A HALF DOZEN POEMS PLUS ONE MORE:
Featuring the poetry of Mr. Kenneth Maswabi
Who cursed the night?
Ignorance is a far deeper wound than sadness In its most intense form, it's infested with disgusting malicious forms of stupidity
Throughout history, ignorance has caused so much strife in the house of humanity
It's a vicious form of selfishness and recklessness
A malady that can cause even the most beautiful soul to engage in some of the most
despicable acts
Ignorance is not just the lack of knowledge
Ignorance affects both the academically inclined and the illiterate in equal measures
It's the inability to see through the veil of illusions
An incapacitated state where the affected individual is turned into a viper that bites those who are deemed enemies
Regardless of the bright colors of their good intentions
Ignorance (not wickedness) is the cause of atrocities and genocide the world over
The sharp edge of ignorance is more dangerous than all nuclear weapons combined
More ferocious than the worst nightmare ever experienced
Ignorance is the number one enemy of humanity
It has the ability and capacity to destroy the world
It's through ignorance that brothers are turned into blood thirsty beasts and turn against each other
It's through ignorance that tribalism, racism, nationalism, terrorism and other forms of beliefs are made to fester and grow
Ignorance is the number one cause of poverty, motor vehicle accidents and gun violence
Ignorance is the source of fear, uncertainty and hopelessness
If humanity could see through the veil of ignorance
And embrace the Truth
The world would be a far better place
No one will fight over philosophies and ideas
No one will die of thirst, hunger and malnutrition
No war will be fought inside the house of humanity
Who cursed the night? No one. This is an example of an ancient culture of ignorance
Night time has always been filled with suspicion and fear
But it's a beautiful time of the day, when Silence is embraced and dreams are realized
Now, be aware of your unawareness
And you will be healed of your ignorance
© Kenneth Maswabi
Sadness, Sorrow and Despair
Late at night
When everyone has closed their eyes
Her eyes are wide open, unable to blink
Her mind is an open casket of the most intense sorrow
She has lost all her identities, achievements, possessions and warmth
Like a dying fire, she is surrounded by darkness
She is as cold as the tomb stones
Where her children are buried
The thought of her beloved children wrapped in a shroud of death sent excruciating pain deep into her soul
Her life story torn to pieces
It all happened when everyone was looking
All her dreams erased from the blackboard of life
Her life's spark extinguished
Her tears are left lifeless on her cheeks
Sadness, sorrow and despair have come to her home uninvited
Only the sound of her grief fills the dark night sky
The rest of the world sleeps undisturbed.
Dedicated to the many mothers who are victims of Wars.
© Kenneth Maswabi
The Wiseman from Africa
In many stories, you never hear of this man or woman
He is subdued and oftentimes neglected
He has no hordes of photographers to follow him
Like a burning tree, he will perish with his secrets
His seeds will be obliterated by the fire of obscurity
There is something interesting about wisdom
It never chooses a certain place or location
Its nest is already present in all of us
But there are certain conditions that need to prevail
Before the mystery of wisdom can start to lay its sacred eggs
The Wiseman from Africa is one of those poems
Where the mystery is folded in an enigma
To break it open, you don't need hands
You need spiritual eyes to see the latch on its forehead
There are no words inscribed on it though
It's the prescription of Silence that gives it away
The Wiseman from Africa has found the portal of mysteries
No other academic description can describe his new found state of awareness
It's not born out of the open canvas of the African wilderness
Or distilled from the natural African herbs
It is the most abundant phenomenon in all of the Universe
That pervades his body, mind and soul conquering every one of his senses
Silence is the key to this enigma
It has no explanation or root cause
It's not a disease or birthmark
Silence is the garment that opens every avenue of wisdom
And the Wiseman of Africa has found its nest
Usually, it builds its nest in Eastern philosophies
Or in Ancient Greek mythologies
But this time, it did not want an old sacred bowl
Or a piece of ancient wood
It settled for a common log, where it ignited its sacred fire
Like a Phoenix, it has to rise out of its own ashes
And occupy the fabric of existence
Silence, Wisdom and Africa are not usually mentioned in one template
But the dawn of enlightenment began in Africa
It is an ancient place, full of mysteries, most of them hidden under the sand dunes of the Kalahari and Sahara deserts
Some of them swallowed by the passing of time
The Wiseman from Africa is not a pure coincidence or a political masquerade
It is a taste of all things possible, a real journey of life
To all of humanity, God gives gifts, but it is the neglected gift that holds the key to mankind's spiritual awakening
Listen to the Wiseman of Africa
It's a poem about nothingness, consciousness and illumination
© Kenneth Maswabi
When Everyone is Asleep
I am disengaged from my limited human existence
And enter a stateless state of consciousness
A form of nothingness occupies my body, mind and soul
Incapacitating my ability to think logically
In this manner, I am a whole world of poetry
And words are the flora and fauna of my being
It's this state of madness that holds me still
To receive the most beautiful gift ever manifested, the Sacred Light
In this illuminated capacity, poetry is my companion
And my master
I obey every command and yearn for every stroke
It's this enriched state of being that makes poetry a beautiful experience
Poetry is like dreaming, it encapsulates me into a beautiful glow of light
Opening a million ways to perceive life
It is far more richer than the limited five senses of the physical world
Every sweet melody is a divine encounter
It is a dimensionless world where I can be everywhere and nowhere at the same time
It is a dreamlike state of pure bliss
When everyone is asleep
Poetry knocks at the window of my heart
And I am mesmerized by her glowing eyes
She is my full moon and I am her darkness
Together, we are the moonlit night, soothing to the soul of existence
Fused and infused into the fabric of everything
When everyone is , I am the dream, and poetry is my mysterious lover
© Kenneth Maswabi
Writing anything about anything
In my head, there are no alphabets
Just a bunch of neurons
Communicating in a language unknown
We might think its neurochemistry
But no one knows the real truth
The brain has no mouthpiece
To tell us it's hidden secrets
We can only imagine and re-imagine the environment inside the brain
But the world of gray and white matter is beyond our comprehension
We can only be silent servants of this mysterious organization
Let's not be deluded by the wayward thoughts
That find their way to our doorsteps
The brain is an institution of the dark arts
It does not divulge its secrets
It refuses to show us its mysterious ways
That's why one can carry a huge brain and yet remain clueless
It is not a classroom of neurobiology
It is a silent world of noisy thoughts
Stuck together inside the solid walls of the faculty of reason
It is very difficult to find common sense in this milieu of estranged neuronal synapses
This is a poem about writing anything about anything
I hope you found the gist of the story now, let me introduce you to spirituality
The body, mind and soul are capsules of existence
Use them with care
Lest you fall for their illusions and delusions
And you will forever be lost in the realm of delusions of grandeur
© Kenneth Maswabi
The Ocean of Silence
Like a mad river
I will keep on following your trail
Flowing through your rail
Sailing through terrifying cliffs
Squeezing through uncertain terrain
I will knock over boulders and pebbles
Carry sediments and loads of questionable stuff
And in my hurry to embrace you
I will not disrespect you
I will put down all my anguish
Detoxify myself of all the horrors of life
I will come to you in peace
I won't let the slippery slopes of life delay our union
I am a servant of the world
But most importantly, I am a disciple of Silence
I will nourish the ground on which I walk
And quench the thirstiness in the wilderness of life
But I will not be absorbed to the things of the world
I will always find my way back to you
I will never let my energies dry down
I will look for the tiniest path
That will take me closer to you
I will let Faith, Hope and Love be my guide
To stir me toward your heart
Finally, I will be swallowed by your love
All my being turned to nothingness
I will be part of your eternal light
The pulsating sensation of your unconditional Love
Totally submerged in the substance of your being
© Kenneth Maswabi
**
When Silence is Elusive
In my attempt to re-enter the sacred place
I searched for my being inside the relentless unrest of this world
I was looking for my naked soul inside the tumultuous sea of life
It was like looking for a needle in a haystack
I was drowning in the open casket of my emotional self
There was no window to breathe except to suffocate inside the confusion of my mindset
But I stood still inside the turmoil
And it was the stillness that illuminated the path
When Silence is elusive, I become a lost soul
With nowhere to go but to enter the crowded room of my emotions
Here, I am forced to participate in the squabbles of life
The hustle and bustle of life become my garment
I lose my radiant beauty and become a smog-filled field of worldly illusions
Like a ghost, I become a nonentity
All my sacred energies gone
I become a raging river of uncertainty
But there is always a way back to my true self
It is inside the stillness where I am awakened
And I am led by the voice of Silence into the vastness of my being
Where I am resuscitated and re-infused with the sacred Light
This is the journey of my soul to and fro
As I try to traverse through the landscape of experiences
I am a Spirit being having a human experience
It is easy to lose my being inside the milieu of the constructed reality
It's imperative that I don't acquire a taste for material things
It's of utmost importance that I am not attached to the world of uncertainty
I am more at home inside the unknown
The realm of mysteries is my true home
Silence is my true garment
© Kenneth Maswabi
Kenneth Maswabi is a former Clinical Research Physician. He studied Medicine at Melbourne University, Australia and has been practicing Medicine for 17 years now. He joined Clinical Research in 2012 and worked on multiple Pediatric HIV/AIDS Cure Research Studies. Now, he is a General Physician at Riverside Hospital, Francistown, Botswana.
His interest with poetry started as a teenager but he didn't study poetry at school. His poetry is totally inspired by Silence or Stillness of mind, body and soul. He only writes when he is in this state. The state of Silence has been with him since he was born but he learnt to harness it to create poetry. He didn't write much until around 2014 when he started writing poetry on a daily basis. His interest in poetry is mostly related to the human spirit. He considers himself as a Spirit Poet and writes mostly about the Spirituality of Love, Consciousness and Humanity.
Just recently published a poetry book titled 'Love, Consciousness and Humanity: The Shadowless Dreamer...The Illuminated Path of Silence.' This is a collection of spirit poems that are inspired by Silence.