HAPPINESS THROUGH AGONY

My Lord well knew His final step
Would be His end on ruthless cross.
As man He chose His way to grip
Though He knew coming pain was gross.

Though man, He could not opt escape
As that would bring Him great remorse,
An endless pain, and loss of hope,
Eternal crosses in their force.

The pain of cross would save His soul,
With all the beauty of its love.
He stuck to His soul happy goal
Whose anguish was short; He could shove.

He was so glad despite that pain
Though agony was grim and hard.
His joy of that cross had great gain;
He rescued who killed Him and scarred.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

SAINT JOHN THE DAMASCENE

John Damascene, great eastern saint,
Your hand was cut for wrongs undone.
You took your hand; near Mary knelt.
The icon could your hand regain.

They cleared you from the wrongs, supposed
That had been done, and pardon asked,
But you refused your post restored
And as a hermit your life spent.

You wrote a praise for Mother saint
That still enchants us till these days.
That miracle can us acquaint
How God can always show His rays.

Saint John, how much l envy you:
A miracle restored your hand,
And you God's work with your eyes view.
How happy your life was on land.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

THE REWARD

I denied self and gave my goal
My time, my fun, and all l have.
I scrimpt it nothing, cost and toil,
And made it my aim and my love.

Nothing of value it returned.
How could it be so much ingrate?
I asked the wise and my close friend.
They told me it was act of fate.

I got so kind and followed faith,
And implored my Lord not to waste
My sweat, my toil, and moral wealth,
With all the cheerful dreams l chased.

While indulged in this sea of care,
A thought came flaunting to my mind.
It showed my goal as something dear,
Loved for itself not for its end.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

FUN AND SUCCESS

You can't have both, success and fun.
Where one exists; the second leaves.
To succeed, a great toil is done
And with that toil, fun never lives.

Success needs rules and hardest boss
Whereas fun can't live with that rule.
With success wasting time is loss
While wasting time fun will cajole.

The ruler who is strict and hard
Can make his country bloom with force;
But lenient rulers draw backward
And people will live grim remorse.

I don't side with one, but with facts.
I love the firm man when he works;
He bears the burden, and he acts
To bring his people peace and stocks.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

THE GENTLE AND THE WICKED

The kind and gentle have no place
As wicked people have great might.
Good manners teach us to love peace
While wicked people opt to fight.

Good heart and love ask men to be
So gentle with all and so kind,
But nowadays wild beasts get free
And loving people go behind.

There is a proverb they apply,
"If you aren't wolves, wolves will eat you."
You can't be kind and cause to cry,
So we shed tears for what they do.

I am so grieved by what l see.
The gentle are getting extinct
While wicked men live with great glee,
Enjoying their hearts of hard flint.
BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

THE LORD REVISITS US.

God wished to come and visit us
To see His children in their house.
He came to stay just for some time
To show His care for their own home.

By chance, He came to where l pray,
A church l went to on Sunday.
He came in clothes so cheaply sewn
Like those He had previously worn.

He came to church where we were dressed
So richly and had finest scent.
When He came in, the crowd were shocked.
How could that Man come as He looked ?

He looked at them when they paid alms
How they paid them with proudest palms.
He was so sad for what He saw
And calmly as He came He drew.
BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

THE REMINDER

He has been such a dear old friend.
We haven't met for years on end.
I met him after such long time.
Our joy regained its old prime.

I was so glad to see him well.
The same his eyes could clearly tell.
Then like a child when he is glad
His skill he showed though it was bad.

He showed me what he called fine art,
That expressed what would make him last.
It would give him what he aspired
Though far below what  arts required.

I showed him great support and zest,
But could not help myself request:
Why does man waste his short life span
To leave his mark to mortal man ?
BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

THE SAVIOUR

How weak a child when his dear mum
Leaves him in garden and goes home.
He gets too frightened and too glum.
He can't stay there, and he can't roam.

He just becomes a chick of bird
With wings unfeathered and dumb tongue.
It falls from its nest to the ground,
With none to help, to beg too young.

No one can please him but that face;
She only can give words that soothe.
Only her soft hand and its grace
His ruffled hair can gently smooth.

He cries and shouts and does not want
Except her face of kindest smile.
If she comes all gets quite all right,
And he feels that life goes so well.
BY JOSEPH ZENIEH

THAT'S WHY WE LIVE .

As long as you live, smile to life.
It is enough that you can breathe.
The breath will give you what's enough
To think about what makes you blithe.

Why don't you think about good health
That God gives you to life compose;
Why don't you chant and make your mouth
Just acknowledge what He bestows.

Think of the beauty in the streets,
The girls that dance in their light steps,
The little children whose laugh greets
The ears to give life new concepts.

Think of the mothers and their kids,
The fathers who find joy in work.
Think of the second life God builds
To grant you joy of highest rank.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

A MESSAGE FROM THE SKY

I look upward towards the skies,
And try to decipher the clouds.
Perhaps they draw what satisfies
Me with a shape that love abounds.

On earth l cannot see what l
Have been awaiting for long time.
I want what can me gratify
With shapes that have something sublime.

The clouds are white and pure like snow.
I've liked that hue of saintly worth.
They also draw a dove or cow;
We have a lot of them on earth.

All that l see can on earth be,
But in the sky, they are quite pure.
I know the problem is in me.
I can't begrime, then them endure.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

WOULD YOU BEFRIEND YOUR ANALOGUE ?

If there were a man like you,
Would you like that man to view ?
Would you take him as a friend,
Or his meeting soon you end ?

If you hate that boring man,
Don't blame men if they complain
When you are with them or near
As you spoil their atmosphere.

If you like to be with him
As with life he is agleam.
All to be with you are glad;
Old and young even your God.

Man is not by how he looks,
But by what he does and seeks.
Great men can do what most men
Can't imagine to be done.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

FEAR

I know what kind of place is hell;
Fear is an ember from that well.
It burns all what it just comes near,
Destroying man and his career.

No man will choose hell if he can
As he knows fire and its pain.
He won't take what himself will hurt
And place it in his throbbing heart.

From oldest days fear could destroy
Old dreams and sever men from joy.
It could bring failure from success
And distress from the state of bliss.

I wonder how men can trust it
Though they know what it can commit.
They know its acts to hell is near,
But they still follow ruthless fear.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

JUST SELF TO BLAME

No one on earth l have to tell
Why l do this and don't do that
Except my heart that brings me hell
If it does not approve my act.

When l sit and review my past,
Recalling what l've done before.
I blame myself and feel aghast
How could my deeds land on that shore !

I look around and see my state
Which l have knit with my own hands.
Then l behold who find me great
Though l've brought them to such moor lands.

No one's obliged me but myself
To achieve or to come to none.
Now l can live great joy or grief,
Depending on what l have done.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

GOD WANTS A CLEAN HEART.

You wash your hands ere every meal.
That's good for health not for your heart.
God wants your heart always to feel
Forever pure and free from dirt.

The water that cleans earthly mud
Can't clean your stealth or will to hurt.
To have clean heart is will of God,
But ***** hands you can't support.

Thus Jesus said to those who cleaned
Their hands and after some time flogged
Him and round His cross they convened
And tore His clothes and them got rugged.

Don't kiss your mother's head when old,
But give her love that she does need.
To your clean heart bring her and fold
With no word that her heart can bleed.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

I WANT TO BE CLEAN.

How much l would like to go up
And wade through high clouds that are white.
I get so clean in heart and shape
And have a pure mind then to write.

I long to see my soul so pure
As dirt disturbs my heart and soul.
It instigates the sense of fear
And morale in me wastes its goal.

Clean clouds if l can't go to you
Change into fog and come to land.
I rush and wash in your clean dew
And dry myself with desert sand.

I'll do all just to be as clean
As angels in my Lord's pure sky.
Then l will have a tranquil brain
When down your cross l stand to cry.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

WHAT WAS IT ?

I wandered near the sea and looked
At what could calm my nerves and mind.
The sea was calm, the skyline great,
But my lost aim l could not find.

The sea could mean a lot to me
With its low waves and endless view,
But on that day, l could not see
The beauty lain in waves or hue.

I found no reason for my mood.
Nothing was wrong; the day was bright.
All around me was nice and good
But could not make me feel all right.

My heart was missing something odd
Which l felt deeply in my heart.
I could not meet it in this world
Or even just imagine what.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

THE PEERLESS HEART

Don't let your doubt throw you in hell.
Look at the sky; none can assail.
Look at that heart, the sky of joy.
It throbs to cheer, and life enjoy.

It's like the sky that is so cool
And has to cheerful life a call.
No clouds can darken its light blue,
Exactly like that heart near you.

That heart is clean like the blue sky.
It ***** the smoke, yet cheers your eye
Like that pure heart that easily bears
Men's distress, yet their sad hearts cheers.

It loves the smile; it cheers the frown;
For joy and laughter it's well known.
When called to dance, it is the first,
And for stressed hearts, it cools their thirst.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

WHAT IS THE USE ?

You fear the future and you want
To live a life that can delight !
How can you carry that time bomb
And live a calm and tranquil llife?

The sense of fear, once in the heart,
Can spoil success, your love, your laugh.
Don't tell me your heart can live joy
And fear lives there and can destroy.

This life is not for who thinks much
If his thoughts are of cares and such.
That man can never have a smile
And his gloom is moved to us all.

Man of deep gloom, please don't indite.
You will destroy my mind and heart.
What is the use for men to live
If they shed tears, complain and grieve?

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

THE STEED OF ANGER

Young horse, how strong you seem to me
When reined back to a great degree
By me, a knight as strong as you
And we both show such mighty view.

Your power with great force heaves forth,
But ruled though it has greatest growth.
I keep your strength under my arm
To make it seem pure and sublime.

How great is my strength when my love
Does not allow your force to shove,
And keep you harnessed in my heart,
Not letting you from there depart.

These moments won't pass from my mind.
They paint a picture that resides,
And shows great grandeur in control
I won't forget all my earth while.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH

THE SPLENDID VOICE

I am so lonely and so far
With passion that my heart will char.
I feel deserted and my heart
Is yearning for what's out of sight.

I want a voice from far to call
And say to me here is your goal.
I love you, but l won't get near.
From far away your heart l cheer.

Here is the voice that you ask for,
The voice you wait for and adore.
Though you know that we'll never meet,
This voice will make your joy complete.

This voice will lift you into space
And there with angels you will race.
You'll hope to stay far from your earth
To be with my voice and its mirth.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

WHERE YEARS HAVE TAKEN HIM

He takes his folding stool and crawls
To sit outside a nearby shop.
He just sits there watching who pass;
That's what his health and his age suits.

He gets so bored with his ground floor,
With what he does and those around,
What his wife wrongly does at home,
But can't advise to shun a brawl.

Outside the shop, he spends his time
With his free thoughts roaming the realm.
He has a ready smile on face
For those who greet him when they stroll.

His smile is sweet and shows deep gist;
It shows the tranquil life he lives.
He is so glad with what he has
And nothing can disturb his dreams.

His content face just conveys this:
Don't care for what in life you miss
But just enjoy what you possess.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

ENJOY WHAT YOU HAVE.

You want your heart to flood with cheers,
Enjoy the toy your hands can deal.
It's lain beside; your eyes can see.
You do not yearn and for it grieve.

Don't search for what your hands can't reach.
The sun is far and its rays scorch.
Seek for the moon that soars so near,
Where man could land, and found it dear.

Enjoy what God has given you
And let your smile perch on your lips.
You please yourself and God above;
He wants a smile for His great gifts.

The smile on your lips gets so sweet,
And people love to see and share.
It is contagious to your heart,
That lives delight like hearts of saints.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

THE WINGED VERSE

You are the steed that takes me far:
On earth, in space, or near the star.
No science fiction l write here,
But verse and its rhyme are my sphere.

I like to fly. What can l do?
My wings are short, nowhere can go.
Shall l stay where my land is bare
Or fly with verse where none can dare?

I float on oceans and the seas
And ride among the forest trees.
Sometimes, l probe the people's hearts
And share their secrets in those parts.

On such odd trips, none can compete.
They have no means and they retreat,
But verse can take me far away
Where no one can retrace my way.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

THE DEAR TO ME

My heart is broken for those dear
Who are too weak and kind to bear
The harshness they meet in this life
From disdain to scorn and great grief.

They are looked on as senseless men.
They respect all but looked down on.
All men try to rob them their right
While they look with accepting sight.

My life will have the deepest sense
If l stand at their side of fence.
To show them that the fear of loss
Is harder than the pain of cross.

My Lord came here and cared for them
And mounted His cross to redeem
What was left of their self trust
And rise with them pressed to His chest.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

A PRECIOUS GIFT

God has rewarded me with rhymes,
Well noticed by some men and dames.
They like these ropes between the hearts
And what my pen to them endites.  

This mystic gift can fast avail
To world of flesh and world of soul
As it conveys joy to the mind
And soul in this and afterworld.

It gratifies my mind and heart
And brings them both a great delight.
Don't ask about the joy of coins
As when l write l own two crowns.

A crown that makes my soul prevail
And live in heaven's happy dale.
A crown that towers on my mind
When thoughts bind me with those around.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

MEN  AND  BEASTS

He wished a place where life was still
And silence spread on nearby hill.
Nothing was heard except the stream
Whose water rushed, calling to dream.

He pitched his tent on the green bank
Where trills of birds forbade to think,
And heard with nature calmness tune
Away from bombs and horrid groan.

The birds of sky did flee from men
Their rifles and bombs hoped to shun.
Not only birds but men themselves
Had got fed up with blood and knives.

Men left their hit homes and their streets
And in calm nature pitched their tents.
They fled from men to live with beasts
Which blood-shed for them was not feasts.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
_____________

MY REAL WORTH

I am so glad that my own worth
Is not up to some people's dearth.
They would deny all that l have
And rank me well below a knave.

My worth is up to who love me
As they would like my best to see.
If upset, l know my bad state;
If glad, l know my state is great.

My worth is how l see myself.
Is my heart clean or with dirt rife?
People around can't see inside
As that l only can decide.

But best of all's to look at you,
And see how you my face will view
As your soft eyes instil my states:
A look from them my love creates.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

THE REAL BEGGAR

No brothers, sisters he has got.
He is a beggar of lone heart.
So much he needs a loving friend
Who by his side just tend  to stand.

His heart is broken for someone
Who says a good word or listen
To deep sighs that cosume his heart
But still no one would care for that.

He needs a person  who tells him
He is a man whose luck is grim.
He is like us with heart that feels
And his lost tear deep thoughts conceals.

How much he needs a touch of love,
A sweet word that a girl would give
To make his sad heart chant a song
Ere death rings farewell on its gong.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

A VOICE FROM AFAR

Distance makes the voice so sweet.
It flies from a heart to greet,
Bringing words of softest kind
That it picks from distant land.

On its way it finds a key
For your heart that waits with spree
Whose charm comes from distant place
Choosing your heart for its grace.

That long journey sharpens lure
Which your heart fails to endure.
It would craze you to get near,
But where are you from that dear?

Echo has such an effect
As its source is not direct.
It comes from an obscure place
Which your  heart would pant to trace.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

A FEW DAYS AGO

It was just like few days ago
When biggest worry was to go
To school and do what teachers asked
And get our nape so harshly slapped.

With eager tongues we bade the days
To pass so that they would us please
With stronger bodies and bigger brawn
Which we were glad to grow and own.

We got great pleasure when we had
All that we ate which made us glad.
It was quite wont to run and dance
As then the normal step was prance.

Just yesterday we played with girls,
Not minding their eyes, clothes, and curls.
We pulled their plaits with loudest laugh,
And they got angry and so rough.

We lived like birds caring for mouth
Flitting wherever we found mirth.
Life was made to enjoy its days,
And nights to sleep waiting sunrays.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

SAINT  MARY

Poorest mother you are dear;
To me none can be so near.
Your pain shocked my heart and soul
Though you are so great to all.

Who has suffered more than you?
You took care of Someone Who
Is the Master of the world
As He is the real God.

How hard it was when you saw
Him was flogged and His skin raw !
When He was hung on the cross
You saw your Son bleed, at loss
And died in front of your eyes
While you could not soothe His sighs.

No one could help, just they looked.
I don't know if then l could
Stand beside you and saint John
As for courage l'm not known.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

A  WORTHY  LESSON

My Lord, You taught me basic truth;
The worth of man lies not in wealth.
You came to earth a man so poor
And died on cross without grandeur.

The Maker of the earth and space,
Who could destroy those who would face
Endured much pain on His death cross
And died too young accepting loss.

His mother's heart was torn by pain
To see her Son in such sharp bane.
A word from Him could end it all,
But what He wished was useful goal.

He could in His main aim succeed,
Defeat His death, in life proceed.
He showed that all was in His hand,
And resurrected back to land.

He cleared to man that He had strength
To trample foes as He crushed death
To show that power lies within
Not for vain wreck but useful gain.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

NOTHING CAN BE DONE.

I am lost, about to drown,
All in fear, a warring town.
You see tears being mixed with blood,
But hearts made of solid wood.

What can one do in this case,
Hopelessness and mean disgrace?
Man is supposed to behave;
Empty hands cannot be brave.

Here is truest test of life:
Nothing in hand in huge strife.
What to do for those near you?  
Their welfare is what you view.

Ostrich, you are my best guide:
Be with kin, but your head hide.
Nothing else now can be done.
You may look and all is gone.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

THE LONELY SAILOR

Just a word with warmth of heart
He awaits, his sail to start.
Such a trip to that far place
Needs a look with profound sense.

Looking round him but no one
Casts a look ere he is gone.
Lonely heart will lose the nerve
As he wants someone to love.

His ship sets sail into sea
With no hands to waive or plea.
Words of care he did not hear;
Absence, longing none will bear.

No one shows a bit of love
Or avows a wish to live.
He will survive for himself;
None loves him, but he loves life.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

TELEVISION  ANNOUNCERS

Tv. announcers, do you know
That when you tell something untrue,
You get drug dealers too hostile
To human minds and public soul?

You puff your sayings right and left.
Poor minded people get bereft.
Their souls get filthy by your lies
And turn benighted by your guise.

All that you know, but fame is dear.
It can buy hearts and conscience smear.
But woe to that who cheats the babes.
His conscience some day wakes and grabs.

Man has a chance in his life time
To build a name and light a flame.
Don't light your flame by telling lies.
That flame is not what man descries.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

WHERE YOUR HEART BELONGS

Your love to where your heart belongs
Is moved by words of ancient songs.
You heard and sang in your young years;
When old, you cry when your ear hears.

A song you heard your mother sing
And it remains in heart to ring.
Each time you hear, you hide yourself
As absence brings your tender grief.

A kind of dish or glass of drink
Your father loved and made you link
That glass with him that when you see
Past scenes are unlocked by that key.

A place each used and never changed
And what he loved he there arranged.
You've changed your house but those sites stay
When you recall your sighs they sway.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

THE CHARM OF DISTANCE

A song from far across the dale,
A voice so sweet of distant girl,
A warbling coming from afar,
All leave a heart aspire for more.

A word from far in written form
Can stir in you a raging storm.
You wish to near and kiss the hand
That's conveyed you that waited word.

You hear a voice from distant place.
You hug its tune in long embrace.
Your heart is placed in your fond ear.
The mouth-piece gets to you so dear.

Long distance you play with my heart
And make it shake and long to dart,
To catch that voice or that word in
And ****** it in heart within.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

YOU JUDGE YOURSELF.

Old age, you come as a strict judge
To give the verdict you can't fudge.
You look at past events and deem
What was of value or brought harm.

You think of periods drifted fast.
How quickly, you will get aghast.
You think of actions or past norms
To give your verdict final forms.

This verdict either will give you
A hell or heaven in your view.
Heaven and hell start from the earth.
They grow as your flesh loses strength.

As your strict judge is your pure soul
Old age allows it to control.
At last, your flesh gets weak and dies
And your soul soars up and flies.

It gets the sole judge as it is
A part of God in paradise.
God gives the soul, but flesh has mind
When young, your mind can life decide.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

THE *******

I have no one to think of me;
A ******* none would see.
I'm thrown on my abject wheel-chair
With heart too void of cheer.

My years are running just like yours,
But no one turns his eyes.
For some respect my heart waits for,
But with no hope to hear.

Like you, l need a touch of love,
But no girl cares to give.
I am a ******* who should not
Have normal heart to beat.

Don't look with pity; l'm fed up
And always drink this cup.
Treat me as normal just for once;
That's what l really miss.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

WHAT WOULD YOU CHOOSE ?

Suppose you were in place of Christ, what would you do ?
Would you do what they want, and they would let you go,
Or would you lose your life on cross to gain the bliss
As death would come so soon and save your soul from miss ?

Jesus was sure of that as He was God in soul,
And He had such strong will and complete self control,
But He aspired to show all men the way to life
As if they choose the flesh, they will have endless grief.

That remorse comes to them from inside of their heart
As they betray the Lord Whose love's no end or start.
They gnash their teeth and cry and find no reason why
They've made a grave mistake they'll recall till they die.

The Lord will forgive them as He forgave His foes.
He loves His foes and friends as He them lives bestows.
How can the great God hate those whom He gave their lives ?
And He wants them to love as He Himself them loves.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

WHERE CAN HE FLEE ?

What can a man do when his hand is short,
And sees his little son look at a coat,
Worn by a cousin in expensive clothes
While his son looks at him with tears in eyes ?

He sees all this from far but dare not near
As his eyes also well with such a tear.
He stays afar and says, " l've done my best
To shun a scene like this and get depressed."

He works from morn to night and can't do more
And goes home just to hug his kids to core.
How can he hug them with a tear in eye,
And what will he retort if they ask why ?

Where will he go to flee from his own self ?
There is no place for him to flee from grief.
No refuge he can find from tortured mind,
Which keeps showing that scene to reprimand.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

REAL FRIENDSHIP

Friendship is a star that guides
Caravans with precious trades.
It moves through the sky with them
As with Magians it did roam.

Hard their way, but that star pleads
Brother moon, whose round face leads,
Skies of night not to be dark,
Stars to twinkle ways to mark.

Friends may come from far and near,
But Aleppo gives those dear,
Who get quickly into heart
Filling it with snug delight.

Friends give deep sighs of relief
That fills sad hearts with new life,
Which makes them to larks all ears,
And builds new life full of cheers.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEN

MUSE AND RHYME

Muse is such a sweet soft girl
With blond hair that tends to hurl,
Veiling her face of great charm
Whose glance will your heart disarm.

Winged and able to fly fast,
Inside hearts her love's amassed.
She stays there and sings along
Till we write down her nice song.

Song is done, she flies to space.
Who can stay far from her face?
Once beheld, none can stay far
As it leaves the deepest scar.

We go soaring, seeking her,
With sight she could easily blur
As she knows her great effect
And hates her house to be packed.

Strict her father is in mind,
And he will her reprimand.
She escapes from him and comes
With intention for new rhymes.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

THE ****** JOURNEY

We said we have about a month
To have New Year's Eve and its hearth.
That day has come and it has passed
And buds of March are coming fast.

How much l fear you, New Year's Eve,
A cold reminder how years leave.
Though people with old age proceed,
They beat their drum and blow their reed.

Has madness touched them in the mind,
Or fate of man gets them quite blind?
I don't know why they dance and cheer
For getting older though one year.

How strange are sheep when they are led
To slaughterhouse on truck of dread.
They think they take them on a trip;
They don't know that their blood will drip.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH

SAINT VALENTINE'S DAY

Valentine, l raise my hands,
Praying with you for lock bonds
That joins each man with his girl
Whose love makes his heart swirl.

Love gives life its proper sense;
Single people live wild mess:
Men are lost with stupid thoughts,
And girls' hearts are in hotpots.

Both think that love is mere ***:
Inner feeling to relax.
They don't deem that love is more,
Mighty Power to live for.

Man gives flesh and God the breath,
Which makes couples share in birth.
Each two blend in heart and soul
As so sacred is their role.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

GOD IS LIFE AND LOVE.

His knife in hand, good Abraham,
His son with him so nice and calm.
Just ere he dashed the boy to slay,
His Lord a ram asked to convey.
He felt so pleased and it he slew
And his son to his chest he drew.

When Cain killed Abel, God was cross
For hatred and for that great loss.
He took poor Abel by the hand,
To dwell in heaven strong and glad.

When death got free to **** the throng,
God felt so sad and found that wrong.
He took and still takes all the dead
To live in heaven pleased and sound.

The Lord is God of life and love.
He wants His children to survive.
When death attacks, He takes them all
To live with Him in heart and soul.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

HEARTS' GIFTS ARE FREE.

I help some people to be glad;
They do their best to drive me mad.
I give them water from my tears;
They never see my love and cares.

My Lord, it can be clearly seen
So hard their lives have always been.
They've suffered quite a lot in life.
What can we expect from that grief?

Just give and don't ask for return.
No hearts can hold back what they own.
If they have love in depth of heart,
Without requests with it depart.

So few who've suffered can give free
As they need more what others plea.
Don't ask for love from who have thirst;
They need that water to drink first.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

NO ONE IS ALREADY THAT MR WONDERFUL.

We write a poem and we think
That everyone should appreciate
As l write it and who can be
Such great a writer just like me?

Perhaps you are, but let me know
The meanings you say and employ
By telling me through your clear words
What you may mean by such great work.

When l cognize all that you mean,
I may appreciate what you say
Because your work has taken time,
And you are not a common man.

When you write clearly and l ken
What you want through your piece to mean,
I may like your work; then you get
That Mr wonderful you've meant.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

LOVE,  THE  BEST  PRAYER

You pray and think you do God's will
And deem you will in heaven dwell,
But if in love your heart is cold
Heaven won't be your coming world.

The world you seek is in your heart
Where God, His throne and peace has built.
There is your heaven and your dream
If love and peace from your heart gleam.

Your alms and prayers are so good;
They help to love and show the road
To love, to help and dry the tears;
Then you dwell in the world of cheers.

If you pray and that does not move
Your pity and your  heart's deep love,
Your prayers are not well addressed,
And their right way they have digressed.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

THE  COMPETITION

What can man say, but please my Lord
Help me to do well in this world.
It is for once, not to repeat
And all of us have to compete.

What can l do when l compare
Myself with Plato and Voltaire?
Should l stand still and say they are
Compared with me, they are too far?

How can l say so to my Lord,
Who will retort l give you mind.
I've given them what l give you;
You should like them stand up and do.

I'm your Dad, and they are your kin.
I think you should from now begin
To retrieve the time you have lost
And in your Dad and self have trust.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________