Lost. Again!

Not for one night will I sleep
Nor for one day will I sit.
This fire burning inside me
Too heavy to contain
Occupying each morsel of my being
It keeps my hands from burning

Like a carver
Every minute I chisel within
Insisting on making me straight
But sometimes I am forced to stop and ask
Perhaps I am loving myself far too much
Or I hate me.

This is the point when one becomes an enemy of both camps
Caught in the middle,
Every thought becomes a double-edged sword
Paranoid
Panic
Perplexed

I am lost again.

But this time it is different
For I accept that I cannot always know where I am to be what I must.
For the universe is an endless garden for all.
As vast as it is.
It is a gift to be in a place any yet in another at the same time.
How else can I explain the space between you and me?

Reality is flexible - formless
Like water ,it takes the shape of what contains it - us!
And like water, there are no boundaries...
Just a smooth flow, like music, like harmony.

When I shake your hands or take your body in mine
It is ok if we get lost in each other
For like water, the currents will always lead the way.


(c) Emeka Okereke - Algiers, Algeria, 08/07/2009.

Between Johannesburg And Lagos

Born a traveler
I am only confined to the wind
The earth only receives me but slightly
My footprints are scattered across many lands
Of which none I can hardly call mine
Constantly laden with profound expectations
Of me, and others, of me.

Society push
I shove
In a world where handshakes are but palm-readings
I am only good as your next project...or not...

But I would rather be less than settle for less
The wind is my friend, even the whirlwind.
They say it will uproot me
I say it will uplift me.
They say it will quench my fire
I say it will tame it.

The only danger I see is myself.
As for you,
Really,
You can't do to me what you've already not done to yourself.


(c) Emeka Okereke - kenya Airways (en route from Joburg to Lagos), 30/06/2009.

Honey

I watched
As the honey trickle down slowly
And into the tea
Wondering how this will end
I didn't want to spill it over the container while trying to stop it
But at some point it has to stop

Then...
The flow broke
And the honey retreated in a backward motion
Smoothly as it came
Then to myself I said,
"what comes must surely go"
The question is: when and how?

But it's never always as smooth as the honey
Only if one is fortunate.

Memory Loss

I have been around a lot of wheres and whos
Constantly my mind-scape alternates
New faces with new facades
I would need a formula if I must stay protected from all those opinions,
Of myself and others.
The day ends with a feeling of resignation and a baggage to unpack
And the morning brings a new day to fulfill.

Please be gentle on me
It is not always a blessing not to remember a name
But as time records it all
There is really nothing lost to memory
Therefore be gentle on me

If it is truth,
Your face is your name.


(c) Emeka Okereke - Johannesburg June 2009 (exact day unidentified)