Dream On Wings

Courtesy: mermaidsrock.com

If I could steal wings for my dreams

I’d glide and survey the face of the deep,

I’d build a castle of stone in the skies

And strip every mountain of its lofty height.

If I could fling my dreams up to the stars

I’ll erase the sun and illuminate all with my spark,

I’ll rearrange the solar system place a hood on the moon

Then I’ll build a new world of virtue where it’s all good.

Akpan

Bring Back Yesterday

Bring back yesterday

And with it dreams of better days;

Bring back that moment

When we almost had it all;

Bring back that treatment

Attesting men are capable of love;

Bring back one sweet day,

Make it shine thro our work and play.

Akpan

The Caged Bird Still Sings

Courtesy: ifitshipitshere.com

Just in case you ever wondered why

This ball of water yet rotates on its axis

In times like these and men still wear a smile

Tho throttled on the throat by the claws of adversity,

There is a song that spins a web of strength.

Connecting all of God’s creation refueling the spent;

A lilting miracle that nudges exanimate rocks to breathe:

Does it come as a surprise the caged bird still sings?

Akpan

Fantasies Run Away

Courtesy: etinspires.com

I’m gonna let my fantasies run away with me

I’m gonna put my dream in gear and set

My radar on cloud nine, until my dream is complete

I’m going to make a job out of going off on a tangent.

I’m about to run wild, ready to push it off the limits.

Life is a game but there are no codified written rules

I’m about to pull off one son-of-a-gun of a stint

Aim your sights at the skies you’ll see my prophecy.

Akpan

Zombie Heaven

If love should pass us by

I won’t blink an eye,

I won’t pretend to cry.

If hope should prove a lie,

I would feign a smile

And pretend to wonder why.

If good should run us down

I won’t make a sound,

And give a run around.

If hate should pull a crowd,

I won’t run my mouth,

My feeling won’t head down south.

If life should deal hard knocks

I won’t give a bad turn;

I won’t ask for potluck.

If courage should quit and die

I’ll just play my cards right

And I’ll return like for like.

Akpan

Mr. President

Mr. President Barack Obama

How smooth I view you groove

The world moves whenever you move.

Your heart is true, your faith is strong

In you millions found rhythm and a song.

Courage’s snug in the bosom of a true friend

For you elegance has adopted a new name

You ease yourself into a task with pure grace,

You tackle it like it’s a game you was born to play.

And now you’ve gone and added beauty

To the color of black and all of humanity.

I’m cut up to say how you did the things you did,

But boundless time testifies to the glory of your story.

Akpan

Glimmer of Forever

I want to live forever.

I want to witness the sun implode,

Watch all that can be shaken collapse.

Spark immortality put mortality on hold.

I want to walk on the stars.

I want to ride meteorites thro galaxies

I want to dip my toes in the moon’s scars

Hold down eternity until nothin mo exists.

I want to breathe indefinitely.

I want to stretch beyond this existence

Into another life that flows infinitely.

I want to evolve and translate my circumstance.

And when I stand on that holy mountain

I want to make sure my name will remain.

I want to bind body, soul and spirit on a tether

Cause I want to live forever.

Akpan

The Long Hike

Courtesy: UNHCR (@refugees)/Ivor Prickett
This poem was originally written for the refugee woman who trekked long
distance to be with her man. I couldn't find her picture online so I used this one instead. 😄

My traveling shoes fit me fine.

My feet are kitted like an Olympic athlete’s

I’m all equipped to eat up the miles

No fuss about distance nuthin’ can stop me.

I can only pray my feet don’t fail me now

The cloud’s moving its bowels by the sound

But I’m all covered by passion blind to distraction.

Taking it all in my stride screaming bring it on!

Will I survive will I rise or multiply the lies?

How do I flee slow virus that trusses my mind?

Love, with open arms, waits on the other side of here

His whisper is a special delivery of love to my ears;

The memory of his face is a balm for my blistered feet,

The longing for his embrace is a shade from the heat.

I must go where love goes lovingly mark his footsteps.

Find solace in the warmness of his footprints before

The chill of the nighttime tones it down with its breath.

I’m gon’ keep on pushing until I get what I want

Even tho the road is rough I will not turn away.

If I have to crawl on bended knees I won’t hesitate.

Akpan

Heaven Touching, Hell Razing

Let the universe hold still for a few moments

And know why the caged bird sings lost in torment.

Let the walls of this mortal earth

Touch heaven and raze hell’s fiery depth.

It’s an hero’s welcome for sons who earned respect

Returning with refined dreams,

Bringing in the sheaves doubtless rejoicing.

Say to those crippled in their souls, Arise!

Wipe the last tear from off your eye.

It’s the restoration of all things.

Equality and his work party have set us free.

Let the sun run its course announcing to every nation:

“The proudest and greatest race revives true redemption.”

Bow to the wind of change pompous trees.

Sing for joy all you Savannah anthills.

Hide your faces in utter shame destroying mountains

For this lil’ ones shall be frightened, never again.

And in this place where we were called slaves,

We’ll bring back the hour and with it glory regained.

Akpan

Where Sunshine Darkens

Courtesy: Somewhere on Blogger

You can’t tell me

The various shades of misery

I’ve seen enough for myself

So you can’t show me

The way around its gardens

I trod those forbidden paths myself

I’ve experienced the land where sunshine darkens

I’ve wiped sweats of death off my brow

My spot in this existence is a shroud

An untapped resource of sorrow

With no promise of tomorrow.

I have walked the streets of the ghetto,

Traveled the well-beaten paths of unhope,

And I got no respect for intellectual duplicity;

Education is expensive.

Akpan

Hearts of Men

Pain resides in the hearts of men.

Like water in a coconut shell

Bitterness is gone deep-rooting

Self-appointed denizen of the inner dwelling.

Madness beget madmen

Indifference has made all a poor specimen.

It’s the wake of corruption,

Evil’s a looming mountain shading the constellation.

Blinded by apathy

Men yield their hearts to captivity.

Living behind a mask that conceals their yielding

To disease that torment the human soul

Impossible to console.

Akpan

Refugee Nation

Yolande Mabika member of the first Team Refugees
displaying the Refugee Olympic Team flag

Sometimes I wish I was a refugee

I wish I can dip my toe in strange soil,

Claim the skies and build a world without boundaries.

In a strange land to raise redemption’s song

Hauled on the buzz of people who’ve lost everything

Yet invested with the greatest of gifts, I’ll rise

Above the fears and doubts and corruption of beauty.

And I’d relish the right of giving one lifetime twice.

My very own second shot at making first impression,

I’ll devastate captivity and make an art of destruction.

I’ve waded a hundred rivers of hurt, fears and blood but

The yet uncharted rivers will carve pinions for my cross.

Raison d'être tossed in war opens up to freedom’s porch

I could almost engage it cause it’s breaking with the dawn.

All the virtues I’d have been busting loose in a fresh me.

Sometimes I wish I was a refugee.

Akpan

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Still I Try

I aint there yet.

I aint even trying to think that

Ama get there before my death.

But I press forward beyond my past

And still I try.

This is not about failing,

I aint scared of that idea

Cause it takes skill to handle falling

And since I believe impossible is a dare,

Still I try.

If it was easy nobody would give up

Even if they did I’ll never find my strength

If I never give challenges my best shot.

I’ll tackle the pedal with my last breath

And still I try.

I want to set the record straight,

Try my hands on anything my heart beats for

Stay on my grind until I get paid.

I know my struggles may not amount to much

But still I try.

Still I try

I don’t want any regret at the end of my life.

Still I try

I understand failure means not trying.

Still I try

To know a thing’s worth I gatto make it work.

Still I try

The sweetest feats are those won by endeavor.

Still I try.

Akpan

Never Break

Syrian Refugee Woman and Child
Courtesy: UNHCR

We will never break.

We won’t bow to fear.

We will face the rain.

We won’t spare a tear

We will raise our song;

We will dare the storm.

We will break a wall,

We will rule the world.

Can you hear us now?

Can you hear our shout?

Can you drown a crowd?

Can you hear us now?

We will never break.

We was born to reign.

We got what it takes,

We control this space.

You can bring the pain,

We will weave it to gain.

We will rock this punt,

We will shock the world.

Can you hear us now?

Can you hear our shout?

Can you drown a crowd?

Can you hear us now?

Can you hear us now?

Can you hear us now?

We will never break

We’ll dance till earth quakes.

Akpan

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