Home » Poems » Best » Abongile Ncwana » Best Abongile Ncwana Poems

Best Poems Written by Abongile Ncwana

Below are the all-time best Abongile Ncwana poems as chosen by PoetrySoup members

Details | Abongile Ncwana Poem

Child, Stand Up

Child , stand up
Clothes deemed unfashionable
by followers with no individuality
Kinky locks not straight enough
according to those with no self realization
The stiffness in your tongue bearing testament
to your mother tongue, to which they laugh at, why?

You're Mahogany, sanded and buffed
well crafted and glossed to a high sheen

Vulnerable yet resilience is you
Intelligent yet humility is you
Poor yet generosity is you

Yes, you are all that and more
because you have captured and nurtured
a knowledge and pride in self

Your smile glows from within
as it brightens your surrounds
Don't be shackled with self doubt
for your strength feeds multitudes.
Your gentleness comforting many.

As you wear your head gear to dance,
dance till you turn up the dust
each muscle sinew in perfect coordination,
sweat weaving in between the seamless strings
of those beads crafted and carried with pride.

Roar with song!
Share your history through lore
Ululate till the sound carries to the heavens,
breaking the skies open with torrents of nourishing rains falling,
falling.
This ,Africa, is what you are...

Details | Abongile Ncwana Poem

Take Me Back

Take me back to my mother's womb
Where darkness was light
Vision my perspective and my third eye well versed
Fluidity championed my freedom, movement boundless.
Where the only ropes that tethered me
were cords that brought nourishment to my blood,
limitless were my stores
My soundtrack the constant beating of the heart that accepted me
before I encountered...you
...and me
Please take me back to my mother's womb
Where my tears mingled with the waters that surrounded me
never to be witnessed by man
These same waters that buffered the inevitable jarring of my body
and ultimately, distortions in my soul.
Toil was not known to me as hours became days, weeks, then months.
My form, strength, it simply became, effortlessly as was originally decreed.

Oh! I beg you, take me back to my mother's womb
Where visions of my Creator were still vivid
and instructions for my purpose well memorized!
My buttocks still smarting from being bounced on my ancestors' knees
as I listened to stories as good as my own
Clear in my mind, the echoing laughter of my Asian sister to come and
the Senegalese brother that never was, as we played innocent games awaiting our calling...

Listen to me, as I plead with you to take me back to my mother's womb,
where all was as it should be.

Details | Abongile Ncwana Poem

Will You Be My Tomorrow

Will you be my tomorrow?
When the sun creeps languorously
Red and purple swirls,
golden tentacles stretching,
stretching to embrace the spreading wings of birds aflutter
as they draw towards those very life giving limbs as they
burst through the skies vividly
To and fro they dart
a choir of beautiful solo proclamations disjointed yet unified

Great trunks sturdy
lifting greens higher, 
higher to drink of that potion
Buds, slowly they unfurl giving way to dainty leaves
How carefully they are veined, their sustainance obtained
Leaning blades they weep as they witness
the beauty of my tomorrow, today

Will you be my tomorrow?
Vicious winds howling
Oranges, browns swirling
like dancers they flutter to the ground
Soft blanket of fallen pieces carefully laid
disrobed from gnarly fingers striving,
yes striving for perseverance 

Garbled birdsong , hunched wings
as they retreat into cocoons of their creation
woven and threaded pecked and mud slung
perfect in their complexity, 
beautiful in simplicity
See where there is stunting, blades no longer lush but
trodden to bareness beneath the carpet of debris that paves a way for regrowth

tomorrow...
but what about today?

Details | Abongile Ncwana Poem

I'M Looking At Your Shadow

I'm looking at your shadow
It is cast bigger than what is your truth
The curve of your breasts accentuated,
your contour smooth as it gently glides down towards your hips,
rounding your buttocks to perfect proportions and your thighs just right.
Your calves perfect as they wind down to your dainty feet.

What it doesn't show is that your lower lip
slightly larger than the upper,
when coaxed, parts to reveal an endearing tooth gap
trademarking your smile...

The striations on your breasts and abdomen
from where you nurtured your baby
even before its first breath of life,
 to a perfect being of reasoning and effort.

The slight outgrowth on your big toe
passed down from generation to generation, 
brought forth and as your predecessors 
toiled and tilled the soil that now claims you.

It is a shame indeed, that it does not show your eyes,
deep set and cast like smooth, molten chocolate and just as soft.
Bejeweled with a spark of curiosity and quirkiness completely your own
As your thick lashes fan out of your skin, 
often trapping tears that represent your big heart

Why hide in your perfect shadow ,when imperfections reveal the beauty of a life uniquely yours?
Claim it, own it, Live it...

Details | Abongile Ncwana Poem

What My Mamma Said

I am the kiss of light as the dawn breaks,
a representation of promise and endless possibilities
As delicate a beauty as the flutter of a butterfly 
atop the brightest bloom
I speak not of a mere symmetry of features
but a depth that colors my soul
Resilient, with a persistence that matches
the ever present ebb and flow of the roughest shores
As constant as the circadian rhythm
with a vibration of influence just by being me
Firmly I stand in my beliefs,
unshakeable as the mountains of old
Storkishly my strut says it all,
back straight and tall
Mamma said, I am woman

With my smile I spark a flame of love
in hearts known and unknown
I cry for myself as much as any stranger,
their heartbreak as acute as my own
My hands with kindness they mold
each dream with deliberateness
In me there is an oasis, where many will seek restoration
There will come a time when I will lay in hibernation,
preparing for a season to come
yet still I will wait, as I lay the ground for others to shine
Mamma said, I am woman

As I bear my cross, my back breaking,
 I will stretch my arm and carry yours
As I fall, beaten down by fatigue,
I will lie so as to break your own fall
As I break down, embittered by failure,
I will still encourage you to thrive
Even as I perish, I will fertilize your soil...

Mamma said, I am The Woman.

Details | Abongile Ncwana Poem

I Cried For You

When you cried for me, heart 
Fallen on calloused knees as I supplicated 
Blood thrumming in my ears 
yet running cold to my finger tips 
Face distorted, eyes tightly shut 
but in my mind's eye images projected
in vivid details of learned self deprecation 

Crumpled over I surrender to my bloody fate 
My insides turned to ash 
I'm all but hollow, 
weightless and adrift 
my essence as it bleeds out 
I let go to the numbness. . . 

When I cried for you, heart 
A collage of said colourfast images 
washed lacklustre by a calculated manipulation 
Resignation and surrender hung on a pair of windows 
barely translucent they give a glimpse 
of space as vacant as their dwelling 

Oh, I cried for you my heart 
but my hands were tied fast twines wound 
tight biting and marking my skin 
limbs paralysed by a fear of self liberation 
So still I lay, lay in this bed of thorns 
naturally piercing and commissioned for my benefit 

Then, you cried for me, heart 
The thrumming quieted 
I heard your rhythmic injection 
continuing to give me life 
Warmth gradually seeped into my being 
hollowness filled with a gushing stream of hope 
Release me captor of my soul!
Here I stand the sun is yet to set 
as I look up, sigh, 
My strength regaining I limp, then walk 
never to return. . .

Details | Abongile Ncwana Poem

Pen To Paper

Lemme put pen to paper
tears in my eyes
lemme put sound to ears 
cracks in my heart
lemme put rhythm to feet
drudgery to my soul

My tears fallen have watered this garden of lies
my shattered heart beating a staccato tattoo of connections failed
my soul degraded to perish among my dreams

To you I gave my trust, devotion and pride
is this not my all?
From you I received veiled discouragement, lies and betrayal
and that was your all?

Lemme put ink to skin
mark my freedom
lemme put music to consciousness
mark my elation
lemme put dancing to stage
mark my independence

Lemme put pen to paper
this writer is me
paint this canvas making it what is...
Me

Details | Abongile Ncwana Poem

My Soul Knows You

My soul knows you
You've been mine many times before
I've seen the beauty within you
I've lain in your arms
My smile knows your fears
My tears know your comfort
I've memorized your features
and every slight nuance
Your voice my salve and compass
Eyes I've lost myself in eons and centuries before
Hands I've yielded to...
My love, my heart, my forever soulmate.

Details | Abongile Ncwana Poem

Little Bird

Little bird why won't you fly
Away from these plains and follow your high
Look up little bird, unto your sky
Unfurl your wings, your destiny is nigh!

Little bird why won't you fly
Don't you know that's why
You were created by the Most High
Soar little bird, your beauty divine.

Little bird I saw you fly!
Such grace and splendor no one can deny
Oh little bird you've found your spry
High above the highest reaching Pine!

Details | Abongile Ncwana Poem

The House In Faded Yellow

The house in faded yellow 
Oh it looks so mellow 
A pool besides though shallow 
Bathing is one lonely sparrow 

Splendid wild garden all over 
Arroyo, sage, crimson clover 
Please Mr Bus man pull over 
Before this scene is over 

Just as I run outta luck 
Out darts a daring buck 
Right in front of a truck 
Oh, that had to suck!