Category Archives: Life

July 9, 2012 · 8:52 pm

ASSURANCE

For everything there is a purpose …
Sometimes certain things occur,
Perhaps of sudden, perhaps of not.
And are accompanied by such untold grief
That repeated contemplation deep
Offers no answers sought.
Then the grief assumes unrelenting form,
Whilst life continues without stopping a pause
To cradle the desperate mind in its despair.

Yet for that tear, a smile shall linger still…
Even though never-ending the bleakness appears,
Seek solace amidst the comforting assurance
That faith will find its way to reappear,
And when quantified, will surely multiply relief.
For the Lord who knoweth the scope of all things
Shall forever embrace thee in his grace
Surround you at all times with his love
And assuredly … will by his mighty hand ease the pain.

Yemsodu 1995 ©

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July 7, 2012 · 12:39 am

The Quest

Why?

Alas, amid the multitude of evolving scenes

And through the sum and schemes of life

None can make proud boast of this …

The ever perfect balance, between all forces

In constant tranquility of absolute concordance.

An all elusive mirage indeed.

For in life’s journey,

Of certain, there is no perfect script …

Thus, be not deceived to seek that fallacy.

Rather enhanced by faith, embrace real possibilities,

Explore life in full measure and with utmost integrity.

Above all, steady premium attach to private peace

For that can transcend the cascades of emotions

And transform the valleys of darkest despair,

While fortifying the soul, with courage from within

To find comfort in acceptable personal equilibrum

Sufficient to satisfy and propel the mind diligently onward.

                                                       Enduring peace I bid to you my friend …

Yemsodu Copyright 2012

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July 4, 2012 · 2:18 pm

Age is as Inevitable as Time

True it is, age is similar to time
For age like time shall surely come to pass.
Although some say, in essence
That age is indeed time itself.
However ponder a beat, and consider this
Their differences aren’t too far off to see.

Age perhaps is not as elusive as time
Because age often is somehow seen
In the eager eyes of the young
And the graying hair of the old.
For though time ticks into hours and days
That would be more difficult to see.

Now, their differences seem a shade more apparent
Still worthy of note, is the transcending fact, that
The accumulation of time encompasses age.
Thus though different and yet similar
In the same breathe they may appear.
Of certain, is one thing indeed
“Age is as inevitable as time”
To that there is no doubt, my friend.

Yemsodu Copyright 1991.

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February 2, 2012 · 12:39 am

Reflect Nigeria 3 Part 2

…
Content ye appear as mediocrity now thee assails,
Undaunted reigning supreme above all virtues good.
How soon the lustre of a splendid past fades
While eminence embraces the persistence in excellence…
Yet ye seem content to fall into oblivion
Like the water from thy “dry forsaken” taps.
Content ye must be if ye sit and watch
Thy children’s hopes cascade down hillsides.
Or prepared are thou to wait in vigil endless
For a flicker of light … as in thy light bulbs
Which alas in a twinkling disappears.
That woe thy present may not betide
Nor continued decadence thy future beguile,
That future generations may not wail in anguish
Nor mourn they the demise of the “African Giant” …
Time bids us now, all virtues excellent to assume
Beckons to the worthy, proper leadership to assume.
With hands all reforming now steadfastly on deck,
Mustering courage profound and efforts gallant,
Yielding not unto the ill wind of deterioration
But steering thyself, again into realms of grandeur
Thy present may truly supersede thy laudable past.
Clinging to hope the eternal corner stone
Ridding thyself of all plagues and declension.
Moving unwavering with resolve and rectitude,
Then striding confidently into futures dignified.
All illusions thence forward becoming realities …
Clouds dark flit away,
Revealing again … the brilliance in thy horizon.
For Reflect Nigeria 3 Part 2
Yemsodu Copyright 1994
Posted February 02 2012

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January 29, 2012 · 8:25 pm

Reflect Nigeria 3 Part 1

Mayday! Mayday!
Lament Great Child of Africa.
Let none deceive ye, even in flippant jest
That ye need not lament.
Lament aloud, great child of Africa
That thy ancestors hearing thy plea,
Bestow upon thee blessings abundant
To soothe your brow and calm thy soul.
Lament not, thy greatness past
But thy fallen grace and stagnant present.
Lament more, great land as thy horizons dim
And only an illusion of the future is seen.

Deceive thyself not, as ye hopelessly retrogress
And ye lurch against the billowing wind of prosperity
While others into the blossom of splendor it blows.
Comfort take not, as ye slumber deep
The tide of good fortune ignoring thee …
Yet carrying others swiftly into futures grand
Their endeavour superlative, surpassing thine.
Alas time and tide await no one ;
Nor tarry they in vain for a tardy nation.
Do hasten child of great ancestry
Thy rightful place in the present seek to reclaim.

Even the babe born as the sun rises,
The sage hope is wiser as the sun sets.
Yet this great child of noble heritage
Fallen head first into despair deep
Finds to stand erect, arduous indeed.
In a world awaiting not even the agile
Nor keeping a vain pause for those trailing,
Thy streets are not paved with stone
Much less other gems … surely not gold.
Heed now the echoing distress call.
Perpertuate not the blemishes in thy history
And remove also the tarnish in thy armour.

Stay Tuned…
For Reflect Nigeria 3 Part 2
Yemsodu Copyright 1994
Posted January 29, 2012

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January 19, 2012 · 3:46 am

Reflect Nigeria 2

Thundering Collapse
The once sturdy walls came acrashing …
Debris of accelerated decline pile high.
Bedlam ensues, comforted in like type
By confusion tremendous in peculiarity.
The tumble of prominence past, thunderous
and far reaching awakens the sagacious and most.
Yet some in wanton indifference delight.
Poverty embraces squalor in polite company
Prosperity in turn evades many and more.
Chaos welcomes unparalleled plight.
Destruction prevails and despair accrues.
Grief unbridled, shares like fame
Thus tranquillity, the soul abandons
Whose grand ideals crumble dejected.
Thereafter, resignation in the body resides
Heralded by crushed visions of hope.
Alas soul-rending dread develops, as
Perplexity compounds the echoes of misery.
Must declension its solace here find
And enormity its continuous abode, whilst
From view life’s bountiful promise hides.
Yet from debris likewise others arose
Impediments far greater casting off,
Breaking free of age-old shackles
Crossing frontiers once thought impossible.
Thereupon their silent hopes multiplying
As near forgotten dreams assume reality
Expanding splendidly into horizons broad.
Still, pleads providence from the fallen wall,
Ignore not the script in the rubble,
Thyself now avail, plunge ye not into obscurity
For fate’s mercies store not indefinite.
Or alas ’twill be nought but tales surviving
A once illustrious existence fast fading into oblivion
That e’en history may not save from ignominy’s shame.
Stay Tuned
Yemsodu Copyright 1994
Posted January 18, 2012

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January 18, 2012 · 3:48 am

Reflect Nigeria

WEEP CHILD
Weep child, please.
Pray thee weep and listen not
To the renowned legend of old
Pleading to the contrary,
For that was then, an ancient legend
Of times probably dissipating for aye.
Mourn the loss, of thy cloak of heritage rich,
Squandered and pillaged beyond salvage’s reach,
By disrepair, treading in peril annihilation’s course.
While corrupted-evil, that fabric long consuming
Permeates thy garment’s threads, now bare,
Thus maintaining neither the fabric nor yarn … once grand.
In irony, the continuous passage of time
Assistance, appears to lend this disintegration,
For all adornments hard earned
And accolades acclaimed gigantic in term,
Fall off one after the other in quickened pace.
As ye calamity’s raiment encounter.
Howl, rend thy robes, don sackcloth,
Ashen thy face … weep.
Alas… belongs the past, in times past.
And now thy state tattered and tarnished
Sustaineth neither thy hapless present
least the dim hope of a future bleak.
The efforts of the stalwart past vain appear,
The present ordinarily as sustenance
the leap into the future support should.
Yet this scaffold, flimsy in substance
Its every framework plagued, crashes
Failing the future, assailing the past…
Lament aloud, lest thy forebears hear,
Seeing also thy long-suffering rush to thy aid,
Maybe saving the land , from perdition and despair
Thy heritage, from dishonour and scorn
By some miracle of old … if not, child
Weep …
Stay Tuned
Yemsodu Copyright 1995
Posted January 17, 2012

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January 16, 2012 · 10:27 pm

Occupy Nigeria Continued …x2

The removal of the subsidy is indeed the proverbial straw in the Nigerian context…

For permeating steadfastly for decades into the national fabric

As evident as day, lies the cumulative and lasting effect, of widespread corruption.

Advancing without retreat to magnified decay in all avenues of human existence.

Resulting in the unrelenting albatross, a yoke on the people who tragically bear the brunt

Of the continuum of pernicious failure in a land otherwise blessed.

 

Nigeria belongs to the people not a handful …

A true democracy must listen and respect the populace

Do you not hear their lamentations … LISTEN

 

Stay Tuned …

Yemsodu

January 16, 2012

 

 

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October 10, 2011 · 9:00 pm

Friendship’s Quarter

It’s more than a description of those met along
life’s sometimes undulating terrain…

It dawned upon a new venture amid life’s scenes
And came to rest among those so dear.
Perchance the encounter may be described
But maybe their paths had been bound to
Intertwine even though previously unknown
And stay much endeared from day to day.

‘Tis more than a quarter indeed.
 Much more than a weary place to rest
A tired head and body bearing life’s chances;
‘Tis the smile that greets the weakened soul
And the grace that bears affection to the door
And surrounds with terms of endearment warm.

And thus if it be chance, then ‘tis welcome.
And beckon it along the more with fortune,
Grace and happiness that stay cherished.
For the encounter it brought forth
Blossoms in the quarter it resides
For that quarter is in the heart to remain.

       More the treasure is the feeling of delight
       that friendship would find its abode with me

                                         Yemil Benjoy
                                         Christmas 1997 ©

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October 10, 2011 · 8:50 pm

Which is Yours to Keep

So you believe that life is ours.
Which one is yours to call thy own,
The life which within your body resides
Or the spirit in thy soul that floats
Or that entity by grace in eternity.
Which life indeed is yours to keep.
          None in earnest say I to thee
          None in truth is yours indeed
          For they are but all thy maker's choice
          To give so freely unto thee. 

                               Yemil Benjoy
                               Copyright 1994.

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