Guess what? August 1983, was special to me. Not only was it the birth month of Marcus Garvey (August 17, 1887), but it was also the month I produced my first concert (August 27, 1983) in the Seville Theatre in St. Ann’s Bay, Jamaica. (Not boasting, just a toasting, but I was born and grown a few blocks from where Marcus Garvey was born and grown in St Ann’s Bay, Jamaica.. smiles). Anyway, 1983 was also the year I published a collection of my poems titled “VIEW”. It is a collection of about 40 of my poems, albeit, with a youthful perspective then. (It was my 20th birthday). Do I still share those views? Hmmmm.

I was looking through the book and decided I will share some of the poems with you in slices. This first Slice of Love consists of the poems that radiate or expressed “a kind of” love vibes. Hope you like:

 

I AM

My love, nothing you see is new.

Love is in everyone; shared by only a few

Accept me for what I am

Then you will find out just who I am

 

I YOU

Just suppose I were you.

You wouldn’t have a chance.

No, you wouldn’t have a chance,

Never get a chance to be you.

I would never one day lose

A battle between me and you.

I would have the power to choose,

Not only for me, but also for you.

 

Still, I am glad I am little me,

You are too big a person to be.

I rather be me all the time;

Because I dread to think,

Suppose you were I.

 

SOUL FREE

I will build a house

on the firm rock of truth,

Furnish it with love

then come looking for you

 

I want you to understand

the life you have to live.

You must not pretend,

everything I stand for is real.

 

Close by me

you will be just as free

Knowing I am love,

a love that is real.

 

If 6 were the same as 9

we would not need to choose.

You may trick me and win,

when you trick love you lose.

 

Hope you are for real,

hope it’s true love you feel.

Hope you are for real

to live a life that is free.

 

CUPFUL

Soft words, turn away anger.

Harsh words, provoke wrath.

Love has got no time for quarrels,

Has got no time for fussing.

It has got life to live;

All the joy It has to give.

 

My love, strange to know you do quarrel.

Where is the harmony

That’s exist with love?

Please stop and think.

 

The night has gone, replaced by day.

You always promised you would change,

Saying, “Tomorrow I will change”

And yet there are only todays.

 

BURSTING

Bursting with energy

And getting very mighty.

Forgiving but not forgetting.

Knowing love is for everything.

 

Bursting with love:

With love sweet love.

Expecting nothing

But knowing love is for everything.

 

NATURAL CHILD

She was in the world

But not of the world.

She stood erect,

Her beauty a natural phenomenon.

 

Her poise

Showed the perfection of her profile:

From her hair to her toes

She was untouched.

 

Her lips had no paint

Nor were her nails polished.

She knew

But walked not the ways of the world.

 

I looked

In her eyes and cried,

“Here is a natural,

A natural child at last.”

 

WOMAN

Man’s best friend is a woman.

She’s to man what night is to day.

She is made just like man

and can shine as bright as day.

 

A house is not a home

without an understanding woman inside.

Though sometimes happy and sometimes sad

a man likes a woman at his side.

 

Man must not control a woman.

She must be respected and made free.

One shouldn’t try to force her to be

the very things she hates to be.

 

Let us face life as it really is.

Woman is more than a housewife.

She’s what God made her to be:

a perfect companion throughout life.

 

V.J. (VANEKER JOHNSON)

Vain races did I run

A fool’s treasure I won.

No one’s fault but mine,

Each new love takes time.

Kings and Princes do joke,

“Either it is whole or uneven yoke?”

River to stream, shed your load.

 

Just you my dear

Of all those that should care,

Hard it was to say:

None made me feel that way.

So, you have also tried,

Only to see near tears cried?

Now, tell me, has love died?

 

SIT AND WONDER WHY

Sit and wonder why

I have chosen this:

Of all that goes by,

The ones you would miss.

Sit and wonder why

I should not be moved;

If only I would try

I would be there in the groove.

 

Sit and wonder why

I say the things that I say;

Yet of all that pry

None did like this today.

Sign up for our email and get a free copy of  my collection of poems titled VIEW at www.wordfoodmusic.com.

 

Incidentally, my daughter has developed a love for writing and has penned her own love poem/song. Check her out on YouTube doing her song “Let Me Be”. (with lyrics).

You can tune in to Aneil at her Facebook page

www.facebook.com/aneilmusic

 

 

WORD, FOOD, MUSIC

Write, Eat, Sing

 

 

Keep tuned for the next in the series of NotClif blogs: The Poet: Slices of Life.