Hidden Tears in a Jar of Clay

Feb9

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Hidden tears in a jar of clay

Rotten bones in a palace

Cold hearts in a sandstorm

Hopes are eaten in a day

Shadows of the past redeemed

Shame dancing for free

What else can go wrong?

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Sorrows have the strength of a fig

Hopes the leg of iron

Hearts live forever in the dreams of men

Air is free and unshakable

Earth will regrow.

Everyone you meet is fighting a secret battle. Let’s be kind.
S.S.David

The poems above are a series of contrasts and paradoxes which show the fragility of human existence and the assertion that we are all subject to eventual death, despite our best efforts to protect ourselves. And if we know that, shouldn’t that inform how we live? Shouldn’t we be kind to ourselves and others? Knowing that one day, we’ll move on from this part of heaven?

The second part of the stanza reveals themes of strength and resilience in the face of sorrow and adversity, and after destruction or decay, new growth and life will emerge. This poem played into the unfolding tragedy in Turkey and Syria, where over 17,000 people have sadly died. I know the raw emotions and despair of losing a loved one, but time heals all wounds, and I pray that anyone reading this will hold on to hope despite their adverse circumstances.

My love and prayers to the people of Turkey, Syria, Ukraine, and other parts of the world where there are suffering. Everyone is fighting a secret battle, let’s be kind.

Earth will regrow, and the sun will shine again.

Much love, always. 🙂

The Human Story

Jan17

(Firemen tackling the Australian bush fires)

The scene was total and absolute destruction. It’s more like a disaster movie. A BBC reporter claimed on the news today that the acres of land burnt in Australia is akin to fifteen million football pitches. Throughout the Christmas and New Year celebrations, I watched with growing apprehension as Australia burns with such ferocity, it was like the end of the world. And in other parts of the world such as Indonesia, Kenya, and a large swathe of Africa, people were losing their lives in natural disasters such as flooding, landslides, etc.

Thankfully, it has started to rain in Australia, but we’re not out of the woods yet. The worrying climate event around the world forms part of our human story.

Climate change is a reality. Temperatures are rising as large sheets of ice in the Arctic continues to melt. And yet, some governments around the world were paying lip service to improve pollution. We are literally killing our home, planet earth. All our bickering, superiority, and worries pale into insignificance if we lose our home. We lose everything.

When I compared the drama surrounding the semi-retirement of Prince Harry and his wife, Megan, from active royal duties, to the heartbreaking news of our climate, it was a welcome distraction. Don’t get me wrong; I think the press has unfairly vilified Megan, but she is also human as we all are, but the challenge that is facing us all dwarfs any drama playing out in the Royal family. Or the Middle East, for that matter.

Speaking of the Middle East, I was on my way home in a cab earlier this week when the driver suddenly retorted.

”Solemaini is alive, everything is a conspiracy, President Trump is colluding with the Iranians to increase the price of oil!”

”Well, we can’t be sure,” I muttered nonplussed, and I didn’t know how to react. Then he continued,

‘The world is a stage; there are men in power who control everything that happens in the world.”

”You’re right, but what about climate change?”

”I don’t know about that,” he replied.

His response got me thinking. The average person may have an opinion about every topic and incidents around the world, but Global warming is still not that important. Sir David Attenborough hammered home another warning today, and we need to act now. I genuinely hope our human story will not end in tears because we live in such a beautiful world!

I’ll touch on other matters now. It’s a bit surreal that while I was busy running around, working, attending hospital appointments, I haven’t updated my website for months, although I feel guilty life’s been, well life. This is my first article in a long while, and I’m sorry if I’m ranting.

I am currently working on a short film, a documentary called ‘Chasing Humans,’ for one of my Master’s degree modules. The film touched on core topics around safety in London. I wrote and directed it, and I’ll keep updating on the progress of the film.

I have missed many awesome articles from my WordPress family. I will visit every one in a couple of weeks after meeting some of my deadlines.

It’s so good to be back. I hope 2020 would be an excellent year for us all.

Much love, always! 🙂

Our Scorned, Scorched Planet!

Aug7

(Photo Credit: Flickr)

Scientists have now issued a warning that in a couple of decades, some parts of our planet may become uninhabitable. I beg to differ, some parts of our world are already uninhabitable. Our patched, long-suffering planet has endured human’s degradations for millennia; we don’t care about our world; we hate each other and are so quick to point out our differences, perhaps I am doing the same thing, but this article is meant to be constructive.

I don’t mean for this article to pander to any group of people but everyone. Recently, I watched a film titled, ‘Knowing’ and it’s about our world being destroyed by a massive solar flare which inevitably made the earth uninhabitable and in a creepy twist of fate, scientists are echoing the same thoughts. They are not predicting a solar flare will obliterate our world as we know it, they are warning us about climate change, but what they aren’t telling us to change is our attitude to everything on this planet.

(Photo credit: Google)

Humanity has descended so low that everything is about race and religion, and this is so sad. I wanted to write an article about love, bravery, and selflessness but I am finding it increasingly difficult to do so. A young boy lost his life in a house fire today in South East London, and yet on Yahoo, people were commenting on the colour of his skin and his parents’ race? It’s unbelievably sad.

There’s an increase in knife crime among black youths in London, and when a young life is lost, people hardly care, and that same attitude is unequivocally linked to our lack of empathy. We have grouped ourselves into white/black Muslim/Christian Catholic/Protestants etcetera. And it’s the same around the world, we have created this sick, twisted ideology we’re better than the next person if we belong to a particular race or religion.

There’s divisive politics, people hate with their eyes but smile with their teeth. We are so petty and care only for ourselves. We satisfy our cravings for depravities in the most deplorable fashion possible it’s laughable.

I am keen to see a time when we would truly love one another with no inhibitions. Sadly, it’s a human condition, we are suspicious and find it difficult to relate to people who don’t look or think like us. However, there is that basic instinct that connects us all, our DNA. It differentiates us from animals, the ability to think, feel and vocalise our emotions through words. Maybe animals love and feel (I’m not an expert on that) but not on our level, and I suppose the ability to express our feelings should make us a better entity. We should be able to take care of our environment and the people around us.

I am an optimist, but just as our earth is groaning under the burden of our selfishness and nonchalant attitude toward climate change, maybe, we will finally be able to do something together and eschew our petty differences.

Climate change is real!

Happy Golden Moments!

Jan16

(Photo credit: Flickr)

”You are doing something very sacred here, something very daring, during your life upon the earth. You are defining yourself, and then creating yourself anew, in each golden moment of now.” Neale Donald Walsch

******************************

We have moved to another chapter of our lives. It’s kind of surreal that it’s already the 16th of January, 2018. I haven’t been able to write due to challenges on the health front. The latter part of 2017 was kind of hard but I am thankful that I have fought a winning battle on my health, I don’t give up easily, however, I must admit that I did get a few knocks on the head.

And I learned a lot of lessons. Life could be boring without a few bricks thrown around you, the trick is, don’t get knocked down.

I believe a New Year symbolises new beginnings, opportunity and ability to start again, and afresh. I don’t think we should be dwelling in the past, neither should we allow failures of the past to live through the present. However, we can learn from the past, check what works and what doesn’t, and then plan strategies on how to have better results.

I intend to live each day at a time, and to have a clearer vision of what I want to achieve each day, and by the end of the year. I would have lived well.

One of my key determination this year is to give lots of love to people I know, and to people, I don’t really know that well. There’s a kind of love that never fades, God’s love. It is eternal, you’re precious and beautiful in His sight, that love naturally flows through us, but there is a catch, we have to allow it. I honestly believe that love can solve most of the world’s problems. Racism would be a thing of the past because we would see everyone through our own eyes. A mirror image of ourselves.

Love would eradicate selfishness, greed, and war. It would open the floodgate for peace and herald the continuous presence of serendipity. Gone would be the harsh realities of revenge and defiance, divorce would be a taboo and murders would be far gone from our shores.

Love would heal our planet, we would do things for the benefit of others only, and through that, we would be fulfilled because we would be our brother’s keeper. We would be like Watchmen, repairers of the breach. There would be no reasons for proliferation of arms. Nuclear warheads would be like dinosaurs, things of the past.

How I crave for those kinds of moments. Moments that Neale Donald Walsch described so vividly, ”You are doing something very sacred here, something very daring, during your life upon the earth. You are defining yourself, and then creating yourself anew, in each golden moment of now.”

Let’s share that love.

I wish all my friends love that never fades.

Love freely, uninhibited and full of joy.

Much love, always!

🙂 🙂

Today’s Ours…

Nov11

Life’s full of uncertainties, and honestly, we just have to live on regardless of what the day may bring.

How do we really deal with stuff we aren’t expecting? Do we curl up in a ball and bawl our eyes out, or do we just ride the storm? Do we fight with clenched teeth ready to conquer? I say we live each day believing that we have the strength to overcome whatever comes our way.

Ruby Dee was an American actress and writer’s whose words positively impacted my life:

Today is ours, let’s live it.
And love is strong, let’s give it.
A song can help, let’s sing it.
And peace is dear, let’s bring it.
The past is gone, don’t rue it.
Our work is here, let’s do it.
The world is wrong, let’s right it.
The battle is hard, let’s fight it.
The road is rough, let’s clear it.
The future’s vast, don’t fear it.
Is faith asleep? Let’s wake it.
Because today is ours, let’s take it.

I hope you’ll all enjoy the rest of your wonderful weekend.

Let’s live each day to the full!

Much love, always.

The Palm Tree Theory

Oct23

”All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.”

J.R.R Tolkien (1892-1973)

Palm trees are known to withstand severe storms. After a thorough bashing, you could still see palm trees standing, often times bent, but still in the race with a shot. I’ll relate this to us. Undoubtedly, we face storms in our lives and I think there’s no living soul on this planet who doesn’t have one teeny-weeny thing troubling them. Some could be as sublime as breathing, financial woes, all sorts. I’ve seen friends who are so ill, they couldn’t sleep without an oxygen tank close to their bed. However within a month, they’re back to work. Life continues.

Resilience, courage, and determination helps us ride the storm and that’s the theory of palm trees. They don’t give up, they simply adapt to their circumstances, maybe beaten sore but still around. And I think we could borrow a leaf from their philosophy too, storms may come but we can do what we do best, ride through it!

To the people of Mexico, who could soon be battling Hurricane Patricia, I wish everyone would be safe. I sincerely hope everyone would ride through this unscathed!

Now to sunnier news: October is my bestest (pardon my pun) month. I turned 40 on the 14th. Thankfully, I don’t feel or look it yet. I hope to stay that way but who am I kidding? 🙂

I hope everyone’s been good. I’ve visited as many blogs as I could and would continue to do so. To many of us sliding slowly into the cold ( I resisted the urge to write ‘fray’ ), stay warm. To those in sunnier parts of the world, enjoy the sun.

Have a wonderful weekend my friends and I’ll leave you with this song:

Much love, always! 🙂

The Hagglers

Nov25

(Photo credit: Flickr)

***

When the world haggle senselessly,

Stoning themselves with hatred endlessly,

I simply laugh continuously.

They fail to see my beauty

They fail to see my work.

They only see their evil

splattered all over their world.

I weep for my clouds,

I weep for my mountains.

My hills groaned with displeasure.

as my leaves danced with agitation.

When will sons see their foolishness,

and embrace joy?

Until I steal the wind? Or make

my rivers dry?

They haggle for the price of peace,

when they only need to love.

********

I rarely watch the news, but I love reading newspapers and when I do, I’ll check BBC website on my laptop for updates which is ironic, because at the end of the day, I still watch news, albeit, reluctantly. This simple poem didn’t follow any pattern but it just came to me when I saw this stunning picture. I want to celebrate the earth, so I take the place of a creator bemoaning the stupidity of His creations. I hope you like it.

To all my American friends, I wish you ‘Happy Thanksgiving,’ in advance, and to those caught up in the Ferguson riots, please keep out of it and stay safe.

Enjoy the rest of the week friends!

Much love, always! 🙂

In The Beginning… There Was Nothing…

May28

That was how it was.

The Beginning of time. Time is predominately the controller of our destiny, but then, I believe that in life, time would not have meaning without proper documentation. Therein lies the work of a writer. I’d always told all who cared to listen that I would die a writer, and I mean it. If I become the Prime Minister today, I won’t feel fulfilled if I stopped writing. It’s like the air I breathe. Almost all my friends knew of the recent event in my life, and that really crippled me somewhat because I sort of lost that desire to write… I simply lost interest but now, I’m back and it’s as if I’ve never taken a hiatus, I guess I simply needed to rest.

With that out of the way. I’ve been graciously invited by Sherri Matthews of www.sherrimatthewsblog.com to join in a blog hop, she splashed my shy face on her blog a few weeks ago and today, she’s my muse! 🙂

Here’s the lovely Sherri!

Isn’t she gorgeous?

Sherri has worked in both the legal and medical fields but her defining and most fulfilling career was that of full-time mum for many years to her three, now grown children. Widowed young, remarried twice more, Sherri has faced many challenges, both in her home country of England and in California, where she lived and raised her family for almost 20 years.

The call of the pen beckoned throughout but it wasn’t until 2011 when Sherri lost her job due to office closure and her daughter was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome that she began to pursue her writing dream.

Now, while writing her first book*, Sherri writes articles, poetry, short-stories and flash fiction, some of which have been published in national UK magazines (Prima and Your Cat), as well as writing on her blog, ‘A View From My Summerhouse’. She also guest blogs for a variety of websites.

Today, Sherri lives, writes, walks, gardens and takes endless photographs in the West Country of England, happily with her husband, daughter, two cats and a corn-snake called Charlie (her daughter’s, acquired after many years of persuasion).

In Sherri’s words, she passionately describes her writing career as progressive: Read that here:

”I can best define my writing process in a few short words: I fly by the seat of my pants. I struggle to rein in my writing discipline and have yet to attain a working balance, even though on an ideal day I get all my off-blog writing completed first thing in the morning before I dare check my emails.

However, ideal days don’t happen very often. So many writing projects vie for my attention and I know this is all-too common for many writers. I am learning, I hope, to listen to the writing voice that yells the loudest!

The problem is that I could write all day (on my book) and nothing else would get done. When I decide to take a ‘quick look’ on my blog, the day is lost. Certainly, I write every day. Just not on my book.

This is something I am working on changing and hope to achieve in the very near future. A cottage by the sea for six months without any internet would be very nice…maybe!

Still, I am making progress, albeit slowly! As I press on with my book, I am soon to have a poem and a ‘slice of life’ story published in two anthologies. I am also pursing ideas for putting together some of my poems, photographs and musings borne out of my private struggles (in pain and joy) while helping my beautiful ‘Aspie’ daughter navigate through life.

It is only recently that I dared to call myself a ‘Writer’. Ultimately, I pursue the holy grail of writing so that I might, one day, be able to say that I am a ‘Published Author’.”

You can find a lot about Sherri on this awesome sites:

*Memoir Book Blurb: http://sherrimatthewsblog.com/memoir-book-blurb/

Blog: www.sherrimatthewsblog.com

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/aviewfrommysummerhouse

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/sherri-matthews/60/798/aa3

Sherri is a fantastic friend and a precocious writer. I can’t wait to devour her book when it’s out, hope you would too. Do me a favour and stop by her site to see what I’ve raved about! 🙂

It’s good to be back blogging fully. I would still be stopping by your blogs as soon as I could! Much love to you my friends and do enjoy the rest of this rainy week (at least in London!)

Peace! 🙂

Seyi David

A True Heart…

Mar15

(Photo credit: Gavin Terpisra. Sydney)

Our hearts is like magnet, a wise man once said that what we want we attract, and what we hate we dispel and I think he’s right. Have you ever wondered why events that happened to you years ago suddenly springs to the fore accompanied by lofty feelings of elation or suppressed emotions of despair?

It’s because everything we are, our dynamic make up, the very essence of our being is wrapped within that magic word, ‘Heart.’ No wonder, this words of scripture sums it up perfectly, ‘guide your heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life.’

Great inventions, lofty ideas, beautiful visions, breakthroughs in science, medicine, all kinds of technological advancement or feats and every endearing development we see today was initially conceived from the heart as a thought process before it became a reality.

Murderers, Paedophiles, Liars, Suicide bombers and even that cancerous evil called divorce all stem from the heart. Great hearts shape the world, evil hearts kill our beautiful earth slowly…

Everything I am today and will ever be comes from my heart!

What about you?

******

I am promoting the second edition of ‘The Feet Of Darkness,’ so I’ll always tuck the links somewhere in my posts. Thank you for reading and love always!