Long Lasting Love

Courtesy: pbs.org

If we'd step way back

Like a throwback

If we could lay back

In the eternal arms of love

And all was well with the world.

If we adopt peace

As a product of justice,

If we toss in a piece

Till wrath is appeased

And end violence on our streets,

Identify the enemy,

The bombsight of the beast

We gon' solve this chemistry,

Unmask the poltergeist.

If we trade the noise

For the sound of one voice,

We'll elect a golden choice,

Defeat this pandemic

And obtain victory that's epic.

Let the lifeline

Pay out like

A bust of fresh lime,

Quit chasing the dime,

It makes you a ball of slime.

If love is your pantomime

Then your life will rhyme.

Be Love, it ain't a crime

Hate's a greater pandemic

Wreaking worse ill than Covid

That's wasting millions, it's pathetic.

So step back

Lend a helping hand

To folks on your path

See if it don't come back.

Akpan

Weep Like A Child

I weep like a child

For a sliver of the past

For a cake of smile

That crumbles like wafer mass

I weep for frosted memory

That leaves a white moustache

When I taste its cream

And grass like dressed salad

I dream of soccer balls

Of buns that are auburn and warm

And bread on palm-oiled beans

Washed down with a tall mug of coffee

I weep for a street

Of laughter-stoned kids

And the joy like a stream

Where our childish screams

Put under the surface grim

Knowing of inevitable parting

Akpan

Tomorrow: In Live and Living Color

You are legend.

Diamond shining from African mines

And it's amazing you don't know it, yet.

Kingdoms rise inside your eyes.

You move hearts when you smile.

The world stands still when you cry.

Inditing for you is such sweet honor;

You're tomorrow, in live n' living color.

Isn't it a phenomena

That whenever I hold your hands

I hold tomorrow in my hands?

Isn't it pure wonder

That whenever I wipe your tears

I heal tomorrow of all tears?

It's with great privilege and honor,

I present tomorrow,

In live and living color.

Akpan

Day 28: Unrhymed

Can I have a word with you?

Come away with me

And sit on this pampas grass.

Let us palaver

Just the two of us

Mi corazón.

We could talk the night away,

Until the constellations fall out.

We could build castles in the sky.

Or I could gift you the moon

In full bloom crowned with the stars.

Let's play the games we used

To play when we was children,

When innocence held its appeal

And we laughed and squealed

Without a single care in the world.

I want to look into your eyes

And forget about the worries

Of a universe gone to hell

In a hand basket.

I want to strum your heart strings

And let your words massage

My broken tones to buy back

The lost years and redeem

The children's laughter like prey

Snatched from the jaws of a bear.

But would we ever hear the

Simple sounds of child-like amusement,

Or recognize its cadence if it carries

Shouted from the mountaintop?

Akpan