Details |
Joseph Kimbugwe Poem
She is a young terrified girl.
A waning light in the dark
A true citizen of a wrong place;
A real burden to self
An epitome of depression
The embodiment of resentment.
Eyelids glued by the pus
That oozed, then clogged her vision;
The flies that feast on her sore body
Buzzing their ceaseless gratitude
Her breath comes…tarries…returns
Hope in both future and present,
Squashed and vanishing
She is deserted and quaking
She stares into the future
Laden with nothing
But impossible possibilities.
Amidst shame and morose
She remembers a song.
Not a song sung on a merry-go-round
But a song her mama sang for her
On days like this one.
A song meant to rekindle hope
When none’s left.
With the last energy
Still left in her frail spirit
She sings the song
Her mama sang for her.
With the scrawny legs
Dotted with scaly scars,
She gets up to limp on ahead
Like a blind man groping
Into a world of nothingness.
At first she sings with shyness.
The song her mama sang for her
Wakes up the courage in her chest.
She hums the song with passion.
Every note and every pitch and every rhythm
Blowing new breath into her dying lungs
Creating a new African girl.
A new life is born by a song
Sung by a mother
To her woe-stricken child.
She opens her eyes
To see new horizons.
She now sings for the tuxedoed
In big theatres and operas.
The world is too small for her name.
The new girl is a fat shadow of her former self.
When she sings,
The world sings along.
The future for her
Is now laden with gifts
As promised in the song
Her mama sang for her.
Copyright © Joseph Kimbugwe | Year Posted 2017
|
Details |
Joseph Kimbugwe Poem
I go into the desert
To find my lost self.
I go to lodge with vipers
And dine with vultures.
Gladly taking up my cross
To triumph over my transgression!
Into the desert I will stay
With none but myself,
For forty days and nights
There I will be
Finding my lost self!
Into the wilderness I will wade;
Thirsting with Christ
From that world of torment and temptation,
I will come stronger and healthier
To rise with Him on the third day.
Copyright © Joseph Kimbugwe | Year Posted 2016
|
Details |
Joseph Kimbugwe Poem
The man who loved us has died;
In his place is a beast!
We, in the land of banana,
Once
Sang songs of victory!
Now,
We sing songs of woe –
Woe for lost freedoms,
Woe for the death of Hope,
Woe for the death of a saviour!
Copyright © Joseph Kimbugwe | Year Posted 2016
|
Details |
Joseph Kimbugwe Poem
She is a young terrified girl.
A waning light in the dark
A true citizen of a wrong place;
A real burden to self
An epitome of depression
The embodiment of resentment.
Eyelids glued by the pus
That oozed, then clogged her vision;
The flies that feast on her sore body
Buzzing their ceaseless gratitude
Her breath comes…tarries…returns
Hope in both future and present,
Squashed and vanishing
She is deserted and quaking
She stares into the future
Laden with nothing
But impossible possibilities.
Amidst shame and morose
She remembers a song.
Not a song sung on a merry-go-round
But a song her mama sang for her
On days like this one.
A song meant to rekindle hope
When none’s left.
With the last energy
Still left in her frail spirit
She sings the song
Her mama sang for her.
With the scrawny legs
Dotted with scaly scars,
She gets up to limp on ahead
Like a blind man groping
Into a world of nothingness.
At first she sings with shyness.
The song her mama sang for her
Wakes up the courage in her chest.
She hums the song with passion.
Every note and every pitch and every rhythm
Blowing new breath into her dying lungs
Creating a new African girl.
A new life is born by a song
Sung by a mother
To her woe-stricken child.
She opens her eyes
To see new horizons.
She now sings for the tuxedoed
In big theatres and operas.
The world is too small for her name.
The new girl is a fat shadow of her former self.
When she sings,
The world sings along.
The future for her
Is now laden with gifts
As promised in the song
Her mama sang for her.
Copyright © Joseph Kimbugwe | Year Posted 2016
|
Details |
Joseph Kimbugwe Poem
When hearts meet,
They shake hands
They embrace
They inquire where the other has been the whole time
They grow fonder
They sit for a cup of coffee
They sit to share like old pips
They get reason to trust each other
They then offend each other
They break the trust
They disappoint each other
They break each other
They go separate ways-
They meet again
They embrace again
They inquire where the other has been the whole time again
They grow fonder again
They sit for a cup of coffee again
They sit to share like old pips again
They get reason to trust each other again
They offend each other again
They break this trust again
They disappoint each other again
They break each other again
They go separate ways again
They meet again
They embrace again
They inquire where the other has been the whole time again
They grow fonder again
They sit for a cup of coffee again
They sit to share like old pips again
They get reason to trust each other again
They offend each other again
They break this trust again
They disappoint each other again
They break each other again
They go separate ways again
They meet again…
Copyright © Joseph Kimbugwe | Year Posted 2018
|
Details |
Joseph Kimbugwe Poem
Grant me, O Lord
A heart with the strength of Samson
To break the barriers of indifference
To the needs of my neighbor;
A mind with the Wisdom of Solomon
To identify those who hate me
So that I can love them more;
A soul with the courage of David
To see beyond my wellbeing
To foster the happiness of my neighbor;
The lips that laugh
Along with my enemies,
A tongue that never tires
Of telling the truth,
And the eyes that see your Will
In everything around me.
Copyright © Joseph Kimbugwe | Year Posted 2016
|
Details |
Joseph Kimbugwe Poem
Fear echoes through the land
Leaving a trail of wails as it passes
The sounds of pain are deafening
The silent voices
Are absorbed in the rumble of boots and guns
The fields are soaked in blood
The roads are dotted with rotting flesh and dry bones
We are trapped in the web of the pandemonium
Our feet are weary from running to where they run away from
Our eyes are sore from looking beyond our dread
Our sanity crumbles under the weight of apprehension
Our hope for the light of the next day
Eludes us the way the sun eludes a dark afternoon
Our prayers return to us unanswered
But we pray
Again
In tired hope
That
One day
The sounds of pain will cease.
Copyright © Joseph Kimbugwe | Year Posted 2018
|
Details |
Joseph Kimbugwe Poem
I saw Him,
The man I killed;
Wrapped in shame and pain;
Dejected and rejected by His own!
Surrounded by a vicious brood of vipers
Their vile tongues
Ululating doom;
Profaning the Holy of holies,
Blaming Him for innocence!
We saw Him,
The man we killed
A huge tree on His back;
Scathed and battered like a thief!
See how He stumbles and falls.
A sad sight!
Globules of Holy blood
Dropping on unholy ground,
Soaking the desert dust;
Sacredness mingling with profanity!
An indescribable spectacle!
See Him;
The man you and I killed!
See how they disrobe Him,
Exposing impaled flesh;
Dust, splinters and blood on His back.
A sight too awful for words.
His garments peeled off,
To expose nakedness that reveals perfect love
Of a father for His children.
Willingly He lies
On a wooden beam!
Passionate to trade His life with mine!
Lovingly He spreads His arms on wood.
Nails so sharp
Tear through the wrists
Of the Saviour of nations!
Pain throbbing through
His arms and legs!
Holy blood gushing from all sides
Of the body of the Saviour of men!
We see Him,
A man who fills our eyes
With swamps of tears,
Even as His head falls
In total acceptance to death,
He still looks beautiful!
For He trades His life for mine!
Hardly knowing what we did
We killed him!
You killed him!
I killed Him!
Copyright © Joseph Kimbugwe | Year Posted 2016
|
Details |
Joseph Kimbugwe Poem
You went too soon
To take the road
That’s prepared for all to take.
A great wall is now built
Between us.
The distance is too long
And the silence is too loud.
Where you left me,
I live by your words.
The cherished memories of you,
Telling me to push beyond my limits.
You have known the song
In my heart
And sang it back to me
Except you sing it
In a different tone.
You always broke the wall
I had built around me.
I stand tall
Because your undying
Love for me
Gives me comfort.
I feel never alone
When my thoughts are
Occupied by the longing
To see you again!
Copyright © Joseph Kimbugwe | Year Posted 2016
|
Details |
Joseph Kimbugwe Poem
The bottle is my life;
I shall not want.
It makes me down to lie
In other men’s houses
And makes me forget my own.
It takes the troubles
Of my miserable life
Away from where
I can see them
And restores my lost happiness.
Though I walk through
The shadow of the darkness cast on my eyes
I fear no evil, for it is thus with me
As my defender and companion.
It anoints my head with things
I can’t remember in the morning.
For its love for me and my love for it
Comforts me all the days of my life.
Amen!
Copyright © Joseph Kimbugwe | Year Posted 2016
|