Friday, December 8, 2017

Code Blue

From the death of night awake and free
Roused by songs from sweet pine trees
While strokes from ledgers urge me on
With anxious steps I hail the sleepy lawn.

Beneath my feet the green of day -
Lush nature's carpet softly lay
Sodden still, by breaths of morning dew
As grey dawn fades to skies of blue.

Image result for existentialism

Further and further forth I must go
To the streets and places that I know
Where man to man I'd joust and play
And count my tokens at the end of day

By Hope Kalé Ewusi ©

Monday, August 21, 2017

Anticipation

" Total Eclipse Of The Sun "

Fourth onto this day I stand
Eye witness to ancient mystery
Of cosmic proportion -
How good it is to be alive !

Image result for images of total solar eclipse

I see caravans - legions of revelers
Heading north , to the mountains close to the sky-
Far from the city's heckling pulse.
While I , upon my backyard lawn await,
Content just be - a witness close to home.

Slowly the hours ply with diurnal bliss
Seamless yet charged with anticipation -
Of a phenomenon so rare - so divine ....
So charged with spiritual contagion.

Image result for images of total solar eclipse

The orient beam , my morning eyes affirm
Plotting his arc in usual form, but on this day
Somewhere past noon , a change will come.
Gradually , then suddenly the sky will cool
And from light onto darkness and back to light...
Upon all senses, the Sun a trick would play.

Two nights in a span of hours -
One long , the other brief yet spectacular
Confounds the rhythmic flow....
And defies current modes of reflexion.

Of what use then is it , to burden the soul
Seeking to comprehend the mystic sort ?
Some  may dance and chant ,
And invoke spiritual aspects of every hue;
But I , in pure reverence of the Almighty -
Content I'd stand - In the presence of it all .

By Hope Kalé Ewusi ©


Wednesday, August 9, 2017

Daily Commute

"Middle Class Blues "

Burnt toast ....
Hot coffee -
He's off to work .

Image result for rat raceCars honking ....
Snail pace -
Quicksand ahead !

Zombies peering...
Through cracked panes -
American workers robbed of sleep !

Mortgage - car notes ...
Vacation bills from years gone by -
No pretense, a man's got to work .

Image result for road rage meme
Taught nerves clutching wheels...
Obscene gestures trading place -
Bang - bang bang !
Crimson tide upon the dash .

This no way to live or not....
In a land where dreamers dare .
Has the dream catcher lost its charm?
Life on the pulse, must be a hard shelled nut .

By Hope Kalé Ewusi ©

Friday, July 21, 2017

SANKOFA


Image result for african spirits

Restless spirit of impetuous youth-
Seeker of
 fortune in alien climes;
I’m lost, stranded in this metropolis-
Caught in a labyrinth of churches
And stone faced structures with-
Gargoyles giving me the evil eye !
So far from the ant hills of the savannah;
Far from the Kilimanjaro from whence
The Blue Nile flows…..quick – quick!
I need a drink of palm wine and kola nuts.

I’ve drunk from the Thames….
The Seine – the mighty Mississippi;
Been encoded with lore I shudder from.
I’m lost neither here nor there-
Curious being I’ve become – bat like….
Neither bird nor mole.


Image result for sankofa
Spirit of Sankofa, where are you?
Sacred compass – my guiding light,
Show me a sign; let it rain – thunder –fire
Let your hurricanes crash  these shores….
Unleashing waves as high as Mount Cameroon;
And when night falls, and all is calm-
Spirit bird of the great oracles;
Whisk me away to Mali……
Where I can immerse my soul into
The mystical lore of the Timbuktu chronicles.



By Hope Kalé Ewusi ©

Monday, May 8, 2017

Transcendence

"Uncommon Wealth"
Image result for butterfly metamorphosis free images
Morning light has made it clear
And in the dew pond my soul is cleansed
Suddenly , certainty informs me thus :
I'm a wealthy man,without coffers of greed.

How blessed to see layers in air.... 
Soul of the mountain my friend at last ,
A statue no longer, my keenness brims.

Like a river , the journey's been long
Yet blessed with lessons from the source.

Image result for untethered

My path , my journey  to me belong
Freely, realms of realms I now embrace -
Unabbreviated by time , untethered by turf.

My pockets are mute, my spirit ablaze
I'm a wealthy man , without coffers of toil...

And worldly angels, look on perplexed !



By Hope Kalé Ewusi ©

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Dreams

Image result for dream

Such carriage that to the common man
And child alike, affords the means to range
The skies, and the orbits close to the sun above -
That if a coach it was, for the gilded plaques alone,
How dreary a cloak, would night descend on many folk.

Sweet , quite often they're made of, like fine silk,
Or the purest of wine- dipped candy for the soul -
That awakens each carcass to the joy of living - and
Speckles the hours of the sun, with felicity sublime.
Ah dreams ,sweet dreams I say ; but there is a suite alas !

How often has the spectre  chased out slumber
From our courts, and for himself a haven make -
Within the den; Torment like none other, a sleepy head
Would know , like a nightmare that awakens the demons
That within us lie ! What sweet dreams ? Dare I say!

Image result for dream

Dreams , and the mysteries thereof are manifold.
A token glimpse to the other side, a seamless -
journey through quantum space, where all in all abides;
Where aspiration and manifestation entwine -
Where reality is perception and vise versa.

Image result for dream

So, dream-on dreamers , you lovers of life -
Let not the wiles of banality your wishes suppress. 
Cast deep and wide your kindling nets , and reap
That which your earnest and honest desires command.
For dead is he who forgets to dream .
With him in the grave, his dreams expire. 

By Hope Kalé Ewusi ©

Thursday, April 6, 2017

Life Is Beautiful


Life is beautiful
Image result for life is beautifulAnd can only get better
When our hearts are full
With love and joy, like a letter
From a dearest mother;
Yet quite often, we look out further
For that which is within sight -
Like wayward hunters in the night.
Life is good, when we feel our best
Even when life levies a test:
But thank God for giving us friends
To cherish and share all to the end.

By Hope Kalé Ewusi ©

Sunday, April 2, 2017

Looking Up

   "Of Men & Trees"

Firmly in place she stands
Her woody trunk - a neck so long,
Anchors the canopy's broad strands -
Where birds joyously sing their songs.

Image result for A man looking up to a treeWhat memories  she must hold
Or lessons on living within the means
All through the spanning - new and old?
The answers lie deep , in the rolling stream.

I who has shifted places, searching green
Braving time zones and vicissitudes -
Carting luggages of for every need
Unlike a tree, I spin as yet , the fortune wheel.

Is true contentment an endless quest
Or a kindled awareness of the innate self
As of the olive's sacred bequest ?
The answer may lie in the book of codes upon the shelf .

By Hope Kalé Ewusi ©


Monday, March 20, 2017

First Day Of Spring



It's the first day of spring    
Oh what joy it brings!
So long winter blues...
Hello morning dew;
Blues skies,grey skies & scattered showers
First the sprouts and then the flowers
Blooming along the country mile.
If this would last for just a while
I'd find little to moan about-
For what goes around, comes around.
Seasons come and seasons go....
Simple truth every body knows.

By 
Hope Kalé Ewusi ©

Sunday, March 19, 2017

Warped

Image result for politician doing the limbo dance

When the bar is set so low
For The Don to stoop or squeak,
While his words hit hard like body blows...
The world is warped, and we must speak.

Image result for warped world

By Hope Kalé Ewusi ©

Saturday, March 18, 2017

El soñador

    " the dreamer "  

Image result for the dreamer

Fast awake and dreaming still
lost in the thrill of a gentle breeze
He hitches upon a comet's tail....
And  stakes his claim among the stars.

Neither  pipe nor armchair oft' required
Nor the gaze of mimes , to charm the herd.
Tokens of solitaire suffice the bill...
Who cares for importunate kith and kin!

Riding high infinitude , he roams 
The vastness between ears and crown
Where ripened inspiration, like grapes
Await, the harvest of the handy wand.

And so dreams the dreamer, 
In slumber or rest,unyielding the quest
Until the genie's egg is laid; 
What hatchlings therein may lie?

Maybe the renderings of Picasso
Eternal speculations of  philosophes
The unraveling of the human genome....
Or some script or thing, unimagined before.

Dreamers are doers for goodness sake
Though often slacker branded by the mob -
For whom action and regiment, affirm in life,
True agency and valued acclaim.

By Hope Kalé Ewusi ©

Image result for the dreamer

Saturday, February 25, 2017

Deliverance

Just to be
With  wits ablaze
And in my cup ,
A book of songs
Riding the wind -
With purpose defined:

Cherished by love-
Desires forsworn...
Yet fulfilled by self
Ruffles and all ,
Image result for christian deliverance
Is living unfettered
Wholesome and free.

By Hope Kalé Ewusi ©

Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Imagined Love

In the light of the first dawn
When the world was just an egg
Image result for Divine loveAnd all that is, and was .... 
In it was contained ,
Paradise was near; and 
Sweet was the life that
knew no grief. 

And in those fledgling moments,
From cradle to the hearts of men
Flowed hallowed ,the mist of love:
And the inklings of the core affirmed
Truth , sanctity - decorum in all affairs....
And then came Cain - a kin to sin,
By whom rancor came to bear.

Though hatred yet persists
In many a heart and tongue
That tell our tale,
Love we must -
One heart to another
All through the teasing hours.

Look at the bees...
And their telling ways
That woo  flowers to blush,
Despite the brush and prickly maze!
And the sun , oh how she lends her lease
To earth and worlds abroad !

And if a lesson to mankind
This would lend , be it thus :
That from one heart to another
Love must flow;
Image result for Arab and jew embracing
And with open arms, be it friend or foe,
Let all embrace;
And to dueling parties be they of state or clan
Let peace afford .

Love is the way, the only way.
And collective will -  the sacred spring
That recoils the very first of dawns -
When the world was just an egg
And paradise, an easy glance :
Then sweet again would be
The life that knows no grief

By Hope Kalé Ewusi ©

Thursday, February 9, 2017

Cameroon

"A Jewel , Worth Its Treasure"

As it may seem
The die is cast
As the newsreels
Scream out loud .

Beneath dark clouds we stare
At crossroads where fortunes strain !
Clenched fists, deeds on the rock face
Stripes in the sand ; what lies ahead?

Many hands now stir the broth
Deep within the smoldering kit.
While the ancient barnacle
romps the alps, his brazen
stalwarts , the courtyard  tend 
with brutish contagion !

This place that legions duly love...
The same that wagers now reproach
This Africa in miniature
Is a jewel, worth its treasure.

If it were an egg within 
 The clasp of  malediction ,
Then all is lost - in a land
where cockerels rule .

Alas the tableau, though grim
Brims with hope . As the renderings
Of the scarlet brush speaks 
Of a table - lame of gait
 ....tottering yet kept astride
By potent offerings of the heart .

Image result for people holding the cameroon flagTake heed all you masons in the fold...
You - dark suits , white robes , blue collar
Red berets, khaki pants , green mangoes
Fancy Kabas, true patriots of goodwill .

This place that girds our hearts
The same that wagers now loath ;
This Africa in miniature
This  gift from kindred beards of yore -
Is a jewel ,well worth its treasure .

" Kaba" : ethnic garb, loose gowns typically by Sub Saharan African women.

By Hope Kalé Ewusi ©