ABORTION

Man is always with who has much strength
Who defends himself and has much wealth.
All look down on who is poor and frail,
And for his clear rights he can't fight well.

Embryo, who will defend your right
If your mother does not for you fight?
You have no one except tender folk
Who speak meekly when they tend to talk.

You are helpless if your mother's hard
She herself will your young life discard.
You have no help save your Lord above
Who beholds you with an eye of love.

Can you dream that your mum feels so glad
If laws of all countries with her stand.
Mothers **** and all should share the crime
As their victims' shouts to their hearts climb.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

MY  KINGDOM
My face is covered with blood mixed with dirt.
The man who loves will give without restraint.
Look at my face. You'll know what l go through
for all the people on the earth and you.

My love is endless. It began with tears
for those who suffer, with hearts full of fears.
I cured their children and restored their smile.
They can't bear it, a world so full of bile.

I share you all your pain. Look at my wounds.
I don't feel them, but hear your screaming sounds
that ask me to relieve your hearts' distress.
I know how much your acts need to redress.

I came not for a kingdom on this earth.
I have no swords, no men for mundane worth.
I came to build a kingdom in your heart
that conquers your flesh weakness and its plight.
BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

DOCTOR  FAUSTUS
Doctor Faustus, l can feel what you passed through
to gain science and to know the latest view.
You sold your soul to the foe to give you what
can satiate your obsessed mind and eager heart.

When a man loves someone else the other should
give him something in return and not be rude.
Faustus, you gave all your life for science' sake.
Did that science relieve you from your bad ache?

Faustus, we are quite inside your horrid boat.
We give life for various aims on which we dote.
Then we wake up when the devil of your deal
comes to take the price of what has no appeal.

Faustus, we are, just like you, lost in a world
callous and has mindless thoughts for man's demand.
We get mad as Faustus did at his sad end,
pay the due but do not take what can amend.
BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

THE OFFENDED WEASEL
A farmer used to have a lot of hen.
They were so fat and white and gave him eggs.
A weasel saw the coop and was so glad;
he started having all his meals from there.

The farmer lost a lot and got quite mad,
but he could not discover a good way
to keep the weasel far or change his mode;
he bought a gun and lurked behind the coop.

The weasel saw the farmer with a gun.
He got offended by the farmer's mien.
"Is this the way" he thought," a host behaves?
I will desert this most disgusting man."
BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
____________

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
____________

THE NEW BORN BABE
They cheer and dance. Their baby's come to life.
The parents and grandparents smile and laugh.
They've brought the drinks and food to have great time.
It's not a wont. For them a babe has come.

"What are you, babe?" the father deeply thought.
"You are a man like me with hope and fright.
You'll face this life which for me is great doubt.
You'll fear its darkness and enjoy its light.

My child, you'll live the crazy strife l live.
You'll have to toil so hard just to survive.
You'll try to find a creed to plan your way,
and lots of strain will tire your weak clay."  

His wife called out, "Come and look at his face.
It's just like yours, so full of cheerful bliss.
His fingers are like mine," she looked and smiled.
"God keep him to us both. He's our child."
BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

AN UGLY GIRL

I am a human being my dear
And have same feelings like all girls.
Don't look at me to taunt and jeer
As l'm not svelte with lovely curls.

I dream of beauty and shed tears
Since l can't draw the eyes to me.
My heart is crammed with hateful fears
That no one would my plain face see.

What can l do with such a heart,
Full of emotions and and great zest
While l lack what gives girls their might?
A senseless heart would be the best.

It's said that life is fair to all
And gives each what equals their strain.
Life has neglected my heart's call
That l would drudge just to obtain.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

HAPPY OR SAD DREAMS?
Town of lovely days, where are you now?
Why don't you appear much more in dreams?
They were days of charm when l lived there,
between your low river and the sky.

Days of greatest charm l spent in you
with a childless couple, old and kind.
There my father was so kind to come
and behold my life if it was calm.

Mum made sweets for me, but that old dame
Loved their taste, so l left them for her.
That provoked the anger of my mum
as she'd made them for her dearest son.

Days have passed. All those are now mere thoughts.
They're what time has burnt as tinder stuff,
building present time, and him, who writes
whispers from those dear, and distant past.
BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

MEANING AND RHYTHM
Poetry, you are the truth,
gliding in the sky above.
You descend in rhythmic lines,
chanted by the lips of muse.

With the lyre in her hand,
and the thougts inside her mind,
she sings with her splendid beats
the essence of the whole life.

All her feelings have deep sense,
and she sings them in good rhythm.
She dislikes the trivial thoughts,
written in unrhythmic style.
BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
____________

CONSCIENCE  CALL

Conscience call, you are the voice of God,
That in hearts of men, you shout so loud
And tell us when little men we hurt
As we destroy dreams that hearts assert.

She walked long ways searching for jasmine
And was glad she could a bunch obtain
When he crossed her way and just for fun
He threw her bunch in the stream and ran.

Nothing she could do but looking up
At the sky, where all the weak get hope,
And went with a tear inside her eye.
She did not retort, but just asked why.

Life on earth has its own secret ways
As God always in the conscience stays.
He speaks with us and makes us repent,
And the wrong that we have done lament.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

THE  ENGLISH  LANGUAGE

Lots of people use this tongue
And make it nicer and strong.
By the use of foreign thoughts
English gains what it exalts.

Poems are delight to hearts.
Minds get from them gist and lights.
Help these songs to spread around.
New thoughts in your tongue abound.

I love English as it takes
Foreign words and them it makes
Useful ways to express thought;
That's what makes it so much sought.

English was poor but now rich.
When compared, it has high pitch.
Richness comes from foreign lands.
So it towers where it stands.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

A DUTY OR ENJOYMENT?

Are prayers interesting to say,
Or just a duty we can't shun?
Do they to heaven pave the way,
Or acts through which pleasure is won?

Are they mere visits to the Lord,
Who can decide a lot of things?
We visit Him for His reward
And to avoid the plagues He brings.

To write is not an act we like,
But ask a poet,"is it so?"
For him to indite is the peak
Of pleasure where he likes to go.

Why don't we pray just as we write,
And live with those most lovely Ones?
Then we spend sweet time in God's sight,
And no one such a visit shuns.

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
____________

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
____________

A VOICE FROM THE PAST
A beggar sat beside a church.
A baby slept on her thin arm.
A lullaby she sang to him;
it conveyed me such profound charm.

I stood so near but looked away.
I was all ears to her soft voice.
Hot tears welled from my blushing eyes,
but her song made my heart rejoice.

It was the song my mother'd sung
when she kept us under her wing.
I missed that voice that brought us sleep
with that soft tune she used to sing.
BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
____________

MOODY  LUCK
What is luck? Where does it lurk?
Does it come through gifts or work?
It is said, "Great luck give me
and throw me inside the sea."

Is it like a bird that lands
near a window where one stands?
Nothing can drive it away;
from so far it comes to stay.

Bird of luck, how do you choose?
Your randomness does confuse
wisest men who want to  know
how you choose and what you do.

You may choose an ugly crone
and grant her a young baron,
while a girl of charming eyes
waits at home, stifling her sighs.
BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

A JOYFUL MEETING
All were so happy showing winsome youth,
singing and dancing on a top wavelength.
The place around was full of brilliant glee
that aroused in my heart a sense of spree.

I heard inside my heart an urgent call
that springs of life would inside me install.
I found all life around call with loud voice,
"Get up, you, sluggish man, your joy announce."

I found myself in a dancing ring and life,
all life, was playing music on a fife,
Looking at me to jump and fill the place  
with what my soul was full, great, immense bliss.

I felt the strength of joy moving my arms,
granting me all the pluck, and beat my drums.
I danced and danced not caring for my age
and filled the sphere with glee and spry messege.
BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

STEERED BY HIS OWN WILL

They are a group of men on board a boat.
All are adrift except the one who steers.
They look at him and go the way he goes,
waiting his hands to find their chosen course.

He chooses his own way as it can suit his heart.
He might be wrong, but that's what his heart says:
that's what the throbs of his true heart would drum,
not what his whims impose on him to cull.

His fellow men on board the sailing boat
repose and wait for what their helmsman's hands will do.
They look with such pleased eyes at distant looming isles,
and can sunbathe on board with cheerful smiles.

He stands with active mind so crammed with care.
He barely sleeps or rests , and dreams awake,
exhausted, yes, but glad the boat will sail
where his hands steer and wish to move the wheel.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

TRUE LOVE HAD CHARM.
The place was far from town and men,
green land where l expected deer
to live and so l hurried there,
but my good luck joined me with her.

I approached slowly as l knew
my human deer was pure and wild,
but with no noise and from behind
she found me there, catching her hand.

She felt my touch was not for lust,
but just a touch of purest love.
She caught my hand and then we walked
to where her parents pitched their tent.

When they conceived what l announced,
they blessed the step we both would take.
True love had charm that opened eyes
to bless the gold rings we would wear.
BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

THUS I'M ASKED TO PRAY.
You want to pray, go in your room
and close your door to be with Whom
your mind and heart trust and adore
and you both love to sit alone.

You get so glad as you can feel
your heart will be with that great Lord,
Who's made all people dear to Him
and He exists in every soul.

You speak with Him, which is your bliss
as what He says is complete charm.
His calming words give you great cheer
that makes you live your care free life.

Your prayer gets your mighty wings
that lift you up to touch the clouds.
You feel how great it is to pray
but urging duties stop that glee.
BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
__________

AN ACT THAT MEANS A LOT
What made you, faithful dog, run inside?
You would spend in the park all your day.
Tongues of flame shouted loud ; what drove you
to leave joy and rush in that hot way.

You deemed your dear old friend was inside
and escaped through the men who were there.
No one could get to you as the flames
were so fierce and the place void of air.

You went in and searched for your dear man,
but you did not find him in the house.
Getting out was stopped by spears of flame
and escape from that hell had no chance.

You stayed there, black and charred but your name
would stay bright in the mind of that man.
He would tell your short tale of true love ;
it might help who are dubbed quite human.
BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

ABORTION  AGAIN !
Can mistakes be corrected by mistakes?
If yes, correct conception by forced birth.
What sort of fate you bring to that live cell
which is considered man in our world !

This little cell is now the start of man,
whose life is just a spark of little length.
Once started, he will come to his soon end,
but he can live a chance of building fame.

Can you appoint yourself in place of a judge
who ends a life that starts by complete chance?
What if this little cell is your dear friend,
or your own father who gave you your life?

He might be Spenser or one of those men
who wrote their names in gold of greatest worth.
Who has the right to smother those great flames
and send them dead before they see the earth?
BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

SPEEDING TO THE FULL STOP

She went to school so nicely dressed, schoolbag in hand.
Her mother blessed her little head, adjusting her school band.
She is the hope of mother and her home.
They see in her the pledge that life will bloom.

Days turn and in a wink she is a mum.
She sends her child to school and waits for her to come.
Her child in turn becomes her life and hope,
and days go on while we are drunk with dope.

What is the reason for all that great fuss?
Life goes on while we are in lightspeed bus.
We are so happy and we live with hope
while days go on just having one full stop.

The sun is born with glorious shine,
and each man says, " Today is mine."
All of a sudden it folds up in past,
and life goes by; no days or hope will last.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
___________

THE CONCEALED MIRTH

We hear that God loves man so much.
That's why He gives him life on earth.
But pain and grief that poor man clutch.
Where is that love? Where is the mirth?

If life is a struggle from the start
and worry makes it hard to live,
the mirth in it will fall apart,
and death destroys what mirth can give.

That's not the case if we think deep
and deem the life of a tranquil soul.
Through his soul, man great pleasure can reap
and get the joy he will extol.

A man can live the greatest joy
when he explores the depth of faith,
the pure joy that none can alloy
and that starts man's bliss from this earth.

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
____________

THE MOUNTAIN AND THE VALE
Between the mountain lofty top and that low vale,
I wander beside them to have a look at both.
The mountain lacks the fruits the vale can always have
while both attract my eyes to see the greater worth.

Both have been there since Adam's time but he has gone
and lots like him have traced his way while both exist.
I look with eager eyes at that most glorious peak,
but fear of that hard climb can stop my feet.

It's hard to climb but when we reach the soaring point,
I find the vale so nice but not for dreaming hearts.
The daunted hearts prefer the vale and its sweet fruits
as craggy peaks demand stout heartedness and might.
BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
____________

GOD  AND  TIME
We ask and think for long what God can be.
He can be goodness in its perfect form,
the perfect state of love, of help and care
and all what we can think of being good.

He is creation in its perfect form,
and wants to keep what He creates quite safe
to move in harmony in endless space,
safe from the trials of negation force.

The thought of time belongs to man on earth
as planets have their suns to turn around.
For God, there is no time to do a job.
There is an endless space where goodness rules.

What are you goodness but an endless state.
It lives in us, and we can feel it most
when we can give a son something he loves.
Then we can live in that elated state.
That goodness was personified in Christ.
BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

FATHER DENIS FITZ PATRICK IN A DREAM

You taught me English from the start
And helped me till l got B.A. in art,
Then appeared in a dream with prize for what l write.

You taught me verse and cleared my course
Through teachings of the Lord you gave me force
Till l could indite what my Lord would me announce.

You are the saint who came to me
A gift from God to show what l should see,
And then to make me write on which God will agree.

So pleased, l asked you why you gave
Me such a medal that l truly love;
You said to protect me and give my work a shove.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

THE SUPERMAN

The superman is that who can
Stand with the feeble in their pain.
He can't bear meeting broken hearts
too shattered to stand by themselves.

He can't see eyes with tears inside,
mainly those eyes that tears have hurt,
or eyes that in vain try to hide
their tears but redness shows their pain.

He stands with those that life has harmed
while they can't cope to hide disgrace.
They do their best, but their short arms  
Can't hide what harshness has misplaced.

The superman will never care
where his support will ever lead.
He sees his heart is quite involved
in drying tears and planting cheers.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

WORK AND HAPPINESS
Inner pleasure is so charming
but it leads to what's crestfallen.
Life outside us is quite lovely,
but its loss can always frighten.

Where are we from the solution?
One is endless but not blithesome
while the other is so brilliant,
but its end is like snake venom.

Life is great when work can fill it.
Man can find his joy in labour.
He will find an outside blitheness,
and his Lord will like his manner.

Milliards have arrived and parted
only few are highly honoured.
They've enjoyed their lovely voyage,
while on them their fame's been showered.
BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

EACH IN TURN

All my heart is with those who are sad,
Swallowing their tears with their own bread.
Like red hot nails pierce me their sad sighs
Though they're not nigh my sad, downcast eyes.

I extend my weak hand for their needs,
but my hand is short, and weak my deeds.
I can't compensate what fate has marred
as l am by weakness fully barred.

We are throngs of men, each one in turn
sheds his tears for what we can't return.
Time goes fast and we can't do a thing,
save those tears when that sad toll will ring.

Why don't we extend the hand of help,
dry the tears of those who need that step?
Our eyes will weep and need that hand,
which all creatures wait for to expand.

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

DIVORCE

Those who God joins none severs.
This is what the Lord refers
To in His most holy tome
When man and his wife share home.

Birds of heaven build one nest
Where they breed and where they rest.
They can't live outside this place.
It's the source of their lives' peace.

Even when those birds migrate,
***** and hens' love won't abate.
On each other they rely
When they breed and when they fly.

Who can mate and then depart
If he has a human heart?
When two join their hearts in one
Each gets his mate's moon and sun.

This is what my heart tells me,
And what Jesus likes to see.
He makes man and knows his heart;
Once he's married, he can't part.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH  
____________

THE HEEDLESS BABIES

Little babe, you want to eat
unaware of your own state.
Do you know what doctors say
or you leave all to your fate?

You eat and don't care about
what may occur to your health.
All are worried; their eyes well
with sad tears for what may fall.

We are not in better case,
Lying in this world of risks
Unconscious of lurking threats
That await a suiting chance.

Who is worried about us?
We don't see, but He is near.
His eyes follow, full of tears
while we laugh outloud with cheers.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

MAN AND DIRT

Man has greatest trend for a clean heart.
Dirt can make man bear some pain too smart.
But a lure to gain the world makes him
Tend to use wrong ways of ***** whim.

Man can't bear the dirt on his seen flesh.
Fast he moves to clean it and get fresh.
No one bears the sight of dirt and filth.
They deprive him of his mood of mirth.

Dirt of soul can cause more painful sense.
You can't clean it by a quick defence.
You need Lord of souls to wash you clean.
Only He can bring you back serene.

Hands are yours and can clean when you want;
Lord of souls you can't control his font.
His unseen work can't be always done.
We are weak and can't that weakness shun.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

THE  SWEET  SERFDOM
I sit beside you and forget the world,
and find myself on wings that take me high
to glide with clouds so white, so chaste and pure
that only dreamworlds such a sense ensure.

Your hands have smoothness that tickles my heart
and gives it female warmth that once it starts,
I can't detach my heart that gets your own
as what your warmth creates is magic crammed.

Your words are said with such a female tune
that stirs the feelings l'm so fond to live.
They give the rapture  of a farfetched song
that begets love and forces it to yield.

Your softness is not just what women have.
It is so touching that my heart can't skip.
Once felt, it shackles me with magic chains
whose serfdom is much sweeter than free will.
BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
___________

A PORTRAIT OF TWO CREATURES
A little boy of four is outside home.
He has a sandwich of delicious ham.
A cat rubs him and looks up with a mew.
He says, "All right, l'll share my meal with you.

"A bite for you and one for me all through.
I know your bites are small, but they will do.
I'll take small bites as l want to be fair.
Then both of us can take the correct share.

"This is the final round with its large meat.
Take just your due and give me mine to eat."
He offers it, and the cat eats much more
than is assigned to it as said before.

"You are a greedy cat. Why did you eat
more than your share of that delicious meat?
I'll tell my mum," he goes home crying loud.
The cat feels sorry, but it likes that round.
BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
_____________

TOO SOON TO FORGET

Years of life, how fast you pass.
Man won't forget parents when they're old perhaps
as he still remembers yesterday
When young and his parents were his light and ray.

Time goes fast to help man think when young
he was weak in all, his strength and tongue.
Their unequalled hand was so great then;
time flies fast to help man it to ken.

Now, they're old and need him as he did
Yesterday, when tears drenched his eyelid.
They are still so great; his fresh mind can recall,
and returns their work when he was small.

Time went fast and did not leave a space
which endows to forget a wee chance.
His succour occurs with such a heart
as he still recall that glorious past.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

CHRISTMAS
God's children needed help from their great Lord.
You left Your heights and came down as a Child.
The Child reassured all the hearts of men
that He would bring His love the world to reign.
You took man's form and followed his own style
to show that man to You is so worthwhile.

The people yearned  to know what was that Lord
Who can do all and build the sky and world.
You showed them that He is sheerly a born child
Who loved man much, and him He glorified.

How modest You were when You left Your skies
and showed us God in that young Baby's eyes,
assuring man that his Lord is a fact,
and dwells in all the world and in man's heart.
I beg You, Lord, for rebirth in the hearts
to touch the faith, and kindle our lights.
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
____________

BORING  PEOPLE

What can one do in a boring crowd?
Those around him of true sense are void,
And their accent is of haughty mind.
He feels lost and comfort does not find.

He exploits the power inside him
To impose a smile wide but dim.
It makes matters worse to those who see,
And he seeks a chance just to get free.

Where have birds of feather flocked and flown?
Those who are around are quite unknown,
Not in person but the way they think
That can drive him to sheer madness brink.

He fills all his face with empty smiles,
Longing to be far a thousand miles
As he hates to see the others hurt
While his nerves he can no more exert.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
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ARE YOU A POET ?
Poet, you encourage war .
I wonder how you can do !
Do you know that your pen pours
gasoline on burning coal .

How can you send your sons there
to throw themselves in that fire ?
Why don't you go there yourself ?
Is that hell hot to endure ?

Poet, how can you admire
fire that consumes the flesh ?
Fire is made to feed sons
not to throw them out of reach.

Embers that your sons can't hold
burn their hands while yours are cool .
You behold the woes they feel
to uplift your selfish mood.
BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

I WAIT FOR A VISIT .

My Lord, what more attracts my eyes
Than your light which shines through the skies
That shows how serene is my Lord
Who is so clear and pure like gold ?

I look up and behold that light
Which gives me courage from Your might.
I need this strength to feel so bold
And then l love more my dear Lord.

On earth, we love who are near us
And come to visit our house.
I visit You every Sunday ;
Why don't you visit me one day?

How can a person filled with fear
Be glad to see Who scares him near ?
He loves to see and spend his time
With That Who makes him feel so calm.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

A GRAVE VICE
Love of self, you are a vice.
You can cause a deadly sin
that l cry the rest of life
and l don't know how to clean.

You could sever me from those
who helped me and l adored.
Then l  threw them to regret
those moments that won't return.

Persons who gave me great help
I deserted as l thought
they did not respect my rights.
Now, l grieve those foolish acts.

Self esteem l hate your ghost,
haunting me for my past deeds.
If l go back to that time,
I love all and you won't heed.
BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
____________

ENTREATY

I'm a child whose toy has a defect.
All the time, l feel sad and abject.
My dear Dad, can't You bring back my smile,
And mend what makes my blood tend to rile?

Dad, You are my sole hope Who can give
What l wait from Your hand to receive.
I'm too frail; l can't mend what is wrong.
I depend on Your hand which is strong.

I just sit in my cradle and weep.
No one cares for my tears that cut deep.
They tell me to cheer up and be glad.
How can l? My dear toy looks so sad.

My dear Dad, please feel what l go through.
All my hope is quite centered on You.
I can't smile and my toy is like that.
Please my Dad, bring joy back to my heart.

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
_____________

THE  ONLY  REMEDY

Old age with broken leg, she lies in bed.
She cannot move; her pain is mixed with dread.
She is too weak to speak. She just complains,
but no one can her nagging quite explains.

Her bed has got a prison she can't leave;
it stirs her mind to roam, her heart to grieve.
No source as vent for hope from which to get
delight that makes her anxious thoughts forget.

So nice was life when those she loved were near,
whose presence brought her joy as they were dear.
They went and left her lonely, now in bed.
How hard is life that leads her to this end?

In tears, she hears a song coming from far.
She used to hear ere time could her life mar.
She calls back that old love that fills her heart
and sets her calm as love sets all aright.

BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
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DON'T  QUAIL!
Go forth, don't fear the dark; it's always there.
If you wait till the morn, no crown you wear.
The crown you see is gold, and all do want.
Don't wait, take it just now. No one will grant.

Though dark, good people's hearts live in the light.
It's not the case with those who love the night.
They want the dark to stay till they can own
The precious aim you love and wear the crown.

The crown is yours; that's what your father's left
for you to take; it's his most precious gift.
Don't let the thieves take it; your father's eyes
are watching his great gifts from his high skies.

Your father will be vexed if you don't get
what he assigned to you in his clear writ.
When morning comes each keeps what he has gained,
and you can't clear your soul of what you've stained.
BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
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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