Day 14: If I Could

Photo Courtesy: shushi168.com

If I could trace the many scars

Etched on my heart like landmarks,

I would tally up half the stars

Which punch the skies with their tiny spark.

If I could hold the stream of tears

In the cup f my hands thro the years,

I would scoop the ocean floor bare

And run it with streams of despair.

If I could relive the memory

Playing on my mind’s walls like a movie,

I would shut down the film industry

And write a couple hundred DVDs.

Akpan

Day 13: Before the Light

Photo Courtesy: Alberto Di Donato

What comes before the light

Is what translates the night;

The difference between dawn

And the shades of twilight.

What comes before the sun;

Before the skies go bright?

What thrives before the light,

Are demons with sharp eyes.

Legends of horror tales

Who kick our fright awake,

Because within the dark,

These things see us as we are.

What comes before the light

Is the deep secret down inside;

Our darkest fears arise

And try to paralyze

The very essence of

The stuff that turns us on.

Akpan

Day 12: Love's Loving

Photo Courtesy: Somewhere on the cyberspace

Love has lifted me on firm wings,

Fed my soul with the sweetest things,

Held my parts together in rings

Of warmth that makes my whole heart sing.

Love’s rebuke will heal but not sting,

Love will rise from dirt and still bling,

Love has held me fast like a string,

Now all I am, to love will cling.

Love oh love, your heat does not singe.

The door to your courts has no hinge.

Love has doped me with its syringe.

When we roll, we go on a binge.

Akpan

Day 11: Why Not Me?

Photo Courtesy: pageresource.com

Thunder rolls all around me

I hear storm clouds gathering

This burden would squash a man under;

My labors would make Hercules wonder.

Then I survey the possibility

Of my misery on somebody stronger

But I can only ask, “Why not me?”

The man I would be attracts hate.

But then I look around and see fate.

Aint nobody there to lend a hand

Everybody just misunderstand.

Then I survey the possibility

Of my drama on some other brother

And I think to myself, “Why not me?”

Why the hell would somebody else be me?

Which person in this world could I be?

What do I stand to gain without pain?

Could I be refined without the fire?

Then I survey the possibility

Of my pains on a total stranger

So I yield and say, “Why not me?”

Akpan

Day 10: See Me For Who I Am

Photo Courtesy: hd-wallpapersdownload.com

See me for who I am

Not for the million things that ruin man.

See me for the answers expressed

Not for the questions unaddressed.

See me for what I deserve

Not for the trivia life serves.

See me in the big picture;

A catalyst of a great future.

See me for who I am,

See not the stain so poignant

That throws a clog in the program.

Respect for being the man.

See me for who I am

That’s what is important,

Not for the harvest of nectar.

See me for me. It’s nothing personal.

Akpan

Day 9: Touching Feelings

Photo Courtesy: wonderfulengineering.com

If I had faith to move mountains,

I’d lay my cards on the table,

And build a rock from a fountain.

I’ll ride a geyser to heaven

Then I’ll glide on wings of angels.

If I had faith to part the sea,

I’d work wonders mankind will tell;

I’ll do things folks aint ever seen.

I’ll speak to the wind and foretell

Every tomorrow scene by scene.

If I had faith to break thro walls,

I’d remake the earth rid of wars.

I’ll give the three elements charge

Over all emotions corrupt

By the nature of man at large.

If I had faith to touch feelings,

I’d touch new hearts every minute,

I’ll put a shine on all faces

And carry the weak in the streets.

I’ll be there to bleed when they bleed.

Akpan

Day 8: Ticket to the Moon

Logan Zillmer Photography

I gave my heart

It was all I had left to give.

When things fell apart,

It was my last card against grief.

I gave it my best,

I have done all I should have done;

I passed the test,

And the rest of the deal is God’s.

I played my game.

I threw my best shot and hit home.

I lit a flame

But the wind had issues with the glow.

I made last plans,

It was all I could think to do.

I made them grand,

And got my ticket to the moon.

Akpan

Day 7: Scent of Rust

Surreal Photography by Caracas Ionut

The scent of ripeness

Is the scent of rust;

A complete life clefts

In a mote of dust.

That’s how we begin,

And how we go on.

When ripeness kicks in

Its cousin rust comes;

The taste of sourness

Hides in the sweetness.

Life is light and dark.

Fate is good and bad.

Opposites collaborate

In a field of grain

Making it all blend.

Ripeness points to the end

And makes way for rust.

And rust confounds us all.

Akpan

Day 6: Healing of the Years

Photo Courtesy: thewallpaper.co.uk

It has taken me years

But I’ve been afforded ample time

To measure the weight of those tears.

The clarity shone like litmus dipped in lime.

I’ve cast my net into strange waters,

Trussed the tug of the undercurrent.

I’ve thrown wide open my mind’s shutters

And got sucked then tossed by the torrent.

I have breached the end of everything;

And tasted the fullness of nothing.

The burden I bore; the yoke I wore,

Like ice exposed to sunlight has thawed.

Aloneness ate up loneliness,

My feelings grew their own sentience.

I almost gave it all up.

But something wouldn’t give me up

For the world, so I dried my tears,

And healing gushed in riding the years.

Akpan

Day 5: Tenacity of Hope

Hope that does not lie,

And cannot die

Sings with a shrill within its cage,

And defies the bars of rage.

Hope that can’t be caged down,

Longs for its turn around.

It hops a dance and lifts a tune

And snatches a chance within its gloom.

Hope that aint a lie,

Tramples compromise,

Raises a standard against fear.

It got heart that screams I’ll get there!

Hope that survives the loss;

Hope that thrives against all odds

Has broken the chains of bondage

And made the captive unafraid.

Akpan

Day 4: Good On You

Photo Courtesy: mashable.com

You wear your dazzling smile,

And take that stride a mile;

You walk up to trouble,

And that bitch just crumble.

You got tools to stomp fools…

Black looks good on you.

You wear faith like a charm,

You wield magic in your palm,

You tackle each new day,

With your own unique grace;

You’re programmed like a groove…

Black looks good on you.

You negotiate the storm in style

Like you was born to ride.

If you want something you

Take it and damn the rules.

I cherish you for being you…

Black looks good on you.

Akpan

Day 3: Key to the City

Photo Courtesy: 1stdibs.com

I hold the key to the city;

It’s golden, it’s glossy and it blings.

I stand between two valleys,

Shouting above the roar of the winds.

I survey all the varieties

Of blessings that accompany the lessons.

Then the city called to me

Because I hold its key.

Here I stand before its gates of gold

Savoring the wind thro the keyhole,

I can’t shake the feeling it’s destiny.

This calling’s bringing out the best of me.

And somehow that is the key,

My entrance into the city,

It’s the prize for staying true to the game;

It is all that I strive to be, made plain.

This city of mine;

The city of lights,

Is mark of the prize—

The perfection of the I.

Akpan

Day 2: One More Step

Photo Courtesy: azquotes.com

One more step

And the only thing that can stop me

Will be death.

But I guess since I’m dying to live,

I aint scared.

One more step

And I’ll put all this drama behind.

Got no regret,

I’m pulling the plug on compromise.

I expect.

One more step

And failure was just a fever dream.

One more step,

And I can toast and throw a party.

One more step.

That’s all I need to bring sweet release.

One more step to live my fantasy.

Akpan

Day 1: If Time Was Forever

Photo Courtesy: picstexts.com

If time was forever

Could we ever get our acts together?

Could broken hearts find a place to hide?

What about those lonely tears we cried?

If time was forever

Could faith infuse our souls with power?

Could we find reason to trudge on thro?

Could we set our hopes beyond the moon?

If time was forever

How much weight could we stand up under?

Could we find strength to resist pressure?

Could memories of loved ones be treasured?

If time was forever

Could compassion still be the answer?

Could we look beyond our noses too?

And lift up the fallen in Mosul?

If time was forever

Could we believe in a life hereafter?

Could there be justice for the oppressed?

Would hope not be a pain for the dead?

Akpan

Dimensions

Photo: Somewhere on the internet

Take me to a dimension

Where my motives are voiced with passion,

Take me to where I’m known as I am.

Take me to the revelation of me.

Talk to me about the inner man,

Open my eyes wide, make me see

The secret things that give definition

To the little things that make up the whole.

Touch my essence, make the weak strong;

Lead a stomped man into the fold,

To where I belong and I’m accepted.

Take me in your arms bring me home.

You’re all I’ve ever coveted.

Take me to where I’d see your face instead.

Akpan

Lovely Machine

Photo Courtesy: Getty Images

You are a lovely machine;

From the grime you bring out the sheen.

They twitch your belly button,

Punch in the coordinates,

You spit out the mutton.

You’re a self-made subordinate.

You’re a pretty toy;

A fickle human alloy,

A flesh and blood cold robot.

Their world revolves around you

Because what they want you got.

But you aint nothing but a tool.

You are a lovely machine.

For peanut you bruise your shin,

But no one will hold your heart

Even when it’s cold and dark.

All they wanna do’s use you

So you consent and play the fool.

Akpan

Foot Soulja

For all the aid workers who lost their lives during a
Boko Haram bombing of a refugee center.
Photo Courtesy: Youtube.Com

So glad we had you when we had you;

You pulled in a harvest in the desert,

Somehow you sprinkled a glitter of dew

On the dunes in the threat of a duster.

So glad we found you where we found you;

Explicitly ready, willing and quite able.

We asked for a yard and you walked a mile,

You came with open arms and a smile.

So glad you gave up what you gave up;

You wrapped warmth round a cold shoulder,

Built a family from the ruins of war;

You’re a sister, a brother and, a foot soulja.

Akpan