For the Children
On the brow of manhood I bore you
Dreaming of a successor to my throne
Invested wind and echo full of dew
Native prince, that was ever all I own
Knowledge and experience to make
Wealth out of nothing, like stars do
Aggregating gas into a jewelled lake.
Knowledge with a good head figures
Images that can a kingdom shape
Youth has its dreams, age its rigors
Odinkwa, fears fang the will of escape
Study and apply your art to labor
Honest and committed to vision will
Increase the coffers when love stands still.
So Sriya, onto you now my fiery daughter
Rising where the comet falls still
I pray you will not tremble before the water
Yearning when you have razed the hill
Ancient customs cuddles more than laughter
Years of time against sweet logic tell
Undo the rope the boat will drift
Liberate the bird and its sorrows swell
Innate to love truth is a gift
Sweet lady, that parents give, and court
Singeing wrath for sublime praise
And yet, my love unaltered, holds to port.
Zealous as the wind, you my second girl
Only Pandora was more curious in the world
Yesterday you scared looking at the box
Answerless I stood, below the scraggy rocks
Keeping faith, while you were keeling away
Anxiety driven amidst the cloud of hawks
Matters not that you are sparrow, and the lay
Exultant echoes more worth in humble walks
Kameka, than in clouds to spin and play
Allow me then to invite you to the narrow way.
Anwar, none like you remind me more
Nature is wild and beauty pure, children
Will become the tree of parents seed, core
Analogies to anxieties riven and given
Rush not where the raging rapids churn.
Anwar Amilcar, I named you for heroes
Mentors of my boyhood hungering
Instead, looking parents' dreams as zeros
List your pack with the wild waves sundering
Crystals in lambent light fluttering bright
Against the temple post of blind desire
Ranking ego against the wood of spirit's fire.
Asante, my darling I shall always keep
Some prayer like a candle burning
As angels answering watch your fragile sleep
Nourishing your soul against fate's yearning
Tomorrow will today come to pass
Excellence is more than the image in a glass
Invite the soul to sit among the weak
Necessity has undone more than it has invented
Do not deny the heart its will to speak
Impress of wisdom to defend the tormented
Raise a standard, shelter them and reap
A blessing for their love, a joy to keep.
|