Birthday Reflections

A day like this always calls for the utmost reflection

A day to be glad, but also a day to ask: why am I glad?

30 years ago, at dusk, I was born

It was the beginning of a journey no one could tell the outcome

For long others lead, I followed

I fumbled, tumbled, fell and failed

But somehow it never spelt the end for me or of me

“From grass to grace” some might want to say

Instead I prefer to think there is no grace without those who showed me the way through the grass.

They say “age ain’t nothing but numbers”

But it is the perfect measure of time,

Time to sow, time to reap, but not time to waste.

I have spent nearly 262, 968 hours since the day of my arrival on earth

It is a generous gift, and I feel blessed

I also feel strong

Many people have died for what they believe, but I am yet to live for it

I look up to the heavens today and ask the Almighty to continue to grant me more hours

And more wisdom to live them in Great deeds.

Filling My Portion

This trouble of the heart
I seek for a means to pour it out
At least that I may take a first look at it from a distance
I need to put a face to it
Indeed a name - not my name
It's been long now
And I really have to say goodbye

Farewell to a friend who was always an enemy
Farewell to the walls that threaten my ascent
Farewell to the concepts that weaken my courage

I shiver as if I am cold
I tremble at the thought of another day
Again, I kid myself it will be a lovely day
Yet, 'am not too eager to greet the sun

But courage would prevail
In the midst of these fears I will match on
For indeed there are no better options
As long as my body serves as a passage for the morning air
And a vessel for the sun and rain
I will sing with the birds
With as ugly as a coarse voice
I will join the chorus

Things I worry about are only meant for the dead
So why am I not living?
Everyday yields a night, only to unveil a morning
A new freshness
That much I know from the queen of the night, the lilies and roses

Now I hear the birds again
But I should not listen to them for too long
For our destinies are diverse
And it's about time I set out in action
To fill my portion of the blank spaces.


Lagos 22/10/2010

Been Away For Long....

Hello Comrades!
I have been away far too long
too long and too far to blog my doings
Doesnt mean though things aren't going
It's just the way I am
Never stick too much to a thing
I do not even want to be addicted to my work how much more you

But hey!
I am back
You missed nothing 'cos I've NOT been doing NOTHING.
Soon you will hear something, read something, feel something.

Should I say I have been swimming in unfamiliar waters
That would be saying the least
In there, I met sharks, gold fish, octopuses, a few sea turtles, and even a whole lot of water snakes.
Phew!

But hey!
Am back!
And you missed something
A bit of them you would like to know.

To Those Who Were Before Me And After Me

In my life I have been blessed by your existence
Now I remember those wise comments you make
In a sentence, even somehow carelessly.
Hardly did I know they lay before before my path as I advance in everyday.
How could I have known that there will come a time
when I would say the same things to myself.

They say time waits for no man!
But sometimes time waits for us to mature
So that we could appreciate moments of our past.

I just want to say to those who are before me and those after me:
"I am grateful to be in the middle"
You showed me where I am going
And you bring me back to things I miss while I was going too fast.

I am grateful
Grateful to life that has brought you all my way!


(c) Emeka Okereke - Lagos, 18/07/2009

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.