Myriam Batjoachim #motherofGod

The Angel offered to seize it all:
    Your peaceful days gathering water
    Your anonymity doing God’s ways,
    Waiting for your spouse to take you
    In order to save an ungrateful people.

You said yes!

The governor forced you on a census, with
    Baby pressing your bladder,
    With back ache, spots on your face
    No room to calm Braxton Hicks
    Just you Joe and the animals
    And the grass the animals ate
    And when it was time to push,

You said yes!

The prophet embarassed you with your newborn,
    He promised you the grace you knew
    He promised you lots of pain new
    And you pictured the sword, your heart
    And figured greatness breeds pain
    And looked at Joe’s encouragement,

And said, well, yes!

And at Cana, where the harps hung on empty cups
    You turned to your baby boy
    All grown, all full of hope,
    And bade him do them a favour.
    Yes, you set it all up, for his
    First miracle, and the Lord

Said yes!

And throughout his ministry, he would taunt you with denial
    To teach love of neighbour beyond family
    But you were the first disciple,
    You rode his pain, you shared his joy
    And I can picture the conversations of
    Mother and son, advise shared, wisdom shared
    And through rain, sun, hail, gale, miracle,

You said yes!

And when his coronation came close on a donkey and palms
    You saw the blood that would end
    The journey of love; you saw the manger
    The temple, the sermons, the crowds,
    The miracles, the thorns, the cross,
    The blood that would end it all.

Yet, you said, yes!

And as John watched your tears reflect his blood, whence
    You couldn’t parch his raging thirst
    Nor re-nurse those childhood wounds
    Nor hug the pain out of infant tears
    Nor sing a lullaby to ease the sleep
    Nor rub his back to heal the pain,

Your tears said, yes!

And as they took the nails out his hands, as he lay on you,
    And love slithered to constrict your chest
    And the tears bubbled out to heal his death
    You sought to comprehend it all
    And prayed the roles were reversed,
    And God said, you’ve done well my child
    For the salvation of many, and again,

You said yes!

(c) nyonglema

To the Modern Parent’s kids

Dear all of you living in the 21st debauchery
Of feel good madness, zombies gawking at shiny blocks
Of plastic, which spew tonnes of nothing to capture
Your minds.
I’m sorry that your freedom is freedom to do the same
As everybody else. The advertisement industry
Finally got your flag, and you’re raising your arms
To hail symbols you don’t understand.
You’re Chinese mercenaries in a Trojan war,
African slaves running the slave market.
I’m sorry that your parents gave up.
Literally gave you up to the television, internet
And everything else that added sand to their hour glasses.
There’s hope for you, but till then, I’ll pray for your freedom,
And that parents will actually look after the root of every kingdom

(c)nyonglema

Which one #freedomToChoose

“Or” is quite a peculiar word:
It includes everything, yet excludes some of them.
It rows the boat forward
And helps it stall sometimes. It contains wealth
And millennia of dirt
In one lump of discovery in poorly lit alleys.

But take away the “or”, and your core is but sea,
Silent, unperturbed, bound to move within the crevices
Of the Earth, where blood is used to extract ores
To take away your “or”. Without that oar, you’re pieces
Of hope floating the torrent, you go where it goes
You flow where it flows, and crash where it crashes.

(c) nyonglema

We take our capacity to choose for granted, but it is not so…choosing is a luxury. You could choose to read this or not because you have a device connected to the internet; some only have the choice not to read. You can choose to like a government or not, in dictatorial regimes, you have but one choice.

You hold a weapon, keep it sharp, and use your choices wisely.