Search for the Shepherd

Courtesy: proverbsdaily.net

Have you seen Him?

Of whom the angels sing,

Have you seen Him?

Whose birth to man brought good tidings.

Have you seen Him?

In a thousand cribs around the world,

Have you seen Him?

Who’s come to turn a universe lost?

Have you seen Him?

We searched every room in every inn.

Have you seen Him?

We brought gifts to offer to the king.

Have you seen Him?

With shepherds we will humbly bow,

Have you seen Him?

The Shepherd-King has long come down.

Have you seen Him?

The God-Son true salvation brings.

Have you seen Him?

Sun of Righteousness as he blings?

Have you seen Him?

Why hasn’t anyone made Him room?

Have you seen Him?

To redeem men’s soul He gladly stoops.

Akpan

Manger Born

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Sometimes, I wonder what songs angels sang

On the night of the Nativity of our Lord.

If only we could have the rhythm revamped.

But as is the lot of antiquity, the notes are lost

Still it won’t hurt to think about it,

And it feels right to try for a remix.

Who penned the words that thro the ages ring?

And who set the everlasting piece to music,

Straight inspired poor modifications still bend men’s knees?

Who mastered the tug that pulls our heartstrings?

Who else but The King Himself, the manger-born?

What Poet so flawless but the Lord of all?

Akpan

The Music of the Strings

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It was the words they sang

That moved my feet to dance.

It set me high on a ledge,

And secure me with a hedge.

It was the notes they strummed

That made my heart beat thrum.

They chanted of a Savior born

In a humble manger all for love.

It was the songs they played

On the strings as their fingers strayed,

That stirred a snoozing soul awake,

It matched the music angels make.

It was the tale they weaved

Under ten thousand eaves

That made the whole world burn

And proclaim, “Christ is born.”

Akpan

Our Childhood Used to Know

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Our childhood used to know

A fountain that gushed like the flow

Of a mighty rushing wind and stole

Thro the streets of our town, hauling the cold

In its wake yet, insulating us with a coat

Of love’s warmth squeezing a song from stone.

Our childhood used to know

A tale divine of a time long ago,

When a child wrapped in swaddling clothes

Slept on the hay for there was no place to go.

How blinding halos His coming to shepherds told,

And of wise men visiting the new-born with gifts bold.

Our childhood used to know

Of Christmas carols, sung till lungs did explode

While white-faced kids dared the harmattan to blow

And some other kids danced and raced in the snow.

But our happiest memories turn to Mama’s sweet bowl

Of wholesome heaps of rice, chicken and stew overflow.

When at the table we gathered and let the show

Commence and in that Christmas feast love was known.

Akpan

Silent Stars

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Silent stars,

Witnesses to the miracle in the manger.

How I wonder what you are.

There remains an unmatched brilliance

In your spark every night you shine surreal,

I have this feeling that’s a testimonial

I sense ancient eyes crawl all over me

Like a million insects, eyes that did see

The coming of the Christ-Child and testified

To wise men from a faraway land summoning

Keepers of sheep who in the field did abide.

Silent stars,

Your message still rings true in the dark.

The ever shining light will guide us,

Like the everlasting father he’ll shield us,

And find us again when we wander lost.

Akpan

Lowly

Ambrogio Lorenzetti's Madonna and Child (1319) depicts swaddling bands. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I never knew love

Not until you brought me to a stable,

And shut out voices of the world,

Then pointed me to a lowly cradle.

That’s where love unknown

Became the only love ever known.

It wasn’t the image of the Madonna,

That ikon had its arresting diorama.

It was the Bambino fast asleep;

Great God Almighty come as a baby lowly

All wrapped up in swaddling bands.

He is the Agape come to save the race of man.

I never knew lowly,

Not until the God-Son strapped on humanity.

Akpan

Let Me Hold

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Let me hold your hand,

There are things I can only understand

When we seal the bond one heart to another.

Let me touch your soul,

There are times when loneliness takes its toll

And only your warmth can drive the cold.

Bring me the season,

Show me the care that wrote the cradle story,

Fill me in till my heart stretches to busting.

You can take me there,

Take my hand in your hand help me stand.

Christmas love is the only love that heals a man.

Akpan

Corner of the Universe

Set up a throne in my corner of the universe,

Perfect my line like the opening of an epic verse.

The whole world is a page and my setting is rehearsed.

Arrange every syllable into a metric flow let it run

Throw on my purple robe unleash the gush of inspiration,

Set the tone for a new invention get the world stunned.

Akpan

Head Straight Up

Ama keep my head straight up.

Bend my back into the wind

And dare the present raging storm.

Ama take everything life throws at me

Then roll my fingers into fists and give some

Back can’t go thro life with a catcher’s mitt

In both hands I’m built to break what taunts me

I owe no apologies, I follow nobody’s lead.

Akpan

Lethal Weapon

I have tried so many times

To abolish irate stress off my mind

But the present circumstance evades me.

I live in the kennel of the times

It’s apparent, nothing can break in upon me.

 I am hard pressed.

My surviving strength is oppressed

By forces that defy gravity of reason.

They say life is a seed

Mine just sprouted in the guise of a weed.

It seems I am unwanted.

It’s tough not to be daunted

When your adversary

Wages war from within.

Raging like a storm,

Crippling my most lethal weapon.

Akpan

Friend Like You

I could face a struggle

And not have to crumble.

I could stare death in the face

And not have to be afraid.

But there’s one thing I find impossible to do,

Not even for a single day,

I can’t forget a friend like you.

Akpan

Secret Quiet Places

In the secret quiet places

Time creates a variety of spaces;

Equilibrium of challenges and triumphs

Perfectly evading posterior riots.

In the navel of the soul,

Intuition is birthed.

Pain and instruction are intimately woven

Into a serial episode.

True personality is unearthed.

The passion of the sun of ingenuity

Rushes in like birth pangs.

Straight thro the curtains of originality

Like the Big Bang.

It translates into the makings of a man.

Akpan

Life I Lead

Like when dawn breaks

On the privacy of the night,

Shattering in one instant,

The untamed wait for light,

Unclothed reality busts on my horizon.

Flooding the unhinged windows of my mind

With terrifying brightness.

I can see clearly now

Storm clouds recede to reveal white-streaked vividness.

But what I observe runs my heart aground.

Deceit and his likeness,

Hypocrisy and his offspring,

Life is from a page off the book of tragedy.

It’s amazing how we deny it.

The gravity of it sickens me.

This life I lead

Is fashioned out of frustration

What else do you expect?

When you witnessed such devastation

It’s impossible not to detect

That the genius that should save us

Is selfsame that enslaves all.

Akpan

Tomorrow Holds No Future

When I reach out to a tomorrow

That holds no future

With eyes that tell tales of sorrow,

My heart beats out mournful rhythms by nurture.

I am citizen of a hateful society,

It’s victim thro painful contrariety.

My spot in time

Is tainted by abominable burdens

Worth less than a dime.

My path to glory is stained by poverty’s sodden

Pain reigns with impunity

In this drama-induced insanity.

Distress pursues its call to the letter,

That makes a lot bitter than better.

But in a world constantly raped by hate

Regret is innate

My only alternative is giving up.

Question is will my flesh see God?

Cause it seems I inherited a curse for a destiny

(I am cursed).

You won’t think I’m mouthing vanities

If you were a dot in my spot.

Not if you were treated less than the dust

Stamped to the sole of your feet.

It’s the worst level of defeat.

Akpan

Destiny's Riddle

Is there something as fickle as luck

Involved in the manipulation of destiny?

Or is fate an overripe fruit waiting to be plucked?

(Not knowing the answer is killing me).

Akpan

Rage of a Mother Bear

Take a lesson

From those who have been there.

It’s like the soothing effects of medicine

Yet it’s a drive fiercer than the rage of a mother bear.

Akpan

What Do I Live For?

What do I live for?

Why am I here?

Is there anything I could live for?

Should I have a reason for being here?

Akpan

Element of Life

Hope

Is an element of life,

Just as no one knows

What waits across the line,

I gatto keep fighting,

Cause it’s the only right thing

If my destiny must survive.

Akpan

Glitter

All that glitter

In the likeness of a star,

Deception without a name tag.

Royal robes with the quality of a rag.

I just can’t stand the stench of duplicity;

I can’t put up with a class less than originality.

I wonder how some folks do it.

I respect the status of the individual

So I’m not giving in to pressure

To observe any ritual.

I’ll face any consequence to full measure,

I’ll maintain my spot

Untainted even if I’m only a dot

In the setting of destiny.

I don’t see what people see

I mean, why they gatto fake it?

When you copy somebody else

You become a glitch.

No matter what it takes

I’m gonna reach until I break

Cause I just can’t breathe as a fake.

Akpan

Exit

I feel my exit

Deeper than I exist.

The impression is stronger than I can deny,

It drowns my entire being

And I must yield to it.

My rigor mortis is ripe

Like a pineapple in its season.

Is this a blessing or a curse?

That is one feature

I am not permitted to discuss.

My end blots out traces of my beginning.

Still I feel no distress

Cause I am perfected by its progress.

Akpan

Reach of My Arms

My days will not be this way

Within the reach of my arms.

Eternity can wait

But my future will suffer no harm.

I look at my life

Thro the eyes of mystery’s mind,

Like an ocean washing over its shore

Or like a volcano spewing out larva

From the earth’s crust,

My rage will not be denied.

Never! Not without a fight.

Akpan

Matter of Time

It’s only a matter of time

Before the star I am rises like the morning sunshine

I have paid success’ price

It’s about time I got the blessings of sacrifice.

My hope is the outstretched wing of the eagle.

My emotion is charged up like a jungle

Atmosphere who else is out there?

Without a doubt, I will get there.

Akpan

Place and Time

All things in their place and time

Invokes a charm on the view.

All of creation individualized

Genuinely rings true,

Like a finely composed opus.

Beauty is a fragrant perfume,

When each part reveals its worth.

Akpan

Dream On Wings

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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