POETIC  SATISFACTION

How great you are the skill of rhyme;
You give this life what is sublime.
You take a man up to the sky,
Where he sees heaven with his eye.

You whet man's skills to sing a song
And see what's right from what is wrong.
He loves the right and lives its depth
And throws the wrong to shun its filth.

You make the poor man feel so rich
And travel where no one can reach.
He lives in worlds none can attain
And so long he can there remain.

He gets a sense that wealth is in;
He's got it from fecund heaven.
The manmade wealth he would not have
As God's is grand and none can thieve.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
___________

THE ECHO OF DEEDS

This life is just an echo of
What you dispatch of vice or love.
You send a call through mountain dale,
And get the answer, curse or hail.

Don't send a curse; you will receive
What hurts or what your heart can cleave.
What you send with your voice you gain
As echo can your voice return.

Don't say the span of this dale's wide
If soon or late returns your sound.
If it's a curse your ears will get
And send it to hurt your own heart.

You may say life will take me long.
It may, but won't forget your wrong.
Your deed returns as echo does
And opens past wounds and reminds.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

FAITH AND FAME

Be careful man of tricky fame;
Its danger can destroy your aim.
Its peril may be more than gold,
That can block your path to the Lord.

Fame can be blindfold to the eyes;
It shows high posts but hides the skies.
It swindles man to go astray
And forget his Lord and right way.

What are you fame but sin disguised.
You join hand with most fearful pride.
You lead the pious to leave God,
And worship his own pride instead.

So guileful you are and so soft.
You dethrone faith to reach your loft,
And drive a man to change his way
To satiate pride with grand array.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

CHILDREN AND HEAVEN

If you don't get like a child,
Paradise won't be your land.
Paradise will be your house,
If like children you rejoice.

Who can live the joy of Earth
Except children in their mirth ?
If you don't believe, ask self
Which days you love in your life.

Chocolate or a piece of sweet
Makes their joy full and complete.
Games in streets bring them great joy ;
This pure life's what they enjoy.

They feel no hate and love all ;
Minutes only end their brawl.
They give their food when they see
Beggars come near with a plea.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

THE ROUTE TO JOY

The Lord of love, the Lord of peace
Had wished to show the joy of grace,
And how we can achieve this joy
Where men existed to annoy.

He came to us not rich but poor
No place to live He slept outdoor.
The Lord Who possessed all the world
Had no place to lay down His head.

He cured the blind for no return
And fed the crowds on distant plane.
He raised the dead and pleased the hearts
And filled the regions with delights.

That did not please some men to see;
To **** Him they could all agree.
They pierced His limbs, and put on cross
While those who flogged, He gave His bliss.

To that on right, He said, "We will
Enjoy the life where the blessed dwell.
This is the way to feel delight :
Believe and you will please your heart."

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

A LITTLE WHITE KITTEN

Your blue eyes, my little cat,
And your nose of little spot,
With your small mouth and soft mew
My fond heart and eyes draw.

Cute and small but value grand,
Boll of cotton on my hand,
With a tail of purest white,
You fill me with great delight.

That red ribbon on your neck
Matches your fur of white flake.
Beauty on a beauty charms
My heart, my eyes, and my arms.

How much l would you embrace;
My heart is your right place,
But l fear my so fond hand
Harm to cause to white and red.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

LOVE AND PAIN

You are sore loss; you are not gain.
What can you bring but endless pain ?
You see who is loved weak and frail,
Which makes sad thoughts your heart assail.

That person gets dearer than life.
You give him all, yet not enough.
You feel you must give him much more
And your defects start to deplore.

How full is life of ups and downs.
You live a ***** to keep his crowns.
At times, you can't achieve that aim
And live the hell of endless blame.

Your life gets nothing in your eyes.
You wreck it just to build blue skies
And make whom you love great joy live,
Not minding what pain you receive.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

SUPPLICATION

I need Your hand; l'm in a hole,
And darkness spreads its full control
To fill the ditch where l'm alone
And none would help or play that role.

Don't overlook my begging plea.
Your little help can set me free
From this cruel fate where l am thrown.
You still can bring back my passed glee.

No one but You can hear my shout;
You are the only One l spot.
I'm thrown here by a strong cyclone
And none but You can take me out.

Don't leave me; You are my last chance;
A little pull, and l can prance.
Don't leave me with my unheard groan
Hyenas then will feast and dance.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

THE PRICELESS PRESENT

Present time, how much l wish
To stop you and keep you fresh.
I wish those who are around
To stay with me safe and sound.

Nothing in life is so sure;
Moments pass and bring us fear.
Nothing can satiate my heart,
Save the present that's in sight.

So dear you are present time.
You'll be past, just fit for rhyme,
That can't be displayed with ease
But with tears, and welling eyes.

Mothers, sisters, and old friends,
Whom nothing in life amends,
Lived this present for some time,
Whose worth we did not esteem.

If that "present" could return,
Their feet with kisses l'd burn;
I'd press them to my fond soul,
And their side would be my goal.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

LOOKING FOR PERFECTION

The sense that man is incomplete,
And wish to feel he is replete
Will stir his heart to take a move
Towards the feeling of sweet love.

Love is the call of flesh and soul.
Both keep the shout and keep the call
Till they both find what's fit for them
To make them both live sweetest dream.

No incomplete man can be calm
Till findind the girl and the balm
That soothe the thirst in his dry heart
And with her he can never part.

She gets the flesh, the heart, the soul,
And he says, " You have got me all.
Give me just your heart and take me.
Without You l can never be. "

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
___________

THE HEAVENLY SONGS

An angel is inside her jail.
She is a really charming girl.
No one beside to see her charm
Except the viol on her arm.

She plays on it a lovely tune
That brings around a great fortune.
The birds of sky gather around
To change to heaven her pure ground.

She lives with angels around her
Who move the pious love in her.
They appear as white charming birds
That coo their lovely, sweetest words.

Between her tunes and their love songs,
Her jail to heaven then belongs.
The land around and highest space
Become her heaven and dream house.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

THE BLAMELESS GUILT

Relish is far from her dim heart.
No jokes can her sad heart delight.
No man can look at her plain face
Though her heart beats like any lass.

Her pride does not let her shed tears,
Nor sadness at her face appears.
Her heart is sad, but her face cheats,
A smirk on it its frown competes.

I saw her once walking at night;
The street was dark like her sad heart.
I greeted her but her deep sigh
Revealed her heart with its veiled cry.

I hurried past but felt the truth.
I was upset for that poor youth,
Who has no guilt, but her plain face,
And how can she that guilt erase ?

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

AGE AND KNOWLEDGE

When years roll by, man starts to fear old age.
It stirs the fear of death; it provokes rage.
No power in this world can this fear cast,
Save feeling that his heart is dwelt by Christ.

The Lord is in his heart; just he can look
And see His eyes contain a large, thick book
That includes all the love that Jesus gives
Which reassures that man forever lives.

Man tries to see how loving Christ can be;
The more he knows, the more he feels deep glee.
How can age frighten him if more he knows,
And with his ken much happier he grows?

For sure his heart will be so full of love,
And that love will the earthly fear survive
As God in his heart holds his hand and soul
And they together in His kingdom stroll.

By JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

THE REAL PRINT
We are in race with time to leave a print
In such an immense world where we exist.
Each has the sense of self, as all the crowd,
He tries to show his worth in this vast world.

Some kings had printed names before we came.
They proved how great they were in fame and name.
They led such countless hordes and conquered lands
And lots were lost to build their statues' stands.

I drudge to scrawl my print with my own hand;
My own sweat is the price for which is paid.
I wish my print to give some help to man
And not to make him worse or bring him down.

How great those are who build and not destroy,
Who give and not just take to reach their Troy,
Whose love weaves quilts for those who feel so cold
And give a push to those who are not bold.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

DON'T BUY, BUT LIVE.

What's really good for you is just to feel
The Lord's inside your heart and has appeal
To make you love Him much and love His ways
More than the alms to people you appraise.

It is an extreme ease to buy and sell,
But that can't be the case with bliss and hell.
God is inside your heart; just live with Him.
He is the source of bliss and happy realm.

When you feel that He is so kind and good.
Then certain you can be He is your God.
He is more tender than mothers on earth
And cries before you do when you're in dearth.

He is the Lord Who died on cross for you
And forgave all who tortured Him and drew.
No power did He use to solve His grief,
But through His painful death, He brought relief.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

A GIRL IN THE WHEAT FIELD

Youth and beauty are her gifts;
They are what give her such lifts
To float lightly on corn ears
With a heart so full of cheers.

Stretching her arms means a lot:
Charm and softness she has got.
All life gifts are in her hand,
Like a princess fair and grand.

Cheerful are the wheat and stalks,
Kissing her feet as she walks,
Hoping her stroll not to end
Till their harvest is at hand.

Wheat and men enjoy her sight
As she runs with flying feet.
Their joy casts out all their fear
And what cruel time will bring her.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

A PART OF HIS HEART

A sense of love has stirred his heart
And driven him few words to write
To show the motives that drives him
To scribble what he calls a rhyme.

His love is great and seeks a vent
To pour on what he can create.
He gets his thoughts to fly so far
To depict what seems too obscure.

He finds his love's expressed in front
And what his heart for long does hunt
Is drawn in front of him so clear;
A part of his heart can appear.

He loves it much and says,"That's me."
He is so glad his thoughts to see.
It gets so dear, a part of heart,
As man of God's thoughts is a part.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

THE BIRD AND THE TREE

You wait just for that special bird
That's stayed with you since parents fed
And share with it long days and nights
In ways no stranger interrupts.

Your leaves give it the coolest shade
And its ripe figs by you are made.
Its food is tasteless if not you
Have given it its sweet and dew.

Your haven is the tranquil place.
You refuge it from those that chase.
Its luckless days affect your heart
As your dry days drive it so ****.

You are its heart as it is yours.
Your tender branches make it snooze.
Your soul is one with its free soul
And both are joined with That great Whole.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

LIGHT AND THE TRUTH

Noone sees daylight and insists
On life in darkness scaring fists.
The truth is light and can convince
Our heart and free us from suspense,
Which throws us in the well of doubt
With none to save except clear light.

Doubt seems like that deep and dark well
Where we are hung with rope so frail,
Fearing the long expected fall
That if it happens, it ends all.

None can save us from that dark doubt
Except a clear and cheerful light
That sends us its well plaited rays
To climb up back to lighted ways.

No ghosts can lurk if you are there;
No doubt can let dark well to scare.
All gets so clear and life gets bright
When light's strong plaits lift us from night.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

GOD AND MAN

The Lord lives inside man's deep heart
To grant man peace and clear his sight
As He knows what man meets on earth
From doubt to needs and fear of death.

Man is none but a toddling child,
In profound space rotates his world.
His eyes with wonder always try
To fathom his earth and his sky.

He does his best in all his quest
And does all that with fervent zest,
But fearful foes lurk in his way
To expose him to full decay.

He finds himself a paltry spot
Thrown in a space where his earth's shot
With lots of doubt and fear of end,
He sets out to all comprehend.

God sees all that and pities him
As He puts him in that odd realm.
The Lord of mercy cannot leave
His toddler with no help and love.

God lives in his heart, holds his hand,
And when he falls, He helps to stand;
He can't leave him in such hard dearth
Without support with all His strength.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
ALL COPYRIGHTS RESERVED

S  I  N
You are a lack of light and seek the dark.
What can't be gained in light is your bright spark.
You have a lack of trust and lack of strength;
That's what inspires you to move in stealth.

You are a gun held by a stupid hand
That does not know where triggered bullets land.
You always lead to where the aim is wrong
And hit your preys whose pleasure won't live long.

You take them to a cave where light is dim
And show them that daylight none can redeem.
They break the laws of heart as darkness spreads,
Beguiling them no light in life retreads.

Sunlight comes back and they see their own own dirt,
But nothing can be done except regret.
They spend the rest of their life shedding tears;
Their blurring eyes can't see when hope appears.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

THE GAP

The gap is wide and none can bridge
Between pure love and hateful grudge,
Between who love to beatify
And those who live just to decry.

Some live to see the smile spread
On lips of beauty with cheeks red,
While others want those lips to ail
And make cheeks' redness seared and pale.

Some love the rose on branch to live,
To give its charm and love receive,
While others break the branch and go
And cause the flower greatest woe.

Some speak with smile on their cute face
That heartens you to start discourse,
But others say just one rude word
That makes you hate them and the world.

My Lord, Your creatures are like verse,
Some to adore and some to curse.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH

THE ROPES TO HER

So sweet are your eyes with their gleam.
They take me to the world of dream
Where such a charming girl goes by
And takes my heart and sets to fly
To such a planet l can't reach,
But its sunrays like ropes l catch.

I climb and her world try to reach,
But where am l from that far wish ?
She passes by with perfume sprayed
On her white skin and clothes arrayed.

The smell attracts me by its waft,
While she goes by so sweet and soft.
I catch the waft's line to her trace,
But none can lead me to her place.

I think of her when passion moves
In depth of heart and strongly shoves.
I catch the lines of rays and waft
Which to a dream world my heart lift
To grasp that world and it depict
And on this paper delineate.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH

ON THE TROT

Like cats we never walk but trot
And when we reach the goal we sit
Just doing nothing, with a yawn
As nothing's waiting to be done.

This is the case of man on earth;
We run like mad men out of breath
To reach an aim but when we do,
We sit and laugh at that ado.

So grim is life with death at end.
It stirs the fear in people's mind
And urges for something secure
To find an end that can endure.

Some men may find it with morale,
That can endure in bliss or hell,
While others keep the search to find
Immediate outcomes in their hand.

They keep the search in nervous ways
Forgetting time and passing days.
When they get somewhere, they find life
Has reached its end and was too brief.

We envy you dumb, trotting cats;
You've lived your life with no harsh thoughts,
While thoughtful man has wasted it
In search for some obscure target.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

YOU CAN'T HAVE BOTH.

You can't have both, your conscience rest,
And all the wealth your father left.
The two are heavy to soar with
To heaven where God grants His mirth.

How can you blend between robbed coins
And tranquil life your conscience joins ?
The soul of evil your heart dwells
With those robbed coins your safe conceals.

You can drive cars and fly first class
And meet the people whose words pass;
You can be proud and get respect
But your heart will all that regret.

A rich girl you have as a spouse
And gain a palace for a house;
You can fly and see all the world
But remorse on your heart is hurled.

In brief, you feel a thing is lost
That all your theft can't pay the cost;
It is your brother's stolen share
That leads your heart to full despair.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

THE TWO HALVES

I love what joins and brings two near
And makes them live in closest sphere.
I love *** as it joins two souls
And makes them one that love installs.

How great is *** when it joins two
And gives them deep love nice and true,
Not for a period, but for life
And even in the afterlife.

Each completes what the other lacks,
And both reach highest secure ranks
Where they feel complete by themselves
And nothing lacks for which man strives.

Each forms a half whose heart much yearns
To quench its thirst whose heat it burns
Till he encounters his lost half,
Leaves all and finds that half's enough.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

TIME OR ENDLESS SPACE ?

So great is life if it's like space,
No years to count time's nervous pace,
No dates to sever people's lives,
But space to join as it contrives.

That man lived hundreds years ago,
And this, years later time did throw.
They are joined on one land and earth.
Why should time sever them by birth ?

How great is life in boundless scope,
With no days tied to gyroscope,
But just an endless view where all
Are joined in space outside time's rule.

We live with all those whom we love
And share the rule of space above.
All joined in one group with no years
To bind us with time and its fears.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

GLORY ON EARTH

The Child is lying in the creche,
And we're around Who gets in flesh.
We are surprised with eyes in tears;
God Himself comes to bring us cheers.

I rub my eyes to clear my sight
And see Him more; can that be right ?
The Lord is here in crib He lies
Just near my heart and amazed eyes.

The Child extends His hand to dry
The tears that well from my stunned eye.
I kneel to kiss His little feet;
Toes like pine nuts with charm complete.

All people come and Him surround.
Their hearts cheer up with cherubs' sound
As they sing with a voice so sweet
The word of Gloria they repeat.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

THE TIRED, HUNGRY DONKEY

Poor donkey, you search for your food;
Why don't you look and see your load ?
You suffer from its heavy weight.
It is the barley that you eat.

You wait the mercy of your man.
Stretch your head and eat what you can.
It's shameful to have on your back
The thing that you most badly lack.

I am so clever, stupid ***.
No man can ever me harass
Except for people who are rich;
I hear their words and do their wish.

I bend to my boss and accept
What he believes and his concept.
I also bow to what strong men
Impose on me and don't complain.

I keep my silence when a lout
Begins to speak and tends to shout.
When one of high post speaks to me,
I just say, "Yes, sir," and agree.

All other men l answer back,
And what they say l never hark.
The donkey laughs and runs away
So glad to carry his barley.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

THE OLD WOMAN AND HER OLD CAT

Beside me sit and purr my cat,
So cute a kitten when you sat
On my lap when l brought you here
To live with me so small and dear.

I was then greying when you were
A little kitten of soft fur.
I used to feed your little mouth
And watch your small teeth in their growth.

Your heart and mine both beat us through
To this old age with its sad view.
We both sit near this well lit stove
And think a lot before we move.

My cat, you are my dearest friend;
You shared my trip to this old end.
I wonder if we'll meet up there,
Where life will be quite free from care.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

THE BIRD'S CAGE AND MINE

Your home is nature not this cage,
Poor little bird, l feel your rage.
Your song is not to call your mate
But just to cry your gloomy fate.

Poor little bird, you're not alone,
But lots of weak men share your tone.
To speak they must be with the throng
Or people will not mind their tongue.

They can speak when they say what men
Want them to say, not what they ken.
They must say what men want to hear
Or their words will not reach their ear.

My bird, l want to speak with you;
I suffer as much as you do.
Your cage is your jail where you stay,
But mine is what l have to say.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

THE LAMB'S FLEECE

Sometimes, we feel the world smiles,
And sweetest joy in us compiles.
Without a reason for that joy,
It falls on us and we enjoy.

What is the source of that fresh breeze
That cools our hearts and minds can please?
It makes us see the world so sweet
And all our problems we defeat.

Is it a message from above
That falls on those who live great love ?
It keeps away from hearts that hate
As joy and hate can never mate.

The source is vague but must be blessed
As misdeeds can't with joy be dressed.
If holy life can give us peace,
Why don't we wear the Lamb's pure fleece ?

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

THE LURE OF A NYMPH

Beside a forest was my house.
The forest was so large and dense.
It was at dusk; l heard a girl  
Singing a song my mind could hurl.
So sweet was her voice that she could
Take my mind out of this dull world.

It was a voice full of deep love
That my ears could my slow feet shove
Towards the forest and the source
Not caring for its spiky course.

When she saw me, she fast escaped,
And heavy fog her  figure draped.
I did not care and followed her;
The rugged way could not me deter.

The pursuit led to such a maze.
I found myself in helpless daze.
My way back home was fully lost,
And night had its full darkness tossed.

No voice of girls but of wild dogs
Was all around with snakes an frogs.
I was so scared and hoped to find
A way out of this horrid land.

My fear led me to shout and scream,
Which woke me up from that bad dream.
I looked around and was so pleased
When l found myself in my bed.
BY JOSEPH ZENIEH

MY COUNTRY

You are the house in which l lived.
You are the old neighbour l loved
Who told me stories of the past
Whose image in my mind will last.

You are the streets in which l walked.
You are the friends with whom l talked.
You are the people who were old
And died but left their shapes in mind.

You are the school to which l went
Whose sweet and bitter tastes are blent.
You are the teachers who taught me
Whose figures in my heart l see.

You are my father and my mum.
You are the shopping with my chum.
You are my failure and success.
You are the wife who shares my house.

Another country may give gold,
But not the past that l have lived,
And not the tissues of my heart
That these old items slowly built.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

HOW STRANGE MAN IS !

A man is beaten by his foe.
He causes his wife so much woe.
His wife reacts on her young child.
In turn, the child beats his cat hard.

In life, we always act like that.
We often from hard problems ****.
We just waste time on what we can,
And keep hard work out of the plan.

How can a writer close his eyes
And forget his soul and its skies ?
Is he like that who beats his wife
To shun his foe's most crucial strife ?

I wonder how man can escape
The strong foe and exchange his shape.
Can he convince his beaten mind
And swap with what on him assigned ?

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

WHY DO WE HAVE A MIND ?

Sad poems, you are not my realm
As tears the globe quite overwhelm.
No hope can come through tears and sighs;
They flood the earth and gloom the skies.

I am in search of hopeful lines.
Perhaps with them my shy hope shines
And leads to what my heart looks for
So my soul sails to reach that shore.

We look for trifles when we write
And serious aims we don't indite.
What is the gain if we win all
But have no thoughts for final goal ?

This life must have a final aim;
No death can end its endless game
As mind is placed not for concern
But helping man this fact to learn.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________