Promises

Ignite me
Set me off like a bomb, like a traveler
You’re the first step and the last
Breath, breadth and bread

Excite me
Throw me up like a baby in the air
You’re the gum to my laughter
sticking up for me
Sporting fangs for me

Incinerate me
Roar through me like a water out of a dam
Damned to your salvation because you Ctrl+S’d me

What am I?
You say I am son
Barrabas, Redeemed, a Winner
But what do you have to gain?
What does the moon have to profit from a lighter?

I am standing here,
with my hands up,
burning with your words.
Full of them, fool of then
Rebellious to the dark
Obedient to delight
and The Light

Waiting in worship, for you
To ignite me and incinerate me
Until I phoenix to your words.
The words that excite me
with the answer.

I am a believer, unable to esc…
Fired from my death
Hired by my life
Waiting…

The Niel
© 2020

Well done

You pray in formation
Beyoncé has to feature you in her next formation
Praises first, worship second
Forgive me Lord for I have sinned
Well done, ma

You give up on yourself
Because you keep running from Pillar to Post
Pillar of fornication
Post of prayer for forgiveness of sins
Your legs are weak
You imagine the lord must be tired of you
Tigers woods!
Well done, Sir!

You are told Jesus has forgiven you once and for all
But you argue you have to work out your salvation with fear and trembling
How is the walk going?
Are you trembling yet?
Wakajugbe!
Well done, ma!

You complicate simple English
And say there is more to believing than believing
That believing is not enough for eternal life if not backed up with works
Backup memory card!
Listen to yourself
Are you making any sense at all?
Well done, Sir!

You say Grace keeps one from sinning
Aunty stop sinning already
But you cannot
Is God’s grace not sufficient for you?
Now you say you have to strive to enter
You go wound oh
Well done, ma!

You call me heretic
That I preach a message from the pit of hell
A message that allows believers to lounge
Can we talk about this
Without you getting worked up and defensive?
Because I would like to see you without a York
Jackie!
Well done, Sir!

ChyD
© 2019

CLAD

I have been a gladiator all my life,
Wrestling with both man and beast all these times,
A complexion of my scars,
The door to my mind’s wounds,
I scarcely knew a hero within these black holes,
Far from the skies,

I entertained spectacular foes for audience,
And my evening had unfolding shows that were popular for my trophy pose,
With facades of joy,
After which I was given the raw meat to eat with a glass of some bitterness to sip,
My pride servicing my red eyes,
With lots of grin applause as envy came as a plus,

Death was my inevitable choice,
A sting option, patient for it’s active chance to occur,
And so no matter the wins, the victims, the gifts I gave,
I was yet to please him dead,
I gave my rivals befitting houses of sorrows with my lying arrows as my wrath residues,
No morrows, as my bow bows them into my memories of victory stairs,

See,
I’ve been in this game for so long,
Long before Seth was born as another son ceded,
Playing with my breathe as my life solemn song,
Yet,
I had not gone passed the dawn of game seven,
And this was no Seth’s based ball,

The summer sage started,
When the first boomerang of teenage battle, unlatched my belt and I stumbled into some piles of dirty lies,
My chest cage got broken when I mistook the right turn for the rest, having the same look as the dust after hauling down to the earth,
The crowd’s laughter grew,
As I made futile efforts to move with my trousers down clogging my boots,
This was no goodness of peace running through my restless veins,
It was vain to shield myself from this day waiting to happen,

Finally with just one slingshot,
My hard hat headed off my head,
And I couldn’t think straight,
It was obvious that I was unsafe,
I was the lad who brought a pen knife to a sword fight,
My only gifted weapon passed down from my elder brother who departed before the age of impart,
I could only keep his last statement which was..
One word of believe from,
Your lips and this penknife becomes a sword,

But as I said,
This day with the weeks following it became the years,
I was not thinking straight,
I mean whose youngster would read Eph6:10-17 and relate a thing?
So there I was unclad ,
A master at pleasing my audience,
This misery of mine became a life series served as an appetizer to Death’s main dish,

My only hope was found in two windows
One of which was an opportunity at game seven and the other, my escape plan,
This was the chance, Death never had,
A chance become the hero within these black holes,
A chance to experience the real joy,
All I needed was a new war dress,
To address this life’s mess,
I needed to get my head straight,
To speak out that Living word of believe,
I needed to guard my heart’s cage to decide what was right and just best,
My belt so tight, I would be smart enough to deliver this truth,
My boots ever ready to tell others there could be a new you,
A faith to shield all these armors cause dead men tell no ,tales,

And so here I am,
A gladiator with a different profession,
Fighting man’s spiritual beast,
Casting down every imagination that exalts itself against the knowledge of my new found Truth,
I bleed my penknife into a sword every time I speak,
My confession has been a salvation in deed,
I am the young star who reads Eph6:10-17 and relates even with 18,
Death’s sting option was quiet late,
So whenever I win these daily battles,
I prove that the Truth already had the victory in the war,
And right now, I’m gaining mastery of this course.

Hannah
© 2018

The Mute Cry

crying-girls-facebook-profile-pictures

I’ve been wronged. Why should I not be bitter?

Treated unfairly, as though I don’t deserve better.

Suffering consequences for choices I never made.

I’m strange not special, odd not unique, tossed apart not set apart.

Bitterness I drink, bitterness I sip.

I sleep with my oddness, wake with my strangeness and live with my bitterness.

I chose not this burden, it chose me and like a jealous wife follows me everywhere, weighing me down-spirit choking, soul gasping, body crumbling, all under this bitter weight.

How dare you demand I be bitter no more?

Roll away this load and with a light heart I’ll smile.

They point at me – jesting me, poking me, mocking me.

Bitterness, bitterness, bitterness all around and around all.

I sat there sinking in the mud hole of my anger, suffocating from my own rage, angry with life, tired of men, hidden from God.

I stood at the door beckoning the grim reaper ‘please pay me a visit’ and with open hands I would welcome him. Better dead than bitter, better entombed than enraged, life is overrated.

A knock! At last the grim reaper was here, I fumbled over myself in excitement to welcome my own death. I opened the door and He walked in instead, brighter than life and bigger than all, too magnificent to be grim, too loving to be reaper. I skidded with all my might heading the opposite direction, lest my darkness spewing heart stain even the edge of his light crusted garments. But His arms longer than the great wall and quicker than Bolt went round me and like the clenched jaws of Sabre tooth, drew me in to himself. I shuddered to look sure I would stain even the stainless and spread my cancer of bitterness on another.

He was gone, I opened my eyes to see that his glow had driven my groans and his light had shone upon my life, driving eternally away my darkness and stains. It was all gone and my heart was beating ‘free’ ‘dom’, ‘free’ ‘dom’, ‘free’ ‘dom’. I sought for my pain only to find His pleasures, I opened the wardrobe of my bitterness only to find garments of praise, my account of shame empty and my store of Joy overflowing.

Where is my knight in shining Armour? My hero who saved me from myself? I looked around to no avail, only to hear His voice from within my very heart crying ‘over here’.

This myriad of happenings all in a split second as I answered the altar call on this Sunday morning, never uttering a word, with folks I never knew but who now felt closer than kin. Kneeling on the altar, live tears streaming from my eyes, once bitter, once angry, now saved, now changed, all because His ears hear even the mute cries of a bitter heart.

rejoicing-woman-2

MY JESUS


Jesus

Art by Akiane Kramarik

Trying to describe my Jesus is like an attempt to go bonkers
Cos no bunker could ever hope to contain Him
His glory is ever lasting, totally outstanding
You can’t wish to keep Him in a box
He’s a beast
I mean a Lion
I mean a Lamb
The Lion and the Lamb
A description so contradictory and yet so
accurate
For in Him is Love and Mercy
Where I live, move and have my being
Full of a fiery passion as He chased out the
merchants from me
With immense confidence as He commanded the
storm to cease.

My Jesus is big! Even I can’t quantify Him
Is it His goodness or protection? No one can
defy Him
Just make an attempt and try Him
Don’t put Him to test though, the devil couldn’t
fail Him
Let me tell you something about my Jesus then
The Lion
The Lamb
The Lion and the Lamb
The lover and the fighter
The beast and the tamer
The Judge and the advocate
My very own big brother
Not just watching through lenses
He sees my heart and can finish all my
sentences

He is Jesus
The Lion and the Lamb
The mighty man in battle, His alias
same as prince of peace, Son of God, the
Messiah
The word spoken in days of old
The material form of the spoken word
The justification of all of mankinds existence
My Lord and Saviour
He personally died for me
And of course you too can make this claim
You just gotta believe
I mean really believe
Put your heart, mind body and soul into it
Accept Him so that finally,
Your Spirit will live

Onubogu Somtochukwu

HOME-COMING!

Let me tell you my story
I let my father down, leaving his mission for my pleasures.
abstract_landscape_by_faith_lv-d51r5tz.jpgTaking up my own mission, I decided to take a trip away from home.
I took it all as a game, thinking I could get the whole world sealed, signed, stamped and delivered to my doorstep all in my name.
Yea to tell the truth, I enjoyed those days,
Where all I did went well, I was enjoying the fun and all.
You see I got everything I wanted without anyone to tell me no or yes.
I could say I was winning it all, I got so good at the game.
But with time, I realized it was all lame!
With time they all faded away, the happiness, enjoyment, pleasure.
I was left with an empty heart that wasn’t satisfied at all even with all the pleasure I had…

You see my father loved me more than anything.
And did I tell you he is a KING?
Yes my father is a king I longed for home, for that joy that could satisfy, and only father had it.
Being in his presence alone was satisfaction beyond anything else in this world.
You see, at home I bathed in my father’s glory.
But how could I go back home now? Would he take me back? Would he cast me out?
These questions played across my mind.
I decided to go back home, but there was a problem…
Yes I didn’t know my way back. I was lost and felt like indeed I was going to die.

Nevertheless I tried to find my way back home.
I tried different ways but they didn’t lead to my father.
I was about giving up when I saw my big brother on the way,
I didn’t quite understand what he was doing there, I was beginning to think he left home too.
But he told me father sent him to search for me,
That father had been searching for me!
He had sent servants to find me but none could.
So He offered to come himself, he told me he had given all he had just to find me.
At last I found my way home!
Walking home, I told my Brother I was scared to meet father,
He told me he had paid my own price so I need not be scared.
Along the way I saw someone running towards me…
I realized it was father!
Father ran at my home coming…

-Bethel