THE CAPITAL CITY

THE CAPITAL CITY

I looked, I saw and I conquered

But maybe I expected too much

Yet I marveled at what I saw

Through a glass mirror

Expert or not I do appreciate

The beauty that lies within

A land so full of people

Busy with life’s businesses

Entangled in the earth’s struggles

The bustling life of the capital city

With its struggling hustlers

Managing to live through the ordeal

This city is the heaven of the rural man

Galloping on the grounds of a better life

Full of white collar jobs and nice women

Leaving behind the forests of cocoa and yam

But they find in their dreamland

A new episode of rumbling city life

Where squatters and hawkers scout

For a new abode to lay their heads

The dawn rises in the city

Waking it from its slumber into life

A dawn as beautiful as the sunshine

A mixture of colours so wondrous

My City Capitol may not be the best

But it is just beautiful as it is

Even the hustler understands

That there is no place better to be

(c) Osei Owusu Emmanuel

Dedicated to Esther K. Appau, Priscilla Gyamera (Jamaica) and Leodina Steele-Dadzie

BEAUTY ON THE HORIZON

BEAUTY ON THE HORIZON 
(Till we meet again, Patricia Osei Owusu)

Across the Horizon, I saw one in whom there is no blemish

Enthralled I became, so that I could not think or act

I stood motionless staring at such an entity

Formed by the graceful hands of nature

Full of love and kindness

A beauty she is with eyes like glowing pearls

My princess she is with a heart of pure gold

She is my guardian angel always by me wherever I go

Blazing in the furnace of beauty she puts everything and

Everyone around her in awe

A replica of Aphrodite, her beauty strikes the world

Like a thunderbolt from Zeus

Truly, beauty lies in my eyes for I looked and saw

The signet of the perfection of beauty

A beauty with the enchanting nature of the moon and

The brightness of the stars

O Cupid let me not fall for such splendor

A dreamer I may be to fall in love with such enigmatic beauty

As strong willed as a boulder

As fiery as a furnace

With a voice so soothing

I wonder why she’s not an angel

O that fair maiden, there she lies on the horizon

A spectacle to behold

A sight to cherish

Who she is, is my Comfort, my Enchantress

The Beauty on the far away horizon

(c) Osei Owusu Emmanuel
Dedicated to Awo Yaa Comfort, Sandra Dadzie Dadson and Recaida Forson

LECTURE HALL HALLUCINATIONS

LECTURE HALL HALLUCINATIONS

The rays from her eyes

Have fallen on my face

The walls of the hall are moving away

Night is swallowing day . . .

The roof has turned into clouds

Clouds clad in rainbow banners

There are no more tables and chairs but flowers

The students are but butterflies

There are no stars

There are no moons

But she is that radiance

Blessing the scene with light

The lecturer’s noise has become

Sweet refrains to the boiling verses in my heart . . .

My gaze is glued to her enthroned on gold

I fall on my knees reaching out for a rose

Ready to crawl to her singing:

Goddess of beauty

I have come to worship

Cowries or gold dust, I have none

My heart I offer as a blazing sacrifice

May it be pleasing to you, O Precious One!

But sadly reality revisits

To expose the timid me

When time brings the lecture to an end.

February 22, 2016
Agric LT3
Legon.

© Sarpong Kumankoma

ELIKPLIM

ELIKPLIM
I am envious
Of the air—
He is with you all the time

I am envious of your shadow
She follows every
Step of yours

I am envious
Of  the sky
His eyes are always on you

I am envious of the earth
She always gets
To kiss your feet

If I could rob the air
Of his omnipresent wings—
I would never hunger for your presence
Always flying around you
Never would I fan
A wind that would blow dust
Onto your eyes

If I could murder your shadow
And take her place
I would follow you all your days
And never flee at the sight
Of darkness

If I could borrow
The all seeing eyes of the sky
I would watch over you all the time—
Never would my stares tan your skin

If  lying on the ground
Made me a carpet to envelope the earth
I would get to lick all the dust of your feet—
And clear every obstacle
That would make you fall

I have locked myself
Up in fantasies
Where you stand burying me
I.n your smiles and shining your eyes
Onto the ruins of my heart

16/02/2016

©Sarpong Kumankoma

MMOROSA

MMOROSA
This I write with
invisible tears. . .
If I should one day say
How unkempt is your beard
It would be heard
By the whole world

Brother, if I should talk
About how big is your head
Again every ear will hear

If I ever talked about
How poor is your sight
Who on earth wouldn't hear?

What if I said
You wear the beard
Of  the wise men of old-
And your head
Is swollen with wisdom
How far would it spread?

Brother, what if I shouted
Your eyes are stars
That can light up a world
Trapped in darkness-
Who would hear it?
My brother, who?

©Sarpong Kumankoma
10-01-16