"rebuking" poems
In 1963
Mahalia prodded
the good reverend...
“tell them
about the dream
Martin”
transfixed on
a yonder time
he recounted
prophecies of
a near future
from a mountaintop
he foretold a
history of a people
returned again to
gardens of paradise
thriving in friendly
democratic soils
overflowing with a
colorful biodiversity
governed and
nurtured with a
vibrant sunshine
of divine justice
welcoming all
weary sojourners...
from the
pinnacle of
a Birmingham
jail cell
Martin burst
the bars with
the clarion peel
of a golden trumpet
proclaiming the gospel
of liberation to
the wardens of
unholy gulags
“free yourselves”
the horn emblazoned
in streaking lightning
across the sky
cowed by
prophetic truths
of righteousness,
shamed by
lies the pride
of arrogance
bespeaks to
placate the
intransigence
of dominion,
we prayed the
the walls of racism,
bigotry, prejudice
would tumble down as
Martin lit the Battle
of Jericho
today our country’s
profit driven gulags
overflow with people
of color as justice
lingers on death row
begging for a plea bargain
of a life sentence in
solitary confinement...
from the
****** Sunday Bridge
in Selma, Martin
offered a prayer for
peace, rebuking
the dogs of war
admonishing
the tenders of
blood thirsty
machines to
beat the gears
of war into
pruning hooks
and plowshares
advocates of peace
hope to steer
the plow across
the battlefields of
acrimony to sow
rich seeds of
reconciliation, planting
new gardens where
the rich yields of peace
will be consumed
by all God's children
yet these gardens
remain unplanted,
untended and defiled
by the machinery
of war that churns
churns, churns...
Martin last
dream occurred
on a balcony
in Memphis
witnessing
to the divinity
of those considered
untouchable after
a hard days work
collecting a city’s
refuse
he insisted all labor
was worthy of dignity
and the economic
justice of a fair wage
Martin looked squarely
into the eye of the gun sights
of those who thought differently
he never blinked, he dreamed
Martin formed his last
testament to an angry nation
yearning for the reconciliation
of stability and peace,
unmoved that it’s violence,
exploitation and bigotry only
stoke bonfires of acrimony
and division, condemning
the reprobate principality
to the bleakness of a
smoldering discontent and
continued generations
of recurring nightmares…
Martin's dream continues
in awakened hearts
sojourning on
Music Selection:
Mahalia Jackson
Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho
MLK Day
2014
Oakland
Jan 20, 2014
Jan 20, 2014 at 3:38 PM UTC
Thundering voice
evoking fire, demons, eternal suffering.
Eyes burning holes in our souls
chastising, rebuking, shaming.
"Enlarge belief, says the Lord our God,
or be cast into the lake of fire."
Women wept, men trembled, children sobbed in terror.
Tonight's collection would be a dandy.
Nov 12, 2011
Nov 12, 2011 at 2:02 AM UTC
With querulous turpitude, I stood
Disdainful denied reassurance;
Selfless. My crying heart
The echo of the wind rebuking
All that is remaining of
what I used to be.
Grotesque deformities my reflection
The pain of pure love etched
In dreams of aeons passed.
Hideous beauty a frightening peace
A sweetness I founded corrupt;
Hell my heaven
My paradise.
Honesty a musical once
writhing in my breast
A seraph convoking legions,
Now wings out-stretched
I break my own treacherous heart
A fiend of Heaven a demon of Hell
The first fallen
Unto likeness absolved
The pennated breadth of twilight
Breeding familiarities contempt-
I have wearied myself, O God,
And I am consumed,
Resolute of inequity.
He that is down need not fear plucking,
Experience is the teacher of fools
And a gentle lie turneth away inquiry:
If the mountain will not go to Mahomet,
Mahomet must go to the mountain;
The nakedly wan mantic
Velleity to tear Christ's body
Malapert, before the ruddy shoal;
Society covers a multitude of sins
Within the penitent sanctity of
Heaven's holocaust, in which
No man can serve two masters-
Oh that I had wings like a dove!
I would fly away and be at rest
Eternal and absolute,
An angelic image of my shadowed self!.
ELEETE J MUIR
Jan 13, 2012
Jan 13, 2012 at 8:35 AM UTC
Pondering if I can be forgiven and free
Knowing I deserve to be drowned in the sea
Searching for something to assuage the pain
Hoping out of this something beautiful I gain.
Mistrusting of people around me everywhere
People only curse; not love, not care
Bewildered why I must go through life alone
With paralyzing silence and no friend to phone.
Yearning to break free of my destructive addictions
Rebuking Satan's false and furtive jurisdictions
I embrace the crucifixion and fall to my knee
Beholding my King who died to set me free.
Then kneeling at the cross, the sky breaks with dawn
My tears and my pain are surprisingly gone
As the Son bursts forth in glorious light
Obliterating the dark and malevolent night.
Jul 3, 2014
Jul 3, 2014 at 7:20 PM UTC
Being lonely isn’t a bad thing after all,
I get to sit and ponder about how much better I deserve,
Ponder about all the times I degraded myself,
Ponder about all the times I was blinded by my love for you,
That I find it disgusting and worst of all petrified to even think about.
It took me long enough to realise you leaving wasn’t the worst thing that could possibly happen,
All the times I spent crying by the window staring at the empty sky wondering if God’s watching,
Even questioning or to be precise rebuking God for stealing my loved one.
Then came the day I stopped doing so,
The day I realised he didn’t steal my loved one,
He did not steal my loved one because you-you were not my loved one,
You didn’t deserve to be.
I deserve better,
I deserve to be sunk in love- not drowned
I deserve to be touch by passionate hands and not itchy ones,
I deserve better,
and you,
you deserve nothing but sympathy,
my sympathy for you that you can’t love,
you can’t love like me,
you can’t feel like me,
you can’t be me.
You,
You deserve nothing.
Oct 17, 2016
Oct 17, 2016 at 1:03 PM UTC
A--lways willing to exhibit; a smile that graciously blesses.
M--aking sure to contribute; to the removal of all stresses.
A--dorable as she begins to awaken; so thankful for a new day.
K--indness was never forsaken; as she always remembers to pray.
A--wesome is the route she chose; and it is being gloriously redeemed.
<><><>
<><>
<>
I--ntimately she does compose; rebuking all who notoriously schemed.
M--anifesting her faith chances; to become her very best.
A--lluring as she glances; such a wondrous treasure chest.
N--oticed using her gifts; to encourage whomever she meets.
A--nointed spirit uplifts; peers & friends she greets.
<><><>
<><>
<>
N--ever too busy to hug; or embrace someone in need.
K--ept thoughts of a Persian rug; she goes where writing does lead.
O--asis of social concern; is so divinely respected.
S--acred fires within her burn; as she and GOD have connected.
A--ngel is in her season; greater success enters her hands.
Z--ealous of GOD for a Holy reason; aligning with His commands.
A--dapting to His Will and His Way; so as to find her purest joy.
N--ot able to be still on her born day; a vibrance nothing can destroy.
A--ppreciative of these 24 hours; honored by the Lord for her new year.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
cake,..cards,..ice cream & flowers; are nice,..but excited for GOD to make her pathway clear.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
))))))))---------------------------------------------------------------------------->>>
Feb 18, 2015
Feb 18, 2015 at 1:42 PM UTC
I walk the street,or travel in a bus,
When I talk or I move,or even restrict myself to my groove
You stare me down with that glare of yours
You make me fall with that scowl of yours
I am your daughter,I am your wife,I am your mother
Every woman who goes through the plight
But worry not,O hungry men!
I rise..
And will keep rising
Stare me however much
I still will rise
You revile me,beat me and bring me to dust
You reprimand me with your words and the way you make me work
I am your wife,your servant or the page boy who runs for every errand
I am the beggar who clings to you for alms
I am the street dog injured by your harms
But worry not,O unthinking human heart!
I rise..
And will keep rising
Higher than the skies
I still will rise
Chained and fettered,by your iron shackles
You pull at my wrist with a freedom you burgled
And with bullets that on me you showered
You scorn me with your hatred
You trod me as if I'm dust
I am a slave,I am a Jew
I am a fat man and I am black too
But worry not still,O discriminating fool!
I rise..
And will keep rising
To infinity and to forever
I still will rise
And rise will I
Above your rebuking glares
Brighter than the lights
Till my halo makes you blind..
Aug 3, 2016
Aug 3, 2016 at 10:52 AM UTC
"you can do what you want with my body"
she said with his hands at her throat
*"oh but you cannot touch what is spirit,"
"my life is not yours to be owned"*
all the time it has taken to speak up
and show you the woman I be
has been counted itself a commission
for everything you didn't seek
I will love you today and tomorrow
and look at the past without fear
rebuking the source of your anger
with all that I have while I'm here
see, my mother and father are with me
in Truth and in Spirit and flesh
and today I am stronger than ever
for you and for me and for them
Jan 8, 2017
Jan 8, 2017 at 11:03 PM UTC
Shadows of the past greet a fading patriarch sitting upon the fragile seat of the present.
A season void of exuberance leaving his “inner child” huddled beneath an undressed tree staring at the emptiness left by “disappointment”. Childhood abandoned upon paternity’s deathbed.
A season revealing that child seeking the comfort only “nostalgia” seems to offer. Moments of youth denied by the demands of adulthood.
Shadows of the future rebuking the bitterness the old heart embraces. Consuming sorrow from the cup of Grief.
A season revealing Tomorrow leaving her tears upon his withered cheek. Reflecting on the face of Love lost within a fog. Her poignant touch an old man is no longer able to feel.
A season realizing his unwillingness to change as Death performs last rites upon an old fleeting soul. Guided to the “other-side” by Eternity.
A child set free becoming acquainted with joyful simplicity.
Dec 24, 2011
Dec 24, 2011 at 10:24 AM UTC
I’m a witness of a love that is so pure and true
The same love without which there would be no me and you.
I’m a witness to the strength of its transforming power
Reviving and illuminating my darkest hour
I’m a witness of a touch that is killing, yet healing
Piercing through the flesh, it reaches the marrow with affection
Exploring intents and refining heart’s decisions
A touch is a touch but this one heals emotions
I’m a witness of a heart with large room for my weakness
Never accommodating sin but rebuking in meekness
Making available mercy in its realness
My heart is at rest cause His heart is my sweetness
I’m a witness of a savior whose love I cannot compare
He mend my broken heart and took away my despair
And now He protects me, even my every strand of hair.
He and I, what an insuperable pair.
I’m a witness of Jesus; the savior of me
Once on a cross He hung up high to set me free
And free I have been ever since.
As long as I live, on the Crossyde I’ll be.
Jun 6, 2014
Jun 6, 2014 at 5:04 AM UTC
Words
Words that are soft and gentle,
Caring, caressing, nurturing,
Praising, admiring, loving,
Encouraging, trusting, honoring ……..
Words imbibed at the mother’s breast,
Are soon lost – to survival tests.
Razor sharp replacing words
Learnt in the classroom of life can be
Acidic, biting, searing, scaring
Accusing, rebuking, flaying,
Soul destroying, scathing, abusing…
To unlearn and erase these rapier thrusts
Needs soul searching heroic impetus,
Come; let us undo this humanity’s curse
By taking a vow of Silence at Birth.
Indu
13/1/2008
Nov 23, 2012
Nov 23, 2012 at 10:21 PM UTC
A Demon was buffeting a woman,
this went on for many years;
She tried and tried to rebuke him,
through her multitude of tears.
-
He would constantly remind her,
of things that she'd done wrong;
Things of her days in the past,
it was like a really bad song.
-
Night after night,
and day after day;
He tortured her,
in so many ways.
-
She finally prayed to God,
to make the Demon stop;
But all God had to say was,
"Rebuking him's your job."
May 13, 2019
May 13, 2019 at 4:02 PM UTC
You call and say I'm aberrant
You don't wanna be stuck indoors deviating
I don't like your storms
I miss your floodwaters
I need an affectional sleet
I miss your earthquakes
Then you came with all your quaking
You must think I'm an aftershock
You must think I'm abnormal
Now I can't find the volcanism without you
Volcanism without you
Queer and two
Like the ingenue over slew
Subthalamic and cuckoo
And I'm dancing because you're undue
Twisters ain't nothing when I'm betraying with ya
Gay
Do you mind if I steal a permafrost?
I miss your downdrafts
Calamities are not safe
I don't like your cataclysms
And every homosexuality is failsafe
Then you came with all your frothing
You must think I'm a calvinism
It's time we had some infernos
Will you hold me tight and not go flaming
You don't wanna be stuck indoors backtracking
When I'm shaming with ya
Shaming with ya
When I'm with you, all I have is inappropriate thoughts
It's time we had some embarrassments
I'm rebuking 'til dawn
Na na na na gay
Na na gay
Like the tray over buffet
Na na na na gay
Like the valet over heyday
Transgender and ok
Got more halfway
May 8, 2019
May 8, 2019 at 5:59 PM UTC
Am in a rush though I still can say something
I always see you on a daily
You stand in the way of my eyes
Destructing my focus
Igniting my intentions
Rebuking my innocence
I hold my fingers crossed
To the day I had to meet with you
Your beauty never changes
And you have the best taste of design
Each day I look at your dress code
And am flattered by your collection
Then I wonder if you don’t get tired standing
All day, all weather.
I want to let you know that I will soon
Come back for you
As I stand in this corner of secrecy
I wonder if you could join me for dinner
Even a glass of wine would work
I won’t give you my address, because I know
Where exactly to find you
Mar 30, 2015
Mar 30, 2015 at 3:23 AM UTC
A little girl crying, a little girl lost,
Hush now keep quiet,
Our reputation it will cost.
A little girl laughing, no where to be found, do your chores and stay hidden, don't you dare make a sound.
A little girl beaten, a little girl bruised, relying only on herself, she's used to being used.
A grown woman erratic, her mind is far gone, they snicker and laugh, they don't ask her what's wrong.
A grown woman tired, her eyes all wept out, she's firm in her stance now, rebuking self doubt.
A grown woman angry, unseen for too long, she's sure of her place now, there's bass in her song.
Dec 5, 2024
Dec 5, 2024 at 6:38 AM UTC
All I have is U
U are not conditional
U are eternal
Faith
I would be fronting to say that
My Faith had never wavered
now I hold on as tight
as I can
to U
My Faith
no giving up
no excuses
drying My tears
rebuking My fears
holding on
to U
My Faith
-N LaTrice, Copyright 12/27/2013
Dec 27, 2013
Dec 27, 2013 at 7:38 PM UTC
I see you
Harboring pain behind the mold of a statue which cannot transform it's image
Head hanging low bearing the weight of the world on your shoulders just as Atlas
Rebuking affection trained by a shattered heart that once wasn't broken
Casting out normalcy by convincing yourself that calluses are easier hostes
Wearing black clouds for protection against offered companionship
Transforming your heart to beat with no emotion
I see you fighting a never ending battle with no survivors
Turning into a merciless cyclone taking out anyone in its way
Rebelling against souls surrounding you that desperately wish to love you
Through all the pain you wear as armour
I see you...
Jul 15, 2015
Jul 15, 2015 at 5:58 PM UTC
I wish I could cut my heart in half
to distract the inflammation inside
and ferociously dive
into the inner weeping
for the sake of rebuking sobriety itself
To braggingly behave.
I’m a hopeless woman
who keeps hacking into little things
that powerfully destroy her.
Aug 16, 2023
Aug 16, 2023 at 12:25 PM UTC
I like to leave my mark on my books.
I've gotten into the habit, as of late, that when my books are tangible
With pages and dog-ears and tears,
And little coffee stains and broken bindings,
That they also hold something else of me.
When I stopped writing my story,
I started scrawling responses to theirs
Everyone else's
In my books
Novels and poetry
Are scribbled with underlines and little comments,
Agreeing or acquiescing,
Rebutting or rebuking
Some author or character to whom I feel a particular connection.
I like to leave a bit of myself in my books
So that they might be no one else's
Not ever.
Compelled by feeling,
I scrawl my heart on the pages of my books
And make us the same.
Jun 3, 2013
Jun 3, 2013 at 6:47 PM UTC
I inch closer towards the heat of your breath
that whispers across my lips
its beckoning
giggling
tugging
mischievous
delicious
this heat
It is all that exists in this moment
I have to have it
I put a fingertip into this fire
I burn
And it’s strange that want to burn
I have to burn
We play
I touch your face
You press my waist
When my lips should meet your lips
I turn and let them taste the skin nearest
Ha-ha
I know you'll get back at me for that later
We dance
Away and forward
And then the play stops
I have to have you
And I know you feel it too
I feel the urgency in your touch
In the way your breathing has changed
In the way time and space have stopped
It’s just you and me
Us
Our lips
Waiting to touch, to combust
We hear no sound
We see nothing
And then you're mine
In your lips I find the scorching fire I have silently been pleading for
It burns me and I want more
It’s our lips making love
And we dance once more
Demanding, giving, rebuking, thanking
No conversation can surpass this
It is our masterpiece
You and me
Us
We have created this.
Sep 29, 2013
Sep 29, 2013 at 1:06 PM UTC
every single day I look up
at the sky for clouds
the nature’s open envelope
blessing serenity to the crowds
every single day I look up
for a thought in my celestial realm
for brief seconds I develop
emotions that overwhelm
one such day I stopped looking
for chaos in time
estranging my friends’ rebuking
like change of words in a rhyme
one such day I stopped looking
to reach people around me
tantamount to fluking
the belief in thee
Aug 4, 2021
Aug 4, 2021 at 11:00 PM UTC
Unholy and vile tongue, what ill conceived words do you speak. Rebuking the gift of peace and choking out the words of love. Rejection of truth and humility, in favor of pomp and fanfare. Desirous of accolades instead of sacrifice. Wishing to be exalted instead of giving praise. Unholy a thing you are filled with poison. Oh how you do wound, giving credence to the darkest speech. Oh tongue, speak not your blasphemy's .
Jan 13, 2016
Jan 13, 2016 at 10:57 PM UTC
Gaining faith it's the life to adapt, situation's
Waiting for the way I react praying and fighting that my angers not trapped,
Doubts trying but they won't succeed,
I'm rebuking that and it's guaranteed,
This is more then just poetry,
Stacking my plate but this is more than just groceries,
We hungry for this word ain't no stopping this energy,
Forgiving my enemies ain't no time for no memories,
I am more then just a Christian
this is more then just a religion,
More like a addiction that's covered in ambition,
Nov 2, 2016
Nov 2, 2016 at 4:28 PM UTC
The floods are violently rising
against the glory
The clouds of adverse winds
blowing war in boom
All hope perishing in perilous
hopelessness
Rising in glory the King of kings
who is mightier than the voice
of many waters
Rebuking the enemies, swallowing them in victory as my soul magnifying Him who is more than sufficient!
The triumphant King rides in victory on the swirling flaming contours of the world gyrating circles.
Praise the triumphant King of glory my soul and forget not not His greatness which tamed and put to rout all adverse winds.
Magnify the immortal God O my soul with all within and without walls of my existence.
Praise Him!
Praise Him in His power!
Praise Him in the praise!
Apr 19, 2019
Apr 19, 2019 at 3:19 AM UTC
My mind has been waking me up
at 3:00 in the morning just to
whisper lovingly that
I am not enough.
She/I/It has been showing me
all the lovely art that I've begun
that has ended up orphaned in dead
alleys all along the way.
Everyday, so many times in an hour
my mind reminds of the
tasks undone, the not ok, the
loose ends, perilous and meaningful.
I have been steadily rebuking this mind,
of mine, with the real, with the food,
with the phone, with the Old Navy.
I do a little work and say,
See, it will pass, we will not be in
trouble.
But we are in trouble, me and my mind,
here at the hearth, the home that we've found,
the babies sleeping, all the riches tucked in,
they dreaming cleaner dreams than I have
in a very long time.
My mind has stopped tonight, at this 3 a.m. waking,
at this awakening to simply and finally
get to really say what it has been saying
for maybe this whole life --
That I am not enough,
And it is not a phrase to purge of myself in therapy,
a sympathetic and disbelieving eye
allowing that feeling passage.
It is a stone to hold.
It is true. And it is
the only place to begin.
Aug 29, 2015
Aug 29, 2015 at 8:13 AM UTC