When You Serve The Lord

When you serve the Lord
There's unspeakable joy
It flows like a song
From a glorious throng
No higher calling
Than at His worship
No nobler duty
Than at His service
Just to serve the Lord
Is the greatest joy.

Akpan

On The Other Hand

On the other hand
Make me Your footstool
Bowed head over hand
Put my back to use
Rest your feet on me
You are so worthy
On the other hand
If you don't deserve
What good is my back?
I'm honored to serve.

Akpan

In Green Pastures

In green pastures
Is where I'm found
Love knows no bounds
In green pastures
You make me lie
You ease my mind
In green pastures
When thousands fall
You give me calm
In green pastures.

Akpan

Take Me To The Cross

Take me to the cross
Lead me to the Savior
Let me touch that cross
On which love took my spot
I will kiss the nails
And maybe know his pains
Lay me on the soil
And drink the life in His blood.

Akpan

When A Man Loves The Lord

When a man loves the Lord
His life's garnished with love
His steps' ordered by God
When a man loves the Lord
He will take up his cross
And work to change the world
When a man loves the Lord
His heart is hid in God
His joy suffers no loss.

Akpan

Taste The Great I Am

I was glad
When He took my hand
In His hand
And He helped me stand
I'll eat the good of the land
I'll lift my hand and be glad
I've tasted of the Great I Am.

Akpan

The Wonder He Performed

I am the wonder He performed
I am a beauty of His love
I am the wonder of His Hand
The seed of Abraham
Heir to the Promised Land
God's own beloveth son
I am the wonder He performed.

Akpan

Ways We Cannot See

He works in ways we cannot see
He'll do more than we ask or dream
His thoughts are good, His love is deep
He works in ways we cannot see.

Akpan

I Have Counted The Cost

I have counted the cost
Of the blessings of God
And I've measured the worth
Of the blood of His Son
That's the reason I'm lost
In the Spirit of His Love
I am lost
So lost in the Cloud
And I do not wish to be found

Akpan

Rejoice By Choice

I will rejoice and be glad
I've made my choice to be glad
I'll raise my voice and be glad
This is the day I'll be glad.

Akpan

Just Take My Life

Just take my life
And let it be
I won't ask why
It's all on me:
And God took my life,
And I let it be.

Akpan

The Plan

Sit beside Me
Until I make your enemies
A footstool for your feet
Sit at My right hand
I am giving you the land
That's always been the plan.

Akpan

Love Has Made Me

Love has made me
And shall Love's work decay
I'll live like a king
Because Love never fails.

Akpan

Cymbals Of King David

If I had a fortune
I'll spend a fortune
To possess one priceless antique
But the Cymbals of King David
Touch the heart of heaven
Raise your praise like leaven
Come, present your priceless worship
Clang the Cymbals of King David.

Akpan

Wanting Nothing

I shall not want
For one iota of sense of worth
I shall not want
For I've touched the Finger of God
I shall not want
For my Shepherd's name is El Shaddai
I shall not want
Because He is the 'Higher Than I.'

Akpan

Rest Like No Other

I will lie down in green pastures
I will rejoice in God's pleasures
I will set my face as a flint
And listen for falls of His feet
I will wade in the still waters
And find a rest like no other.

Akpan

Lie Down

He makes me lie down
When clowns raze the town
He calls me by name
When drama ups the game
He holds me by the hand
And helps me understand

Akpan

Dwelling Place

I am not all on my own
For my love has found a home
He has built His dwelling place
And filled my heart with His grace
I am never alone
He breathes in my bones
He is with me
And I am content to be with Him.

Akpan

And Kingdoms Naked

And kingdoms naked
Before He who all things maketh
Shall cast lowly thrones
At the feet of He who is God alone
And kings shall come
And bow down before His love
And drink of His mercy
And quench their soul's thirsting
They shall be abundantly
Satisfied with the fullness
Of His glorious presence.

Akpan

Not Without Laughter

I'm packed

Bags and backpack

Come the morning after

A brand new day ama attack

But not without laughter

My rage is locked / In position

Slug in a glock / On a mission

I'm bone like gangster

Yet life will answer;

Not without laughter.

Akpan

Number My Days

Teach me to number my days

To make hay with threads of sun rays

I want to swallow the day

Raw, whole like icing on a cake

Teach me to measure my inhales

That I may treasure the exhales

And erect a new life from the stales

Until the detail of decay pales.

Akpan

Rivers

I have known rivers

Ones whose streams make glad

The beautiful City of God

It flows from my heart to yours

Oceans empty into that river

And still it is the giver

Joy and gladness

Wash away all sadness

The River with a glint of silver

Hope exhales in its shimmer.

Akpan

He's Been Good

Good

Is when a man took

His life and broke in two

To redeem a fool

Who wouldn't dare look

Where he fell from too

If a man's been good

It ain't of no use

To argue with your tool

He's been good

That settles all manner of issue

Akpan

Everlasting Stream

I've been there before myself

It wraps around you like a shell

I've been had

And it was bad

I couldn't pick myself up

But grace held out a cup

Filled to the brim

And overflowing with honey

I drank my fill

And it welled up within me

Into an everlasting stream.

Akpan

Judgment

Bring forth my enemies

And slay them at my feet

I've been given all authority

My obedience is complete

Hoist the victory banner

Sing a song of jubilee

All tribe and tongue together

Charge the rock to cleft for me

Tear down walls of disparaging worth

Spread its rubble like a red carpet

Build a tower garnish the forth

Trample down the crooked serpent

Blow the trumpet in Zion!

Invoke the roar of that mighty lion

Of the faithful tribe of Judah

Respeaking heavenly thunder.

Akpan

Night's Black Agents

Black agents of the night

Pun shadows of a might

Deal illing to delight

All your bluff rouse my spite

Captains of brute design

Foes all that shade the light

Rain bitter, rain down plight

Dark demons dead to right

Dead center of Earth's blithe

Come strike out the child-like

To pain turn a blind eye

Or you die by your smite

Akpan

My Testimony Is True

I pour out my soul

A true oracle of one

Fingers of the wind have composed

My prophecy on Time's wing borne

I am a man who bears

Testimony of his own self

My words massage like a bear

Cracking me out of my shell

My words are for signs

I am for wonders

The clear vowels rise

To declaim the thunder

Ordained mystery proclaim itself

Donning all the bells and whistle

I testify of myself

And yet my testimony is true.

Akpan

Disparadised

Have a rouse before the morn

The dulled mind must be the judge

Bite that apple one last time

Fornicate with dark delights

Behind a tree or underbrush

Hide from the coming of God

Turn on the dark bring the night

It's shameful to expose in light

Reach out and kiss the serpent

Drink your fill of its semen

Break the eleventh commandment

And write your own amendment

Cut the hedge and thrust headlong

Take none but your naked butt.

Akpan

Oceans Rise

When I look in your eyes

I see otherworldly oceans rise

And crash into my private confines

You're everything I am multiplied

A million times by heaven's device

You are the Before Genesis

The revelation in Ecclesiastes

And you are on course

Like a deep dark storm

That succeeds dark pregnant clouds

Bringing refreshing through a shroud

May I have the joy of your grace

May I show forth worth of your praise

Hide me in the aura in your eyes

Raise me up and still I'll rise.

Akpan

Heart Surrender

The first thing I remember,

That blows my mind,

When I survey true surrender

Is trust in a baby's eyes

Wrapped with open arms extended

Which translates, 'Take me as I am

I give you my heart,

The sum of its parts.'

If we had faith as a child's

Our smiles will be as wide as miles

We can't measure

The strength of our hearts

But we can treasure

The grace we impart.

To whatever cause and whenever

We trust our souls to another,

We exercise heart surrender.

Akpan

A Sea Called Red

At some point in life

We'll confront our Red Sea

But don't you wonder why

If the promise you will receive

The covenant of the staff:

'What's that you have in your hand?'

Must by all means, come to pass

Or you shall never ever ever

Taste the fruit of the land.

And you shall walk that dry land

After your Red Sea is parted,

Like a comb would part hair strands,

With the authority of your faith

Like a twig snatched from the fire,

You shall raise that staff and declaim.

Akpan

Samaritan

I saw a stranger in bondage

And I knew that he would die

So I shred my shirt for bandage

And stooped to nurse him back to life

I had this one advantage

My ride was designed to fly

I loaned haste from an adage

Pressed pedal to the metal like

The gates of hell was on rampage

Tagging my trail for the man's life

I paid his bill in gold coinage

Left some change for quality time

I saw a friend in bondage

And I knew I'd found my grind.

Akpan

Matchless Worth

Your worth

Is like conflict diamonds

Rid with controversy

Yet men killed to possess it

Your worth

Is all at once, regal

Like corn on the cob

Or like the bald-head eagle

Angels envy your worth

The scent of frankincense

Is sensed in your essence.

Your worth

Is the blood of God

Snaking down the leg of the cross

Into the soil of Golgotha

Your worth's immortal.

Akpan

Spin On A Pin

When the oceans rise
It requires a reply
And your fear would suffice
If you should supply

What rocks a mountain
But the boulders of faith?
Who walks on the skin of water
But a going-on believer?
Life answers to
The man who cuts his tool

Who can wiggle a camel
Through the eye of a needle?
He who sickles a bushel
At the height of a fiddle
And takes a spin
On the head of a pin.

Akpan

Before The Throne

I want to belong

Where I can go

Where memory is strong

Beyond the bone.

May I touch the ark

When it's undertow

Shear me like a lamb

Cause me to know

The deep things of love

Full like wild oats

Where hope still blossoms

And joys made whole

Yeah, I'll sing a song

All on my own

My words will go forth

Before the throne

Akpan

Grace Lives In You

To trap a modicum of grace

In these mortal hands like a vice

Is the sweetest besides your face

I would have lived my whole life twice.

Like a cistern that catches rain

I want to reach out and catch faith

Save me from the little foxes

That destroy the fruit of the vine

And steal alabaster boxes

Then trip my feet with snaky twine

No matter what, it is your face

That makes me crave to touch your grace

It's a genuine blessing knowing you,

It's the easiest task loving you

Your face in the cup of my hands

Is unspeakable joy in fullness

Akpan

Prodigal

I will arise now

Like the sun of righteousness

Clothed in glittering gown

To overtake my happiness

I will usher in

Refreshing so steadfast

And make my sun stand still

Over the mountains of shadowcast

I will arise fast

And go back to Egypt land

And search for that basket

Within the reeds bracket

Maybe I'll find the secret map

To the milk and honey on Canaan

I will arise

And travel back in time

On the scales of Nile Crocodiles.

Akpan

Wrapped Like A Present

A life-changing moment

Wrapped like a present

Is cast into my laps

These words have witnessed torment

And now the die is cast

Thus by Divine consent,

These words shall not decay

Like His hands molded clay

Once in a garden faraway

I shall take each letter

And refine them in fire

Then proceed to hammer

'Em into words of silver

Arraigned in bold type-face

I'll let loose a new phase

Akpan

Testimony Of Ruth

Kiss Achilles' heel

In a city on the hill

Climb Jacob's ladder

Singing with angels' herald

Dip the tip of my sword

In the crust of the sun

And cut the Red Sea asunder

With the mantle of Elijah

Smash Goliath's skull

On the road to Damascus

Ride on Noah's Ark

Gazing on the Eastern Star

Map out the Patmos Island

On Father Abraham's map

Cause Aaron's Rod to bloom

With the testimony of Ruth

Akpan

This Kingdom Shall Not Pass Away

This kingdom shall not pass away
Its rod and staff shall never break
The stars and cloud arrange its praise
Every blessing shall be repaid
Any slander incurs a plague
This kingdom is here to maintain
Its tender shoots shall not decay
Nations will and homage pay
The sun shall run its course in its praise
Men stomp to it in an earthquake
Its terracotta brings it new fame
Its song will break the bars of rage
Its great harvests shall seize the day
Its and its daughters are game
One towering army with weapons raised
This kingdom shall not pass away.

Akpan

Jaunt To Next

I'm taking this joint

To the next level

I'm losing no point

Though my edge shrivel

I'm taking the hurdle for granted

I'm shot right from the navel

My demons are painted

I'm poised like the gavel

I'm turning rage inside out

I'm making broken wings proud

I'm riding that pedestal

My ascent gon' be crystal

I'm mounting up like eagles

Making my entrance regal

And I'm hunting game like beagles

I'm tight enough to wiggle.

Akpan

Taste Of My Heart

I tasted my heart

And it was vinegar;

The fermenting of tart

Like sour grapes gone bitter

The water and the blood

Pumping out are death black

A picture of reflected gore

Like a line from a verse by Plath

I detest the hateful taste

The slime in the aftertaste

Yet it is my heart

And I can't crush myself into parts

I must learn to love

What men curse at leisure;

The taste of my heart.

Akpan

Peace Be Still

Hey, peace

Hold up a little bit

I'll be just a minute

Peace be still

Tranquility is stifling

I'm at the eve

Of a powerful exploding

Peace be still

Shipwreck the hush

Initiate the inrush

Of inspired commotion

Peace be still

Shatter this quiet storm

Make night's still convolve

Rip the curtain of void

Peace be still

Come, make this boredom wilt

Turn it up loud and bring the heat

Akpan

A Glass Of Bitters

Pleasure seems sweet
But proves a glass of bitters
Not all that sleep
Indulge in vainful wanders
Time always tells
But sometimes, truth may be slant
Dark light repels
But all dark's unpleasant
Roses are red
But blood is a shade deeper
Grass proves a bed
When mattress is a-skelter
Books are open
Though few would purge your bladder
Rules are broken
But proves a wall of adders.

Akpan

A Tribute To Warlords

Thanks to warlords
All across the world
I've witnessed more death
Than I could bleed from my pen
Thanks to hate
And its band of thugs
Who resists bait
When you get to have more?
My muse broke free
On the promise of gore
And drank its fill
Of the field of blood
So where you at
Y'all cold blooded bats
Say, blow a kiss back.

Akpan

The Journey Of 1000 Miles Backwards

Have you ever tried to retrace
The journey of 1000 miles
Back to that very first step?
Ever tried with talks and smiles
To break down the task
But no one's around to wonder why?
Have you ever meter-ruled the pace
And tried to get a guesstimate?
Have you ever weighed bones of record
Snatched a handful of notes from the chord?
Have you ever walked 1000 miles
Backwards through the spots that made you cry?
Have you ever wet a burden
With your tears till it grew sodden?
Have you ever been had in a sudden?

Akpan

SABC

Stand And Be Counted

This might be the last phase

Of the human race

Or we'll come through a cave

To a stunning new age

Now we must decide

Before deep darkness draws the night

The whole world is one heartbeat

And the bombs are the sounds of blood

Pumping through universal arteries

Before we give humanity pause

Give conflicts a heart attack

Hearts unite and map out a plan

Holding hands we march through the land

Lift your hands and take a stand

Akpan

Cancer Heart

What's the name you give

To a heart that stops beating

And though the owner breathes still

The heart will no longer heed

One could mend a broken heart

Or strengthen a fragile heart

Even smelt a hardboiled heart

Or warm a stone cold heart

Of what use is a cancer heart?

A heart that feeds on the sum of its parts

If it's killed you die yourself

If it's cured you hurt your cells

A suicide heart is cancer

And you can't save a killer heart

What d'ya do with a cancer heart?

Akpan

Raw Entrance Wounds

There's a new hole in my heart
A gash of raw entrance wounds
Like a world with blown up parts
With the bowels bare in the moon
Like a breath of wind through a keyhole
The center cannot hold its own
Flowing like water through a basket
A sea of blood gushes from the gash.
The old hole is still mending
The new cut is raw, running deep
I'm like a sponge soaking in waters
Of feeling but I'm no retainer
Feeling is heartfelt torture
Cold turkey is the new culture
I was digging around a hole
When I found my heart was not whole.

Akpan

My Words

Call me assassin of verse

Declaim me the sin of rhyme

Inspect my raison detre

I sin if rhyme is my crime

Summon my words to testify

Witness  verbs that edify

I was steeped in verse at birth

My organic structure death

Ressurected on the morn

The tomb spat out the Savior

Call forth the Code Omega

My words will burn like ether

Nations will strike their heads off

Thrones fall down till kingdom come

Death will heed the voice of my words

Akpan

Get Down

Get down! Get down!
Who are these clowns?
They're putting passion out
Get the books underground
They're razing the town
Come this way, this way now!
Shut the library down!
Wrap schools under a shroud
Get down or get shot down
Ignorance otherwise
'Tis folly to be wise
They know you're endowed
You'll get a runaround
Don't you get found
Get down! Get down!

Akpan

Bite Of The Serpent

Do you hear what I hear?

A bomb went kaboom! here

Not quite seven years clear

The sands wear the ashes

Like coat of dark galoshes

In the horrid gashes

The serpent has bitten

We have lost our Eden

Dead darkness is woken

Do you hear what I hear?

A tribe shall thrive on fear

For care will shear repair

Do you see what I see?

Army vast as the sea

Tramps Sambisa to blitz

Akpan

Reason For Rhyme

To have reason for my rhyme

I am sifting out the grime

I may yet be out of line

In a heartbeat I'll be fine

To have reason I must rhyme

If this reason blow your mind

Like a prism trapping light

I have hastened true design

If a reason start to slide

In realism breaking stride,

I will go bring in the tide

If I'm bleeding then I'm fly

If I'm breathing then I'm high

If I'm breeding pimp my rhyme

To have reason for my rhyme

I'll be rhyming on the grind

Akpan

Mental Multi Verse

The mind is its own place

One moment a dark grave

The next a point of grace

An entire multi verse

Lives in the mind immersed

The deep of the mind is conscious

Its path is hid in rock formation

It's steep and rife with deception

The mind is a conscious throne

A kingdom with its own throes

It exists solely on reason

And interprets for its motive

The mind is its own grave

And its own saving Grace

Akpan

Getting Back

I've been down this road before

Flushed like tropical rainfall

I'm done with being played for dumb

I know how to pull that off

Like particles of nitrogen

Infused in lamps of halogen

I'm fused with Divinity's gene

I've been known to go on a binge

I've been down so many roads

Only a few left to explore

I've made downtalk's acquaintance

Touched hate with some reluctance

Turned out details of betrayal

Arrested by cold denial

And I've been hanged on the wire.

Akpan

Killer Brother

Don't give me attitude

I had a brush in with interludes

See, my bro couldn't fool a fool

Now he wanna be startin' some'

Tossing bombs in the name of God

Killing kids just to raise his game

I seen a few ain't got shame

He gets Paradise with virgins

Raised to the power of seven

That's his reward for being a pig

For sticking school girls with cursed prick

For razing thatched huts in cold gore

Covering old men with curtain of blood

My brother he joined a bad gang

Trucking with Hell's industrious band

Akpan

Sacrificial Life

My life a sacrifice

A gift of the Divine

To the numerous humankind

I've sharpened it like a knife

Shaped it on the anvil of life

My very impulse is my guide

To new flaws no matter how slight

I want to live, if I could twice

First, I'll set things right

Second time to train the light

My life I'll give for this life

My rhyme a beacon of light

A sacrifice is a edifice

Cast in gold and sanctified

I dedicate this mortal life

To the good of all my kind

From now till I close this vain eyes

Akpan

Talent Is A Soul's Fingerprint

Don't leave your talent

For fools to patent

Don't sell your essence

Ain't no room for pretence

It's your call

It's always your call

You've got to be creative

Wear the mantle of creativity

You can't play down your role

That unique ID of soul

Your talent's a fingerprint

Without it you can't enter in

It's your position on the pitch

And you're charged never to switch

Talent must ride without a glitch

Akpan

Broke Like Rules

I heard you state the rules

And believe me I dig you too

It's just I can't abide rules

I'll lay it on the table

I came this far by reneging

So it's not unusual for me

To step out of line and foray

Into the gardens of strange

I hate it when that happens

Tho I'd kill to make it happen

I'd rather live by my rules

It's so much easier to stay true

I'm sorry I broke the rules

Yet not for unplugging the juice

Some folks just can't stand rules.

Akpan

Wordiness

I'm a con locked in a cage of words

I'm a vessel docked on a port of words

I'm a loner lost in a forest of words

I'm a bookworm grounded on a dune of words

I'm a script stuck in a vortex of words

My legs are wading a pool of words

My steps are prints on a beach of words

I'm a scuba diver browsing an ocean of words

I'm King Tut fenced in by a pyramid of words

I'm a nerd surfing on a wave of words

I'm a troubadour riding a wave of words

I'm a solar plate charging in a ray of words

I'm a puppy nosing in a litter of words

My life is a hard drive of words

The world is an atmosphere of words

Akpan

War Zone

Don't dance on unknown objects

Don't pick up unknown objects

Don't inspect unknown object

They might agents of death

Watch your back before you speak

Watch to whom it is you speak

Watch the very words you speak

They might agents of death

Never go out when it's dark

Never speak out when it's dark

Never help out when it's dark

They might agents of death

When you whimper hold your breath

When you may sneeze hold your breath

And when you laugh hold your breath

They might agents of death

Akpan

Zero At The Heart

I could try and put up a show

Turn up the heat against the cold

Stoke the flame with some baby bones

Yeah, then maybe I'll raise a toast

I'll mop up with buckets of blood

Call an airstrike and shock the world

I won't bother to count the cost

We could all do without the fuss

I'd ride on the abused children

That cause' been taken for granted

Let's kiss and bang and bring the end

I'd sip palm wine from infant's skull

Than bash it against missile shell

I kinda love this ongoing war

I'd hate to see it come to an end

Akpan

Roll Of A Dice

At the roll of a dice
My vista is a field of ice
The cold is a potent device
The wind from the East
Slays with its breath like a beast
How you going to keep the peace
When you attack roots of peace
They say life is a gamble
So we decide to amble
But our sins are gnawing on us
While children ask, 'What about us?'
We're drawn, like moth to flame,
To war, to hate and shame
We'd write a book on our life
We'll name it the 'Roll of a Dice.'

Akpan

Deep Heart's Core

Silence

Takes immense

Pleasure in preeminence

Danger is scared of silence

Cause silence grows on fear

And fear feeds on danger

In the dark, a creaking of the door

Throws a pall of hush

And events die to a crawl

Immense silence

I hear it in the deep heart's core

Triggers a work of genius

In silence

Creativity makes alliance

The darndest circumstance

Have all worn the shawl of silence

Akpan

Football

I thought it would be simple

Less than making a ripple

I thought it would be a trigger

Done with the squeeze of a finger

I wanted a walk in the park

Forgot the dark came with the pack

I'm a stranger in a strange land

A rogue member of a rogue band

Only way I walk away

Is to lay it all down straight

That put me here in the first place

What other choices may I make?

I've stuck on a road so long

My life rolls on like a football.

Akpan

Hymns Of Ecstasy

The games we played

The love we made

The songs we gave

Are parcels of a trade

I'll hold your hands

And cross the sands

To take the lands

Like combos in a dance

But time will tell

If we will sell

Our love to hell

We'll such costs still repel

We'll have our say

Like rain in May

We'll mold our clay

And translate dawn to day

Akpan

Messi Said No

I was gon' be my brother's keeper
Even though I was not the skipper
Game got out of hand in a hurry
And the match boiled down in a flurry
Opponent came with tiki taka
Me and team tried to up the wager
We knocked attack made them pull back
We scored a treble on the counter
But they crept fast and came on stronger
I really tried to warn my brother
Give me some cover let me regroup
Suarez released Neymar and the fool
Ran down the left flank and dealt a blow
I denied him with the tip of my toes
Then made to clear the ball but Messi said no.

Akpan