Footprints of Shadows Gone

The cameos people sometimes make in our lives are so many that we usually lose counts of them. sometimes it's for the obvious good and other times our heart don't seem so comfortable with them. It becomes a load on our hearts when the person taking the bow is entrenched at the very corners of our hearts. The question then becomes "why don't they stay there for a little longer?"

One day, when the sun was almost Set, at twilight, I found myself on a dusty lonely road leading to a small village. At a point I was wondering what has taken me to such lonely path, where all I see are birds and flies buzzing and hustling to settle in their nest after a hard day of search and stone swerving. Whiles my mind was on a pilgrimage, my eyes were feasting on the amazement of sheer colour and beauty these little creatures bring to the scene. My thought was suddenly broken by the approach of a lady at the opposite direction. Judging by the dust on her feet, she has covered a lot of grounds. Her face was plane with doubt, like someone who can't find her way out of a maze. I could see there were questions she wanted answers for. She reluctantly spoke to me; "Do you live around here?" I wanted to be as funny as I could to see if I could draw a smile from her so I answered "I'm as lost as yourself" (well, I failed, she didn't even wiggle her lips) then she started pouring out her troubles, where she thought she was going and why she was at that place at that moment. She had an interesting story to tell from where she was coming. I thought she was beautiful cos she had teeth so unusual of a village girl; so beautiful. I saw a friend in her, at the spot I knew I've found a friend, though at an unusual place. She was very comfortable talking to me as if she's known me forever. I wished I could take her home, I wished I could spend the rest of the day with her…so many wishes flashed my imagination. Alas! It didn't last...it was a moment too soon to come to an end. "the darkness is nigh, people like me still have grounds to cover, we would have to depart", she said. Reluctantly I agreed. I went home with her in my thought…I woke up the next morning, still thinking of this encounter.

The next day ran slowly and later it was evening, just as the same time. I took to the road again with hopes of seeing her so strong. I got there, waited and even went ahead to the direction I saw her going. I visited few homes around to see if I could see her. Nothing happened, I didn't see her. Seven days in a row I kept going there but…it was fruitless.
She made me a friend and left me in wander land.

In our ups and downs on the path of life, we meet such people who don't need forever to carve a shape for themselves in our heart. The impressions they leave ripples on the brooks of our hearts. We wonder how It didn't last forever. But the hours a character spend on stage doesn't necessarily make the story, what weaves the fabric of the story is the contribution the character makes in developing the story, it doesn't need to be long. Sometimes a cameo is all it takes to make impression on your audience, how well you handle your cameo is all that matters. People can make a forever out of a second, what it takes is what you put in there. A blazing trail of footprints is worth everything. Life is short but too long. We don't have all day. Very soon the stage has to be cleared, the audience needs to go home but the question is, when you take a bow, would you deserve a thundering applause or just a mention? Would the audience shout your name with an encore? Baby, your audience (friends) paid a lot to be here, to see you play your part. Don't bored them to sleep, get their heart enchanted so you can be worthy of the last applause.

When The Dream is Dreamt By Artists: (Why I'm 1312Dreams)

I was born on the 13th of December, at a period when my family wasn't doing too well. As a child growing up in a peasant community with my grandma, I didn't have a lot to enjoy apart from going to the farm with my granny and ask questions that bothered my little brains. My grandma was an avid story teller. She had a way of putting my imagination to work anytime she tells a story. Sometimes I could even imagine myself being the hero of the story…it was really awesome the things I could imagine myself do.

One day, everything changed. My grandma died and I had to change home. It was very difficult for my young heart to bear. I remember counting all the things I was going to miss through the change of home; my little room, friends, my backyard garden, surrounding trees and my two caged birds, but I had to move on. That was the first of ten homes I would later change.

My first day at my new school, my teacher told me a story that would later reawaken my senses of imagination and open a whole new concept of life to me. The title of the story (as I later grew up to know) is "Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" and just three days ago I watched a 1962 adaptation of the story. That story was everything that changed my perception of life and opened a new horizon of dreams to me. I understood the power of dreams that day and since then, I've always loved to wander in dreams and allow myself to be in wonderful places only my mind could allow me to be. I don't treat life as evanescence as I used to but have shaped my desires to treasure every little moments of life and also take moments to say hello to little things life has to offer. I've always seen myself as that prisoner on the bridge of Owl Creek. The distance between life and death was an inch tall but he dreamt. He dreamt of a road back home into the arms of a loving wife and kids. He made an escape in his mind's eye. The soldiers thought they've captured him but in the beauty of his dreams, he was running to meet a family he left behind. He even had had time to smell the rose along his path, looked into the skies and breathed again.

The impact this story had on me was so immense that I had no option but to add "dreams" to my date of birth and make it a name. It's my spiritual name as you may call it. I had life on the 13/12/19..and I have dreams to live on.
I've always believed in the power of dreams. I believe in the refreshing dew it spills on the spirit and the serene rest it gives to the laboured soul. like Thomas Edward Lawrence said, "All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, to make it possible." Dream on…


Those who want to read the story, here's the link: http://fiction.eserver.org/short/occurrence_at_owl_creek.html

Those who want to watch too: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EHqnSX4SJ_A

Over The Edge

Me: no matter what I say tonight, don't fall for me. The labyrinth of love is so hard to escape. I'm enjoying this friendship and don't think love can make it any better. I wish it can stay this way forever, just friends. Help me not to make u fall for me.

Her: (smiles) what if what you say hits my heart so hard? What if you look deep in ma spirit and say what ma soul yearns to hear? What if, just what if you say what would make my heart trembles? I can't stand it if that happens. Tonight, Dear friend, let's not make any promises cos it's not up to our will for us not to fall in love. If love choses us tonight dear joe, what else can we say save aye?

The Kiss

Under this open skies
let our first kiss be shed.
Let's make the heavens
Witness to this day.
How divine it is to stand
In the middle of the whirlwind
While my lips pegs at yours for the first time.
I know the gods stand in awe
As they witness love in its purest form.
This kiss starts and all my heart could do
Is wander in love and its glory and perfection
Ohemaa, this is the day for our hearts
This is the day we prove to the gods
There's still love left among men
Let's just kiss…kiss slowly

The Beauty of Hope

"And in the twilight of our live we look to find the way
To tell us if the path we chose was the best and finest paved.
And when the darkness comes we see the twinkling of the stars.
We know that our journey here was short, and yet still very far.
But life is full of puzzles, enigmas, and mazes of human thought,
Yet the beauty of the life we've led was paid for with the tears of hope we brought."
-Pasty Dunbar

Somewhere in June last year, I was standing by the road side waiting for traffic to subside so I could cross the road to the other side. From no where, all I could hear was this loud boooom! The next scene I saw was a gentle man in his mid thirties lying lifeless on the ground in a pool of blood; he's been knocked down by a car! As the horror of the scenes keep flashing my busy imagination, a question triggered; "who's waiting for this man? Who's this heart that's going to bear the disappointment of a love who never came back? I quietly left the scene with those questions ringing loud on my mind.

We all know someday this life would be knackered but we've never stopped dreaming with hopes in our hearts. We leave home and promise our kids and spouse that we would return when the sun sets. We make it look like a guarantee. So when the sun starts tracing its root back to its coil, lovers and friends gather and look yonder for the approach of lovers gone.

Life can end anywhere and anyway. Everything we say or do here on earth is as evanescence as a baby's breath. Hope has always tricked us to take our lives for granted. We know when we sleep we'll wake up, we know when leave out we'll come back. We know when we travel we'll come back. It's almost as certain as the sun would appear tomorrow but hey, it's not always like that.

 Let's take time and treasure each moment as if it were the end. Assure your family and friends with your love. Let them know today how much you treasure them so you won't leave with words unspoken. Each day must be lived so we may live all the days of our lives.

A Poet's Dream

You try to see what's in this heart
I guess you figure it out what makes me say the things I say
This is where dreams belong
A temple in my heart where love resides
It springs volume of unsung songs to the lips of the mute
This imagination weaves the dream of the poet
So divine, so true what really happens in a poet's dreams
It's like finding shelter in natures' fragrance
Where all worries die and never to resurrect
Isn't it beauty, or it's sheer magic that rests in the heart of the poet
You see rainfall, I see little drops of magic
Washing ashore the stress of this life
This is what makes the dream of the poet
A wall of steel built around the beauty of imagination

Comes The Dawn

It was April 17th, 2010. I was going through the hardest heart break probably this heart would ever endure. It was not easy for me. I was very lonely, there was nobody I could share my story with so all I could do was to surrender to the pain and venom of my loneliness and hoping along the way, a light would shine to disperse the darkness on my heart.

Thirteenth day into my plight, I came across this poem; "Comes The Dawn" by Veronica Shoffstall. What a life changer it was to me! After reading the poem over and over again, I begun to realize as Kahlil Gibran said; "Love has no other desire but to fulfil itself, but if we love and must have desires, then our desires should be to melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night. To know the pain of too much tenderness.To be wounded by our own understanding of love; And to bleed willingly and joyfully. To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving, to rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy, to return home at eventide with gratitude, and then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in our heart and a song of praise upon your lips."

Read the poem and enjoy it too;

"After a while you learn the subtle difference
Between holding a hand and chaining a soul,
And you learn that love doesn't mean leaning
And company doesn't mean security.
And you begin to learn that kisses aren't contracts
And presents aren't promises,
And you begin to accept your defeats
With your head up and your eyes open With the grace of a woman, not the grief of a child,
And you learn to build all your roads on today Because tomorrow's ground is too uncertain for plans
And futures have a way of falling down in mid-flight.
After a while you learn...
That even sunshine burns if you get too much. So you plant your garden and decorate your own soul,
Instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers. And you learn that you really can endure... That you really are strong And you really do have worth... And you learn and learn... With every good-bye you learn."