It rained the day the bailiff came
the clouds huddled together
his knock was muffled
by the rumbles of thunder
and the cries of the children
With the moon in his eyes.
he stared at the children
with hunger in their bellies
in a croak he announced
‘Summons to a divorce’
Something stuck in his throat
her hand in the pot
heart in her eyes, she shook her head
as the sun wailed with her
it rained the day the bailiff came
The soup smelled of her burnt hopes
the children ate from the
shards of pain left behind.
they made dreams out of tears
fed from the sweat of her brows
she became frayed with nerves
but defied the day the bailiff came
A score and ten years later
the silver streaked her hair
the children made garlands
from dreams they held
buoyed by the fire of her spirit
Now a smile of peace
her heart mended
by the rain that soaked
away her pain
left behind,
the day the bailiff came
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Sunday, February 7, 2010
LOVE: THE ESSENCE OF LIFE
Love is the essence of life. It is where all life begins, and the foundation for every dignifying emotion man has been capable of expressing. Where love is missing, there is no life. Creation itself rotates on the axis of love. The love of the Creator is the beginning of creation. Our being here therefore is the answer of the creator to our request to explore the full potentials of the human spirit.
It is the essence of creation and the rationale for our individual incarnations! Love in its eternal essence gives the most treasured gift that man has, Hope. An acceptance of the love of the Creator, helps us to understand His Laws and we make attempt to adapt ourselves to these laws. In a dim human way, we attempt to return this love. When we do not have the essence of love, we become very critical and intolerant. However, we tend to translate this love in too much of a human way, in our concept of how we are to express it. We know of the love of our parents and sometimes take that for granted or give it expectations that are self serving. We love a child and expect the child to be an extension of our dreams and so we feel disappointed when the child expresses innately its own identification of self.
Can love be critical and tough? Yes it can, it actually must, if it tends to fulfill its primary responsibility of bringing out the best in the object of love. The rub is, we must be clear when we are critical, what we are being critical of. The ability to be objective is actually the first spring of love. To see in its totality, a person, or situation and in the process of that assessment, carry the ability to be helpful for the benefit of the person, object or situation. It is therefore sometimes essential to understand that love can be tough. This is however based on the principle that even a blind person should be able to 'see' the love in the correction you offer a loved one.
There is the confusion to see love as constantly self sacrificing, weak and submissive. If we sincerely look at the essence of human spirit, we will agree that it is wrong to expect a human spirit to be submissive for he is not made that way. His lack of self exertion thus is a consequence of indolence, indulgence and an inability to make use of his given free will. He has chosen to take the soft option. A vibrant love, is clear sighted about the limitations of the recipient of his love but will want to see and seek opportunities to offer serving love as distinct from self serving administration of selfish considerations!
At a sublime level therefore is the love of the Creator, who has set in motion opportunities for each human spirit to arrive at the peak of his possibilities, and abilities. He has instituted into creation thus, certain laws that is not in any way religious nor does it advocate a religion. These laws by their very essence defines for man the essence of what we mean by freedom and offers man the gateway to supreme personal happiness and attainment. It enforces compliance irrespective of our understanding of these laws. We live in creation, are in it but not of it as we all sense that there is much more than we can see, hear, sense and touch.
These laws are anchored in the Love of the Creator. They offer to man the keys to a life that can be happy. It invites us to be self critical, exert ourselves and offers both an explanation and a way to those things in creation we are puzzled about. It offers through the laws of reciprocity, that maturing fruits started from seed level and could be different from one seed to the other according to the specie of the act.
Man lives his life at three levels. He plants the consequences of his life on these levels. His words are immediate and therefore active, just as his actions can be seen by all. However a more potent aspect of his life is his thoughts and because of the nature of their ability to be cloaked if it so wishes, we sow thought forms that might take eons to fructify! We however take relief in the knowledge that in understanding of the quirks of human nature, the Creator in love anchored this law so we might learn and grow. That is love too.
In the laws of the Creator, no man is condemned except by himself when he fails to understand the beauty and concept of love. Thus simply put, love is the essence of life. The very many trails we face, in our personal lives and jointly as a community or as a nation are opportunities offered to be better than our yesterdays. The growth to arrive at the apex of our existence as truly human spiritual!
It is the essence of creation and the rationale for our individual incarnations! Love in its eternal essence gives the most treasured gift that man has, Hope. An acceptance of the love of the Creator, helps us to understand His Laws and we make attempt to adapt ourselves to these laws. In a dim human way, we attempt to return this love. When we do not have the essence of love, we become very critical and intolerant. However, we tend to translate this love in too much of a human way, in our concept of how we are to express it. We know of the love of our parents and sometimes take that for granted or give it expectations that are self serving. We love a child and expect the child to be an extension of our dreams and so we feel disappointed when the child expresses innately its own identification of self.
Can love be critical and tough? Yes it can, it actually must, if it tends to fulfill its primary responsibility of bringing out the best in the object of love. The rub is, we must be clear when we are critical, what we are being critical of. The ability to be objective is actually the first spring of love. To see in its totality, a person, or situation and in the process of that assessment, carry the ability to be helpful for the benefit of the person, object or situation. It is therefore sometimes essential to understand that love can be tough. This is however based on the principle that even a blind person should be able to 'see' the love in the correction you offer a loved one.
There is the confusion to see love as constantly self sacrificing, weak and submissive. If we sincerely look at the essence of human spirit, we will agree that it is wrong to expect a human spirit to be submissive for he is not made that way. His lack of self exertion thus is a consequence of indolence, indulgence and an inability to make use of his given free will. He has chosen to take the soft option. A vibrant love, is clear sighted about the limitations of the recipient of his love but will want to see and seek opportunities to offer serving love as distinct from self serving administration of selfish considerations!
At a sublime level therefore is the love of the Creator, who has set in motion opportunities for each human spirit to arrive at the peak of his possibilities, and abilities. He has instituted into creation thus, certain laws that is not in any way religious nor does it advocate a religion. These laws by their very essence defines for man the essence of what we mean by freedom and offers man the gateway to supreme personal happiness and attainment. It enforces compliance irrespective of our understanding of these laws. We live in creation, are in it but not of it as we all sense that there is much more than we can see, hear, sense and touch.
These laws are anchored in the Love of the Creator. They offer to man the keys to a life that can be happy. It invites us to be self critical, exert ourselves and offers both an explanation and a way to those things in creation we are puzzled about. It offers through the laws of reciprocity, that maturing fruits started from seed level and could be different from one seed to the other according to the specie of the act.
Man lives his life at three levels. He plants the consequences of his life on these levels. His words are immediate and therefore active, just as his actions can be seen by all. However a more potent aspect of his life is his thoughts and because of the nature of their ability to be cloaked if it so wishes, we sow thought forms that might take eons to fructify! We however take relief in the knowledge that in understanding of the quirks of human nature, the Creator in love anchored this law so we might learn and grow. That is love too.
In the laws of the Creator, no man is condemned except by himself when he fails to understand the beauty and concept of love. Thus simply put, love is the essence of life. The very many trails we face, in our personal lives and jointly as a community or as a nation are opportunities offered to be better than our yesterdays. The growth to arrive at the apex of our existence as truly human spiritual!
Monday, February 1, 2010
court is in session
A friend invited me once to attend a court session. He was trying to reassure me that there was nothing to be afraid about of our judicial system. I had nothing doing for that day and did not feel like the computer so I walked over from my office to the court which was some walking distance.
It was packed already. A young man was in the dock for killing his mum. His eyes were haunted and strained. You could tell he was under a great strain. His wife and members of his family were sitting huddled together and everyone stared at the judge.
One lady sat quietly. She was not agitated, nor was she crying. She was dressed simply and elegantly almost like the judge herself. She had gray hair and you could tell she was most likely to be in her sixties. I was intrigued by her self restraint.
I’d seen a couple of white garment prophets outside the church assuring the relatives that they had nothing to worry about. I asked my friend why the boy or actually the young man was being charged with killing his mother. He whispered back that he had deliberately driven his mother over the edge of cliff with the car because he had accused her of witchcraft.
Hmm, who fingered her as a witch?’ I asked my friend amused
He indicated the white garment prophets outside the court premises
I groaned and craned my neck to get a better view of the court. I noticed a few of my journalist friends were intrigued by the story and had come to watch the proceedings. I wondered what the elegant lady was doing so I murmured an excuse to my friend and went over to sit beside her.
She gave me a cursory glance and I had a vision of a very beautiful, graceful old lady. She sat still, calmly watching.
I tried to start a quiet conversation.
You know the young man being charged? I enquired?
‘I think so, just before he was born actually’ she said with a smile at me.
‘I see, you must be feeling bad about this then’ I said
She turned and gave me a calm glance from clear brown eyes, then with a slight graceful nod of her head indicated the young man at the dock.
‘His relatives have been praying and asking that the Almighty come to their aid, but I wonder if He is listening’
I shrugged, ‘I am sorry but I…’
‘Not into religion, I know that’ she finished for me, with a slight smile.
‘Have you ever wondered though why God has never seen fit to kill the Devil? I mean that would save a lot of miseries. The misery of a religion and the bottomless stupidity, we inflict on ourselves’
We were silent as the judge walked in and started reading her judgment. She listened impassively.
The judge had declared the case a non-issue ordering a re-trial for manslaughter.
The court erupted into loud jubilation. My old lady stood up. She was not smiling or upset, just calm.
I commented that at least she would be relieved to know it had come out well for the young man. She simply inclined her head. I was now really interested in talking to her further so I asked if I might call on her sometime. She became really amused at my request.
‘That could be a problem as I have just retired from active duty and I am kind of resting now. Just pay the occasional visit you know’.
I remarked that she seemed to know me and so had the advantage.
She said she had often watched my programmes and thought I was doing okay. I pressed for her name and she smiled and gave me her hand
‘I used to be called justice Anike Williams’ she said and then smiling left.
I went over to my friend and started telling him about the old lady, he listened as we walked out the court but almost crashed the car at the fence when I mentioned the name of the lady I had been talking to.
‘You could have killed us’ I complained
He stared at me
‘Are you sure of the name of the lady you talked to?’ he asked me
‘Yes of course I just told you’. I snapped checking to see if I had any injuries. I went cold however with his next comment
‘Justice Anike Williams is the mother of the young man just acquitted and she died in that accident two years ago. I attended the funeral. Who exactly have you been talking to?’
It was packed already. A young man was in the dock for killing his mum. His eyes were haunted and strained. You could tell he was under a great strain. His wife and members of his family were sitting huddled together and everyone stared at the judge.
One lady sat quietly. She was not agitated, nor was she crying. She was dressed simply and elegantly almost like the judge herself. She had gray hair and you could tell she was most likely to be in her sixties. I was intrigued by her self restraint.
I’d seen a couple of white garment prophets outside the church assuring the relatives that they had nothing to worry about. I asked my friend why the boy or actually the young man was being charged with killing his mother. He whispered back that he had deliberately driven his mother over the edge of cliff with the car because he had accused her of witchcraft.
Hmm, who fingered her as a witch?’ I asked my friend amused
He indicated the white garment prophets outside the court premises
I groaned and craned my neck to get a better view of the court. I noticed a few of my journalist friends were intrigued by the story and had come to watch the proceedings. I wondered what the elegant lady was doing so I murmured an excuse to my friend and went over to sit beside her.
She gave me a cursory glance and I had a vision of a very beautiful, graceful old lady. She sat still, calmly watching.
I tried to start a quiet conversation.
You know the young man being charged? I enquired?
‘I think so, just before he was born actually’ she said with a smile at me.
‘I see, you must be feeling bad about this then’ I said
She turned and gave me a calm glance from clear brown eyes, then with a slight graceful nod of her head indicated the young man at the dock.
‘His relatives have been praying and asking that the Almighty come to their aid, but I wonder if He is listening’
I shrugged, ‘I am sorry but I…’
‘Not into religion, I know that’ she finished for me, with a slight smile.
‘Have you ever wondered though why God has never seen fit to kill the Devil? I mean that would save a lot of miseries. The misery of a religion and the bottomless stupidity, we inflict on ourselves’
We were silent as the judge walked in and started reading her judgment. She listened impassively.
The judge had declared the case a non-issue ordering a re-trial for manslaughter.
The court erupted into loud jubilation. My old lady stood up. She was not smiling or upset, just calm.
I commented that at least she would be relieved to know it had come out well for the young man. She simply inclined her head. I was now really interested in talking to her further so I asked if I might call on her sometime. She became really amused at my request.
‘That could be a problem as I have just retired from active duty and I am kind of resting now. Just pay the occasional visit you know’.
I remarked that she seemed to know me and so had the advantage.
She said she had often watched my programmes and thought I was doing okay. I pressed for her name and she smiled and gave me her hand
‘I used to be called justice Anike Williams’ she said and then smiling left.
I went over to my friend and started telling him about the old lady, he listened as we walked out the court but almost crashed the car at the fence when I mentioned the name of the lady I had been talking to.
‘You could have killed us’ I complained
He stared at me
‘Are you sure of the name of the lady you talked to?’ he asked me
‘Yes of course I just told you’. I snapped checking to see if I had any injuries. I went cold however with his next comment
‘Justice Anike Williams is the mother of the young man just acquitted and she died in that accident two years ago. I attended the funeral. Who exactly have you been talking to?’
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