With These Hands

June 7, 2020June 8, 2020Leave a comment

With these hands, I will write a hymn, a poem, and a love note,
Just to express the joy my soul feels.
From the gifts of which your word wrote,
And the ails of that which it heals.

For In his hands, are holes that I be made whole,
That I be free from the world and it’s ill
By his sacrifice I am a saved soul
And a co heir to his estate and will.

With these hands, I will lift his name on High
Above issues or powers that be
For your authority, no being can defy
The lord, there is no one as he.

In his hands, is joy, love and peace.
I shall forever bask in his embrace.
Forever anxious for nothing, my heart shall be at ease.
I live not by my being, but being in his grace.

Ini Brown
©2020

FALL

April 9, 2020April 4, 2020Leave a comment

Should you fall
Should the devil try to be your warden and sin your prison
Should your burdens become so heavy you can’t stand tall
Or Should guilt flood your mind and drown your reason

Should you fall to your own pride.
Moonwalk into iniquity.
Fall over the dark side
And bow to its ubiquity.

Should you lie or cheat
In fear or deceit.
Should you steal or even kill
So much that your seems fate sealed.

If you should fall, then fall.
But fall for God’s love and his sacrifice
Fall into his embrace For grace has paid your price
Fall to your knees and commune
Fall in love with him and to the darkness, you will be immune

If you must fall then fall
But why not let the solid rock be what you fall for
If you must fall then fall
But fall for Christ and fall no more.

Brown da Poet
© 2020

Requiem for the Disarmed Forces

February 27, 2020February 27, 2020Leave a comment

I have always admired soldiers
Just like I have always ignored Valentine’s Day
But on the day, I make a statement.

Not because my silence isn’t sweetin me
Not because I am obligated to speak.

I have always admired soldiers,
as their sacrifices vary
from patriotism to sheer employment
from investment to raw adventure

I don’t just remember soldiers on a remembrance day,
especially because I am Igbo
a tribe that has forgiven genocide and discrimination.
I don’t just remember soldiers on a remembrance day,
especially because I am Nigerian
a country that has forgiven military dictatorships and coups.

I don’t just remember soldiers on a remembrance day,
especially because my friend Eric is a soldier,
a man that shares history, hopes and happiness with me.

I remember soldiers,
the fallen and the standing,
especially because guard-room is real,
and no reward is enough for the soldier;
Except for Freedom and the heat of battle.

From God is true freedom…
but when it comes to battle,
Arise, Oh compatriots…

The Niel
©2020

Why do I fear the stars – Part 2

June 7, 2019May 21, 2020Leave a comment

They do not wear a dress of courage
Nor a garb of thorns
My shiny mysterious sisters of the night, lighting the skies.

They do not need to be reminded, they do not forget.
Holding a billion promises, secret kisses, and passionate pleas.
They are witnesses, even when bones be ash.

Did you know you can bet on stars?
That you’ll never lose a bet on their suicide?
And agree or not
You must agree to disagree,
Their terrorism is a necessity.

I mean,
Suicide bombers are looked on with a mix of contempt and awe,
We see lives cut short in their prime,
By the most suffering is ever known to mankind.

We are shaken by the workings of a twisted mind,
And in retrospect
We all must agree
There is something to respect,
In a blood sacrifice for a belief.

Yet I digress.

This is about the stars and why I fear them.

They do not wear a dress of courage
Nor a garb of thorns

There is no self-preservation in their answer to duty’s call
They are courage in the flesh.

They do not need to be reminded, they do not forget.
That they matter and their sacrifice counts.
I mean,
Who motivates the stars to shine?

And did you know stars must burn to shine?
That they die with each burning?

Yet night after night without fail,
My shiny mysterious sisters of the night,
Circle the expanse of the clouds,
in a dance to the death.

This is why I fear the stars.

St. Davnique
© 2019

GOD’S LETTER

May 18, 2019May 18, 2019Leave a comment

This love that leaves a bitter taste on my tongue
Is the sacrifice I promised I would have for you despite your flaws
You give me your heart in pieces
your brokenness is what I long for
the only thing I want from you

Mending is what I do with you
This process that shows you the love I hope you see
And I hope imprints on you
I do not give your heart back in pieces
I give you this new one, designed to be bound to me

Your gaze makes me feel like
I’m all there is in your heart
I tuck your hair behind your ear
Hold your hand, look at your face
I want you to follow me
I definitely have a lot to show you

IFIOKABASI OKOP
© 2019

Death and the Imago Dei

March 12, 2019March 14, 2019Leave a comment

God says
I AM; space
shape-shifts on
His constancy
swinging and swerving in
and out, like flames
lit, waned, relit
by undying hands

Existence is
His filling , pouring
His infinite into
finiteness, a
creating, a
gaining fade, a death
process climaxed on
a Roman cross

His dying is living
life, is glorious
process played out
In moulding perfect
man, with His blood and body for
water and clay, art
and sacrifice, creation’s
true portrait

A Portrait of Sacrifice, with Blood as Paint

November 7, 2018November 7, 20182 Comments

A band of butcherers chant,
As they drag crying sheep through,
Smashed rocks and dirt clouds,
Swarming, to slaughter point,

Its fluffy coat sheds, to mingle,
With mud puddles and grim slime,
It swims in darkened blood,
And sways, to torturers’ feet stomping,

As shredding skin paints the path,
To the altar, with red hue,
A portrait of life takes shape:
Suffering, to death,

But if through its last cries,
It sees losing self could be worship,
It’ll fall, to paint its dying as,
Living worship to God, “Sacrifice Infinite”.

Love

July 11, 2018August 19, 2019Leave a comment

My understanding of Love is beyond a feeling of affection, attraction, admiration or infatuation… Love is “ALL OF THESE as much as IT IS A SACRIFICE AND IT BURNS WITHOUT A REASON.”

Love reminds me of a mother’s Love

Don’t matter what you look like, talk like, seem like or be like, mothers Self burn in love for their kids.

But even more love is genuine Love between a man and a woman…. Because a father and mother’s Love could be biased. It could be as a result of you being theirs.

My Definition of LOVE is The Love that has no answer to WHY!!!! Love above the 5 senses.

People talk about a thin line between Love and Hate.

but I beg to differ… There is no hating within the realms of LOVE! And outside that realm is just a neutral ground.

If you loved me until I made a mistake… You never Loved me!

Toby Martins