanity
While the “God of love” stood by permissively
While Jewish babies were slain over open pits
Sweet, older women were hanged as witches
Entire tribes of people slain, victims of genocide,
Wicked men who risen to positions of great power
Entice ordinary folks to forfeit good sense …
And I … I am powerless to make a difference
While the Almighty, like the Deist God, sleeps
Soundly, and his fine creation flounders fatally.
written October 31, 2021
COVID is here again, perhaps in a more virulent form,
Dealing with the day-by-day stresses is now the norm
Still, so many continue to make this a political football,
When it is definitely not a comedian’s clumsy pratfall
How foolish are they who ignore the call to vaccinate,
Frequenting dangerous places where it can replicate
Denying the efficacy of the currently-approved shot--
So far, the only effective deterrent to COVID we’ve got.
It saddens me that some folks are simply being stupid,
When we have opportunity to see this virus booted.
written July 31, 2021
The last poem I submitted here, perhaps in February 2021, can be misunderstood by careless readers. I may be wrong in wanting to sometimes offer pithy poems. If readers are not familiar with the darker races of the global village, and how they achieved independence from European and US colonial rule, they miss the many nuances.
In that last poem I also showed my ignorance and knee-jerk reactions in the youthful days in my native South Africa, by "hating favoritism and 'FAVOURites' in public discourse." Now that I am an evangelist, Pentecostal, I teach how to remain in God's grace and favour - by relying on Jesus' finished work on the Cross of Calvary. It is both imputed righteousness and imputed favour one enjoys as a believer in Jesus and the efficacy of His blood sacrifice for sinners since Adam and Eve.
Fighting apartheid, hating privilege:
Having "favorites" (?) - thus hating Favor
Until Jesus THE WORD showed me
Anoints His children, any color
To explain its efficacy to the point,
sympathy of nature becomes anoint.
The agreement of opposite forces,
like or unlike potential endorses.
Converged in multitudinous attraction,
divine utterance and holy fraction.
Spell binding dependence strife,
primal sorcerer and magi arts live.
Ensorcellations by being a fan,
upon another one of the clan.
Love induce mutual approach,
becoming a soul to soul coach.
Evocation and invocation of living things,
wisdoms and virtues liberating wings.
Enchantment in greatest demand,
like prayer and its fascinated wand.
Wrought like musical strings that vibrates,
into a third dimension migrates.
Perception in image of harmony,
affecting others quiet partially.
Sympathy constituted in contraries,
echoes of divine companies.
The soul that knows its history,
is aware and a tuned mystery.
Her source poised to the intent,
the magic spell and cosmic content.
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