Tag Archives: Christmas

Others, sadness

I hate messes too

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What if Mary and Joseph had come to you on Christmas Eve? 

A donkey a man and two people in a woman. 
Navel points to dust as if to say: "Imminent". 
Winter's frosty bite's is too much trouble 
And if I give in to this sweet talking strong man, 
I might find myself therein rather imminently. 

For what whining with new life clatters through 
The halls of a hotel, where sleeping souls seek
Solace, won't yank them out of wrangled slumber
To complain, keep the gelten bag, then shoot 
A notice on my place: "Flee the Plague"? 

What if Cerberus licks baby and mother's 
Face in hearty welcome to where none seeks it? 
What to do? What to say? What to think, 
As soldiers enquire "Did he really smother?"
and "Why?" Oh it causes me to tremble! 

Tremble, tremble oh soul of mine!
Let them go to the next hotel in line
For trouble's in the side-view mirror, 
Urging me on to walk into imminent horror
But wisdom's mine: "Go! Goooo! You'll be fine!"

(c) nyonglema
surprise

Palms for murder #HolyWeek #Easter

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You know a human’s about to get you when the honours come out.
They raise you on a pedestal, higher than your donkey mount.
They hail you, with palms to grow on your funeral mound.

But that’s not today, today it’s Hosanna in excelsis
It’s blessings to He who comes from deepest exegesis
It’s wholly holy people praising salvation’s catalysis.

Not the funeral mound no! But seeking some greater cause:
Freedom from the Roman “alphabet” to “alefbet” theirs.
Freedom borne by a donkey marching majestically with no pause.

You know a human’s about to get you, when you’re set to fail
By their standards. We’re human, and when we start to ail,
Everything seems either brighter or of a darker shade of pale

We raise Hope on a pedestal, higher than a donkey can,
And wish the standards are earthly unlike the first Eden ban,
Or the Earth in glory bathed, but humble when it began.

And we miss it all, the real glitter that Easter brings,
Looking for the suave mauve of bigger and bigger kings,
In a manger, then a cross, then a tomb, then everything.

(c) Nyonglema

surprise

While shepherds watched #MerryChristmas

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While shepherds watched their flock by night,
Seated on the ground, the sheep kept going round
In telepathic discourse, full of questions as they might,
Talking to the other sheep whom divinity had found.

“What does He look like? Does He bear Mary’s smile
Or Joseph’s nose? Is Mary ok after the delivery
And who is tending her right now?” After a while
The response would come of Mary’s particular chivalry

To push in stable bear, and bear He to save us all,
And tend the baby dear, swathed in pieces of cloth
Torn off her precious dress worn, and Joe’s wool
Of brown and black and white, amidst the fleeting moths

Dancing in the candle-lit palace of the king of
The world born as lowly as a baby among the lowliest.
His message rich -Share,Love,Reconcile – may sound tough,
But those sheep were proto-us, living glory’s best

Oh that you may see beyond the glittering balls which hang
On the Tannenbaum, with blocks, and plasticky ropes
Shining light. Oh that His coming inspires, taking your pangs,
Bringing joy and peace to you, yours, and beyond your hopes.

(c) Nyonglema

joy

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

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Two thousand years later, and we still long for the star
Of Bethlehem shining over our worn with work eyes.
And though love and joy and hope may seem far
Remember this season that: Love can thaw all ice,
That joy falls aplenty like a paddy of rice
That hope was born that day, but never it dies
If you share the love, joy and hope like He who brought that star.

To you and your families and loved ones, near or far,
(To the lonely take the joy to other lonely lives),
May He be born this Christmas  within your hearts and hearths
To guide and guard. Merry Christmas and Happy New Life next Year.

(c) Nyonglema

joy

The Chosen Father #Joseph #Christmas

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Oh Bethlehem of glorious fate,
You through love became so great,
For within your walls in lowly plate
Joe’s heir laid down His Godly state.

The gusty winter blew in the cold
As wife and Son in his cosy hold
Sought the heat cold morn denied
As if the manger’s shame to deride.

Loud clouds told the shepherds how
From Heaven to cradle God did bow,
And jump and run with sheep did they
To see the Saviour curled in hay.

In wisdom, three the star did see
And off to worship the Lord went they
To Herod, then to stable where
Joseph received gifts and wisdom rare.

And in that darkness shone that Light,
Of the world from that lowly site.
And Joseph, Mary, Jesus slept
In peace while God their spirits kept.

(c) Nyonglema

joy

The Chosen Mother #Mary #Christmas

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Oh Bethlehem of glorious fate,
You through love became so great,
For within your walls on stable bare
Mary lay her Babe in yester year.

The gusty winds of winter tide
She warded off as best she might:
With shards of cloth she swathed the Boy
Who brought Salvation to lack of joy.

In dark dull fields the light was lit
As shepherds, sheep got on their feet
To sing along to heavenly praise
And rush to see the King of Grace.

In foreign land some saw the star,
And left their own to travel far,
With gifts to honour and wisdom too,
They knelt and prayed the King of Truth.

And Mary watched her first born sleep
With Love, the wise, shepherds and sheep.
She got the mystery the angel voiced:
“Most glorious blessed, my Master’s choice.”

(c) Nyonglema

joy

Fresh Start #happyNewYear #2014

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Adieu 2013, you served me well:

You made me laugh, cry, frown, want to die,

Long to live longer, get bored, hunger for action,

Get into excess euphoria, feel melancholy,

Love, hate, rave about that abominable colleague,

Praise another, glorify the Lord,

Fall prey to the Fallen, rise again to walk,

Despair, and be rejuvenated, Hope for a better future,

Relax, become a workaholic, mess up my tasks,

Get all answers right, Feel stupid, feel like Euclid,

Feel unique, Feel wanted, Feel loved, Feel useless

Feel sore, Wish for the sun, Feel care

Feel bare, Paranoid at each sound, each sight

Then feel strong, ready to take on each fright.

Adieu 2013, you served me well;

I regret not the good, nor the bad nor the ugly

For each second was a building block to who I am,

And who I shall become in 2014.

Adieu 2013, welcome 2014.

(c) Nyonglema

joy

PHOENIX (2009)

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A new day will come, when from ash,

The glory of the golden feathers,

Sprayed in red and brown and ash

Shall rise. And in those weathers,

A flamboyant flame so hopeful bright

Announcing, like the Star of old:

“There shall pass some event of delight!”

Shall spark and spread like a manifold,

Piecing together the splendour to be born:

Bones and blood, cloak and claws;

Picking carefully each colour for scorn

On other creatures (even man) victim to death’s jaws.

Yellow more than yellow, red beyond red!

Gold in every nook, look at how rare

It sparkles in the sunlight royally shed

On the Phoenix, in the splendour of December.

(c) Nyonglema Pisoh