Oke’s Musings: Poetry, People and Places

Category: love

  • Poetry: Wait or Not?

    Sometimes, some things are not worth waiting for I Waited When I was a teen, I found myself in a situation where I had to wait for a girl I fancied to return my love. And yes I had opened up to her. So I only had to wait for her response. She asked for…

  • Wade

    I wade through this slow current,Touch of loose sand on my feet,And many songs of the wild forestDrop lyrics that get me elate

  • Rhyme: Play or Labour

    Make Hay While It Shines I’ve written this short rhyme for kids and teens. It came to me when I remembered the story I read as a school kid—the tale of lazy hoppers and busy ants. The ants were seen as losers because they had no time for frivolities. Indeed, the ant clan spent most…

  • Quote: On Love

    To give and receive love, we need not wait for perfection – Oke Iroegbu.

  • These Highlands, Her People – My Muse

    Gold from daylight is upon my glass window Her warmth is pure, a dew upon the fine green grass If sun flies parade, why then the empty front yards, Oh – a horde of vampires trolling the townlet in disguise Two giant lizards quarrel over a weary worm I have seen the mother hen busy…

  • Drench Me

    I love the rain Rain! Drench me Let me catch Those drops To tell how Much I love thee

  • Reflection and Dusk (Poem)

    Reflection: Day End & Kindness Why do I like it when it’s day end and the sunsets before my gaze? That’s a question which even a response from me may not explain precisely. Well, I don’t just enjoy the views of the beautiful sunsets alone, I worry about many things too. Each evening is an…

  • A Kind Charge

    Sweet fragrances cling to the hands of those who distribute roses What if you had the power to make the world better, To put a warm coat over someone’s shoulder Or give out polite words and beautiful flowers? Do not hesitate to be kind no matter what the world is turning to.

  • Night Poem: Your Love

    I’ll tell the world what Your love means to me… Your love is kind and the peace that steers my boat, It’s the song of the bass guitar playing in my heart when the beats stop, It’s golden sunrise and the joyful birds singing about its glamour, It’s the serenity of walking alone and being…

  • Sunset upon the river bend

    Sun set slowly above the wood Shadows appear, shepherd dreams; A soft breeze upon evening tide, The smell of sheep dung, Slices of malted bread, Songs from the wine inn, Situated by the river bend, Sober men drink their heart fill, Silent hills, retreating birds, Sally may sing her radio favourite, Something to celebrate our…

  • Rhyme: Pensive

    What shall we say Now at this delicate moment of May That we stand on this wet clay Watching the Sun leave the day? Now the leaves fall and fade In the streams, we quietly wade And to our past, we solemnly bade Welcoming the future which the Creator made The dark clouds grow and…

  • Dear Starry Night

    Dear starry night, This quiet and lonely friend of mine Here comes once more my fable Passed to me by a surge of the wind And the waves of the breezy ocean The stars whisper; Dream one more time, dear shepherd Consider the lilies that grow by the roadside For they care only for the…

  • Earth Day: Doing What Is Right

    Every day should be designated as Earth’s Day Indeed, I acknowledge that today and every other day should be proclaimed as Earth’s Day. Not just as the planet which harbours life, but as a reminder to treat it with more respect. There are so many ways to treat the earth right. But one thing is…

  • Remind me of April

    Let’s compare beauty to this month, April of pleasant skies & pretty flowers Obvious on benevolent blue clouds Broad with bright weather & gardens Where light & dark storms linger With glowing sunrise & peaceful dusk Painting images of hope from wands Of stars featuring as a result of the vision

  • Quote on Faith

    Open your mouth daily and declare good things; declare that you are healthy, that you are strong, that you are rich, that depression is not for you and you will see lines fall in places with time. Wishing everyone a beautiful month in April.

  • The Virus called Racism

    Indeed no one deserves to be discriminated against based on race, ideologies, beliefs, and personality. Unfortunately, mankind and his civilization had conquered or are in the process of conquering all kinds of viruses except the greatest of them – racism. If love traveled to another land Then I saw it fly on the wings of…

  • Happy Mother’s Day

    It’s Mother’s Day in my local church, Methodist Church Nigeria. I had published this piece a year ago and here is a revised one. My words alone can’t express my warm feelings for mothers. I had been raised by amazing women who taught and still teach me in one way or another. This amazing gift…

  • Valentine’s Day Quote

    I have given and received love, but the best love festivity is one observed with the family.

  • Genuine Love

    There’s no love without sharing For genuine love won’t hold back It doesn’t think anyone less It is a memory that will live on When remnants of life rot away There’s no love without caring No love without devotion and trust Love is accepting and being accepted It is living in submission to another To…

  • Night Poem: Love Is Beautiful

    Love is beautiful indeed I call it a fruit brown with ripe Which, when pressed, gives juices It is a little lads bicycle ride Down the lonely dusty road Love is a song that is written On panes of truth and care So I love not because of what one does But because of how…

  • Quote on Love

    Love is beautiful. Genuine love gives the power to move mountains.

  • Love Poem: Drifting Stars

    You remind me of drifting stars, Of sops ripening in the sunrise, I’ll cling to your arms as a child For you have become my world

  • Quote on Love

    Affection to loved ones is half the journey; the rest is learning to recognize the pain of others.

  • Muse: Morning Poem

    As the golden day breaks, It gave scented fog of hope When the lovely sun of joy rise So ina murna – I’m delighted, When you look at me each morning To share this unerring, loving smile To admit that you love me like bread loves butter

  • When Tree Leaves Drop

    When tree leaves drop That’s nature trying to teach a man, A lesson on the audacity of hope – Reason to live, trust and love again

  • Hope

    Behold life prevails on ship sails and up the horizon if one won’t look down For, new daylight brings distinct gust rapidly take it in and claim another win!

  • Love Poetry: She

    she wears pleasant flowers and bakes cakes made of flour she sings in the morning and my heart dance with her song

  • Oscar Wilde’s Selfish Giant: Seasons Greetings

    I came home yesterday and saw my dad’s favorite Oscar Wilde book of tales. The selfish giant is my best of them all; there’s a big lesson in it. I’ve applied a minor revision to the original story. The Selfish Giant Every afternoon, as they were coming from school, the children used to go and…

  • Love Poem: Twilight

    Evening lurks behind Even as sunset float ahead, It heralds the end of daylight So we watch it go in installments, We feel softer airs traverse Drifting with pure grace Upon our hair and coats It gets darker; nature’s notice We wonder what it meant To follow orange twilights As it glides down the horizon…

  • The Journey Is Short: Do Good

    I champion good leadership, love, peace, reconciliation, and forgiveness. That’s why so much of my stories and writing emphasis those virtues. I like to borrow a leaf from Mandela, who, after encountering great tribulation, did not adapt to his prosecutor’s ways. The short story below was copied from a friend’s Facebook timeline. I decided to…

  • Love Poem: Remind me of the sun

    Your pretty face reminds me of the sun, When she rose from the back of many hills Dragging her gold blanket before farms So if I am to paint this beautiful muse I would imagine sunrise over wheat fields And fast approaching evening when birds fly home

  • Love poem: Tumbleweeds by Tracy Windisch-Mason

    tumbleweeds I send Love is a waterfall with A river behind come back to me in the end

  • Love Poem – How Lucky I’m

    The fragrance of undying love – Sweet perfume from the lavender I sit, I admire you from the fireside, I realize how lucky I am to have you

  • Night Poem: Sounds of Water

    Your love is a balm to my heart Like an elixir, it refreshes my spirit For each time I lay beside waters quiet, Streaks of golden sunlight retreat When sounds of water splash – a dulcet

  • Muse: Stars within

    We dream of stars without, while a galaxy glitter within.

  • What is Love?

    Love is a tiny seed that grows silently and evolves into a tree. It’s green leaves, and strong branches give succor to all that run to its shelter. It’s kind and compassionate. Love knows no religion or tribe. It does not shame or get jealous. It dreams and, like birds, soar above all. It is…

  • Muse: Song in my Heart

    You are the song in my heart The moments I crave within

  • Hibiscus by Elizabeth Amarachukwu Okafor

    Red petals, green tan Three singing hornets And a happy, happy sun Hovering above the scent Marrying my words with yours is so good a hibiscus. Scenting every phrase with juice

  • Thought on Compassion

    Always remember that we are considered human when we show kindness to all that Providence placed under our care, and when we love others as we are born compassionate beings.

  • Let me By Elizabeth Amarachukwu Okafor

    Let me lead you this way I found thorns with honey just for you Wishes I stroll you farther, for the intense of my instinct is all warming While along, I was going to tell you, But every passing sunrise, my words are rolled back to breathing you My fume is reluctant, craving you as…

  • Love Poems: I Celebrate You

    Hausa Language A greater percentage of the population in Northern Nigeria speak Hausa language. I lived in Northern Nigeria for roughly a year. Looking back to those months, I will say it was eye-opening and fun. I learned some of the culture and traditions. I met great people and made friends who were ever willing…

  • Morning Sun

    I’m glad to see the rising sun It tells by sight stories unspoken And paints my curtain perfect green Divine love woke me to a new start, A new life, something to celebrate When I gather the curtains To glance through tree lines And green field glittering in the sun, The rays catch my breath,…

  • Parenting

    Power in words This is a touching story. When I read it I felt very bad. It’s not imagined. In South Africa, an 11 year old child committed suicide on his mother’s birthday as a birthday gift to his mother. He left a letter saying, “On today’s special day, I want you to be the…

  • Mary Slessor and The Killing of Twins

    Tradition can be wrong Sometimes tradition can be wrong. This story is a good one because it tells of a good hearted woman who saved innocent babies and it’s a gruesome story because it exposes the wickedness of ancient African tradition. Mary Slessor Mary Slessor, Scottish missionary in Eastern Nigeria, was born in 1848 in…

  • Poem: Man and Nature

    It is pleasant to sit in the green wood, and to watch the Sun in his chariot of gold, and the Moon in her chariot of pearl. Sweet is the scent of the hawthorn, and sweet are the bluebells that hide in the valleys and the heather that blows on the hill. Yet love may…