Inspiring Words for Ambitious Hearts
A collection of inspirational poems
(The Free Edition for Africans Only)
By
Ayo Morakinyo
Inspiring Words for Ambitious Hearts
The For-Africans-Only Edition
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Cover Photo by Nic Martel
ayomorakinyo@aol.com
© March 2013 Ayo Morakinyo
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and has been published for the benefit of Africans who are unable to own copies of their own.
If you are an African reader capable of purchasing a copy or simply not of African origin, kindly refer to the link on the previous page. The author would truly appreciate your decision to shun dishonesty and buy your own copy.
All commercial & reproduction rights fully reserved.
This edition of Inspiring Words for Ambitious Hearts may not be reproduced by photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the author. However, it may be freely distributed in whole and without any commercial or other similar profiting objective from one reader to another, provided they are both of African origin.
First Published in January 2013 at Amazon’s CreateSpace
Second Publication in February 2013 at Kindle
For my friend Fasdel
A friend who competed like “a foe”
A friend who stuck closer than a blood brother
Contents
Inborn Royalty 6
Why We’ve Come 7
Happy Days, Holidays 9
Something about Everyone 10
Christmas Awaits Us at Home 11
Growing in Wisdom 12
The Curse of Oversleeping 13
Just Do It 14
Never Retire 15
Ode to Bamidele Fasanmi 16
Delivered 19
Friends 20
Trusting God to Lead 21
Reason for Being Here 23
The Race 24
Keep the Fire Burning 25
INBORN ROYALTY
Again, I commence a journey of thoughts
Reflections of the past diffuse into the clouds in my mind
Getting here has cost more than a widow’s dime
Here is the home of wisdom fuzzed with golden rime
The thirst for knowledge burns upon the floor of my heart
An urge for change arises with fumes of combustion
It releases a smoke of revolution into how I think
Emitting a hidden pressure and forging a behavioural kink
As if possessed by a bunch of humming vanished monks
I battle cowardice and struggle to make my focus still
But suddenly, I fall into a sleep and see mystic daydreams within
I see glimpses of robed princes wallowing in royal streams
In the wilderness of my softly hardened heart
Amidst masquerades of regrets and the tears that follow them
A bright light comes aglow at my cloudy mind’s rear
And in the noble garments of a distinguished royalty, I finally appear
WHY WE’VE COME
Days of struggle
Nights of study
Laughs of a tormentor
Cries of a survivor
Life has not been like peaches and cream
But we have come a long way
Our eyes are heavy
Our breaths, unsteady
Gloomy thoughts loom in quivering minds
The guts grumble and tired butts diffuse pungent farts
Life has not been like a ride in a tailored Bentley
But friends, we have come a long way
We are visionaries, who once lived among the myopic
We are intellectuals, who have dined among learned imbeciles
Once, we grew weak in such atmospheres devoid of vision
We almost lost our bearing to wanderlust and dire illusions
Life has not been a Christmas package from FedEx
But we’ve come a long way
Thieves have burgled the poor man’s house
Death has gotten its grip on the lives of kingly heirs
We hear that no man is safe and no place is a haven
We see that no one will save, no human salvation is enduring
Life has not been without angered storms
Why have we come thus far?
We have run when the fear within chased us
We have fallen when others’ doubts swallowed our faith
The past of our lives are not tales funny enough to tell
But the omen of the future says better stories will emerge
Our lives do not comprise sweet lullabies and romantic stories
Why have we come thus far?
Sliced lemony citruses bring sourness upon the tongue
But sweet lemonade shakes are made from the same
Peeled herbs smell crudely and taste like poisonous potions
But many bitter herbs have quenched the deadliest of poisons
By inner strength, we must destroy fear and prevail without
That’s why we’ve come thus far
HAPPY DAYS, HOLIDAYS
Hurray! It’s final Friday again
Hurry friends! Let’s have a special bargain
Who will visit who on Christmas day?
Who will send who gifts on Boxing Day?
Missing friends is not a friendly feeling
Who and who will dispel this feeling?
Santa Claus has promised to send a wonderful gift
Yuletide will remind us of heaven’s exceptional gift
Sure, we’ll miss the sight of a crowded assembly!
Yes, we’ll miss the Angelus bells that jingle melodiously!
Though we’ll keep Mrs. Pollifax’ stern look in the crux of our nostalgia
We’ll doubtless miss the cat that sits on Father Tackle’s saggy hat
Ice cream melts down their cones as we assemble ahead of holidays
The time keeper has rung the bell for the gathering before holidays
We run speedily and excitedly in the spirit of final school days
Because tomorrow’s daylight will awake us into the best of happy days
SOMETHING ABOUT EVERYONE
Everyone smiles at the sight of smiles
Everyone laughs that unlicensed laugh
Everyone jokes
Everyone seems hilariously hilarious
Everyone frowns with fretful freckles
Everyone cries like chirping crickets
Everyone grieves
Everyone feels emotionally emotive
Everyone lacks lacklustre lavishness
Everyone minds wonderful wishes
Everyone tries
Everyone has desirable desires
Everyone shouts aloud at times
Everyone strays away sometimes
Everyone slips
Everyone feels some pressure in a while
But everyone gets to soar one day in style
And everyone suddenly falls away with pain in time
So everyone needs everyone’s assistance
CHRISTMAS AWAITS US AT HOME
Can you feel it?
It’s in the fresh morning air
Can you see it?
It’s written all over nature
Yuletide is here again
Seasonal greetings I hear again
The chickens cluck a noisy
melody
They eat more grains and lay many eggs
The turkeys too make a sensational tune
“We want more chops”, I hear them protesting
And I imagine their laps in risotto and barbecue made surplus
With the licking of both lips, I give them a resounding applause
It’s the season of Merry Noel
It’s time for good tidings to come easily
God came down and dwelled with us as Christ
We reached unto him and found truth in His ways
God sent His word and the word became flesh
Let’s all rejoice for our salvation is made fresh
As the last New Year unfolded, we ran away
In planes and buses and buzzing water boats
We made our ways beyond the roots of our present lives
But at another Christmas, we gather again at family reunions
From wherever we are, we run to the rendezvous called home
‘cos no matter where life sends us, Christmas awaits us at home
GROWING IN WISDOM
Without warning
He makes a final choice
After ignoring many tempting voices
He sits inside the shadow of a bent tree and stares around
He sees the aged and olden
Drinking waters of long pauses
Ruminating over their logs of losses
Like cheated hens whose eggs are all found wanting
They know the untold truths
They know the secrets of costly possessions
With unforced calms, they make silent confessions
Times without number
They discuss their aloneness and he asks them
If complaining about something will ever get it solved
If gossiping about others will create a change in the society
Vanity is a tempting rot, they tell him
Chase all your dreams while you are yet a youth
Tomorrow will come with old age and lowered strength
Follow the path of knowledge, grow in true wisdom and right our wrongs
THE CURSE OF OVERSLEEPING
She awoke while the time was away
She had slept till the time abated
She grew fearful and full of shame
For there was much to attain
The next night she slept again
On a crooked bed in the cranny of a dark arcade
She cared for light to awake her into another day
And made no efforts to make her body wake itself up
She awoke the next morning
Yawning with lips agape in broad daylight
She awoke before the time could run away
And planned her day under the white sky’s gaze
Work brought her more gain that day
Early rising gave her much time to play
She had no cause to be ashamed or afraid
For she had conquered the curse of oversleeping
JUST DO IT
If it’s locked up in your heart, open it up
If it’s hooked up in your mind, let it down
If it’s enslaved in your head, let it loose
Don’t mistake a raw idea for a ridiculous jargon
No first idea appears better than a rickety lifeless wagon
If it’s an intention, pen it down
Don’t just imprison it in your brain
Don’t abort your brainchildren with doubts
They become stillborn when you delay their bringing forth
And you will not be rewarded for something you never brought forth
You won’t receive medals for having good intentions
You won’t be awarded for just thinking good ideas
No one thanks the turtle for having a defending shell
No one cares until they see the output of your incubation
It’s what you show as a product that attracts attention
So, don’t let your idea die in you
No, don’t kill it with the doubts within
Let it grow continually and come forth
Let your ideas break forth through positive actions
Refine your ideas and convert them into your daily actions
NEVER RETIRE
You are too tired to try again
Yes, everything you know how to do
Has been done again and again
But there are things you haven’t done
They are the things you do not know
Friend, this is no place to stop
This is no point to retreat
This is where you need to believe
If no one does, only you can
Time loves running out
So get yourself up
And put your best effort in
Get ready for the upcoming
And recharge your mind
Build a bridge where there’s a river
Make a ladder where there’s a wall
Create time where there’s none
And take a rest for a while
But never retire a mile!
ODE TO FASANMI BAMIDELE
My friend,
I beseech you with a few words
Words that make no sense to poor minds
I remind you of who you are
A man who is “instrumented” by God
Instrumented to install rare kings
I write you lines Bamidele
Lines that seem ordinary to the carnal mind
But contain the resonant expressions you understand
Buddy,
Be all you can but never forget God
Trust in the one who remains the source of our breathe
Go any height you desire but never become proud
Stand on the springboard called humility
Achieve anything you can imagine but always remember service
See service as a means of solving your own problems
Serve God, serve the nation and serve your neighbours
Serve the land with the word of truth
And serve humanity with the purpose of your life
Chum,
I am not your mentor,
I only reiterate the ethics of good living
I am not your teacher,
I only hope to edify
I am not wiser,
I only repeat the words you’ve heard wise men say
These are not words you haven’t heard before
They are not insights you haven’t thought before
They are not truths you haven’t read before
They are just all that you have been doing
Son of man,
I speak to you as a radio
I interrupt your thoughts with this announcement
God is all that matters, everything fades away
Our achievements, our pleasures and our glories
No man can repay you for what you do for God
Only He can truly reward His men
And if God be for you,
Who is he that can stand against you?
Nobody, except yourself
Carry your dreams carefully
Share them selectively
Nurture them properly
And keep achieving them gradually
Believe Fasdel, believe!
We will see at the top!
Zig Zigglar was not drunk when he said so
DELIVERED
He was innocently biased
And open to just one kind of life
He was programmed for one environment
And had never seen the other side of life
His feelings were never abused
Until he reached the valley of baptising corruption
As he trekked onwards
In the midst of other trekkers
A new feeling came upon his vulnerab
le heart
And his eyes opened to what he had never seen before
Opposition rose against him and tension crawled upon him
But the wind of hope blew a response to his inner requests
He grew strange to himself
He lost touch with who he used to be
And knew strength in the presence of turmoil
He looked back and considered himself lucky
For while many had fallen upon the waiting earth
He had been delivered in the body, within the soul and upon the spirit
FRIENDS
Friends…
Treasures of a heart that’s without the fruit of loneliness
They give feelings of specialty and importance to their beloved
They bring you love and the honour of a cherished creature
And they offer you confidence and sweet encouragement
Friends...
Choose them wisely and enjoy the merits
Pick them blindly and bear bad fruits
You are who your friends really are
They reflect your own deepest character
And influence how you live your life
Friends…
They are persons with whom you share many secrets
And poke indecent fun and sarcasm
Behind folded window blinds and closed wooden doors
You share stories and tales away from other ears
Because they are the ones for whom such were reserved
Friends...
They are where you want to go
They know what you want to do
You stay where they want to stay
They are your purest reflection
Choose your friends with wisdom
TRUSTING GOD TO LEAD
There are times when we struggle with ourselves and God
We quote scriptures in our own words to support what we want
At such times, it is true that we already have our ways
We solve the arithmetic and then approach God for a solution
Pretence; fake faith; we mock no one but ourselves
Let not such men think they will obtain anything from heaven
And of course, God who is watching us, awaits our final decision
The will to choose has He given us, asides the command to follow His way