Month: May 2017

When we are gone away
When our names and deeds are but the things that people say
When how we lived will be what matters on that day
The smiles and hearts that we touched is the legacy that will live everyday

Once upon a time when we lived with strength enough to carry the biggest load
Unfortunately we rarely lift the burden of the old and weak
But rather shake down the rich and the little coins of the hard working man
Seizing this and that only to prove our might while making people live with fright

When her beauty was enough to sweep off everyman off his feet by just a glance
High above the sky she raised her attitude without humility and gratitude
Her words and demeanor cut through hearts deeper than the pain of sword
But time has taken its toll and now she is no longer that beautiful doll

His pockets and closet were filled with paper and metal honey
But anybody meeting or leaving him will surely have to know the feeling of sorry
Making heavier peoples’ worries as he treats them with great disrespect
He has to leave for his hour has come
Nobody to hold his shoulder for he has already shoved every hand off him

Inspector of faults sitting and waiting for the next available news of slander
Running errands more than the palace squire only to stain clean shirts with mud
The night owl has bigger eyes but couldn’t match that of the fault inspector
Running open with his naked wounds but trying to unearth people’s fading scars
He comes to meet his end with a life’s CV not a single soul to recommend

Sinners we are, believers we must become
And what’s glorious to leave as a healer
From a world full of ills and pains
And when one day we are gone away
Our deeds and actions will be the only things left to say

©Hamza Hajj Ayub

Our darkness may have the better of us
But out of Allah’s love it will never conquer us
Ramadan has come to purify us
From sins and deeds that has intoxicated us
And satan is in chains our chance to break loose from our evil ways

The month is calm and peaceful
With blessings and grace so fruitful
An exemplar for us on the plight of the hungry stomach
So we become compassionate and selfless givers
The best of smells couldn’t match that of “Swaa’im” mouth
Enveloped in blessings that every single good deed doubles
A course in discipline to guide our wanton ways
A crown of humility to show us that we ascend to greatness by our attitude

Good deeds come with knowingly rewards but Ramadan is special only to He
A bond of unity as the old and young stand in awe to give praise
Blessed by the “night of Qadar”
A thousand months or 83yrs of blessing we aim to achieve
An insurance package for our lives of evil
insecurities

Our heavenly constitution was descended in the month of Ramadan
The heavenly Angels descend in Ramadan
The heavenly doors and abodes all opens in Ramadan
Blessed is he to witness Ramadan for
It’s one of Allah’s greatest gift to the believers

©Hamza Hajj Ayub

The morning crow of the eldest cock
When the sun is yet to break into the peaceful dawn
A wake up call on us to divorce our warm beds
A new day a new beginning to set our goals into motion

Time a defining factor in our lives
But the decider of our fate is our hands
For clean hands can only eat what it is served
But the muddy hands decides what it wants to be served

Underneath the cool shade of the handsome village tree
We enjoy life as it is green
Lights and decor we might not have
But peace and tranquility always crown our humble union

The city is beautiful with style and nice buildings
But to enjoy the freshness of free air comes with heavy bills
Denying ourselves a peaceful sleep
For in our dreams are long list of life bills

Choice may have us admire white
Situation may have us substitute to black
And necessity may lead us into appealing for brown
But the value of what one wears is how high one feels about it

A birth with silver spoon or a wooden spoon
Is not a guarantee of a golden meal
As the biggest head doesn’t make the wisest brain
Time in time, how we live the moment determines the outcome

©Hamza Hajj Ayub

A lost soul in the wilderness
Cold and lonely with my cloth of bitterness
The friend of my state is my memories of pain
Falling to rise and fall again in a deeper hole than before

The wound of love only heals with the cure of love
I found my feet again with your loyalty
I found happiness at the verge of despair
I found you and I realize am still alive

The honey came clean but it was cunning
Why find me only to push me further deep into misery
Love may not be my portion why did you make me feel am your fraction
Nights and mornings I don’t seem to know which is brighter

You loved like magic when I was tragic
I got used to the feeling and you vanished leaving me chilling
Tracing back the foot steps of love but I couldn’t recognize any
My eyes have become blur from my sea of tears

High on the mountain I would have jump if you asked me to
Believing you would catch me just by saying the magic words
Am so close yet feeling so far from you
Why find me only to push me further deep into misery
I will be waiting while I still breathe
I will be hoping while my heart still beats
Find me sincere love for am a lonely lost dove

©Hamza Hajj Ayub

The beautiful blue moon
Standing out with its radiating beauty
Surrounded by the dark sky
Like the fire it blazes well with the dry woods

Our innocent feet married to the ground
Leaning our backs to the big oak tree in the village square
As the hands pounced on the virgin drums
Giving birth to the beautiful tunes that sparks the field

Not good at keeping dates but I can vividly feel the air
As it easily causes break on my innocent lips
Causing the unwanted divorce of pepper soup to my lips
I can’t but feel sad for what harmattan took from me

Imprisoned words have been set free
From the mouths of grandma which only speaks on occasions like this
The beautiful stories of our ancestors we attentively want to hear
Envisioning ourselves in the times of Okomfo Anokye and Chaka Zulu

Not blessed with sophisticated technology
But we tend to be more glued then than we are with phones now
Holding each others hand as we gaze in to the beautiful blue moon
Seeing the selfless old mother’s image in the blue moon
Who choosed to live in there for her son to always see her
A fairy tale that we always come out in numbers to honor the moon when it appears

We didn’t break bones as warriors but almost break our ribs as listeners
As we excessively laugh at the jokes grandma makes to our cute little ears
Of one who lost his camel while still riding the camel
Could tell us how busy the mind can be by not seeing the beautiful things close by

An hour before we set back to our homes
Vacating the village square which leaves on us imprints
Scars of beautiful moments which will become memories
The Africa in us is not just a location but our journey.
For we stop not by its boundaries but until we realize its vision

©Hamza Hajj Ayub

The emptiness was big even as the room seem small
Quiet and lonely winds knocking on my pale window
You took me when I was green and after a while you left me on the brink
My hands scavenging the cold mattress for a matrimonial warmth

I have learned to close my eyes
But I still don’t know how to shut the pain
I maybe a firewood
But why wouldn’t you use me to light the fire as am in dismay
I maybe an old broom
But I know very well the corners in the room

I hear the praises and songs of your heroism
You avail yourself even when you are not called upon
I sit on my bed in my 20’s looking 50
As another decoration of the oven which has long not felt the fire of matrimony

Set me free if am a stress
But don’t keep me in slavery where am suppose to be a queen
I came thick like an oak tree
But as every night passes I look a twin to a cassava stick
I know you like to have fun
But would you not fan the dying fire in me
Release me oh dear!
From this torment of a sleepless night

©Hamza Hajj Ayub

Kokrokoo!
The third hour of the night caught me peacefully married to my bed
Simultaneously mr villain is trying ways and means to budge into my peaceful abode
I can hear the footsteps of sister “awor shia” creeping like a lost cockroach trying to sneak into the room

Kokrokoo!
I smell hallucination
I smell stimulation
I smell depression rolled in a fine paper as they blaze the atmosphere with haze
The night has lost its peace
Messi this and Ronaldo that echoing in my ears more than the sweet melody of praising the Almighty
Our buttocks pinned to our chairs
As we shout our voices high above our heads
To what can only be called an exercise in futility

Kokrokoo!
The night is beautiful but so desires of us to make it peaceful
We beat the drums and fire the guns
Only to turn around and curse the noise
Correction maybe divine but to follow the path is always a choice

Kokrokoo!
Nature is beautiful but so desires of us to be dutiful
We curse the darkness but nobody is willing to light the candle
Picture of our beautiful scenery we adore
Our human relationship we tend to abhor

Kokrokoo!
Our human setting and environment is a master art
But to maintain its beauty we ought to play our part
Are we here for who we are
Or are we here for who we must become?

©Hamza Hajj Ayub

Home is not where we coming from
Home is where we going
Like a piece of meat
We will all meet our defeat
When life sweeps us off our feet
Man shall be no more fit to keep fit.

Like a pop
This is our hope
That we find solace in our final abode
Whiles the clock tic toc
We getting closer to home like a mock

Our journey is nothing but a soul in a borrowed smock
And when the owner arrives to halt the roller coaster, we will be left with non other than to succumb and pack home.

Here cometh the hour
Ready or not we must go
With smiles or tears our deeds will show
As our journey back home begins right from the day we left home

©Al Kauthar & Hamza Hajj Ayub

We have come a long way
The toil and effort we don’t have to throw away
We have come a long way
To ridicule and shame our dignity mustn’t be our way
We have come a long way
The hardworking man must stop being the evil man’s tool

Roots are dying as our green leaves continue to burn
Unearthing the dead to live the life of the living
Knowing the way but wouldn’t want to take on the road
To sit and beautifully blame has become the new way to fame

We have come a long way
The innocent man shouldn’t be the greedy man’s stool
As the elephant and the rabbit may live in the same jungle
But that shouldn’t make the rabbit its slave

Irresponsibility is like a dry leaf
For it doesn’t make a sound when it touches the ground
Humanity means responsibility
But nobody is willing to be held responsible

We have come a long away
Chapters closed yet many left to unfold
The signs we fail to read so we lavishly fuel our greed
Shaming humanity we have become a new breed
Values and ethics we call things of the past
To the bane and doom of a future we sinking in so fast

©Hamza Hajj Ayub