Telescope Eyes

Through telescope eyes we scan
The word, the people, this life
Too quickly judging we lose ourselves
In a nothingness believed to be normality
A normality which deems outcasts
If not fitting into its nothingness
If you have thought of your own
No, you belong to the congregation of outcasts.
What life we live if telescope eyes be our light?
Is it not then a sin to judge a creation of the Creator?
Our battle then defeats us…
How this world defies us!
What treachery!
What a loss.

What I didn’t know

I know that the day I was born,
The world smiled at and welcomed me
With all the joys and tears of life.
Though I was a gift to the nation,
I cried as my mother took me in her arms
What I didn't know was that one day
My tears would be my joys of eternity
With jealousy, hatred and love prostituting me.

I know that I toss and turn before I can fall asleep.
The right side of my body is aching from the heavenly light
I have exerted for the last two decades.
So now I sleep facing my wardrobe.
What I didn't know is that God above is so powerfull
That I don't sleep facing the ceiling
Instead, I shy away and hide myself from all my sins. My naked spirit.
What I didn't know is that,
I am human.

Butterflies

Butterflies flitter about, some fly by rapidly and others seem to just float past your eye.  I often wonder at their beauty of flight and feel quite envious that I cannot do the same.  Life I suppose can be a little like that, some time events go by rapidly, while others, they seem to meander up and down flying slowly through our minds.  It is the rapidly moving ones that irritate me; most events come and go so quickly.  You look forward to something for months and when it eventually arrives it is over in a tick of the clock.  Leaving you sometimes to wonder why it happened and why you looked forward to it so much.  The slower events in time which are really the ones we experience everyday can be so beautiful and thought provoking that they last for a longer period of time.  Then we have the earth shattering events that come like the butterfly you have never seen in your garden before that grabs your interest.  These can grip you so strongly that eventually it dawns on you that this is something worthwhile pursuing.  The idea grows and grows and before you know it you are on a different path in life that is hopefully leading you to a better one.  This can be very exciting and fulfilling.  It is the same as when all those years ago in Kruger, Marilyn showed Shirley and I the paradise flycatcher; we have been bird watching ever since.

It is amazing how we quietly go about our affairs from day to day and the time slips by quickly month-by-month and then year-by-year and before we know it we are nearly at the end of our time.  We look back and wonder, how did we really get here to this moment in time without an honest thought as to what we are actually doing with this lovely life we have been given.  Surely it is better to stop and think about our life now, take notice of what is actually going on, what we are doing, how we think, and where we are actually going.  I don’t know, but it seems so logical to have a thought or sight which is so inspiring, that it is good enough to make us change our life plan.  After all we only have one life that we know of, having a second one would be wonderful, but surely it is better to enjoy this one now than hope for another one that could be better.  We are good at making our own hell on earth, surely it is better to enjoy the world for the heaven that it is.

A butterfly’s life is so short, I wonder if the ones that fly fast have as good a time as the ones that float slowly past our eyes.  The slower ones would certainly see more than the fast ones.  More flowers and their nectar would be noticed.  They can stop more often to enjoy life’s garden, it makes sense to be slower I suppose.  Less haste more speed they say, I believe less speed then more understanding comes.  Take your time you’ll find it will last longer and mean more.  A very useful exercise is the one that makes you slow down to a rest in order to experience the present.  When we take time to listen to our true self, life-changing miracles can happen.  We are so busy listening to our own thoughts about the past and future that we miss the joy that is present now.  We have beauty all around us, why not stop and see, how happy you can be.  

Butterflies cannot think so they are always in the present.  This means they have no thoughts of past or future, to spoil their lives.  Yet I expect it would be nice if they could think and talk.  They are so beautiful to see, I am sure their thoughts will be just as beautiful.  “What did you see today butterfly?”  “  I noticed a beautiful bird drinking from my flower; it was so pretty that I forgot it was supposed to be mine.  This made me think that the bird, the flower, and everything else in this wonderful world are here for us all to enjoy? ”  It’s a pity we as people cannot see this.  We do not share amongst ourselves, never mind the other inhabitants of the planet!  

Butterflies are quiet; they do not make a noise, so why do we notice them?  Their colour draws our attention to them.  They announce their presence by simply being here, and because of their beauty we notice them.  A tiny seed grows into an exquisite flower, quietly without noise, when it blooms, no trumpet call to announce its presence; once again it is its beauty, which makes us take note.  This is true of all nature’s remarkable surprises.  If we remain silent like a butterfly or seed amazing things will also happen to us.  By being quiet, we will be able to listen for and not miss, the opportunities life gives us.  

Sitting here, writing down, words that come, from out of air.  I wonder why, they come to me; they should be there for all to see.  

Jan/Feb 2006

A Moment

Just a moment.
Yes, a moment in time,
A moment in your day,
A moment in your life.

To act, create
to grieve, to cry
to smile, to laugh.
to love, to hate.

Do not grasp,
do not seize,
do not hold,
do not attach.

Its past, it’s gone
it’s not alive
its dead, it’s done.
So leave it now.

13 February 2007

A Poets Mind

I met her at the mall; it was a cool breezy morning
If you believe in love, I was definitely falling
African Princess so dark and sumptuous
African Princess beauty in abundance
She was an African sunset on a summer’s night
A singing sparrow that plays in the fading light
She smiled

It was a smile like no other
It was the sunrise over the savannah
It was a lioness lying under the shade of a Marula
It was the gentle soothing waters of the Limpopo
Beauty, such beauty, indescribable
African Princess so lovable
What’s your name?

I want to know those African lips
I want to know those African hips
I want to know those African breasts
So beautiful, my African Princess
I had to know her, so I approached
This Goddess so graceful, her name I just had to know

I looked into her eyes, so brown, so deep
I was in awe, I could hardly speak
“What’s your name”, I asked this idol
She smiled the waters of the Limpopo and said, “I’m Lerato”
I said, “Lerato lelekatswana lewena, kekaleshwela”
She said, “I don’t speak those funny languages”
Oh, so sad. My African Princess, my South African Princess, my New South Africa Princess

What shall I worth on this earth?

It's healthier to speak out,
Than freeze my thoughts and die inside.
Look straight into my eyes,
And tell me what you see:
A disguise of your face walks
Inside my brains every single day.
Listen to my heartbeart
Each beat echoes your name;
An immortal flame burns to carve
Your presence with my absence.
I understand where you stand,
Your stance could solid and taken,
But I'm shaken to say this before your face,
My bold is choked by your bones wrapped
In definition of beauty;a caramel skin
That makes my head spin,I cannot speak
Whenever I look into your being.
My lungs breathe your breath
What shall I worth on this earth
Without your air?

Ngoako Joshua Phalakatshela

Copyright ©2006 Ngoako Joshua Phalakatshela