JESUS -THE WAY

I spent years in search of Him,

I wished to know what it meant to be loved by Him,

I ensured to follow through the requirement,
I was desperate to scale through my predicament,

The more I sought to keep His laws,
the more I saw my flaws,

I felt it was in the doing,
and I did work, so I won’t be found wanting,

But no, my conscience pricked me each time,
My mind had turned sour like lime,

Soiled by my imperfection,
Stained by my very intuition,

I sought to be free,
“Untie me from this grip” was my honest plea,

The picture they painted of Him was too dreadful,
Nothing I did was fruitful,

I sought to know the truth,
So I picked up the Holy book to find my roots,

One chapter each day,
and I could bet I had found a way,

A way out of darkness,
A way out of sickness,

A way that speaks of life eternal,
A way that ushers man into life immortal,

Overwhelmed, struck with joy was my state,
Knowing the liberty I had in Christ through faith,

Knowing His obedience gave me a pass, irrespective of my past,

The way I found is Jesus, and He’s no fluke,
He is the head of the flock,
He is my Shepherd.

Imani Dokubo

(c) 2018

One Down

Blindness from birth is a blessing compared to sudden loss of sight
The knowledge of colours and shades lost
Just become memories gradually fading away
Leaving a vacuum of nothingness yearning to be filled
But never to be filled

Love lost is beautiful
Though love found is more beautiful
Love never felt is nothingness
Love lost can be brooded over, cried over and reminisced over
Love lost can be found when searched
But love never felt has neither silver nor rainbow lining

Certain unnatural emotions are prayed for
Emotions involving hours of baring oneself in tears and strange languages
Of longings unexplainable, yet knowledge immeasurable
Of completeness and confidence in found identity
Such emotions defy conventional theories
It blooms from walk by faith not love at sight
People unfortunate to not have felt such emotions drool when they hear of colours and shades and rainbow linings
Of longings yet completeness

But they’d have to hear
People that felt but lost become shadows of themselves
Because they prayed
They prayed not to go a day without Jesus
They prayed not to take a breath without him
The moment they started getting cold
Their breathing became impaired
Their days became empty and gloomy
They knew they needed warmth
They knew a prayer has been answered
One down
Many more to go

ChyD

(c) 2018

Pen and agree

Terms and Conditions

Being a part of your dice
Being a part of your coin
Being a path to your routes
Is not a pact I’m willing to make
An option out of an ocean is not an option
Only an ‘A’ and all of the ‘above’
No subjective but objective
Because your answer should be subject to nothing
No multiple choice but double choice
‘Me’ and ‘only me’
A dog never comes back to his vomit
So if you drive past
Keep going because your will be allotted soon enough
Never think you are irreplaceable
Don’t get too comfortable
Don’t on and off on me
Be a constant power supply
Or I’ll buy a generator
Thank God for MTN box inverter
Before you come up with ‘too busy’
Know it’s too easy to find someone who’s not ‘too busy’
I love you
But I’m only human
I’ll stay with you if you’ll with me

– Woke man

Being a part of your life
Being a path to your goals
Making a path to the father
Keeping my pact to love you
Is my plan from time immemorial
No application to access my application
Just log in with name: Believer
And password: Believer
I’ll never lock you out
You’ll have unlimited data access
If for any reason you log out
I’ll still be there
If new application surface and you want to try out
I’ll still be here
When they crash…
They eventually do
I’ll be here
I give eternal assurance so be at peace
My love for you is not dependent on you
So don’t, do, on, off, go, stay
I’ll still love you
If I were a man, I’d be worse than your mugu
Because come what may, I’ll be here
Ask and it shall be given unto you
I speak tears amongst other languages including silence and moaning
So feel free to cry in our conversations
I’ll translate
When your pains turn into moans
I’ll understand
When silence is all you can afford
I’ll still hear your unspoken words
Dating me, I promise, will be exciting and stress free
From parts, I will be your whole
I’ll make you capable of emotions you only dream of
Lovely outbursts of various shades
From path to your goals
I will be your goal
Just say ‘yes’ already

-God

ChyD

(c) 2018

Chance At Love

Once I was ayoung man ruddy and wild
I knew the Lord and loved him like a child
Yet my wit was unmatched and my zeal beyond borders
This here is a story of how a little trouble saved another

A Chance at Love by Godswill Ezeonyeka

While prayers went on, every pastor in the crowd was summoned
I joined them on stage curious to see why they where called upon
Lost within this little crowd a little boy ruddy and wild
I never would have suspected what I would find

They held hands together and prayed ever so passionately
For hearts that were not theirs to find love they could not give
Thier prayers must have been answered for soon it was bait and I was fish
My curiousity had bought me a ticket to meet with Jesus

As I watched on I desired to be like them on this stage
To do all I can so that all may have what I got on this day
I wanted the entire world to know how love found me on a stage
But here comes the usher “Young man” he says “this is not your place”

I have since journeyed far into the world with passion so strong
I have watched love fire up in the hearts of many a heralding song
But as the days run wildly by and my strength stops to be what it once was
I fear my passion bears no more fruits and my word stir no more hope

Yet as I walk home a picture of good old days gone by
I meet a man scarcely as old as I am waiting at my doorstep with a smile
Says he found love the day a young man ruddy and wild, sought Jesus on a stage
“But I never said a word”, “Your passion was enough, it showed me the way”

I have lived a life of testimonies but this will forever remind me
I am blessed to have been found by love so true and more blessed to evangelize it
But when my efforts seem to have no effect, I will yet share these words with the world
For my God will use anything and anyone to give a dying soul, a chance at love, eternal love.

Godswill Ezeonyeka

(c) 2018

Christ and Crumbs

A tearing loaf is losing its parts,
With the drawing apart of its whiteness within,
Halving its whole,
And leaving an abyss betwixt,
New incompletenesses,

A torn loaf sends shreds raining down,
Relics of fullness, signs of wreck,
Its white lands on earthen ground,
To defy dirt awhile,
Till it lies six feet deep,

This shared loaf once one,
Is multiplied by demise,
To reach the tongues that trust,
Enliven a billion bellies,
And reside in our flesh and blood,

In Christ’s flayed frame we find,
Skin shredded as crumbs,
Raining down from Heaven’s table,
His very self multiplied abroad,
To fill a billion hungry hearts,

Ikenna Nwachukwu

(c) 2018

Niel’s Exegesis

We cant save, we are the saved.

Perhaps we have barbed ourselves by lifting biblical phrases, again perhaps, out of context.

Our view, or stand, however; is to me as clear as yours. I wont quote 1John3:11-16 or even go into some long exegesis about how we are doing what is natural to us. It is obvious we all see things differently.

We are younger than you, and in our time, today, when we see a mosquito or a fly, we swat it and pray that we dont already have malaria.

When a lecturer tries to sleep with my friend, we get a recording device and set him up…but we pray the senate dont cancel the class results because of him. We know we cant fight BokoHaram, so we leave that to God. But we switch off the TV when we catch our young siblings watching BBNaija. And we change the station when they’re gone and watch GameofThrones.

We want to ignore the world, we also want to change a few things, get some money, go to work and hope the kids can be left alone with the Tv.

I dont have kids yet.

But I once watched porn. Someone should have told me it would erode my self esteem and that I was misdirecting my time, but no, everyone was ignoring the world.

But I blame no one. And am not even telling anyone to change…I’m just venting. In real life, I will listen to you, because I trust you. I will fix my eyes on Jesus and pray for those who I could have helped. After all, all of my help comes from the Lord; they should trust God too.

I just thought perhaps I should love my neighbour as I…nevermind. I will just pray for him.

Where is it written in the Bible that there should be a balance between what is our and what is God’s responsibility?

We should all seek, first, the kingdom of God…

Madonna once sang, the road to Hell is paved with good intentions; what did she know about good?

…like Paul says, Ephesians 4:11-25, we are all growing to that level where we are rooted in The Truth, all the while trying to speak truth to each other.

The Niel

(c) 2018

Frank

Reducing scarcity dissolves celebrity statuses so its safe to say that ‘being Frank’ saves the day,

I’m here to be Frank, I can’t pretend just to please anyone… I’m here…to be Frank,

I want friends who are wise so I can fool around safely. So I never wonder if I’m wrong since they shoot their thoughts straight at my phone just to bullseye me with a sharp ‘I miss you’,

I want friends who forget that I have to go and sigh at my goodbyes like we’ll never meet again. Their eyes glow when I appear; I am a star, they are mirrors,

Maybe that’s why they say ‘Tell me your friend, and I’ll tell you who you are,’ because that’s not in the Bible,

But my friends though…

I’m upset when they’re amused and I’m used to the use of my absence for the discussion of weightier matters,

But do I change them like I change shaving sticks? No. I am enough, they are enough,

Some books book a book-long look of flukes for me to get hooked on to with the look of a promise like, ‘Look, if you took on this and that look and hook on to this and that spook, your nook of Looks will be so warm, johns will pray to host you. You can mark it anywhere’,

But they are all tax collectors and like a Mat you write ‘welcome’ on, they are hardly ever inside the story building up as our lives, so they don’t see our flaws while promising windows for each sealing,

Temperaments and Peppermints have taught me this; If you are predictable and pleasant, there still is no guarantee that the other person will be,

In my search for the pinnacle of a stable relationship I took a stab at a popular question. No one sees the selfishness of the silence this question is serially supplied with, the question is…

What are friends for?

Is a friend in need a friend indeed? If yes then answer this;
Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his friend, which of your friends can you die for?

Don’t worry Jesus died for your friends so don’t worry,
Gies of God to each other. A friend in need is just opportunely so. So once again, let’s ‘be Frank’; I am friends with you because I love you. I won’t always want you around but that’s not a reflection of my displeasure.

And when I’m gone just carry on, don’t mourn, rejoice every time you do recall my voice. We’ve come a long way, from where we began, and I’ll tell you all about it, when I see you again,

I’ll be careful when I am ‘being Frank’ with you so I don’t hurt you in a bid to say my mind,

The stench of fellowships…often murdered by honesty;
The smeh smeh whispers of Frank.

Its safe to say ‘being Frank’ should be replaced with being ourselves,

After all, who is Frank? I don’t know him. Let’s keep it simple,

I am The Niel Quchi; and I just want to make common sense.

The Niel

(c) 2018

Our Love

Our love tale started like soaking cannabis in hot water. I took a sip. You did likewise. The sole of our feet got baptised in this fever that got our tummies beating the African drums. We looked each other in the eyes, we found dark universe surrounded by a red sea. We could see what love is all about; two heads that one is better than. We felt like screaming but the fear that the onlookers would tag us mad forced us into each other’s arm.

You could hear my heart beating. It was not the Jazz you love. My heart made music, the kind Mozart made. You said it made you dull. But that was my whole life. I tried to let my eyes speak volumes of poetry anthologies but all you heard was words poorly knitted. You smiled. Not the type of smile you decorated the sky with the first day I stood before you as a stuttering child, fearful but determined to let you know that butterflies only visit your garden.

I prayed we never recovered from this euphoria. This state of having the moon constantly using our name in the lullaby it is singing. I told of the symphonies composed by the crickets and frogs ( hiding in the near by bush) in our favour. You said I was silly. Not that kind of silly. You meant that I stole your heart with my madness. I was happy. At least, someone has finally got me in the list of men who parade the face of earth with careless abandon of what lips would say. You were the earthquake my soul yearned for.

That was when you told me of a fairy land. I was the ragged prince and you the princess living in a mansion of a castle. You told me that I was the male Cinderella. I agreed. You made me to be born again. It is no metaphor. You turned me to a suckling praying that I will forever remain at your breast…

(C) Symolean