Category Archives: joy

The Battle for Witnesses

The war cries deafen in thunderous dust: 
Churning Earth with mortar,
Bullets pelleting dead soldiers,
Muzzle flashes barely visible through the crust
On their viziers. War scars
Will form years after marching orders
For those who must live with memories of the lost.

Now, expletives at pain inflicted in the battle.
They tumble, we crumble,
Bone fractures, cursed mumbles.
Blood’s a minor distraction in this macabre hustle.
Eyes half open, mouth blown off,
The bodies in cursive in troughs:
Friends will mourn friends in memory of this tussle.

OR
thank God for the life of the fallen —
Who, rosary in hand, went forward
With the proficiency of the Bard,
Wrote, even with axe threatening, for our calling
Into the New deadly Way,
That brings life for aye,
That speaks truth to spear, arrow, or cauldron.

The great news of Life abundantly given.
Nero, Napoleon… all failed!
The martyrs live even impaled
For victory in human view isn’t so in Heaven.

(c) nyonglema

Going up

Higher he soars, the one who calls us to more
Eyes stare, the clouds do pirouettes
A silhouette against the advancing sky
Some cry distraught at it happening again:
What's to gain if the Master disappears?

Memories of the first mass
Bread broken, wine shared
Hope poured out, on sandy stone
On a hill gasping with bare bones
Break oh break, hard heart of mine
As our Lord leaves to another sublime clime.

Oh wake, oh wake hard heart of mine
The promises form out of the clay 
Of the fabric of time before me
Hope covers my shivering body 
In quotes of all that He uncovered
From our knowledge new discovered
What wisdom we missed, Isaiah!
For now, a silhouette against the advancing sky
He goes before us as advocate: 

He lives.

(c) nyonglema

Never Stop

Lord, You never stop. 
You pour out blessings without measure
To soothe my heart and heal hope's rasure

The blessings just flow
From icy Everest to shimmering sea,
With fireflies lighting the shore with glee

My ways You straighten 
Undeserved, even when all seems lost
You're flicker to sun to defeat the frost

Lord You never stop, 
For great are Your ways to those who love
To those who trust, and put none above.

Lord You never stop, 
You seek the single, you search the void
Ninety nine wait till one hears Your voice

Lord You never stop, 
You call sinners to the feast beyond
Where mercy offered makes guilt abscond

Lord please never stop, 
My only hope, my only treasure
My life and love, Your Word my pleasure.

(c) nyonglema

Kid Poems on Space #JPL

S.P.A.C.E
Space is a 
Perfect place, 
Almost peaceful. 
Coming and going days
Everyday I enjoy on earth.  

(c) Balla  (10yrs old)

Moon 

The moon is a wonderful place
Oh just look at its wonderful face. 
It shines so bright
Oh just its light 
Will guide my path a while. 

(c) Meuna (8yrs old)

Like me
Jupiter and Mars are planets 
Because of rocks. I drew girls
On Jupiter and Mars dancing
Ballet like me. 

(c) Penna (7yrs old)

Walk on Water

The lessons of the gears that power the universe
Pour forth in ambitious drips into a bowl
To build an ocean from simple watery smears. 

From Egypt slavery one was chosen to show the signs, 
And staff and cloak he led the scowling whole, 
Across the river; he parted it to stay dry from brine. 

Before reward for courage to preach against the abhorrent,
The prophet chanced upon the Jordan's deadly bowl, 
And with his student, parted it for dread of its current. 

But when the promise long foretold at last came to pass
God Himself, didn't take a staff, or cloak, 
But let the water be, and showed His friends His glory. 

(c) nyonglema

Joy

Speak again wind, blow through the virtual hair of my head. 
I hear my children's voices in the yard,
I hear them gone on the stairs. It's hard,
But I can't touch them anymore than a jump to the ceiling.
They became beard-faced altered versions of me bustling
Through the challenges of life, baritone on the phone
Ordering me around, but basically never around.

I hear their children's voices in the yard,
I hear them going up the stairs. It's hard
To believe yesterday's a shadow I throw over dinner when
We meet to walk back to the plaid sheets I tugged over them:
Baby smiles, baby cries, dancing around to close baby eyes.
All those I have bottled inside, like chutney on a shelf.

(c) nyonglema

Falling #RegimeEnd

The reign is falling on the pain at the window, 
The "Hail" didn't come as royalty crawled
Out of its chair, senile and broken, like a widow's
Golden anniversary in black. Heroes sprawled
In the canoe, going to nowhere in the torrent.

The reign is falling on the pane of my window,
As I watch time unfold the end as scrolls
From the Dead See, anachronistic and cold,
Yet reel. Nobody foresaw the end of the troll
That brought so much destruction on the roots.

The rain is falling on the pain at the widow's:
Chaos spells letters of clouds over the silver lining
It's a bright loud zigzag that dares to show
And scare the crowds. There's hope for less pining
When the seed dies and a new reign renews.

(c) nyonglema

First day of school

The smell of freshly dried paint, 
New plastic, new rubber, and new stuff
Fills the air. In the distance, faint
A familiar silhouette, a little less scruff
Waves a smile in my direction.

That direction has changed, it was
A different door and teacher
Last year. My pulse sings a chorus
I don't comprehend, metered
In fear and joy mixed together.

Together with teachers, parents console tears
From older versions of me
But younger, and scared of new peers
Unaware this we've lived, but glee
Now fills us to be here with them again.

(c) nyonglema

500 likes

Thanks to you all who with your stars light up my morning feed.

Thanks to you who sip my words and feel the emotions touch your core;

I cherish your readership, and I write only to grace your eyes.

Keep reading, keep liking. God bless you all.

Love

Nyonglema

Sleepy in class

The sun is up, and rubs itself all over my skin, 
Yet I feel no flames, just lead filled with lead
Hanging from my bottom eyelids, swinging.

Sunshades usually cast shadows on eye pain,
But this time, the sun can see right through me.
Nothing can save me it seems, sitting on this bench.

The sunshades cast shadows in the teacher's mind:
Sleeping? Not sleeping? No need to check, I suppose.
The lead's getting heavier, and pulls my head down.

The lead's getting heavier, and lulls me, eyes shut,
Head bent. The teacher draws on the board,
And all I remember is that I sleepily missed it all.

(c) nyonglema