Life

What is life worth?
A stage where all strut and leave
Motley mob of mindless muggers trot
With filthy lucre and flashing gravens cleave

Sullied plumage in vain glory preen
Queer offspring of pigs and peacocks
Shameful in deed, graceful in sheen
Beleaguered phantoms in every court

Envious eyes yet cast lustfully green
Angry, hungry, like vultures claws glint
Brother toss here a coin, we eat
Or die today, on your skin we feed

And on Sunday to church we go
Rapt, we hear the preacher we know
Apt we dance and sing the choir
Then our muddied gift we offer

Peace today comrade we laugh and share
Come next Monday I mug you yet

Ode to the President

Hardy jewel of the sun-scorched savannah
By the farmer’s hand plucked and planted
Among wailing shrubs and herbs foisted
Deafening cries of concern bellows a-far

Hardy jewel of the sun-scorched savannah
From grassy plains to concrete forests
Made king over brawn, brine and grime
With seven fingers of a leprous hand proclaim
Frothing sweet soot of pollen dust anew

Tardy jewel of the sun-scorched savannah
Frail as the lonesome stalk in harmattan gale
By honey-tongued thorns and thistles stifled
By supple climb and princely sprout tame
Stormy waters troubled at the lapping sea

Trepid jewel of the sun-scorched savannah
Love of all but loved of none
Your soft sweet sweat be loot for the daring
Sweet seasoned allure of frazzled foliage
Fated peel and sod for rightful profit

Wilted jewel of the sun-scorched savannah
Still from the healthy blue stalk was
Shoot of a storied sop of many plantations past
Yet reaching tender stalks many moons anon
For the secret wonders of Arabian Gilead

The Handshake

I see you smile

But the smile is not in your eyes

The clasp of your hand cold and clammy

Your gaze distant and dreary

And your eyes! Cold, dead, unfeeling unseeing

Like the eyes of a fish

Your dimples

Once dinky delight of many onyxes past

Like the puckered sulk of citrus sucked dry

O! Sombre sojourner

Where has your journey been?

What miserable fortune has been your lot

That your visage so grievously be?

A deathly mask you wear

Of dashed hopes and dreams lost

Of funeral pyres and loves lost

Of great waves crashing but upon treacherous beaches

Totems of forlorn travels borne on your countenance

Like tear-soaked medals unloved, unwanted

Life must go on alas you say

Your hand wet and clammy

Reached out like grimly wooden visors

Your ivory set white yet gritty

Testy founts of sass, impertinent scissors

Offers of lachrymose they are

Yes, I see you smile

But the smile is not in your eyes