In Africa,
We love our pap.
And My Love,
My joy,
is watching you,
enjoy it.

Just as I enjoy making it for you
and sharing it with you.
I feed you.
Keep you nourished.
Rich.

I do all this,
for my personal pleasure.
A way I share my love.

I wear light, breathing fabric,
Vibrant Ankara kissing my skin
after I’ve taken my bath.
I want to be comfortable
and cool.

In Africa,
The summers come in the winter too.
T h e    d a y s    a r e    l o n g
nights
are
too
short.

This meal-
Pap?
Make it the way you want
and when you want.
Serve this anytime.

In the morning.
In the afternoon or at night.
Have it at teatime.
As a snack at times.
For those sunny summer days.
And winter sunny days.
This meal is even better
on those rainy days,
And on those stormy nights.
Things work differently,
in Africa.

Something about pap,
takes me through t                                 i m e

seasons

and emotions.
Pulling people together.
A shared joy. A shared pleasure,
that fills you full.

Our love, fills me full.
I over-
f
l
o
w

When I think of pap,
I think of mud huts.
Deliciously Caked,
needing attention,
devotion,
fidelity.
Like our love.

Mud huts breathe
and are enthralled
by the air’s hot and cold.
They change temperature,
With the atmosphere.
High
and
                



low
As you Love,
you change me hot,
And then cold. High,


                                              



                                                       low.

What I like most, about pap,
is all the t                                                    i m e
and e. f. f. o. r. t.
You MUST, pour in.
for a simple and hearty meal.
You’ve got to ease in.
Relax.
Attentive.
Be a little playful
for a sweet end.

First,
You prepare the maize.
Like a maze,
you want to get to the right spot.
So it hits the right spot.
So, condition well,
intake and clean.
Then condition,
steam…
and flake.
dry and grind.

This Love,
Is play·uhng.
Cooking is a fun thing.

Now the making:
You need wood for fire.
Sit-near,   not too close.
You’ll hold your palms out,
a tease.
And check the temperature.
Feel it.
Is it a good hot?

Now, water.
Lots of water,
Into the ***.
Pour it in.



                                 LIFT
With both hands

                                            the ***.
Put the ***
On FIRE!
Let it heat UP.

Listen…

Boil.
bubble,
Boil.

With measure
without rushing.
Use your hands,
scoop up some maize.
Add a pinch of salt.
Mix with a fork.
For the lumps and humps.

Blend and bend.
Bend and blend.
Blend and bend.

Prepare with wooden spoon.
Don’t be too gentle –
whisk it vigorously -
Not too vigorously.
It must be done right.
So, it all comes-together.
At the right time.

One.

Tend the fire,
Throughout.
Keep heat at medium.
Let it    b   r   e   a  t   h   e   .
Take the lid off.

Now watch.
Spoon and bend.
And watch.
Press and fold.
And watch.
Close-flatten
And watch

This is how you make pap.
Made with love.

When
smooth and thick,
To the touch.
It’s ready.

It must hold its shape,
be moulded.
Without crumbling.
To be sure,
Take a wooden spoon,
and flatten against the ***.

Serve it hot,
With some stew, meat or some sausage.
When you're feeling sweet?
Add butter, sugar, and milk instead.

Before you eat.
I give you water
for your hands.
I pour the water.
Wash your hands.
I kiss your face,
and your hands
You kiss mine.

In ceremony,
before consummation,
Two parts laced.
We touch
tenderly.
We smile.
We serve each other.
We share - EXUBERANTLY.

Aroused by the aroma.
The flavour.
Savour.
How delightful.
The smell of love.
The taste.
Eat.

You know it tastes better
when you use your hands.
You’ll enjoy it more.

Use your right hand
to pinch
a small portion
of the pap
and roll it into a ball.
Over
and
Over.

Work it.
Use your fingers.
Scoop up sauce,
Or meat with the pap.
Roll it together,
Back and forth,
round and round.

Get worked up.
All worked up.
Play with it.
Enjoy it.

A meal that you can play with.
Play with your hands.
Feel the texture.
A little messy.
It's okay.
You can use a spoon too,
When you're feeling serious.

We share this meal together.
We look into each other's eyes.
I look at you.
You look at me.

Sometimes we share in silent breaths.

Our silence –
interrupted by giggles,
a sound of pleasure
or delight.
Or passionate talk.

All I know, Love,
Is when you enjoy this meal,
I want to be close.
I want you close too,
As I enjoy mine.

We can enjoy it on the floor,
Or the table.
With the walls up.
Or outside,
Under the view of the stars.
With the windows open
or closed.
As long as it's us.

I lay near,
something to quench your thirst.
Some hot tea, or a cool drink.
When you’re done,
You exhale –
“Aaaah!”

Full.
Warm.
Fulfilled.
no longer thirsty.
Our favourite meal.

Lost in random thoughts-
bouncing around my brain.
Counting out a million in sand-
by each and every grain.

A grain for every time-
I saw me loving you.
That’s one pile of sand-
for what love can do.

A grain for each time-
you held me tight.
A big sandcastle-
two hearts built just right.

There’s another pile-
for the kisses sweet.
Grain by grain-
these two hearts beat.

The grains I’ve all counted for-
except for just a few.
There’s enough left to be-
a pile of me and you.

10/12/25

In this vast world,
the greatest treasure is self-respect.
But let me whisper a truth—
there exists something even greater… true love.

When your heart beats for someone so deeply,
you forget pride, you forget distance.
No matter how many times they turn you away,
your soul still finds its way back to them —
again and again.

Because some bonds
are not meant to be broken by rejection,
but to be lived through remembrance.

This is a mystery not everyone can understand —
the quiet madness of love,
the peace in pain,
the beauty in surrender.

Sometimes, I touch the chain around my neck —
it holds a tiny locket with your name engraved.
It keeps me bound to you in silence,
a sacred connection no distance can erase.
This feeling… you can never take it away from me.
My love for you was true —
and it always will be.

Till my last breath,
I’ll keep returning to you —
sometimes as a memory,
sometimes as laughter,
sometimes as a smile lighting your face.

Even if you’ve pushed me away,
you can never take away
my right to stay close in silence —
because true love doesn’t demand,
it simply exists.

And I’m proud…
that my love for you
was that pure. 💫❤️

🇮🇹 Stelle scintillanti
Le stelle scintillano nel buio della notte,
ogni luce è un sogno che non smette di vivere.
Cadiamo sotto il loro incantesimo,
in un silenzio che parla di eternità.
Ogni stella è una speranza che brilla,
ogni riflesso, un sorriso che sfiora il cuore.
E sotto il cielo infinito,
scivoliamo insieme verso l’immenso.

Masi Roberto © 2025

🇬🇧 Shining Stars
The stars shimmer in the darkness of night,
each light a dream that never ceases to live.
We fall beneath their spell,
in a silence that speaks of eternity.
Every star is a hope that gleams,
every reflection, a smile that brushes the heart.
And beneath the endless sky,
we drift together toward the infinite.

Masi Roberto © 2025

In this vast world,
the greatest treasure is self-respect.
But let me whisper a truth—
there exists something even greater… true love.

When your heart beats for someone so deeply,
you forget pride, you forget distance.
No matter how many times they turn you away,
your soul still finds its way back to them —
again and again.

Because some bonds
are not meant to be broken by rejection,
but to be lived through remembrance.

This is a mystery not everyone can understand —
the quiet madness of love,
the peace in pain,
the beauty in surrender.

Till my last breath,
I’ll keep returning to you —
sometimes as a memory,
sometimes as laughter,
sometimes as a smile lighting your face.

Even if you’ve pushed me away,
you can never take away
my right to stay close in silence —
because true love doesn’t demand,
it simply exists.

And I’m proud…
that my love for you
was that pure. 💫❤️
— Usha Maniar

You held her waist like a fragile piece,
And sang sweet melodies into her ears.
Your eyes met hers—
as though she were your only poem.
Seeing you together was burning me alive.

✨ By Usha Maniar ✨

“In life, there should always be one person
whose presence makes you feel nothing but pure happiness.” 🌷

Someone whose silence brings peace,
whose smile lights up your soul,
whose presence feels like a blessing,
and whose absence feels like a prayer. 🌿💖

Every ascent begins with exile.
To rise is to lose the flock,
yet find the wind waiting..
faithful, invisible,

unafraid to hold you.

The breath that fills him is older than dust,
borne through the reckoning
of one who first owned his shadow..

each atom refined,
each word made Light.

“To breathe is to bless,”
Jonathan whispers,
“for every breath must leave the world
cleaner than it arrived.”


His lungs remember Eden,
and the sky bends to his remembering.

Below, the drizzle hums its dull chorus..
the fat and the fed peck at comfort.
Jonathan breaks from the circle,
rising through their fog,
his wings burning clean in the cold.

“Fear not the thin air,”
he calls,
“for only those who hunger for height
will learn how mercy breathes.”


He learns the cost of air,
the ache of height..
and in that thin solitude
where only truth can breathe,
he knows at last
what it means to serve God
with the evil impulse:

not by hiding it,
but by turning it toward Light.

Before the Word becomes sound, it becomes breath.
And before breath becomes air, it remembers its Source.

This is the mystery of Jonathan..
the soul who learned that flight begins not in the sky,
but in the heart that has faced its own eclipse

and chosen to turn toward the sun.