All posts by nyonglema

I love to write to inspire, to salvage and to heal. I believe there's power in word and language that can cure all the ills which take away human love an life. Keep reading, you'll find yourself.

Beads held together


God says it
Humans write it
Humans comment on it
They reach consensus on it
God sends one to bind it
Humans reject Him and it
Humans try to bend it
Humans fight for it
God saves it. 

(c) nyonglema


When the Pope is wrong, pray, pray a lot.
Even Peter was wrong, was corrected: 
Infallibility doesn't mean perfection
Nor does imperfection mean fallibility
Papacy doesn't make a mortal God
But our immortal God maintains the Papacy
Like Moses holding the stone tablets.

Peace in the Wind #Zaumu #Sampson

Requiem aeternam tibi, my dear brother, my dear friend. 
You sought peace on Earth, may you find peace in heaven. 
RIP Sampson Lemongoe Zaumu till we meet again. 



The golden glitter of floating clouds lift up the wings
On the plane that carves out the way home.
You stand and out your beard
Breaks the smiles of years cheered
By you and me thinking, saying, and doing the little things.

On the plane that carves out the way home,
I watch you go again: you never learnt to stop
Until every task was done,
And joy was everyone,
And hearts spoke songs to each other in peaceful tomes.

I watch you go again: you never learnt to stop!
Nature set you back, the roads with vile treacherous trap
Tried to take the clock
But you never take a knock,
You never say enough, you give and give, but never give up.

Nature set you back, the roads with vile treacherous trap
Changed our smiles for fears, our cheers are tears,
But you wiped them away
Telling us to be okay,
While hoisting these little kids upon your fatherly lap.

Changed are smiles for fears! Our cheers are tears
Swelling inside and up our aching heart to our faces,
Pouring out to be with you
Seeking the tender “mchew”
That says “It’s ok”, “It will be ok”, “Uh lahte”, “Why the fears?”

Swelling inside and up our aching heart to our faces
The dreadful whispers to Job seek our parched lips
Wishing to curse the world
In chaos and pain to all unfurled
But the memory of that bearded smile halts those paces.

The dreadful whispers to Job seek our parched lips,
Like daggers to our hearts, but Mary took more than all,
So calling on our Lord,
As we watch you gently soar,
May the golden glitter of floating clouds lift up the wings
Of the angels taking you to her advocate arms, calling
You to join the choir singing Hosanna to the King of Kings. 

(c) nyonglema

Cuties

Fear of facts, fear of truth, fear of standing out.
Fear of fraternal correction, fear of the hypocritical mob: 

"Cry, the beloved country, for the unborn child that is the inheritor of our fear." - Alan Paton


I'm a teacher where the future flows from 
The ground. I water in the shadow of the clouds, 
As the sun fails at peeping at me, smiling proud. 

These tender blades look like mini green swords
Although the arid air wishes to suck out the breath
That fills their stomata, replacing it with death. 

Cool air rushes round my feet, as I side-step
My precious lawn. Nature and I collaborate 
To heal the future, and watch it elaborate. 

But the clouds suddenly shift and the peeping sun, 
Like a Netflix nightmare, smiling at innocence, 
Paints them brown forever in masked silent violence

(c) nyonglema

Be #JenEus

Roses catch rays of sunlight in their red gaze, 
While a butterfly flutters by. Forget the butterfly. 
A blue jay descends on a ray, its wings ablaze,
Throwing shimmering rays the way of the rose, 
And they play sun ray tennis, 

Bluebells, and sunflowers too are in that place, 
As the blue jay sings its song you'd hate to hear
On a cold morning as dawn gently tickles your face,
Half dreaming, half feeling your lover's arm
Not too heavy, just cozy right,

Singing lyrics that lull you out of sleep to haste
The day away with chores, leaving the heartbeat
Behind, and longing to return as the sun kisses the waves. 
I'm watching sun ray tennis between the blue jay
And the rose, thinking about Love. 

You know, the Love that made the world and the days, 
Chose a people, and a cross, and who just Is. 
Yes. He said it Himself as Moses captured the phrase: 
"I am who is". He doesn't last, He just is, 
Like eyes locked in romantic embrace. 

Watching the blue jay, butterfly, rose and sun rays, 
Dancing their love around the halo they create, 
Bathed in the majesty of nature's ultimate masterpiece, 
I wish that all our love, all your love doesn't last, 
But rather, may this love always be. 

(C) nyonglema

Immigrant President

Immigration brought America its first black president. 

Sitting with this pen between my lips, as dad
Said not to, I'm twiddling and thinking of
Tigers looking into a mirror.

Do they see just the beastly muscle to rip flesh
Apart, or can they see the black, gold, silver, orange
Calligraphy of a meadow, plucked to glorious
Melody like a guzheng serenading the prey
Before Medusa's magic mars their future?

Do parrots notice the pale sparrow's envy at
Its militarily-decorated plumage which holds
Divine discourse with the sun rushing past
The leaves to caress a masterpiece chirping
Away under a pale green canopy craving its
Variety splash of colors upon itself?

Sitting and twiddling this ink, I'm thinking.
Are "precious" and "scarce" synonymous?
King Midas turned everything ordinary to something
Now ordinary, and by returning them to their
Ordinary state they became precious.

Could this be why I now miss the hair I hated to comb
In painful strokes? Or why I would prefer scrolling
My Twitter feed than feeding off my son's glorious
Imaginary worlds whence crazy stories spring,
But which I miss, because this is here, that is there?

Could this be why thrust from misery, to slavery,
Then to a land of freedom and opportunity whose
Prowess the paler countries of the world cast
Envy upon, wishing the variety splash of colors,
And music, and glory, and gold upon themselves,
The American from Africa focuses on the "African",
Missing the "American" in "African American"?

Could this be why other Africans come to America
And seeing the plumage, seize the Value in "American"
Live the American dream walking to Pennsylvania Avenue,
Saying "Yes we can!": but most Africans don't listen?

(c) nyonglema

Shiny shiny

A voice calls out in the wilderness, preparing
The way for Salvation. 
The plan is laid out: the plasma'll start circling
Around His feet, as the notes melodramatically 
Change, raising a cloud of multicouloured dust. 
The rock LED-struck would lift up in those clouds
And the clouds of fairy dust would produce bread. 
The crowds will watch in awe, hearts will turn. 

Then standing haloed on the edge of a cliff
He would increase peril by facing the crowd
To meet the Pisa, but only falling to the rocks
Below. 
But the drum of the beat will change 'fore his feet
Hit ground, as a flash of the S-chested angels
Whisk him up, leaving levitation to draw out 
Cheers, kowtows, conversions, repentance. 

Then foreseeing the weakness of the cross, 
Bleeding, helpless, He would kneel. 
Three years of wasted ministry prevented 
By the brave act of trading this simple act
For the salvation of all the kingdoms of the Earth, 
('Cause, you know, he who never lies said so.) 
Having been assigned leadership to the King of 
Heaven and now Earth, all souls would cheer 
"Hail to the King, Hail to the King"
And Mission Accomplished, the Son would return. 

A voice plans this all in the wilderness, 
But it isn't the Baptist. 
It's the bearer of all that's shiny, 
Bearing light as a beacon to trap fickle hearts. 

See how our Saviour chose the scenic route: 
Not the glamour of human expression of worship, 
       He obscured the message with long boring
       Parables, that contradicted the common-
       Sense of the day, and mocked academia,
Nor the Hollywood-like production of miraculous
Miracles, spiced with convenient back stories; 
       He healed, resurrected but asked to 
       Keep such under lock and key until 
       The Cross had been revealed that 
       The focus be kept always on Love
Nor comfortable choices to make the journey
Of pain less painful than it needs to be. 
        He taught climbing out of one's skin
        To remind us that human strength doesn't 
        Get good mileage, but a shared yoke
        Kills usurper guilt forever, 
       
He chose a cross, a quiet wooden cross, 
That we never forget the Sacrifice:
For us, 
But about the Father, and to the Father. 

(c) nyonglema

Do it for Love

"One day you'll fall in love"

I heard the knife stab my ear drums
For that word had wheels with sturdy spokes
And rolled away from the bleeding guillotine
With the hearts it had stolen, then broken. 

Romeo fell up the balcony while the bats
Roamed the sky, catching the bugs in his 
Poetry. The melody cast a shadow at Juliet's
Door and with his head over her heels, 
Her heart was gripped by the lyrics 
Pouring into the secrecy of that instant. 
The crickets sang the background, and 
Everything heaven seemed to hang in the air, 
The breeze waltzed her hair, her dress 
Throwing shimmers to enthralled Romeo:
Never to part, they'll live the ever after ...
Romeo's dead, then fall Juliet. 

Over and over the Poison and the Dagger 
Start as toddler Egos, wanting what they want
And nothing else. Led by the fear of 
Being on an island, we seek to put the 
Other in a cage, and have them lark 
Out our favorite songs to the rising 
Sun, with pretty feathers, as pretty 
As the bars that we have offered them 
To look out through. Who wants to be alone? 
So Romeo dared choose the suicide of women, 
And Juliet that of men, each conquering fear of 
Their worst death to defeat their worst fear, 
For who wants to be alone? 

Maybe it wasn't love after all? 
Maybe the judges gavelling unknowing children 
To a future of multiple homes, fathers and mothers
Or single homes, with guns drawn across the parapet
Aren't breaking love, but something else? 
Maybe I shouldn't fear the word as I've been taught
By decades of soap operas, movies, stories 
And by this dog-eared blue and read Oxford dictionary. 
Maybe we're all wrong to think when we own 
A person, we are doing it for Love?
Maybe love is giving it all, and even more
Till we have no more blood to pour?
Maybe Love has given it all, and even more, 
So we know how to love our neighbour? 

(c) nyonglema








Socially Mediated Tyranny

Rivers have always flowed from frosty 
Caps on lonely mountains, down through tired
Valleys, washing debris, trees, and bringing 
Life wherever they go. Splashing around, 
The water winds round rocks that would stop
It. 
But it continues, tunneling through hills, 
Unstoppable. 

The river of life gets dashed against rock
But also smiles round the same rock. 
Smile, camera. 

You switch on your phone and the f
Calls your fingers into a world of glossy 
Glam. Flowers are more flowery, 
And trees are more greenery, 
And meals are more beefery, 
But teal seem to be in the tealery
As each image tells you this truth: 

"You ain't sh....opping at the right shops! 
Your meals are too ordinary. Even your 
Guardian angel must be a frail-looking 
Nerd without the brains to match the title, 
But with just the brawn that can't lift an axle. 
You too don't have the six pack to share 
With friends; the thumb icon seems to point 
Down just for your life, Hearts for their smiles, 
Smiles, camera. 

Who cares where the river runs really straight, 
Uneventful, looking lazy, like mere luck? 
My Geography teacher, with his spitting glasses
Told me (while I covered my face from, you know...)
And showed me the meanders, the rapids, the water-
Falls, the deltas, oxbow lakes, tributaries, 
And I asked: "What do we call this straight part?"
And as he spoke, my mind floated away to possible names:
"Never on social media episodes"
"No need to take a picture moments"
"Too ordinarily nice for TV"
"Guttural silly laughter, not smiles"
"No smiles, no camera"

For we only pause to take a breath at 
The punctuation, 
That fills the river, the river, of life. 
Then we extrapolate from those singular 
Moments of beauty, happiness, whateverness, 
And assume that the tree bark is just 
As green as the leaves we glimpsed.
Walt Disney figured this out really fast, 
And Mickey danced on the pages. 

You ain't sh... owing your talent. 
They are. 
Because that picture said so, 
And a less-than-a-second capture of light
Is worth more than the ebbs and flows of your life,
Like that punctuation wasn't part of 
A longer sentence... 

Oh! That we may all see that
The river of life gets dashed against rock
But always smiles round the same rock.
Smile, camera

(c) nyonglema

Special

What would the world wield for me without you? 
The sun will only set grim and blue
The rain will batter my glasses too
The clouds will hide the joys I knew
The wind will dash my hopes of something new. 

You met a geeky boy with glasses screaming 
"Neeerd", and yet you gave me shot, 
You built me from a little clay pot
Straight from the potter's spinning top 
Adding dashes, lines, colours and dots

I met a special pearl, all polished, and 
Polished as well for near perfect as 
You were, no creature ever has 
Not needed a touch of more. More sass, 
More glitter in the smile below your stars. 

On this day so special for you and me, 
Nothing I do can match what I mean 
To say through the gestures you've seen, 
For there's nowhere else, no-one else
I'd rather be than here with you.

My love, as the clock adds grace to each 
Day you live, I pray your smiles grow 
Larger, that your flowery eyes glow
Much brighter, That our seedling love hold
Much longer than we promised 11 years ago. 

(c) nyonglema

Cancel Culture

How does a mustard seed appear before us? 
Not as a tree, with leaves tickling falling 
Sun rays into laughter in greens and yellows, 
And rainbows in beautiful forest lushness. 

A man once invited his friends to cannibalize
Their way to heaven; offering himself to them, 
And their stomachs popped out their eyes
And spun them round to perceived sanity, 
And muttering they walked away from their belief, 
Now too gory to hold, leaving without any grief. 

Sensing danger, he tapped the hands of the tag team, 
Where temptation was strong, and the flesh 
Was being torn for fear of tearing at its seams
On the way to the renovation store up the hill. 
Oh how sound they slept and ignored his behest, 
And slept and slept like all this was just a test. 

As time stood still to catch his final breath 
Of pardon, as Word became Word, and flesh stayed
To feel the Earth shudder at this one death, 
Darkening, rending, only three teared, dismayed.
From 12 and more, just 3 saw the spear hit mercy 
Between the ribs. Only 3 dared to show their faces. 

As the body formed after a miracle three days later, 
And those who feared came back to said body, 
Renewing their faith, his uncle had to make encounter
With truth while walking away from perceived insanity:
As muttering, he and partner walked in disbelief
At this so-crazy-to-behold story told to hide grief. 

How does a mustard seed appear before us? 
As a mustard seed. 
It feels the tree eager to burgeon, 
And comparing itself to what it must show, 
It knows the truth, and as the world lies 
With counter-examples and stories of revenge, 
It holds the truth. It doesn't call for the help
Of other seeds. It knows who made it and where 
Allegiance, hope and growth lie. 

How does a mustard seed appear before us? 
One seed at a time, for it's not how many, 
But if any would stand for God, for Truth
Even as the hill promises you Gehenna.

(c) nyonglema