Reeling

It seems the earth is round
So I can only daily spin
About this dizzying circle
Chained to a loafer’s blistered life.

It seems the sun hangs still
So my hot orbiting thoughts
May dart and roast and swirl
Around my static burning soul.

Light beats sound I hear
So I can only crawl unheard
Light-years far behind the snails
Till tomorrow loses me.

See, God created vying seeds
So I get splintered on my way to birth,
Crushed up by the very soil
That tends some others into life.

Then tomorrow finds me here
Nibbling these same bitter parts
Of God’s one juicy compound fruit
And drowning in my cup’s stern storm.

Just how do I know you care?

Do you see no shame in sightlessness
As keeps me groping all life long,
As makes me sow my seeds on rock
And makes me reel where others dance?

Do you see no need to grieve, to mourn
The fragrant flower I could have been,
The lofty heights I could have known,
The glowing star I could have turned?

I know you see and feel all things!

Yet tomorrow comes to me
Bearing these same glowing coals
That try me sorely till I die.
When, Lord, will you be through with me?

Joe Ifah
(Written August 5 1988)