Mama had big dreams,

She wanted to be a doctor.

Her dream was shattered like a mirror though,

Broken into many pieces!

It wasn't her fault,

Some lecturer took advantage of her.

She kept me a secret as long as she could.

But when the university found out,

They took her scholarship away.

She was so ashamed.

There was no way Mama could go back to the village now.

Could you imagine, being the first in a poor family to attain college education, was gone with the wind?

Grandma threw her belongings out,

She cries and shouts.

My poor Mama raised me alone through thick and thin,

Bearing the burdens within.

All broken and crying,

She thought her dream would never come true.

Over the years, it spawned through me as I grew.

We achieved that dream though the dollars were few.

Grandma is proud of her too.

For what happened to Mama,

There was nothing she could do.

Ricardo Cole

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Daddy dearest

Is it worth it, Papa?

Trading your children for strings and rhymes

Leaving them a legacy of limes

Is there any honour in your leaving?

Or your children becoming scavenger of the streets

Tell me, is it worth it Papa?

Is it worth it Papa?

Do you regret leaving your young cubs

Unprotected, unable to hunt for food

Swallowed up by the tides of life

Tossed against the reefs

Battered and bruised

Salt water nourishing and nurturing the wounds

So tell me Papa, is your leaving worth it?

Kezumie Weekly

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A perfect love

True love is what I desire

A love that is deeper than deep

A love that is deeper than any hunger or self-serving desire

A love that is so wide that one cannot escape it

And must simply choose to surrender to its overwhelming vastness

A love so full of substance that it is interminable like the blanket that is our sky

A love that is all inspiring

A love that requires nothing except everything

A love that takes us on journeys outside ourselves where we are often left alone

A place where allies are nowhere to be found

And our values are tested

A place created by a perpetual force, which though not always acknowledged

Is ever moving in our chaotic universe

Inspiring patience in the swift

Humility in a proud man

Joy in places where sorrow's seeds are sown

This pure force remains unchanged

Only inspiring change in the lives of those who choose to acknowledge it

It is only through love that we become connected to the Divine

It is only through love that we feel the Divine

It is only in this love that mere mortals like us

In truth, not worthy of any grace

Are lifted to a place where we may see face to face

The love that is perpetual

The love that gives beauty its substance and face

The beauty, that through grace

Exists within us all

Carolyn Sinclair McCalla