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it is said that
a prophet finds no honor
in his own country

hard truths
boldly spoken
are received as a
wretched cacophony
threatening to melt
the caked wax
blocking the closed
intolerant ears of
intransigence

Madiba
once found no
personhood
in his homeland

his people driven
from their land
by Voortrekkers

snortling Boers
gobbling the land
uprooting native
people from villages
they had occupied
since the dawn
of time

spilling Zulu blood
into roiling rivers
of conquest

meeting peaceful
petitions of the
aggrieved with
Sharpsville bullets
splattering
the blood of
innocents onto
hardscrabble roads

redressing crimes
against the victims
by corralling them into
denuded Bantustans
where rivers do not
flow, grass never grows,
game cannot graze;
only the dust doth blow

riddling the captives
with torments of
Transvaal Apartheid,
mocking the speakers
of mother tongues with
the fained eloquence
of bastardized Afrikaans

the dominion of the
oppressors, sanctioned
and affirmed by exiling
a people from their land,
outlawing their language,
dividing the nations into
a fallacy of separate
destinies where a forgetful
history blessed with amnesia
will anoint the conquerors
with the spoils of abundance
stolen from the vanquished

Madiba spoke of these things
and was awarded a prison
cell for twenty seven years

but the hostages of
a conquerors justice
remained destined
to be freed by the arrival
of an accepted truth
set free by the very words
prophetically spoken

prisons cannot contain truth
steel bars cannot imprison
the idea of divine justice

it slips through the smallest openings
like a wafting fragrance of the first day of spring

it saws away at the rust strewn steel bars
like the surest movement of a master carpenter’s arm

it melts the thickest links of iron chains
in the fiery forges that burn in the hearts
of all freedom loving people

the truth of justice
is born and takes flight
on the wings of history
covering the globes
cardinal ordinates

nesting in the most
humble villages
and mean estates
on God’s good earth

truth and reconciliation
can never be separated
planted together to grow
healthy nations and
communities of
trust and restoration

Madiba, you always
found honor with
the salt of the earth
the children of light
who seek to dispel
the darkness of
acrimony and
*******

we continue to
walk your way
guided by your
prophetic visions
we take the first steps
asking liberators to join
with oppressors, pairing
in a magnanimous walk
along wholesome pathways
perceiving the buena vistas
of reconciled communities
firmly established
on foundations
of peace, equality
and justice for all citizens

I caught a fleeting glimpse of Madiba
as he rolled by in the Canyon of Heros
showered under a June blizzard of confetti
and a resounding acclimation of love.

I was a plebe inhabiting a lower floor
Broadway office, yet my station blessedly
brought me closer to Madiba.  As he passed
I was moved by his miraculous smile and felt
the colossal reverberations of his waving arm
triumphantly hailing the sweet freedom of
liberation all hostages of feigned justice
exude in the vindication of divine justice
enraptured in the joy of affirmed truth.

Dearest Madiba
we are enriched
and blessed for
the time you walked
among us.  

You fought
the good fight
my brother.

Rest easy
for we shall resume
the climb to
the next mountaintop.

Well done Madiba
Godspeed

Rolihlahla “Nelson” Mandela
7/18/18 - 12/5/13

Ladysmith Black Mombazo
How Long

Oakland
12/6/13
jbm
Nat Lipstadt Jun 2014
This is the game, set and matching end-piece to what is known as:

http://hellopoetry.com/poem/385266/poetry-round-find-your-self-within/

by way of an introduction....

T'is season to move forward,
back to old acquaintances renewed,
sand, water and salty sun,
three lifelong friends who,
Auld Lang Syne,
never ever forget me

I get drunk on their eternity,
their celestial beauty,
and they, upon my tarnished earthly being,
muse and are bemused

unreservedly and never judgingly,
share shards of inspiration unstintingly,
we share, never measuring
this captain's humanity, his human efficacy,
by mystical formulae of reads or hearts

grains of sand, water wave droplets and sun rays,
and his beloved words, derived there from,
all only know one measure...
immeasurable

http://hellopoetry.com/poem/699991/adieu-my-crew-my-crew/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Pilgrimage (Reunion)


at last to begin,
to begin the 'at last,'
this reunion occurs
this first day of June
where on my
body's flesh colored calendar,
X red-marked,
deeper than any real cut of despair


this morn, leave for familiar parts,
embarking 100 steps to that
Adirondack chair,
my name, my self,
(oh god at long last)
so often, long lovingly
revealed unto you


the garden's sundial welcomes me,
Prince, Guardian, of the gate to the green,
the green steppe way to bay and beach,
a brief song of "ring around the irises,"
blooming around him,
he issues,
to celebrate his own glory recalled,
his own purpled prosed long ago one ecrivez'd,
by having the third mate
ring the greened worn,
bronzed ship bell
upon conclusion of
his raising of the gate


shorts and T white hair shirt,
costume de rigueur
of this Peconic pilgrimage,
turban and baseball uncapped,
stepping humbly
toward that worn wood throne
where carved are
the initials of
my poetic friends,
and his vast modest,
Concordia of poetic essays


Those odd disordered
collection of aleph bets
that have been prepared for this hour,
are sun dappled,
breeze caressed,
wave watched,
a fresh redressing after a
dum hiems,
a long dark winter


all rise up welcoming with voices
tremulous yet oratory,
sing with a love so spectacular ,
Handel's Messiah Hallelujah Chorus,
au naturel


the armies of ants declare this a
Truce Day,
parading before me in formation,
the rabbits race
in elegant uniforms,
white tailed bemedaled, dress grays,
announcing their  showoff arrival
with a new across-the-lawn
land speed record


the dear **** deer,
familiar families and generational,
look upon this human and
grumble while chewing our shrubbery,
an act of sherwooded lawn high robbery
but perforce acknowledging our entrance,
by uttering a Balaam blessing/curse,
a neutralized
"****, they're back"


the seagulls on the dock,
sovereign state observers from
Montauk and the far island city,
sent by the mother winds superior,
observers and reporters to nature everywhere,
Summer Season of Man Has Begun


a few white wakes disturb the water's composure,
the early low arc'd sun has not peaked in strength,
at 10:00am, the temp just breaches 60 Fahrenheit,
the beach sand untrod, no unlasting human impressions,
no children's red pails yet to them decorate,
amidst the sea life's detritus and smooth licked pebbles


Enough.


each tree ring and grass blade demands a verse,
an all my own tributary accolade,
this too much to accommodate


a year ago I issued an invitation,
do so again for my word is my bond
my responsibilities, my *******,


there are chairs for all
on my righted round and my motet left,
here, there are
no Americans,
no Canadians,
no Aussies or Brits,
or Indians and Fillipinos,
no African or Asians present,
East nor West,
None Invited here,
Only Poets


even those hardy pioneer
West Coasters, a proud lot,
and my Southern family drawling,
and perhaps lessening the mourning
just a touch, a minute modicum,
all sit quiet in the admixture
of poets come to celebrate
the blessing to have been tasked,
to write from and of places we visit
in the cerebral,
and to imbibe each other's words


Three Hundred and Sixty Four Days ago,
I wrote :

We sit together in spirit, if not in body,
You join me in the Poet's Nook,
A few frayed and weathered Adirondack chairs
Overlooking the Peconic Bay,
Where inspiration glazes over the water,
And we drown happily in a sea of words...

I am exhausted.
So many gems (poets)
to decorate
My body, my soul

I must stop here,
So many of you have reached out,
none of you overlooked.

Overwhelmed, let us sit together now
And celebrate the silence that comes after the
Gasp, the sigh, that the words have taken from
Our selves, from within.

Once again, in your debt


Again,
I await your beckoning wave of hello,
greet you in your mellifluous native tongue,
iced drinks at the ready,
the opening ceremony already started,
when all are seats taken
we commence officially,
with a blessed

*"Now, let us begin"
See the banner photo...paying off the promissory notes owed to myself
Homunculus Jul 2016
Disdain for
Traditional forms,

A sense of
Detached irony,

Self-reflexivity,
Expressed as a

Flagrant,
Meta-textual
Awareness,
                                        ­        

                                          adventurous
                                          typography,
                                              

                ­                                                     that defies
                                                                ­     the common
                                                          ­           relational schemes
                                                         ­            between text
                                                                ­     and margin



The juxtaposition
Of words
Governed by
Syllabic content,

and
       freed
                from
                         the
                               burden
                                            of
                                               syntactical
                                                     ­             strictures

Meanings
Changed
Through
Inversion

(now read it upside down)

                                                         ­  
                                                             ­       the
                                                                ­    poem
                                                                ­    recites
                                                                ­    itself


Paralyzed truth
Mimics brave fear,
Abdicating censure, and
Redressing allusion,
                                                       ­       

                                                               Liberation
                                                                abounds
                                                                in the trough
                                                                of a sine wave
postmodernism and whatnot
WS Warner Aug 2016
Existential ache,
Visceral and immediate
Occludes all reason,
A fated Solitude.
The myth of dearth,
In prose retold
Retaining fictive resolve,
Tacitly confessed.
Ineluctable Torpor
Petitions my
Ardent supplications.
Present,
Beckoned in the dulcet
Confluence —
Beauty and affliction
Freshets of silence,
Redressing the fallow
Surface of my soul.

© 2016 W. S. Warner
Happynessa May 2016
New born babies apparently spend most
Of their time doing nothing ,just being

Their parents on the other hand are likely
To be in a mad whirlwind of non-stop doing

Most of us only go into Being mode on holiday
It usually takes a few days for us to wind down

We hardly ever have the time to just be ourselves
Mindfulness is a way of redressing the imbalance

You can gently retrain your mind to accept just Being
Your mind needs to rest as well as work ,try just being
My work for this week is
Just being ***
George Krokos Oct 2010
O rain, tear-like drops of almighty nature
whenever you come falling down
the earth tries to soak up the moisture
as if it were all willing to drown.

In times of need you are a blessing
and all the land cries out for thee
to restore life that you’re possessing
helping to grow fruit as on a tree.

The sun can not really have it all its own way
and hides behind clouds with you in store
although its light is dimmed part or all of the day
what you have to give then is required more.

The waters of life that fall down with a shower
and flow through the land in many streams
have the grace to transform a seed into a flower
whose nectar bees gather and health esteems.

It’s only when you overflow your boundary
and come falling down as if in a rage
you do more harm than good being contrary
to what is expected and don’t assuage.

With your two associates the lightning and thunder
and your other cohort the wind blowing strong
you try to subdue or intimidate everything thereunder
by wreaking havoc as if redressing some wrong.

It’s very fortunate for us that this doesn’t happen too often
and despite all the things which go on each day
I notice the ground, air and the minds of people do soften
after having come and gone and spent your play.

O rain, you are only just one of the forces of almighty nature
and if employed in season or need can draw no blood
but deployed haphazardly will bring down any proud stature
sweeping away all before you when rushing in a flood.
Private Collection - written in 2002
Ellie Sutton Jul 2020
Nurses bursaries scrapped
Wages capped
Students unpaid, betrayed
By a stratified social system
That ***** on the helpless and the selfless
"Gratitude" is expressed
Not by redressing the balance
But with a clap
Followed by a stab in the back:
Oh, snap.

We're sick of your hollow applause: pause
Rewind your mind three years
To when you jeered
And blocked their cause with a cheer:
Tell me, is your conscience clear?

And when we think
You can't sink any lower
You throw a fresh blow:
Increase front line pay
But decline the same for our warriors in blue
Who saved your **** neck on that ICU

And the saddest part
Of this sorry story, Tory
Is we're outraged and dismayed
At the disdain you've displayed
But amazed? No.
Your track record is traceable
Applause a mere mask
Tasked with shielding years of austerity
That's crippled our NHS
With alarming prosperity

This proverbial *******
Will linger
In the memories of those who chose
A career of care
Over privilege and flair
Sander Jun 2014
Fell so down I have
But the ground never showed itself.
Waiting for it,
Demanding it,
Lusting for it.
How down could I had fell?
Such a foolish thing to think of...
The pride just slapped me
"Your shalt never touch the ground" it shouts.
"Nothing deserves anything but you. Who lied to you to go so down?"
"There you might sacrifice your sorry *** for the sake of love, principle or an idea."
"But from down there you are nothing."
And it was right.
Nothing but my dramatic **** brought me here.
So, now what?
Let's just laugh!
A war  of redressing starts with a good laugh.
Chris Apr 2014
living in places with no real faces
nothing but the pavement and similar races
houses cloud the judgment and create such a facade
that no one man can see straight at what glares obviously
at how this town really is

living in places with picket fences and fake smiles
nothing but the pavement and the smell of lawns waning
houses cloud what really lies underneath all these people
that they are all broken china dolls

living in places that are pieced together by the backbone
nothing but pavement and sweat trying to impress
houses cloud opinions making them constantly redress
tired of redressing i live with a plan to strive away from this place.
caja Feb 2017
(i only dream of imps)
sweaty, high-handed, they reek of brandy
although i know what they desire i bury my fists in stiff pockets
all the simple things i believe to be made up of are really technicolor and abstruse
(i only dream of this)
every night they spit viruses down my throat
bite jibes in my deepest cushiony parts
chew gold rings like stale cheerios
swathing me
in sticky mud-like paint
thin and sour
(i only dream of hell)
grafted unholiness in pits of ink
tumultuous
sore heat seething from flowery bits
greedy imp hands handling soft pillow bodies
acid breath inflating pink fleshy lungs like round dollar store balloons
(i rarely dream of clouds)
when i do they are rotting clumps of loose soil
left untended by my perverse imps
holding petals to their fever pitted cores
redressing me in noxious defamation
(i'll dream again soon)
hi im alive and slowly crawling out of one of the worst cases of writer's block ive ever had in my life, expect more garbage soon
nivek Oct 2016
This being the time of the shrivelling
colour change and discard
for trees bedding down for hibernation
and Man shedding and redressing in
thicker clothing. Spinning away
from the Sun in crazy abandon
like Whirling Dervishes lost in the dance.
The footfall of folk quickening as they walk
familiar pathways in ever dimming light.
We can smell the times are here for lighting
fires and for cold on the skin like plucked
chicken, to ***** us into acceptance of
the coming of Winter, once again arriving
on our doorsteps .
wichitarick May 2022
Black Room
In the Black room with walls of black curtains when my mind was vacation

Starlings became personal darlings, Dark eyes gather no moonbeams

Holding back all daylight, Dark blocks the vision like mental images in remission

Stuck in this Pace with a mysterious shadow, where Grey would seem bright no glow on the edges

You cried NO ropes could hold you, NO ONE would scold you, still left in the darkness with a mind and body in detention

Bought the ticket, covered all windows, Create a sad time putting my own mind on vacation

        " As I walked out, felt my own need just beginning"

Create a new Line, unknown waiting, for a lost train, restless withering

Ghosts unseen, traces of  those faces hide from themselves, Shadows outside always creeping

Party with a rough crew, her smile a hint of kindness in the dark night

Old wounds left open, never forgotten, like scary traces where the shadows talk to themselves

Return to a jungle mindless dark eye, time for redressing open new windows, unfriending Starlings

Letting light into the dark, creates new shadows that are no longer afraid of themselves. R.C.
From the song WHITE ROOM by Cream......
Followed thoughts of the song ,but where we or I left in darkness not knowing we NEED light to get out, be it  mentally or with addiction so followed my own path with addiction.we need light to make shadows. "Peace Takes Practice"   Thank you for reading, your comments are helpful. Rick
Swerving is my life.
To myself I keep it.
Jesus is my bended ear.
My bleeding he cauterizes.
I stay away from main arteries.
Both hands on the wheel.
I'm blind at night in the rain.
Yet I drive.
One night I will hit every artery.
And Jesus will look away.
To myself I will always keep it,
of course but...
Time to step away from artificial healing.
Jesus will continue to bandage me.
To Him I must look like a patchwork quilt.
You can't save the world when you yourself need saving.
The swerving needs to stop so all of my scars can heal.
Reopening old wounds seemed to be my thing.
I keep that to myself.
Jesus will one day tire of dressing and redressing my same old wounds.
And I will be one mess of a patchwork quilt.




written by me... ..
Dasonofgod Dec 2021
In the beginning
The earth was perfect
Lucifer rebelled
Satan,he became
Satan,the devil,made man sinned
The earth, formless it turned
The great light was put out
Total darkness,enthroned
Man kills man; man eats man
Man steals man; man cheats man

The merciful God looks down
Ready to redeem
Redeeming the world
Adam the dust,died and buried
Our last Adam,the product of light
The second in triune God
Created to safe.

Our saviour;our redeemer
Born to redress
Redressing the world
Our light,one great beam
Jesus lights the world
Messiah conquers the darkness

Brethren!
Have Jesus,have saviour
Have Messiah,have salt
Keep Jesus, shame darkness
Redeem your glory
Keep eternal life,                          
Through eternal light
Jesus,our light!   
Lights the world .
John Dunn Oct 2021
May the Lord accept this sacrifice
For the praise and glory of his name
For our good and the good of all rice

Like white on wedding ****** to vice
Gripped to throw by grooming girls for shame
May the Lord accept this sacrifice

Given for a gift to break the ice
Thinly on returning line with game
For our good and the good of all rice

To treat the shot with honour to spice
Calling up out dashing hope in blame
May the Lord accept this sacrifice

Of murdered meat to offer by slice
Redressing for the hand given aim
For our good and the good of all rice

Fried to serve with steaming chick to dice
In pieces to set the match aflame
May the Lord accept this sacrifice
For our good and the good of all rice

— The End —