Remainder Three

Dr. Maya Angelou
Photo Courtesy: harpersbazaar.com

Full of hope

I dare to grope

Cause I know the ropes,

I believe love'll lay down the stopes.

I see no pitfalls

That you n' I can't recall.

I'm reaching out for you

And I know you're reaching out too,

Your gaze thru my eyes' piercing

All of my fears you're melting. 

We zeroing in on hate,

It's been trending of late.

With this faith,

We'll run this Coup

And our expectations will rendezvous.

We were made for each other,

To build back better,

With compassion and passion

And with a measure of style.

Use love as an action word

And we'll stifle guile.

We have only one job,

One duty to our neighbor;

To love and belove.

Against these there is no law.

Love breaks down walls

It sticks closer

Than a brother

Love is stronger

Than death and lasts longer.

To top that, love is free.

Now there abides these three:

Faith, hope and love.

But the greatest of these is

Love.

Akpan

Be A King

Sunday March 28th, was Ms. Bernice A. King's
(MLK's youngest child) 58th Birthday 🎉.
This verse is a tribute.
Photo Courtesy: @BerniceKing (Twitter) 

I want to Be A King 👑

Who showers love like blingy bling

I'm goin' to flaunt my dream like a diamond ring 💍

And raise my voice till Freedom's bells ding🔔

I wanna be the force that bring

Relief to the weak urging 'em to cling.

I want to Be A King 👑

That makes justice swing

Low on the eternal string

Raise a song my people, with one voice, fling

Up to rain down a soulful spring.

I want to make hate cringe 😬

Like Covid against the syringe 💉

When it feels me on the fringe

Of manifesting a joy binge.

I wanna be the action that takes the sting 🐍

Off racism till it rots and stinks,

Bust a word from my sling

Nail it before it slinks.

And since it's my birthday 🎉 🎂

Why don't I wing't?

Pour out some juice n' celebrate 🥂

Like a chip off a real King. 👑

Akpan

Playing Me

Courtesy: @noveliciouss (Twitter)

You know I thought you was strong.

But it seems you were playing me all along,

You're one more face in the throng

Somehow, I thought you was strong.

I managed to figure you wrong

Posing that cliché of young and dumb

While you rapped my feelings like a song

Last time it worked, this time it bombed.

Akpan

E Ain't E

Courtesy: @noveliciouss (Twitter)

Never was enough really enough

People often translate the word wrong

Be careful, you do not take the fall

And assume that enough means no more.

Enough is a fantastical stuff

Another way of calling a fool's bluff

It'd never be enough

If you could have more.

And when you get some

Enough is never ever enough.

Akpan

A Heart For All Seasons

Audre Lorde
Warrior, Poet, Mother

For Audre Lorde

If I had a heart for all seasons, 

A heart that perceives

The friend in every person,

Yet will draw out the snitch

For the hype he really is;

A heart that's molded from pure gold

And yet makes room for earth's trash.

Because he believes the best is yet to be told. 

And so it ain't necessary to reheat

The overrated skillet of ash. 

If I had a heart for all seasons,

I'll sacrifice excuses for good reasons,

And guard my heart above all else

Until I generate power to revive dead cells.

A heart that beats in and out of season

A heart with an ear that's quick to lísten

Such a heart is like silver

With a bust of Caesar,

Refined seven times.

A heart that crosses immortal lines. 

Akpan

Busting On A

 

You only know my story 📚

But you're yet to see🙈 my glory 👑

I know you ain't hating ☠️

Not 🚫 exactly. 

You're just conforming to pop thinking 🤔

Still I won't let you downtalk 👄

Cause my faculty is on drugs.💉

I'm so high 🥃up on genius 

I'm busting like an A-bomb. 💥

You see, you assume what I'm going through👟 

Yet, you have no idea💡that I'm coming through.🚪

My life is the setting of a bestselling story; 📚

I am the iconic life of the party. 🎉

So don't laugh 😂

If all you see is a draft.📃

I am God's masterpiece 🎨

In the making,

The early pages 📖

Of a Divine epic.

Yo, by the way,

You'd abuse my glory 👑

At any rate.

Cause you never really dug my story.📚

Akpan

If I Fail

Early draft of Toy Story characters
Courtesy: @Pixar (Twitter)

If I fail 💔

You'll find bombs 💥in your mail 💌,

And I, gone without blazing a trail. 🛣️

I got the tiger 🐅 by the tail,

And I don't care if it showers 🌧️hail.

If I don't get this float ⛵to sail, 🌊

Ama get 🔫 you even if you's in jail 

Or when I spy 🕶️ you coming

Home 🏡 after you post bail.💰

I just got to get my sumthin'

And I'm not one to wail. 😭

I'll ride 🚲 this one-way train 🚂

Against the grain🌾

Or it's chain⛓️ you to the rail.

So if I fail, 

I'm coming down⬇️on you

Like sledgehammer 🔨on nails.

No blackouts,🌑 no interludes. 📺

Akpan

Empathy Mode

Courtesy: UNHCR

Don't breathe a word

Just cuddle me to your heart.

I long for silent comfort

Till shredding fear becomes art. 

Let our heartbeats

Sound a blended discord

While one runs the scales

Let the other hammer the chords. 

Let our breathing raise a chorus

As we inhale the pause,

Let our exhales be the crescendo

And our chestheaves even out the tempo. 

Sing me like a song

Stroke me like ebony and ivory

On your digital keyboard

Wrap up my broken tones in harmony. 

If only you'd cuddle me to your heart.

It's all I ask

And more than I could ever ask. 

Akpan

The Syrian

Ain't his motherland yet he's bopping
Talk 'bout an ant walking an elephant
Like a soulful tune Germany's port's humming
Once a refugee now a hero of the land
The Syrian certainly got something to prove.

Akpan

One Piece Of Paper

With one piece of paper
I'll rewrite this stateless caper
No more sneaking through borders
I'll be a brand new legal immigrant
Just one piece of paper
Can overhaul the inequality wager.

Akpan

When We

Sometimes it rains water
But there are times it thunders
And those days are full of darkness visible
When we by horror haunted become expendable.

Akpan

Power In Your Name

To you oh Lord
I lift up all acclaim
Just to know your touch
And the power in Your name.

Akpan

Children Of Tomorrow

Sun's gonna be smiling always
Cause we tuned in on our faith
Though darkness casts a shadow
We are all children of tomorrow.

Akpan

State-Without-Borders Nationals

We traversed afar
From Nigeria, Sudan, and Syria
Based in Rohingya, Aqra and Sambisa
We're state-without-borders nationals.

Akpan

Heart That Bleeds

It's the heart that bleeds
That may tell sorrow's tendrils
The ferocity of its squeeze
When it chokes your heartstring.

Akpan

You Can't Lose

You can't lose
Under your own groove
Even if you're stuck
It's still your block.

Akpan

Feast Of Hate

Hate feeds on your mind
With files all prejudiced
All is set to make you blind
That ever catches your eye.

Akpan

Smiling Maya

She always wears a smile
Like she knows everyone counts
She thrives in the land of exile
Maya will never wear a frown.

Akpan

Gone Before

One step follows
The one that's gone before
Wherever it may go
The other trails the one.

Akpan

Every Mountain Shall Fill Up

Every mountain shall fill up the valley
And every valley shall cough up its malice
And the crooked ground shall be made straight
All they that are low shall be made great.

Akpan