Daughters

Jan30

 

Fathers and daughters have a special bond
I always felt close to my dad
And even now when his physical presence is no longer here
I still count on his support and love

I ask him for help and he responds
I know he’s aware of what’s going on
Sometimes he comes to my dreams and acts as a guide
I know that I’m still in his heart

My daughters and Albert have the same relationship
What draws them to each other, I don’t know
But there was a time when Nat would ask something
And before the sentence was done
Albert would say yes
I had asked the same thing an hour earlier
But the answer was not the same!

Albert would spend hours going over
Homework with Nat, after a long day at the office

Somehow Albert could not say no to her
Nat’s batting eyelashes did their job each time
She had her dad wrapped around her fingers
And I couldn’t figure out what her magic was

There’s something that draws on the
Heartstrings of a dad
When a request comes from his daughter
It’s as if he’s mesmerized
Mind and reason play no part!

It’s a special relationship
It’s a strong bond
One I’m happy to have experienced with my dad
Moms have the same relationship with their sons
So they need not worry and feel left out
January 30th, 2016

Africa!

Jan27

My dream trip is three weeks away
Time to get excited?
I think so!

Zambia, here I come!
To see your beautiful people
Bask in your sunshine

Here I come!
To hear your beautiful accents
And local languages
Even the names of people makes me smile

Here I come!
To see the radiant smile
On people’s faces
To see them dance
To absorb it all and store it
In a safe place in my heart

And best of all
I’ll share this experience with my daughter
What a blessing
What joy

Here I come, Africa!

 

January 27th, 2016

Dear mom

Jan23

Dear mom,
I want to thank you…

I want to thank you
For the sleepless nights you soothed me back to sleep
When I was just born
For giving up your freedom, after that, to do what you want
When you want

For giving me the best education possible
For teaching me English from early on

For being a courageous woman in your own time
For showing me that in groups women can be in charge

For the difficult days you experienced
When I first fell in love
For your support to carry on

For being a good grandmother
Keeping your grandchildren in your
Heart from afar

For all the delicious home-cooked meals
Prepared with love

For instilling in me the love of traveling
For letting me go when it was my time to fly

For all the prayers you have said
From the depth of your heart
For all the sorrows you have endured

For encouraging me in my pursuit of poetry
For understanding my love for this art

And finally, dear mom
I want to thank you simply
For being my mom!

 

January 23rd, 2016

Chill

Jan22

Do you sometimes want to break your own rules?
Eat frozen waffles for breakfast?
Take two cookies instead of one?
Heck, start the day with ice cream and pie?

Do you sometimes want to put discipline aside?
Skip grocery shopping to write?
Spend hours on Facebook and WhatsApp
Let the dirty dishes pile up?

Do you sometimes want to set caution aside
Just walk up to someone and say Hi
Laugh out loud in a quiet coffee shop?

Sometimes it’s OK to be ‘bad’ for a short time
Do what you normally would not do
As long as others are not harmed
Eat that greasy food
Arrive late
Walk out of the house with your robe de chambre

The sky won’t fall
You won’t die
The earth won’t move
Everyone will survive

So, let’s chill out once in a while
Eat food past its best before date
Walk out of the house without makeup

And perhaps then we’ll realize
No one is stopping us
No one is judging us
Except us!

 

January 22nd, 2016

Flying fish

Jan20

Have you heard of flying fish?
They have the best of both worlds, the air and the sea
They are not limited to the confines of the water
They have learned to rise about it

It seems to me that ‘can’t’ is passé
‘Let’s try’ is more relevant today

We get trapped in the world of the ‘possible’
And don’t think of delving into the ‘impossible’
Or seemingly impossible

But what limits us is our own imagination
Our own outlook on reality

Let the flying fish inspire us
The impossible can be achieved!
January 20th, 2015

A letter to my daughter

Jan13

January 11th, 2015
Dear Natalie,
My daughter, in Zambia
I’m sending you a letter
Since the Internet is not always on

You had to call us long distance
On your cell phone
And God knows how much
The roaming charges will be
But that’s what parents are for
No worries

The spiders and the beetles in your room
Have conspired against you
They keep an eye on you day and night
But perhaps you’re in their space
Not the other way around

The monkeys are cute I hear
And there are snakes around
You’d start thinking you were in Africa!

The weather is warm
And the people are warm
If that’s too much heat
I wish I could send you some snow

Natalie, dear
Enjoy your time there
You’re creating memories
That will be with you always…

Maya

Jan2

Maya wasn’t particularly beautiful
But when she walked into a room
You would notice her
With those twinkling eyes and luscious lips
Her smile lit up the room
And as soon as she started to talk
The tenor of her voice
The music of her speech
And her wisdom
Worked its magic on you

She didn’t hold back
She was not afraid
You couldn’t intimidate her if you tried
She had the courage of her convictions and
Stood up for herself
It was not easy to say no to Maya

Her childhood was rough
She stopped talking for a while
But poetry gave her back her voice
And boy, since then, has she talked

She became the voice of her generation
Uplifting so many of her countrymen
Her charisma came from the allure of her words
Maya was a phenomenal woman!

 
December 29th, 2015

Irony

Dec28

We need to educate our girl children, or do we?

Let’s punish them if they don’t
Cover their hair properly

We need to build schools
Since we’ve destroyed the ones we had

In the meantime losing a few months of school
Can’t be that bad

Going to school with boys is out of the question
Unspeakable things will happen if they do that

We want people to be happy
But music will only bring on the wrath of God

We want to please Allah
But first we have to get rid of everyone
Who doesn’t think like us

All this destruction, condemnation,
The reign of terror and such
Is all meant to bring peace and prosperity to us all

 

December 28th, 2015
Inspired by the story of Malala

Teamwork

Dec23

She is the queen
But he’s the queen maker
She is in the lime light
But he’s why she’s there
She is strong
But he taught her to be strong
She is who she is
Because of her Aba

A man, in tune with today’s reality
In a country, stuck in the past
A man of principle, courage and calm
A man whose persistence paid off

Education his ladder and hers
Helping others their way of life
He says they are one soul in two bodies
What a beautiful thought

They are co-workers
Valiant and bright
With hearts that want to do what’s right
They don’t think of themselves first
They want to help other boys and girls
Such an inspired team will go far
I can’t wait to see the result

He treated her the same way
He would treat his son
And thought girls should be free
To achieve what they want

In a society that girls were not seen and heard
He raised a daughter that questioned these ways
He is beside her each step of the way
She is who she is because she was encouraged

She was named after a woman leader of the past
As if her father knew what would come to pass
Leaders are born and leaders are taught
Leaders educate their head and their heart
Their hearts set goals high and mighty
Their heads help them achieve victory

Two souls in one body, or two souls in two
Watch out for what this duo will do

December 22nd, 2015

Inspired by Malala and her father

No need for school

Dec22

Dear sister, you can not go to school!
Knowledge is of no use to you!

After all you’ll have such a limited life
You’ll be married off young to someone you didn’t choose
And your life will consist of bearing children
And preparing food

You won’t have a public life in any case
You can talk to men who are relatives, not the rest

You see, you have no reason to read and write
We’ll take care of everything in the best way

Also, since the world is such a dangerous place
You can’t appear in public while showing your face
Your eyes you can leave uncovered since you need to see
But for the rest, please cover up properly!

If you get hot
Think of it as a free spa
If you feel restricted…
Well, you’re used to that by now

We honor you and value you
But for certain things
You need not worry about complicated things
Leave those to us and the other men
We’ve figured out a great system!

And if you feel all these things are
Unbalanced and unjust
It’s probably because you went to school, and thus
You see that we’re doing you a favour by destroying schools
Education will only make you distraught

And if you wonder how we came up
With this way of doing things
Which has your best interest at heart
Well, that’s another thing you need not think about

Trust us and do as we say and all will be well
If anyone tells you anything different, don’t believe them
They are surely just looking out for themselves
We are the ones looking out for you, dear sister

December 22nd, 2015
Inspired by Malala’s story