The Quest of the Imprisoned Heart

 "The work of the eyes is done. 

Go now and do the heart-work 

on the images imprisoned within you"

                                                  -Rainer Maria Rilke

"If I allow you to live a day outside this prison walls, what would you do differently?" the prison guard asked. "There's no life out there for a condemned prisoner. Life beyond this wall holds no delight for me. I want to die here and no sooner than that heaven would come calling." answered the prisoner.

Bewildered,  the guard asked "do you know where heaven is?" With a tint of smile lightening his face, the prisoner answered "yes"! whiles he looked further away through the prison bars as if to catch a glimpse of the butterflies outside the playing field, he continued;  "I know heaven, I've been there before and I've been told if I die I get to go there again." The guard looked lost to the conviction of the prisoner.

The prisoner sensing the guard's confused mind, continued; "I had a young wife when I was eighteen. We spent our times in the trees chasing butterflies, made love every night. After, we would talk  till the sun came up, my little angel would lay there, bare breasted as the light from fireflies lights up her face, that was my best scenery of life ever,.... my heaven. I believe when I'm killed tomorrow, I would get to meet my Lucy and make a heaven out of our little lives again."

The next morning the roll was called, the prisoner was to die by hanging. He was mounted up with the twine around his neck...surprisingly his face was all smiles as he hums a tune discretely. The preacher ended his prayers saying; "may the lord have mercy on your soul", the prisoner responded; "the soul is the Lord's, he has no option but to be merciful to his own".

The platform beneath his feet was pulled...life left him cold after minutes of struggle. When his body was let loose, the guard drew closer to his cold body and whispered "safe journey to the arms of love, I pray Lucy makes you a heaven. Enjoy freedom once more".

Picture Credit: fotolog.com

The Dawn

The dawn is serene...devoid of the struggles of life 

And the noise from the footsteps of impatient passers. 

The sweet melodies from the snoring of the ants 

Is heard through the whispers of the calm breeze. 

The subtle colours of the night skies give sheer hope and relieve to the night voyager. 

Need I sing about the magic of the dews? 

Need I pass comment on the hoots of the gracious owl? 

The presence of the celestials is palpable...

This is the reason why I don't envy those who dine with sleep at nights. 

Beauties, true beauty of the world is seen at a time like this. 

Wake up sleepy souls...you're missing a lot grace and fragrance

Photo Credit: news.chaobuoisang.net

Home Of Stray Angels

He: You're a stray angel whose path back to the heavens has been thwarted. You now have a home here with me, live under this shade of mine and let's see if we can make a more heaven out of just sticks and thatch"

She; I wasn't created for the heavens dwell. Why do you call me strayed when my home is with you built? This is heaven, here's where angels ought to be. I shed my wings so I can live among men…I renounced immortality so I can dwell in this life with you, however short. The gracefulness of life is not living forever but dying with a fulfilled heart, knowing you lived for love. If this isn't heaven, then where is?

Ghana On My Mind

The fathers who built the structural foundations of our nation Ghana meant well. Within their means, they sought to place Ghana on a democratic pinnacle where Ghana could be a shinning light that beckons other African countries to the worth of true democracy and redemption. When Dr. Nkrumah declared on that fateful night that "Ghana, our beloved country is free forever", he didn't mean only freedom from colonialism and imperialism, but also, freedom from all things that seek to draw the democracy of this nation unto its kneels. When we inherited this nation from our fathers, the least we could have done was "to uphold and defend the good name of Ghana". This never happened.

We have always sought to bathe in the glory of democracy much to the extent that we are unconsciously sinking into the wallows of what should have been our saving grace. Silently, our perception of democracy is killing the moral fibre of this country. We pretend to speak for democracy but the words that come out of our mouth is nothing but venom that seeks to cripple our moral well being as Ghanaians. How long can we follow this path as a nation? How can we lend a helping hand when bitterness has clouded our sense of reasoning?

The most important questions we need to ask ourselves are "can all our problems be solved by the political parties we seem to have sold our souls to? Can there ever be a leader who can put food on the tables of all hungry mouths in this nation? Can we ever achieve a better Ghana when political leaders shroud the truth and feed us with gravels"?

Our political will and democratic zeal is under a threat. It's about time we opened our eyes to the truth instead of worshipping political parties. The time has come for us to run to the shelters of the righteousness of our conscience. With the armour of a righteous conscience, let's put our leaders to the sword and cause them to be accountable. As we do that, we should not forget to also start the change we've always wanted to see.

Change is only gonna come when we position our selves well to make it work. We should always endeavor to reflect the change we demand from others. It's only when we open ourselves up to the hope of change that a better Ghana could be realized. It's not our speech but our actions that can throw light into the darkness we are yet to face. We should rise up as one people and shake the foundations of ideologies that seek to make us poor, and as one people lets help promote the light of the better Ghana we all want to see. This should be the point of our awakening. This should be the time we regroup to think about building a nation not only for ourselves but for our children. God bless our homeland Ghana.

The Sling

In the journey to find a restful ground,
where the total peace of my heart can be found
many unguarded territories I trod
I trusted there would be gold at the end of my search path
I believed though failure looms bigger than life,
I knew miracles could come out of the ashes… so I held on
The pictures on the horizon told a story of defeat yet I held on;
Knowing my reward shall be in gold

Through it all, the beauty of the sling kept me still
Shinning my path like the birth of a new sun
Keeping my heart's beat among pebbles of diamond
And supporting the foundations of my weaknesses with the sling of love
The sweat on my face, with velvet of care, she wipes
The sling, the pillars of my common dreams
The womb to my little hopes;
Feet to my wobbly desires,
The shelter for my weary bones and the orchestrator of the sound of my heart beat
My sweetest dreams in a blossom of darkness and;
The gentle breeze that stirs a peaceful slumber in my soul.
My glorious aster in the morning of September's birth
Thy love I crave, like the broken bone yearns for the sling.

The Mind of a Confused Soul

Life on this space called earth is whole lot confusing than I've figured out. Lately I've been thinking about things and how they affect our lives either positively or negatively. The whole thing don't make sense if you put it in line with what others want to make us believe.

Let's talk about time…is it real? Or it's just an illusion we've created just to explain the series of changes that go on around us? Who change, time or us? Do we change to signify a shift in time or times change to usher us into a new sphere of life? Which one comes first, time or change? Things change so we can appreciate the existence of time or it's rather the time that changes things so we can appreciate the power of time? It's said that "the only thing that is constant is change". Does that mean change forever exist so that all other things including time move around it?

Now LOVE…what's love. Today you're madly in love with someone, tomorrow you realise that that someone is who you should live without. At first your heart tells you it's true, you even have sleepless night over the thought of your love one but what about tomorrow? Is your heart gonna be this true when tomorrow comes? No, you wake up and love don't live in the heart no more. Where does love goes when it flies? Is it really true what they tell us about love? I was one day going through my old letters. I came across one letter a formal girlfriend wrote to me. After all the love promises in the letter, she stated very clear that she's going to love me till she dies. As long as i know, shes still alive and now she's someone's wedded wife. So is there anything like love or is just a name we give to our feelings for someone at a moment in time? Does it really make sense to waste your time today in love when you know tomorrow your effort might hit the rocks? Crazy old love.

Growing up is what I've always dreaded. I've always dreamt of living forever, possibly living to witness the return of the messiah. But, each moment, each minute and second draws us to the ultimate goal of man; growing up. Why don't we ever stop growing, isn't there a stage where we can say no to growing up and forever stay young? They say growing up makes us intelligence and more wise, I've seen a stupid old man before.

There are dreams, there are wishes too. What part do they play in our lives? So many dreams don't come true and so many desires end up in the garbage bin just as all other garbage. Why have them if they can't come true? Is it just there so we can feel good about ourselves and senses for a moment? Why can't we fly with the eagles just as we dreamt it? Why can't we have the best of life just as we desired?
The whole thing looks as blur as we look very closely. Just like prayers, you might scream it or say it from deep down the well of the heart, but not all ever get answered even those that get answered happens in pieces and makes it very difficult to realise if it's really what u prayed for.

Someday, I believe we might all wake up and realise the whole thing was a scum. Life, love, time, dreams, desires and even death.

The Dark Side Of Memories

"I thought you would rejoice my eternal sleep, I thought all was lost and forgotten. Why do you adorn me with flowers when a single care I couldn't deserve?" she looked up to his face with teary eyes. Her voice shaky, her lips couldn't open to let words out; "all I've done is to love you" she said. "The ice in your heart kept you frozen to my love gestures. Even when my hands held too tight to yours, you called it pain instead of seeing love's claws."

There was a deafening silence, the only sound was the fall of dry leaves from up the dying trees. The air was serene, the harmattan has made ghost of all once upon green leaves.

She asked a question she thought would bring a smile to his face; "Do you remember the first day we kissed?" "Yes I do", he answered. "I remember how your palms got wet out of sheer bliss. I told you heavens would enjoy our union. Your eyes dazzled in beauty I haven't found anywhere else. Did you believe me when I said we would be forever?" he asked.
"Yes, I did." she answered. "I felt your heart beat and I knew that was the beginning of love's journey." the answer made him quiver, his face went pale with sadness. With a quivering voice he asked her; "so why did you leave me cold when you alone knew the source of my light?"
"I didn't leave you." She answered. "I only left to see whats behind the horizon. I thought love would bring us together again. I thought you would look for me. Seasons past but I never saw you, all I had was this hidden memory of us I've kept so tight in my heart".

His heart turned cold, his gaze fixed on a butterfly dancing it's way up in the wind. He dropped his gaze on the dusty path leading to the cemetery, realizing the dawn is about to break, he told her; "it's over now. You've been able to live on a memory of us all this while…that's all I am to you now; memories. Leave my spirit alone. Stop bringing me flowers and let this sleep of my soul have eternal joy. There's nothing more to take, love wasn't for us to keep. All is dust and gone, what's left is just the glory of our memories. Open your eyes and end this dream, I have a journey to make, to the unknown, that's where I belong now."

On saying that, a flicker of light pierced through the haze, he started moving backwards in gentle strides when the light fell on his saddened face. His tears never stopped, he looked on as she fell flat on the ground, screaming "wait! Wait! Wait.

She suddenly woke up from her sleep with the scream still on her lips. (Story Ends)

This is how frail our lives on earth is. We can't say it all but we can say just enough to make our existence worth while. We should not waste our time of existence contemplating on what could have been. Life is too short to let every sign fall in wastefulness. Why didn't he see what's in her heart whiles alive? Was he too busy taken care of things that did not feed the soul?
Why did she leave when she could have stayed right there in the arms of love?

Look around, all the things we need to have a share of bliss in this life are right there. Stop wondering what lies in the horizon and enjoy what you have at the moment. Life has a subtle way of passing us by. But if only we can listen clearly to the echoes of life, to the roaring of tomorrow's tide, we would have a fulfilled life.

Look at the person next to you; someday you would miss their presence. Someday you will miss their little deeds of kindness that brought warmth to your heart. When that day comes, all you could have are memories. Make good use of what's around you.

Life is to short but very far. The problem is the uncertainties surrounding our steps to the doors of tomorrow. Anytime we go to bed and hope for tomorrow, we should make sure we've tasted the best of what today brought and make it a point to always live above our fears just as the water lilies above the brook. There's no tomorrow but today…forget about tomorrow and live long today, that's all it takes. That's all the joy we can have in the embrace of life