Lime and Lemony Limericks...

There was a time when she thought

That nothing was all she had got,

But then she grew older

And oh she grew bolder

And she gave all she did her best shot.

   

                    ***

She studied then with books and files,

Buried under heaps and piles.

Now her thought's taken a turn.

Now she knows how to learn.

And she hopes she walks with Wisdom for miles.

                    ***

She whiles away all her time.

She doesn't think it's a crime.

For the time she loves wasting,

Is a time that's worth tasting

And a time that's worth more than a dime.

                    ***

She loves trying something new.

If you'd try it you'd love it too.

The old ways are as boring

As the old man who's snoring,

So add some spice to your tasteless stew.

                  ***

She loves being inspired by feeling.

It gives her withered soul a sense of healing.

So she picks up her quail

And writes her own tale

To Him who listens as she is kneeling.

                 ***

I don't know what I want to be

Or what my future holds for me.

But someday I shall rise

Up from foolishness to be wise

And only then the big picture shall I see. 

                  ***       

Chuggy...

...in a brown cardboard box with dolls and bears it parked itself to the right;

The blue wooden train sat blue and unnoticed, hiding and out of sight...

Day in and out blue Chuggy had chugged, it had made little Michael smile;

Coo it had chugged, coo-coo had it blown its whistle for many a mile.

Not once had it halted and ne'er had it stopped its journey on the tracks of gold;

Huffing and puffing it had forged ahead till mommy said it would have to be sold...

                                                  

                                                  ******

One fine day when it had been chugging it spotted in its tracks a gap;

It whistled and blew to anyone who'd hear, but couldn't avoid the mishap.

It rolled off the track, and out of the door straight down on the steep wooden stairs;

Little blue Chuggy landed onto the floor and laid there for all one cares.

An hour went by, and then another one, when little Michael came hopping along;

He saw blue Chuggy all broken and shattered but went away singing his song.

Chuggy just lay there, no more could it whistle for its charge had gone all low;

So lost and lonely it felt and it cooed to revive itself from the blow.

                                                  ******

...so now it just lay there lifeless and limp in the brown cardboard box on the right;

For little Michael had neither for once turned his back nor with mommy had he put up a fight.

When blue blue Chuggy thought all was lost, it saw a shadow being cast over it;

A freckled little lad with hair as red as ever peered at him with his face all lit.

"Mommy", he said "look what I have found for my happy birthday gift,

a blue wooden train so happy and bright.", and out of there blue Chuggy he did lift.

He put the broken pieces together with love and blue Chuggy in his arms he nestled;

Chuggy was happy that it'd found a new friend and in happiness it gently whistled.

Little Michael had been so good and so dear, Chuggy missed him with out a doubt;

But Goodness had given it another who cared, so Chuggy chucked all its sadness out.

The Greatest Gift...

Of all the gifts Thou has given us, Love is the greatest; And oh Lord
our privilege to make Thee the center of our lives is a manifestation of this, Thy gift to us...


What is human love, only feeble and conditional,
it blooms today like fresh blossoms and tomorrow it withers away;
And even if it should be immortal my Lord, can it compare to that of Thou?
For Thou oh Lord foolishly lavish love upon us;
We stray away and live unrighteous lives but Thou continue to love us,
For Thy love oh Lord is patient and kind, it never comes to an end,
it bears all our sinfulness and hopes to save us from all that is not of Thee.


Our nothingness oh Lord cannot fathom this, Thy kindness to us;
For we see but only a part; The complete portrait of Thy heart for us
we shall see only when we rise above ourselves and share in Thy love;
An unconditional flow, like an eternal river so pure.


Bless us dear Lord that we, some day before we cross the river,
may share of this, Thy love and feel the ecstasy;
For even if we, for only a moment, love another with the love with which Thou love us,
our journey and purpose in life would be rendered complete.

Seulement Pour Moi

What a beautiful bond we share my Lord, You are the flower and I am the bee;

Aye I am drawn to You and You nourish me with nectar so sweet.

But Lord I abhor with great intensity when the other bees hover around You;

It's not the nectar that I fear I shall loose, but my flower I cannot share.

I sing to You a love song and I adore You like I do no one else;

But all of the others do the same my Lord, so how am I different from these?

Why then should you love me more than you do the others?

I understand it all with my head, but my heart, who shall explain it?

You see no difference in all Your lovers, they are all carved on the palm of Your hand;

But Your hand, oh Lord, is not where I long to be;

Make me then, the apple of Your eye and hide me under Your lashes

So that no one takes me away from You nor You away from me.

The others, they may call me selfish, but nothing do I hear or listen;

Solipsism has taken over and I see nothing but me, oh Lord I see nothing but You.

The others they have their flowers or let them go to other gardens;

I exhort that You are mine and mine alone.

Do not despise me or push me away for murdering my conscience;

The puissance I do not have that I would hold myself up;

Look at me alone today and some day when I am stronger,

I shall set You free to make Your home in the heart of the other.

The Last Walk...

I held your finger and the path seemed endless;
Small steps I took knowing you were with me;
And now as I walk the last walk, my hand hooked onto your arm
The path seems so short and I wish it would never end.

A tiara of fresh flowers rests comfortably on the crown of her head. Black tresses cascading behind her. A hint of moisture lurking in the depths of her bottomless almond eyes. She smiles to hide it all. The white of the gown can't match the purity of the moment. She glances to her right. He smile's a weak smile. She tightens her grip on his weak arms, the arms that have been so strong for so long, the arms that have lifted her up from the lowest of lows.

The first step again. The first of the many last steps that she would take with her hero. The holy temple resounds with angelic hymns. Church bells sing their own song. They rhythmically progress. At the end of the aisle waits a prince that would take his princess away for good. He would if he could lift her up like he always did and take her back. But sometimes there is no turning back and so he moves on. He knows she is happy and so he moves on. Tears push against the lids of his old eyes like the unruly sea pushing against the dams, but he moves on. He sketches a vivid image, with his mind's eye, of the tiny bundle of happiness that he once held. He wishes his embrace could be her world once again. But tiny bundles like her were meant to be given away and so he moves on.

A hundred pair of eye balls pierce their gaze on her. Another hundred mouths hush and whisper to each other. But she hears nothing. Numbness has taken over. Ahead of her stands the man she loves the most in the world. Beside her stands the man who loves her beyond compare. Why does she have to leave one arm to hold the other? Couldn't she get it all? But she knows she cannot and so she moves on.  The fragrance of her old man tugs at her heart. She knows, so well, that fragrance. The fragrance that accompanied the hug and made her feel everything could  be fine again, the same fragrance that accompanied the good night kiss she secretly stayed awake to cherish every night. In moments she would have to part with it forever. But she knew  that every flower withered away and took with it its fragrance. The vase had to accept a new flower with a new fragrance and so she moved on.

Before they know it they have reached the end of a beautiful journey. One last glance, one last smile, one last touch...

So fast I outgrew your arms, like an oyster outgrown by the pearl;
But no matter how old I get, I'll still be your little girl...

My girl Maya...

She walked into my life, with her laughter and her song;
She changed the person I was all along;

Every moment we spent together was as sweet as the notes of the lyre;

My pride and an extension of my womanhood- my girl Maya.

...and all of a sudden the noise in the ward gave way to deafening silence and my pain, it gave way to a state of higher emotion. All I could feel was nothing and all I could see was a tiny bundle wrapped in a white piece of cloth stained crimson red. She fit so perfectly into my arms, like she was meant to be there all along. I looked at her and smiled. 

She wrapped her tiny hand around my fore finger. Struggling to hold her head up she ultimately gave in and rested it on my palm. My lazy finger drew circles on her cheeks. Feeling ticklish she moved slightly. Maya wasn't exactly fair, her skin delicate and pinkish. I smiled to myself imagining the dark complexioned beauty she'd grow up to be. Suddenly she yawned, the milky odour made my nose tingle. No matter how widely her mouth opened, it was still so tiny. I caught her smile in her peaceful slumber. I wondered if she was playing in His garden right now. She smiled like an angel exposing her pink naked gums. A tear drop danced on the rim of my eye and slid down my cheek.

I tilted my head backwards and rested it on the pink nursery wall behind me. I felt her lips against my skin. She depended on me for everything. Her helplessness tugged at my motherhood. Though I enjoyed my new role, I thought of how I would raise her to be an independent woman, beautiful and powerful. Maya would create an identity for herself. She would never struggle to fit in. Right from her first steps she would forge ahead in life with freedom. A freedom that is born out of confidence. A confidence that stems from her trust in Him. In Him she would take her first steps. 

I reached out to the glass of water on the bed side table. I jolted forward and the water made a small puddle making the brown of the wood appear a hue darker...Vehicles were honking and the passengers in the bus chit chatting their way through the bright sunny day. I rubbed my eyes and tugged at my shawl. My watch told me I had rested for a good twenty minutes. I was happy I had had the dream. I saw my stop approaching. I quickly got up and moved towards the door. As I moved out of my seat I noticed a puddle of water. It made the green leather of the bus seat appear a hue darker than it was. I quietly  smiled to myself and descended down the metal stairs.