The river journeys on,
to the depths of the seas.
Birds of yonder places and the
reeds, bow their heads, urging
her to pursue her dreams.
The river travels to the seas,
local fishermen stood on her
path, sending their wishes to
the ocean.
Days became months, months
became years, as she listened
attentively like a mother
listens to her kids.
The river journeys on to the
seas, rocks on her path, the
burdens of others on her heart;
Unabatedly running her course,
to kiss the dream.
- A. G. McDaniels

Now high and dry, well away from
***** being kicked, orders being fired by
Sergeants in habits and the melancholy of misled minds,
I sit alone on the desk which floats supreme over life's listless limits.

A momentary meander allows for ripe reflection,
Its sharp spasm hampering heavy hands.
Abandoning the tangle of thoughts,
A loose leaf was plucked from the ream,
The quill now dipped in the bobbing black bottle.

Smudges and streaks stroke the initial lines,
Blotted out in choked coughs.
A quickening of the rapid's pace cleared the throat,
Allowing the quill to quell the heart's hinderance.
Stanzas threaded unabatedly over man's baseness on the blanched leaf.

The nightmare nine-metre vomiting verge approached fast.
I clinched the closing couplet
Afore etching the endangered ink on the etherised skin of my hand.
Holding on fiercely now to the desk which destroyed my drudgery,
Ready now to have my lungs filled to the brim with society’s sap.

Prior to the old soul taking its final breath,
Two bleeding and blessed eyes cast down to the bottom of the aquatic monster
Witnessed the immortality of black ink intact
Lifting up its lover leaf
Into the high heavens above,
Where man and rust cannot corrupt.

My life-long journey I made
to the furthest edge
of experience--in patience
and humility-- old age
begins to tell but no message
of understanding or joy
has greeted me in my passage
I'm far from being enriched
what's before me
is dim and desolate--
the field is parched
the trees are starved
the sea is tideless
the sky is charcoal-black
birds have taken flight
new havens to locate
they would never come back

there's nothing here
for an old man to celebrate
but to sigh and regret--

there's not the slightest flicker
of light in the stealthy night
there's no moon awaiting
nor a single star in sight-

I feel the utter emptiness
my heart begins to cry
my feet are frozen in numbness
as the bitter winds unabatedly blow by.

Blessed  with matchlessly magical Parents,
Their supremely good, serenely happy raising,
design our thought processes.
Their loving, comforting storytelling skills,
leave indelible footprints  and heartprints.
Thankyou God for this Benedictory Love!!!

Blessed with a bombastic Brother,
self-styled natural, perennial itinerant,
Sentinel of sisters life-long.
Sentiments flow unabatedly,
for our illustrious, boisterous beloved younger.
Thankyou God for this Blissful Love!!!

Blessed with delicate darling Sister,
who wears expressions benignant perpetually.
Wiitty, gritty, easy-going habitually.
Evident protected favourite of all surely.
Fondest moments born in her queenly company.
Thankyou God for this Harmonious Love!!!

Blessed with solicitous Husband,
His silent romanticism, macho protective ways,
smoothen tumultuous paths.
Terribly correct and sober better half,
Brokers peace, plots life's happiness graph.
Thankyou God for this Angelic  Love!!!

Blessed with an endearing Child,
Whose arrival, auspicious, momentous and miraculous, Rearing the divine and sublime born,
definitely, a definition for the guardians.
Our child, our panacea, promise of better tomorrows.
Thankyou God for this Supreme Love!!!

In between a life of anguish and fleeting bliss, praying and whining persisted unabatedly.