Oke’s Musings: Poetry, People and Places

Category: Poetry

  • Muse: I am hu-man

    I was not carved from stone I am not a sculpture Or painting of any kind I live in a civilized culture I eat much food And live in a town I dream of the woods I dance when no one is watching And I may be different from you I may see things differently…

  • Muse: Green

    Nature’s blood Blooming Life’s culture Sweet airs And a host of pretty views Trees- Oxygen tanks Green is man’s hope If he desire not to end up swinging from a rope

  • Ubochi taa (Today) : Igbo Love poem (Abu ihunanya)

    Ubochi taa Anam ede nke a I gwa gi otu ubochim siri ga I maram ka onye na achi aturu Marakwa na enweghim ihe niile ichoro Ubochi niile anam akpahara ohia Na acho ihe aturum ga eri I mara na enweghi ihe na enyem Obi uto karia ndu mkpachara anya O bu nke a kam…

  • Life is green

    Life is green She goes beyond the hustle bustle Of towns Of great machines Life is the flock Grazing Gracefully Away from human want

  • Muse: I wonder

    I wonder why we pleasure in strife Why we derive joy in profits In expense of the dying earth And why we must sell weapons To cause more sorrow and pain *** We chose paths of darkness and destruction Even as Nature tries to guide us right Now the greedy may sit at costly parks…

  • Zingina

    Zingina, this song is for you The pretty young maid You that sets our village on fire, Fire of desire and lust You whose dance paint many pictures On the minds of hungry men The village square is your stage And when the drums go beating You throw your arms up the sky, Twist your…

  • Muse: Cymbals

    I fail when I break your rule Be rest assured I still love you For even when the sound of drums and bass guitars go faint Your peaceful cymbals still play down the sorrow in my heart

  • Harvest season

    Here at the close of the day Everyone comes to the hay To dance and clap To behold the golden wheat And grains waiting for the whip The fields are littered with baskets Occasionally the clouds grumble To remind the folk of the rainy season And in the evening wind, baskets tumble Exposing the grains…

  • Waterfalls

    Listen to Nature sing from the waterfalls, She thrashes her garments upon the rocks And wash them with very soft palms She sends soft waters crashing into the pool Watching the blue skies as her fingers work When the waters descend they form Curtains of white mist And when the waters touch the pool below…

  • Summer

    Summer rides through the little forest, Desiring to warm and wake every creature It saved in the heart of trees that flourish On the tarred roadside, a sweet aura of air That kept both faun and flora intrigued! ** Image by David Thomas Martins, a friend and a great painter poet.

  • Muse: Nature’s Art

    Night rains are ways mother Nature tell her wonderful stories From the curtains dance one can feel the strength of the rain And the routes of her accomplice; the wind Further away from homes, if you dare to look One can see the wind dressing the trees hairs Decorating the trees with every piece of…

  • The Messengers Gong

    Kororom! Kokokorom!! Korokorokom!!! The gong went off, disturbing the peace of the hamlet A strange silence descends as the rhythm died down The evening was cold, sweet breeze from the big river Made the hamlet cozy and sometimes snores rent the air Stubborn children turn good For their parents had threatened To report them to…

  • Musing: Traveler

    By the foot of the hills he stood to look back Waving to images, thin from the long distance I was among those thin images that stood afar Watching as he disappeared from our glance He had left stories in our mouths and hearts Taught us that we must leave the quiet village, To learn…

  • Remember me

    I remember your stories Of bombs and guns Of decimated hills and homes And broken dreams and destinies! I remember the thunder that broke backs That tore the roof off our homes And brought hardship upon babies I remember you the victor Who took our children And made them men, Men which became slaves And…

  • King David

    Ruddy And with palms strained from playing The guitar He walks home with the happy flock Gentle was his walk Joyful was his apparition So he recalled his adventures The songs he sang under the Sycamore The bear he expelled And the lion he killed Diligently he led the sheep Guiding them Without knowledge of…

  • Muse: Humble Home

    Even when the sun set far away from you It gives me joy to remember my humble home *** There’s a place in my mind where my eyes desire, Where my heart rejoice when I behold her beauty The mornings bring abundant joy to me And the evening is a delight I long for Sometimes…

  • Two poems: You remind me and the Owl

    You remind me You remind me of the sunshine Dimples on your face like the half sun Surface when you smile You have become my pretty sunshine The one whose face reminds me of the sun * The Owl Dark nights are your playground. You steal through the quietness Striking the air with great talons…

  • Another Shepherd lore

    There are memorable thoughts that goes each night As the lonely shepherd lays on his bed of soft wool The days stress comes calling by, dragging each moment with it Expressing to the shepherd how the day went, rough or smooth From his bed he must see the stars glittering above the night And with…

  • Love song: When you smile

    I remember the first time you looked at me I watched my feet dance in my long walk I knew the celebration that came from love that stayed a while *** I remember the first time you smiled at me I felt my heart dance and rejoice I was happy ’cause your smiled touched a…

  • Waiting for the Sun

    It may seem the days are dark and blurry For the lively sun sleeps Time goes by drawing sheets of boring moments Faces portray gloom, the firmaments make it even worse Even the little rabbits, birds and butterflies that glide About the wonderful landscape hid from the valleys Sweet flowery scents are stifled in the…

  • The Song in me

    …Your love are the unwritten lyrics in me Even when the cymbals and bass pause You light my soul with very sweet music!

  • Muse: Young Lion

    I like to think myself as a young lion Traveling the great grassland With no fear or foe But courage and wisdom I like to think myself an umbrella Floating above the firmaments Wrapping my warm tentacles About the cold, weak and lonely I like to think myself as the rain That flood the fertile…

  • May

    May symbolizes every good thing life offers It is the time of the year many flowers blossom Sweet fruits bless the human taste Vegetables provide the greens needed Great wild winds ride the firmament While the rains wash off the dusty plains Upon the wild flowers that grow on the roadside Many insects gather to…

  • Spring water

    When there was love I saw the white clouds Crystal clear Like the sweet spring Leaping in joyful haste To lands that thirst For the life-giving water

  • A Psalm: Your Voice

    When I spoke with You I felt the rhythm in Your voice It gave me the push to wake the solo song singing in me, It made the ink in me flow Guiding as I let my words sow Your voice caged the fear in me Showered on me pieces of life sweets It drove…

  • Masked lover

    Sweet are your words and talking Even softer are the touch of your hands But the moments the scales came falling It was crystal clear you never had loved

  • Muse: By the Waterside

    Once by the Waterside I strayed Minding the car traffic racing about A bridge led down a couple of stairs And I happened on the market A stranger in the midst of strangers Throwing wares over my face What a mighty mix of man and ware! At a corner a heap of decaying fruits and…

  • Ladawa: An African love song

    When you look at me, it tells me many stories I drown in the ocean of thought and love Will it be your slim hands or the flowers you wear Or the hair do that celebrates the African woman? You smell like the morning dew on roses And sometimes like mint mixed with guava! And…

  • Easter, 2019

    I see the world through Your eyes And it’s clear how much You loved Even to take my grief and pain away I celebrate Your beauty for my ashes

  • Twinkle

    How the stars glitter tonight In thousands they shine Twinkling, above the skies! Winking at children who watch Through their window curtains The mild feelings they bring

  • Muse: Rainmaker

    I shall command the rain about So please stand aside and watch Make ready, get your pots Dance in the warmth it brought Enjoy also the life that come with it

  • Morning Sun

    Hail the sun rises with her gold, Across the horizon she paints the land The green great plains lay low Watching her presence grow The hills rise to meet her warmth Desiring the joy she brought to the hamlet

  • The Lightning

    From my curtains I peered to see your flash Before now you have kept my candle light busy Trashing the paper work all over the room And making jest of me each time I tried to sort them You created monsters in the skies The black clouds became your drawing board And you drew the…

  • Muse: Teach me

    Lay me by the side of the brook, Closer to the brown colored rocks Make me see the waters tumble over So teach me how to be your lover

  • An African song

    “Na da oo, O Na da oo! Kuje kusanar!” Bring the cymbals, bring also the gongs Let’s make an African song… Before you hit the cymbal Remember the tune to the Tribal, Twist your palm a bit to the left But hold your strike, yes hold it For I must blow the whistle And introduce…

  • Future

    You are three hours away from me Sometimes, a second, forty minutes Or a month or a whole year! Masked, you would not let me see all That you carry Tree barks turn grey with your time But, when I happen to see it It may have become green with life So I tried to…

  • Three Poems: The Shepherd, Dance for me and Say you believe me

    1. The Shepherd Night calls Stars glitter up the skies Picturing stories Which can not be told So the Shepherd views all From his bed of wool 2. Dance for me I hear the sound of your feet As they moved on the bare floor So I looked to see the style for tonight But…

  • Memories

    Memories are sweet or sad moments that live with us Like the gladness the rains give when we sleep at night Or the painting of da Vinci that lived past his ingenuity Memories are penned down in our hearts Throwing flowers to paths we trod once, Walking down the steps that held our homes And…

  • Color called dirt

    There’s no color called dirt but that of the earth It is the hue that gives life yet it drags on the floor It gives a humid stench when it cakes up on water And tastes man’s grief when we lose a loved one

  • Beauty

    Beauty is the painting of paths That men had never walked or seen Like the pebbles which count not their existence Beauty walks through the ranges and fjords With shadows of pines and winter trees all about And tree logs sailing quietly on the lonely waterway Beauty is the art of tranquility It is peace…

  • Dark Clouds

    It is morning but it is still dark Well, the clouds may have gone for a procession, A procession hidden behind the heavenly firmaments Strangely it may never storm But the town can feel the damp Soft airs play with the trees leaves Flying them like kites up above the sky Dark clouds hide the…

  • A Tale of Two Rats

    Gather around the fireplace Sit and have some warmth It is a cold night, is it? But we must tell this tale So listen to what I have to tell! *** Once upon a Time and Place In the great wilderness that lay away from the highway And away from much civility, lived a very…

  • Antartica

    I want to see the great Antarctica And the trail of the dunes of Sahara, Save the tales of two different places And reach out a hand to the homeless * I want to tell the tales of the sea gulls Watch the dark colored sea bulls Romance the infinite White land As the cold…

  • Muse: Setting Sun

    I wonder why you hide behind the hills and clouds Shying away from the approaching airy evening Birds fly in echelon, calling a farewell as they went Trees reflection on the waters hung like a rag on the rail As frogs resumed their croaky songs Hundreds of bass voices singing, in harmony The cream colored…

  • Loudest roar

    You told me to go ahead and roar But I must be careful where I roar Though I am a Lion, I must be careful The valley’s waters run to meet the hills Her streams feeding the long distance Of great wilderness, Twigs dried on the wet atmosphere Spread their tentacles and threaten To hold…

  • You are my Muse

    You are the lyrics in my songs, The green woods my being longs for You are the taste of sweet wine Which drops last on my tongue Memories of you are wild Like poetry you are my joy

  • Age by Pietro Polic

    What is age but a word Conveying years, so absurd. Wondering eternally coming of age Would turn us really into a sage? If that were so, the world would be populated By wise guys …. in disguise. To be honest it’s taken me ages to realize That getting older makes it harder to memorise. No…

  • Heart break

    I heard you play your guitar The song played wept in the wind So I listened, As your fingers, broken ploughed through the cords Ceaselessly, back and forth, your palms moved Tearing away the pains that clung to your soul The clouds sailed away with each tearful stroke And I hope your pain too…

  • A Whim by Pietro Polic #WPD2019

    A twinkle in Oke’s eyes Me thinks is worth a sigh ’cause love in all its facets he has shown That we all live for love and love alone * Don’t let that feeling fade away my friend Don’t let it dissolve in water and sand ’cause we all like that everlasting dream Of beauty,…

  • The Ancestors by Oke Iroegbu #WPD2019

    Boundless Sailing in the wind like a stray newspaper Casting shadows in the hearts of many Now they called you spirits Spirits of men who lived in ages past, Evil, good, angry, indifferent Spirits who gave and took And could fall out with one If you would not reverence it