Alles ist gerade durcheinander im Zimmer,
Zerstört sind die Bücher die ich gerne las;
Und der Lärm! O wer hat ‘was getan
Zu mein lieblich Godzilla, kleines Kind meins
Mit Tränen überall auf seinem Gesicht?
(c) Nyonglema
Tag Archives: Children
After meals #kidsEnergy #Energiser
When energy has been injected into the atom,
The electrons start jumping from level to level.
In the case of kids, that’s table to table,
And round the whole space, making mum
Wail inside with the noise, while dad cringes
Each time they miss a dangerous fall by inches.
(c) Nyonglema
Once I held a gun #childSoldiers #stopWar
Once I held a gun in the bush.
That Ak47 was nearly my size but I lifted it.
I was fierce and fearless to my foes,
Taking their lives before they could reach for mine.
Yes, once I killed in the bush;
The men who protected their villages,
The women who protected their children,
The children who would avenge their orphan state.
At that time I was a hero in the army
So decorated by war wounds and scars
That pain became the objective of my existence
And transmitting it my only medicine.
Now I’m 16 years old and peace has killed the need for guns.
My grades and skill set mean nothing.
All left is the emptiness in the memories of maimed men,
Mothers, and children.What to do now?
AH…Once I was told taking lives was the life I needed,
But now I know there was much more to hope for.
…
Much more to aim AT than innocent targets in the bush
(c) Nyonglema
Fading Smoke #collateralDamage #stopWar #peace #bombs
I wave my blistered hand before my bleeding face,
Waving gunpowder smoke and blood fumes in the mist
To see the survivors, to see hope.
But all I see is crushed bones and leaking skulls;
All around the steaming tarmac lie lifeless lads,
Lost lives fill the air with more choking tears.
But we can’t cry now!
“Run! Run! Before they cast another bomb on us!”
I’m on my feet, staggering forward like an alcohol keg,
Surprised to be running alone to the porous camp shelter;
Oblivious to pain, oblivious to care, I stagger on.
Hoping to get my weapon and answer their fire.
It is then it dawns like a wooden blow on me:
I’m no soldier; they aren’t either!
Infant body parts entangled with women and men’s blood
Litter the town square, and I’m staring at the military shelter:
A wooden icecream stand with holes on the whole frame,
And blood , and burnt flesh reeking in the foetid smoke;
And… I break into tears.
(c) Nyonglema
I Am #divorce #brokenHome #cheat #alimony #home
I’m the anchor chain plunging into the deep,
Summoned by the sombre sea bed, taut and steep.
I’m the anchor chain torn between the deep and the ship,
Serving both the anchor digging the sea weeds,
And the ship ripping me off the anchor’s hold in its speed glee.
I’m problem land, trapped between two owners;
One person’s shouting curses, the other would feed the coroner.
I’m problem land. Remember the glorious days past
With daisies and morning glories? It’s over! Gun blasts
Have let loose blood baths to mar that beauty too fast!
I’m a mule, would you bet millions I’m horse or donkey?
Am I part of The Plan or mistaken fall out of a monkey?
I’m both! Let no war marr my existence.
Let horse hate donkey, but here must both parents’ love have residence,
In this heart two hearts made.
( c) Nyonglema
Learning the Computer #millenials #2000kids
Most perplexing about the capacity of human brains,
Is the flexibility felt when my sons learn computer games.
I watch them go from that searching stare of silent innocence,
Lying in crib or mat, swatting at pendants as if in offence
To swiping and stabbing with index finger at all passing tablets,
Cellphones, my poor laptop! If there’s a display and app-lets
Or full-blown applications with colours which beckon,
They’re game for clicking about and that’s done heavy wreckage on
The peripherals peacefully attached to the gizmo they batter
In their quest for quenching ardent curiosity in their grey matter.
But these steps though hilarious to watch at length,
I know, are the steps which guided will lead to full strength.
Yup!
But the hardware would have suffered massively in the event.
(c) Nyonglema
I dedicate to the kids of the 80s…remember your parent’s LCD calculator?….yeah!
WHERE ARE YOU (PEACE) (2007)
Trudging amidst littered corpses resulting from fatal blood baths,
I asked myself in the middle of one wade: did Peace walk this path?
Did she, in her crystal beauty pause to hold conversation?
No! If she did I won’t be knee deep in human body parts!
Then I thought me, maybe she’s off to walk the holy paths
Wherein many kneel to walk closer to He who in Heaven art.
But the squabbling and quarrelling as each said his was the right one,
Made it clear she’d surely set off stealthily amidst their word darts.
Certainly, I told my weary self, she’d be found in family hearths.
But lo, the father scolds, the kids into devils moult, and that
Mother weeps, heart pierced by innumerable despicable horrors.
Poor me, I thought the quest past, but I must now restart.
Oh dear me! I’d forgotten those tender things she could fancy, children’s hearts!
What more jolly and jovially innocent? So at the door I knocked and dropped my hat
And then dropped my jaw, as all sorts of abuses walked the place.
I ran off discouraged , my energy spent. I lay on a mat.
Maybe what I have so sought was here in my heart?
I say to myself with confidence. But amidst my silent fights
Between right and wrong, the conscience bites and cloudy darkness
I knew for sure, I’d never see that fine lass.
(c) Nyonglema Pisoh
waghni 