goldinwords.com

Okay, what’s gonna happen on this page is at least twice every week, you’re gonna get a poem from me. It’s gonna be awesome because they’re all going to be among my best , PLUS since most of my poems have stories behind them, i’m going to tell it to you….as much of it as i can, so that it makes more sense to you and has more meaning.

Just two days ago at church I saw a man leap forty feet high to touch the wood-paneled ceiling of the church hall , as if reaching for the foot of God. There was another totally drenched in his sweat, hugging himself sooo tight, I guess like he’ld have loved to feel God’s embrace.

Then I said to God “chaa Father, if the litmus test of whether or not I loved you was restricted to what I see being done, then u must see me as a major hater paah.” I felt I had to explain things to Him there and then, so I wrote this…

When I don’t roll on the floor during praises

When I leave church without a sweat-drenched shirt

When I don’t lose my voice after a serious prayer session

When I don’t cry a bucket full of tears during worship

When I don’t win souls every chance I get

Do you take it to mean I don’t love you enough?

Or that you don’t mean so much to me?

Do you take it to mean I take you for granted?

Or I’m too proud to roll on the floor?

Or I’m ashamed to talk about you?

Do you? I need to know father, do you?

Because I love you that much

How couldn’t I father?

See all you’ve done for me,

Besides, you first loved me.

Because you mean the whole world to me;

I just couldn’t put a price tag on you

Your value 2 me exceeds an infinite figure

With a dollar sign before it.

Because I don’t take you for granted;

You make the difference in my life.

& I’m sorry if my actions

Aren’t walking hand in hand with my words.

Because I’m humbled by your awesomeness God

I’ll be the benchmark of stupidity

If I dared raise my shoulders

Before the one who has the earth as his footstool.

I should be talking about you more than I do

But my sins keep creeping up on me.

And it makes it hard to remove another’s speck

When I got a whole forest in mine.

I’m not tryna make excuses father

I’m simply trying to say I love you

In a way that’s probably unconventional

But if I’m fooling myself with carnal wisdom

Then please unveil my eyes and strengthen me

Because it’ld have been pointless living a life

That didn’t ultimately glorify you.

Ben Anyan (c) 2010

I’ve had so many crushes in my lifetimes (all 3 of them, lol). I like it when that happens cos usually, I don’t act on it (for noble reasons); I just take advantage of the positive vibe, escalate it and then write as if things were more serious. My  Sweetie, My Celebrity is like that; I liked a girl from a distance, she was in my class at legon, and I thought; “if I was gonna love this girl and live my life around her, I’d like to tell her something very electrifying…like this;

My  Sweetie, My Celebrity.

You are more than just an answer to a prayer

You are the response to a request I didn’t feel worthy to ask for

You’re a celebrity, you are a festivity,

And the town in me celebrates you every day.

Today I was thinking of what to celebrate you with

I thought of a flower

To symbolize your beautifully sweet scented persona

I thought of a chain

To symbolize how bound my heart is to you

I thought of something glittering and outstanding

To symbolize what you’ll see

If you were looking at yourself through my eyes

I’ll need a 100 solid reasons to quit school

And a 1000 more to abandon my family

But the number of reasons I’ll need

To stop loving you sweetie,

Will make infinity seem like a single digit.

Everything you’ve been reading isn’t actually the truth

It’s more like an understatement of it

And by the time you’re done reading this poem

I’ll be loving you more than I did

Before you started.

Ben Anyan (c) 2007

Living a sentence isn’t like the many poems you might have read here on Goldinwords. It summarizes the life cycle of the Ghanaian girl born in a typically indigenous crude, old-fashioned Ghanaian home; it picks on several unfortunate practices that were very rife in Ghana a few years back.

I wrote it for a competition a friend of mine –Eugene- was entering back in secondary school. He was a ‘talking drummer’ and the contest required a recital accompanied with drumming that sounded just like what was said. The topic had to be of social relevance, so we chose this;

Living a sentence

A woman had a baby girl today.

I’m sad though I should be gay

Her mother holds her with such tenderness and care,

But I’m so sad the future’ll not treat her that way.

By 12, she’ll still be at home working,

Cos daddy doesn’t know why girls should school.

One day, a neighbor will call to send her

Instead of saying thank you, he’ll defile her.

She goes home to tell her father.

But then he scolds and blames her,

She conceives, and father demands an abortion!

But she survived even that deadly concoction.

When she’s 16, some village doctor will come for her

And forcefully undertakes an F.G.M*

In deadly pain she screams loudly; “MOTHER!!”

“It’s tradition” mum replies “There’s nothing I can do.”

Mother stands back, crying and helpless

But she’s a survivor, she survived that too.

A year after, they make her walk almost naked-

Except for a short raffia skirt, beads and some bracelets;

They call it ‘Puberty rites.’

She can’t object, after all she’s just a girl child

At 18, a man brings three cows and wine to her father

A week after, she’s married off to him,

But it’s more like she’s been sold instead.

The boy she truly loves, she can never see again.

In her husband’s home, she’s the third ‘slave’,

Can’t talk; take a walk or even rest.

He beats her like rain beats the ground.

There’s nowhere to go, she’s far away from home.

She can’t take the torture anymore;

One day, on the farm,

She chews some leaves and ends her life.

There’s nothing worse than living a life

That’s more like serving a sentence.

Why does the girl child have to go through so much strife?

The best answer to that question,

Is a firm societal rejection of these actions,

Society starts from YOU.

*female genital mutilation

Ben Anyan (c) 2002

Goldinwords hasn’t been consistent this week with updates, and I apologize for that. It’s just that I’ve had to adjust to a whole new work schedule and description, and that’s been really trying. For e.g. I was always fascinated by people who could wake up at dawn, I used to wonder if  there was even oxygen around that time, and now I know the answer..cos I’m still alive.

To make up for the inconsistency, I’m putting up one of my all-time faaaaavorite poems. Just like last week’s, this’ also an ex-inspired poem. I love it a lot because it’s embedded with such symbolism and meaning. The way I see it, we’ve all got dual personalities in one aspect of our lives or another. This poem talks about a romantic duality; being a man and a child at the same time

Man Child

You look into my face,

You see my trimmed beard

And something I call a moustache,

And I’m sure you must be saying;

“Man! Is this some man!”

But have you looked into my eyes?

Deep… deep a little deeper?

Have you seen the child in them?

The one that cries out to you?

You hold my hand, you feel its roughness,

You marvel at its bigness

And the hair that’s covered it.

And I’m sure you must be thinking

“Man! Is this some man!”

But have you noticed?

Noticed how I wrap my hand

Not around your waist, but your finger,

like all babies do to mama,

When the wanna say; “don’t leave me, ever!”

You hear my voice

And hear its coarseness.

It’s deep and all,

And has enough command to lead an army

And I’m sure you must be thinking;

“Man, is this some man!”

But have you what it’s unable to say?

If you hear no meaning in what I say,

It’s not cos you’re lost or aren’t that smart;

What I’m saying isn’t what I really want to say,

It’s like  a baby blabbering all day,

meaning; I love you even more today.

You look at my body,

you see lots of muscles;

a broad shoulder, a great 6-pack;

the kind that dazzles,

and I’m sure you must be thinking;

“Man is this some man!”

But have you noticed whenever there’s the need

for all that strength to be used,

I first look into your eyes.

When baby looks into mummy’s eyes,

he’s looking at where his strength lyes.

You do so much,

I wonder if you know.

Out of a disturbed mind,

you take out the disturbance and replace it with you.

You bring out the music in the rain,

the beauty in an ugly stain.

And out of me, you bring out a child.

One that cries out your name.

Ben Anyan (c) 2008

This’ an ‘ex-inspired’ poem, it describes her as i’d gotten to know after 3 weeks. It was the 1st time a bruva was falling in love (meehn, that’s 1 heavy word), so naturally you’ll expect the inspiration to be more!!!

I’ve tried to graphically enhance it to improve the total reading experience, let me know if it worked or if  it got in your way…

The things you can’t do, but you do.

It’s funny when you say you are shy

Cos you give me so much to take pride in

And be confident about.

It’s funny when you admit you are quiet

Cos when you are and aren’t with me

My mind can’t stop making noise about you

It makes a disco out of my library

You say that you can’t dance

But ever since I got to know you

My life has been dancing

To the beautiful melodies of fulfillment.

You don’t admit to being a good singer,

But out of the modest life I lived,

You’ve composed a song as pretty as you.

You say you aren’t wealthy,

But you cant begin to imagine

How my thoughts and life has been enriched

Just by being with you

You say you don’t feel lonely

Yet when I’m not with you

I feel like the only tree standing

After an intense bush fire

The very things you claim u cant do sweetie

Work me like an algebraic expression

I shudder at the thoughts of

The things you effortlessly do to me.

Ben Anyan (c) 2005

I liked a girl once…the name of her phone when she put her blue-tooth on was “sunbeam”. Obviously this poem is an exaggeration of how things were; her hold over me wasn’t as strong as this poem suggests. But I loved the fact that she made it so easy for me to write some of the most beautiful pieces, take this one for example. My fave stanza’s the 5^th, feel free to lemme know whch  yours is.

The way of the Sunbeam

If every stage of liking you was a storey,

And my heart was a storey building,

Then sweetheart, maybe you should get off the roof,

Unless of course you like the view.

If every time I liked you more,

A star dropped out of the sky

“Starless nights” would have been this morn’s headlines

If every time I wished you were with me,

An old man somewhere grew a year younger,

The world would have been full of toddlers by now.

You are such a natural disaster,

Your smile registers on the Richter scale

At will, you create eruptions within me.

And at almost any point in time

My mind’s flooded with the thoughts of you.

You grab my day like it was a microphone,

Then you speak yourself into it.

You treat my mind like it was a notebook,

And make notes everywhere in it.

The signs are so clear, I couldn’t be wrong

This must be the way of the sunbeam,

I’m gonna have to grab my stunners

Cos this light is killing me!!!

Ben Anyan (c) 2007

To everyone someone looks up to. Sometimes we can’t help feeling that we’re undeserving of a certain honor. I wrote this 10 mins ago, I’m like its greatest victim (a.k.a, e ‘twii’ me pass)

A Signpost In Need Of Direction

When the priest needs to confess

And the soldier’s asking for mercy

When the teacher is asking to be taught

And the employer’s job-hunting,

Then they’re starting to tell my story.

I’ve heard countless sinful experiences

And people saying “father pray for me”

And now I need to find an alter

My sins are weighing me down.

Shot down so many foes

Surmounted even more woes

But I’m in dire need of mercy now

I can’t fight this battle, not on my own.

I come off as so learned and wise

My words are sharp, they cut ice.

So how could I be so stupid?

I’m a teacher in need of wisdom.

Countless names on my payroll

Conducting interviews and giving jobs.

But I’m in a position I know,

I lack the credentials to be in.

And I wanna know how to make it better.

So I fall on my knees,

To rise in my faith

I pray to my father,

I tell him this.

“Please pardon my sins, the whole lot of them.

Lift from my shoulders, this heavy load of guilt

I need the strength father,

See all those depending on me.

Please come to my aid commander

I’m surrounded by foes

This’ one battle I don’t wanna be a hero of.

So take the stage, the glory’s yours.

Please forgive me teacher,

I know I deserve detention

Only I know how far behind I am.

Teach me to learn, and learn to apply.

Please consider me Sir.

I’m aware of my CV’s insufficiencies

I need you to justify my inclusion.

Be my credentials, be my all.

So that after I’ve risen from falling

I may strengthen as you’ve empowered

Teach as you’ve taught

And direct all the glory to you.

Ben Anyan (c) April 2010.

PS: Is there any1 you know who’ll like to read this? recommend the link.; http://wp.me/pRiE9-43

One time, i was thinkng of how sinful  a  person i was, and how undeserving i was of God’s exceedingly gracious generosities towards me, and I thought “maybe I should write it down; my gratitude, my awe, my truest thoughts, hopefully you’ll identify with it also… happy easter friends!

-All 4 me

When the wind blows,

It means he’s got love for me

When the sun shines,

It means he still cares for me.

Every night he has tears in his eyes for me

Cos I do things he knows aint good for me.

When I fool , he really hurts and cries for me.

Every time he’s watching and smiling at me.

God! He even died on the cross for me.

Nothing in this world he wont do for me

He’s my Dad, my girl, he’s all those to me.

This man He’s got these major plans for me.

Gee God, thanx for all that you do for me!