BONDED STIFF
Our love knows no swiftness;
It’s tied and bowed in stiffness.
Our love life is no played game;
It is an everlasting bond attained.
May our love ever be as if a royal palace evening ball;
An orchestrated ball, admired and wished for by all.
May this precious bond between you and me,
Be granted an ever-blessed bond of eternity:-
BOIMA.
Pelo e rwalego meloko,
Mogawo wo o sa fetošwego ke nako.
O wa ka mangwele—
fela
wa se khuname!
Botiipane ke matlaka
a go gana go robega phetšong;
Lenganego ke kotse e tiilego ya sebopego,
e sa letlanywego ke tšhošetšo.
Boima bjo—
bo go tlema fase bjalo ka thaba,
gore moya o se ke wa go tšea.
English translate
HEAVINESS.
A heart carrying whole generations,
An unyielding stance against the drift of time.
You fall to your knees—
yet
you do not bow!
Stiffness is the dry stem
that refuses to snap in the gale;
Starch is the crisp, unruffled shield of form,
unwrinkled by the threat of collapse.
This weight—
it anchors you deep like a mountain,
so the wind can never steal your breath.
I have counted mornings
not by calendars
but by the stiffness in my hands
and the patience of the kettle.
Once, I believed
life was a ledger of later—
save the laughter,
postpone the journeys,
wait for a day
that wore perfection like a crown.
But time, that quiet thief,
taught me arithmetic of another kind:
subtract hesitation,
divide sorrow by kindness,
multiply wonder wherever it hides.
Now I rise
not to chase youth
but to greet the fragile, golden present—
this breath,
this light leaning through the curtain,
this sparrow rehearsing joy on the sill.
Seize the day, you say?
Ah, do more than seize—
taste it.
Let it stain your fingers with meaning.
Call the friend,
Forgive the wound,
Walk where the sky is wider than your worry.
Love without the timid grammar of “someday.”
For I have learned,
as twilight gathers softly at my door,
that a well-lived moment
outshines a thousand careful plans.
And if tomorrow comes,
welcome it.
But today—
today is the miracle.
The icy brush of Winters breath has come rushing to my doorstep
I must settle into the ache in my bones
This cold and stiffness confines me
I can find solace inside myself where I sit in front of my window
My coffee, my books, my twinkling lights
Even though Beira keeps her promises and gifts me with her loneliness
I smile
The bluebirds have returned
Dear Santa, Define Naughty
Two teams take their place
Christmas is no time to give grace
A time of happiness
No time for crankiness
A naughty girl sits on Santa’s lap
Not knowing it was a trap
Tis the season of giving
And a time for real living
You need to take my Xmas cherry
Works magic on santas red berry
Share each others magic boxes
Like naughty red foxes
Put some jingle in your jangle
And suck on Santa’s big dangle
I need to assert dominance
And pump you with joy and confidence
Happiness pouring from every crevice
While your tongue masters Ben Nevis
Are you my little hohoho
By giving Santa a slow blow
Naughty girl jingle my balls
While my face out calls
You should give in to my demands
Before I tie and lash your hands
I want you to ride me like santas sleigh
Or I deeply block your airway
You deserve a white Christmas
With the juice of stiffness
Will you empty santas sack
Or should I unleash in the crack
I get the hard *****
While I hear a pure moaner
I trust you with my heart
Spreading those cheeks makes you smart
We choose each other
For a wet smother
I always choose you
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today. - Abraham Lincoln
Silence gathers like dust
on the piano lid—unplayed songs folded
into brittle paper wings.
The hummingbird feeder hangs empty,
sunlight glinting off dried nectar.
Each day our hands relearn
the slow syntax of stiffness.
Morning pills rattle accusations
in amber bottles. Who will read
the warning labels when our eyes retreat?
Childless. No daughters to decipher
our fading ink. No sons
to steady the wobble
of ascending stairs. Lincoln’s shadow
lengthens across the porch:
Tomorrow arrives hungry.
You cannot feed it yesterday’s excuses.
We scan horizons for villages
built of shared tremors
where neighbors become
soft euphemistic nouns—caregiver, listener, stayer~
before the light fails completely.
BONDED STIFF
Our love knows no swiftness;
Its tied and bowed in stiffness:-
Our life of love, is no played game;
Rather, it's an everlasting bond attained:-
May our love always be like a royal evening ball;
A loving affair desired and wished for, by one and all:-
May this precious bond between you and me, ever be,
A God-granted blessed bonding, deemed for eternity:-
People don’t see, the pain that I’m in
and nobody’s asking why
& if they did, they wouldn’t care
as life just passes me by
Pins & needles & the aches & pains
sneaky and sly they be
all the stiffness & exhaustion too
is not what people see
Whoa, oh oh this pain of mine
whoa, oh oh this fibro rhyme
Now & then I wish I could have
a smile upon my face
I’d take the pain & lock it away
in an unknown place
I used to have much energy
now all over I hurt
times have changed, woe is me
my life is much like dirt
Whoa, oh oh this pain of mine
Whoa, oh oh this fibro rhyme
Take it away now, take it away
take it away now, take it away
Go go go go go, this time
Take it away, this pain of mine.
Santa's reindeer were in preparation,
training for the big occasion,
getting themselves in top condition
for their Christmas Eve expedition.
But on this particular Christmas,
Rudolph was experiencing pain and stiffness.
Santa worried about his fitness
and a noticeable lack of swiftness.
X-rays showed Rudolph had a leg fracture,
so he was temporarily put out to pasture;
and seeing as the winds were rather choppy,
Santa delivered presents in a flying jalopy.
This can't be my age!
I am still young at heart
The life of a party
Though hitting the bed by ten
Gained a few kilos of weight
But can fit into my youthful jeans
Grew sluggish and shorter in height
Although ready for a morning jog
Have to wear glasses now
As the print size has become smaller
A few grays in my hair don't tell my age
Merely a fashion statement
That adds a touch of elegance to my carriage
My knees hurt from the cold not stiffness
The reflection in the mirror shows what I'm not
An elderly haggard lady
With baggy wrinkled eyes and sagging jowls
As my passions still drive me forward
And I am still living my dream
For age is just a number
It's only the spirit that counts.
Santa's reindeer were ready for Christmas,
but then Rudolph developed some stiffness.
They asked his son Robbie
to do the job and he
agreed, which was most serendipitous.
Veronica and her friend Monica
joined loved ones to celebrate Hanukkah.
They sang songs of the season
giving very good reason
for Monica to play harmonica.
Meanwhile, Madonna and her friend Tonya
went to Togo to celebrate Kwanzaa.
Upon arriving, alas,
they both inhaled some burned grass,
which authorities called marijuana.
I try not to.
I blink anyway.
Like blinking out seawater.
It pours.
Goosebumps are uncontrollable.
Sitting for hours.
Sitting unnaturally.
But I can’t shift, only sway.
They command me to stand.
My feet are asleep, but that’s not the worst of it.
I see my surroundings again.
Bed.
I’m embarrassed.
I lie down and become stiff again.
I don’t bother with the blanket.
It never helps.
I don’t bother crying.
It never ever helps.
Awake to stiffness,
and age appropriate pains.
Coffee elixir!
Fibromyalgia pain, unbearable at times
Is only good for turning in to rhymes
Bending is a problem with pain throughout
Regular twitches and spasms of doubt
Obnoxious frenemy causing woe
Morning stiffness from head to toe
Yawning constant every day
Aggressive and hard to keep at bay
Ligaments, tendons, muscles all sore
Gastro tracts feeling poor
Insomnia making for sleepless nights
Anxiety, depression, memory fights
Swollen glands, shooting pain
Temperature swings, damn migraine
Ribs hurt, back aches, itchy skin
Out of order, BUT not giving in
Nerves all frazzled, Fibro is rough
Gives us hell, BUT we are Tough.
With spooked nerves' dead of night woe
This horror show
Morns and fogged, quaking on through.
Eves and fogged, back.
A bony figure's stiffness
And lifelessness
Treed, which its leading part plays.
Treed, with star's knack.
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