Series of Creative Poems by Joseph Maliyakini from Zimbabwe

1. I am broken but still standing

 

Deformed,

From solid to dust

 

I remember the days when,

When I was once someone,

Someone among someone,

But now I have been demolished.

 

Extirpated,

From the roots,

From the core of life,

From the source of love.

 

Life itself had lost meaning,

Breathing I had already forgotten,

Surviving was now I didn’t know.

 

 

Every day, I would fall,

Falling harder than the previous day,

But my feet never lost trust in my back,

They always managed to bring me up on to the ground.

 

On my feet,

I’m still standing,

I don’t know why,

Maybe there is still hope,

Perhaps there is still life left in me.

 

Joseph Maliyakini Zimbabwe

 

2. My past is behind

 

Long-lost in the dark,

Forgotten by the present.

Locked away from the light.

 

These are the memories,

Memories of the past,

Memories of lust,

Memories of love,

Memories of scars.

 

Mistakes were made,

Lessons were learned,

But the history doesn’t change,

There is no life left in it to live,

 

Attached to the present,

Is me and my future.

 

The past is all behind me,

I don’t visit there anymore,

I have lost interest in it,

But it was my greatest teacher,

Too bad I don’t live there anymore.

 

Joseph Maliyakini Zimbabwe

 

3. It’s me whom you have rejected

 

From the beauty of your disperse,

To the meaning of your words.

 

All I wanted was for you to understand me,

But you treated me like I wanted your life,

All I wanted was for you to listen,

In return, you just cut my throat,

 

Was it really necessary,

All I wanted was your love,

The love I never got all my life,

But I guess life is full of blair surprises.

 

Take a good look at me now,

Don’t worry I won’t bite,

Don’t worry I am calm,

 

I am still that same old person,

The one you rejected every time,

The one you would push away always,

The one who used to yearn for your love,

 

 

The love I never got,

The trust I never got,

The peace I never had,

The attention I wanted,

 

But look at me now,

I am not dead am I,

I have life in me,

More than I had,

 

I found love,

I found trust,

I found peace,

I got attention,

 

I am a better person now,

Diamonds don’t break,

But they make,

Beautiful jewelry.

 

Joseph Maliyakini Zimbabwe

 

4. New Season

 

With a new dawn comes a brand-new day,

It is always part of nature

 

The darkest nights bring forth beautiful days,

The darkest moments in time make the best memories,

The toughest times so make the strongest people in everyone.

 

First the seed germinates,

Then it becomes a plant,

The plant blooms,

It is a flower.

 

Like a charging lion,

With the stealth of the jaguar,

The speed of a cheetah,

The courage of a wolf,

The strength of a tiger,

 

A new dawn has come,

It’s a brand-new Era,

A new day,

Yeah it’s a new season,

 

It’s time to mend the last mistakes,

Time to makeup for the lost moments,

Time to make new memories,

Time to reconcile with the past.

 

Fresh minds are rolling.

 

 

5. Knowing my weakness doesn’t mean you know me.

 

It is true, indeed,

What they say.

Our flaws make us,

Our mistakes remind us,

They remind us that we are human.

But we aren’t just that are we,

Well what about our strengths,

Don’t they make us who we are too,

Come on people,

Why do claim you know me when you don’t?

Why do you claim you know the whole puzzle?

When you haven’t even seen all the pieces.

 

I am just like a cake,

My flaws, and weakness are like salt,

My strengths are like sugar,

They all make the cake taste good,

Only when put in right portions.

 

Surely, you can’t make a good cake with salt only,

Neither can you make a good cake with sugar only,

The absence of one ingredient is always noticed.

 

Joseph Maliyakini

Zimbabwe

 

6. Unknown writers

 

Letters of mystery they are,

Like storms that come by night,

Ghosts some may suggests,

The ones that shake the earth from its despair,

Giving hope and life to the lifeless.

Angels of voiceless words they call themselves,

 

They are the secret ingredient of the writing world,

They are the secret weapons to the war of words,

Silent yet deadly,

Global yet discreet.

They are the unknown.

 

Joseph Maliyakini

Zimbabwe

 

7. New years

 

I can’t believe it too,

Ooh, can you?

 

Just yesterday was another year,

Today is a new one,

 

It is indeed true,

The race isn’t for the swift,

Nor is the battle for the strong,

And neither is the bread for the wise,

Nor the riches for the intelligent and understanding.

 

But indeed,

Time and chance happen to us all.

It is indeed another year,

It is another chance,

It is time.

 

Make the best of it,

To those who value time,

They know that every second counts.

Something new is always good.

It only depends on how you are to use it ,

for it to be considered volatile.

Make your choices wisely.

 

Joseph Maliyakini

Zimbabwe

 

 

8. No one will stop me

 

From afar, I have come,

Many have tried but failed,

Some still do try but to no avail.

 

I have come so far to lose it now,

I have worked tirelessly for what I have now,

It can’t all be lost,

Not even for a second.

 

I am on my quest now,

I have my bucket list,

Success is on the top.

 

I am running in my track,

I don’t need anyone to distract me.

I am only focused on my goals now.

 

Yes, sometimes it proves to be hard,

But being hard is not being impossible.

Not everyone is there to help,

Careful of whom you trust.

 

I won’t let anyone stop me this time,

I am fully charged now.

My dreams are my target.

 

Joseph Maliyakini

Zimbabwe

 

9. I was young, but now I am old and matured

 

Gone are the days when I was young,

It is all in the past now,

 

Ooh, how I miss it,

The error of life,

Some moments cannot be lived again,

But one would take a chance if he can.

 

All the fun that we had,

All the games we played,

All the friends I had,

All that we did.

 

Now I’m old, I can’t run around.

My age deprives me of that now,

 

All I care about now is my family,

All I care about is my legacy now.

All the energy and vibe is gone now.

 

I think, more than I do now,

Forgetting is presently my flaw.

 

Joseph Maliyakini

Zimbabwe

 

 

10. Imagination

 

An unknown gift misused by many.

 

Boys are born with it,

The gift of the mind,

 

How blessed are they,

Those that have imaginations,

The greatest power of creativity,

I must say it is genius level.

 

One can create and destroy,

All that in his mind,

 

What a great gift that is,

One can entertain himself.

Ooh! What a retard some may say,

Fools are they that do not recognize it.

 

It is indeed a blessing in disguise,

A tool that only needs to be sharpened.

 

Joseph Maliyakini

Zimbabwe

 

11. Absent mother

 

The only living angel in this world,

The world is a dark place without you.

 

Can you an imagine what the world will be like without you?

Can you imagine what will happen in your absence?

 

Everything is dark,

There is no one to ever guide us.

 

Ooh, how sweet you are,

How beautiful your ways are.

Yet, you cause this much pain.

Unbearable pain to all that is.

 

Ooooh the love of the world,

Highly lies your respect,

The world is lost,

Without you.

 

Joseph Maliyakini

Zimbabwe

 

12. Absent father

 

Heroes are meant to be always there,

There to protect and to guide.

But no one really understands,

The way of God is always a mystery.

It is always a mystery to us all.

 

We might know the how’s and when,

but no one ever seems to know why.

 

His methods can be ruthless sometimes,

They leave most in tears and pain.

 

Ooh, dear fathers.

Did you know you were this important.

You took away all the strength we had.

 

Ooh father,

How far you have gone,

Yet your love still remains.

 

Joseph Maliyakini

Zimbabwe

 

13. My resolutions for this year

 

A dream can be put in three ways,

Prevail,

Prosper,

Succeed.

 

Everyone wishes to live the dream,

But only a few are prepared to work for it,

Nor everyone who works for it gets it,

But those who are determined to live it.

 

It’s like what they say,

Many are called,

But only a few are chosen.

A kingdom lifestyle.

 

Joseph Maliyakini

Zimbabwe

 

14. I can’t change.

 

From various torments,

My boundaries have been set,

 

I am indeed limited,

Not to my understanding,

But to the dependence of my survival.

 

My life was written,

Long before I was even there,

Goal were set,

Some of which I don’t even know.

 

The time came, a storm came,

But I was never swept off the shore,

Deep in my roots I remained,

attached to my ancestors.

 

I am who I am today,

They made sure I will be here,

They left a life for me to live here.

They left me with all the freedom I need!

 

This is me,

I won’t change,

I like who I have become,

I am indeed proud of myself.

 

Joseph Maliyakini

Zimbabwe

 

15. Mysterious Man,

 

Who is he?

Do you know?,

No one really knows,

And I wonder why,

Well he is indeed,

A mystery man.

 

Joseph Maliyakini

Zimbabwe

 

16. I am in love

 

First I was confused,

Because I thought I knew,

That which I didn’t know,

I thought I had understood,

That which I didn’t understand.

 

It all became a mystery again,

I needed to know,

 

I needed to understand better,

The feeling that was forcing my body,

The feeling that was corrupting my mind.

Little did I know,

Matters like these needed no understanding.

 

I couldn’t ask anyone,

As I was unable to explain,

They claim,

They have told me about it,

But everything I am feeling is different,

We seem to have walked different paths,

 

How great this feeling is,

Yet so confusing to my mind.

It needs no understanding.

 

Ohh how I love it,

Wait did I say it,

Yes I did,

It is love,

 

Everyone talks about it,

But I doubt everyone experienced it.

Because the way I am feeling now,

I wouldn’t want to let it go away.

No, not even for a moment.

 

Joseph Maliyakini

Zimbabwe

 

 

17. A responsible youth.

 

Young man,

Young lady.

 

Are you the one who is called the youth of today,

Are you the one who is to make tomorrow a beautiful today,

Are you the one who is to make the future worth living and dying for?

 

A doctor is responsible for the patient,

A teacher is responsible for the student.

And so are you youth responsible for the world.

You are the one responsible for the change and development.

 

Don’t waste your time, ooh, dear ones.

Strive for your purposes in life,

Perform your roles well.

Succeed.

 

Joseph Maliyakini

Zimbabwe

 

18. I won’t go back to the things I used to do.

 

Condemned I call them,

The most tortuous of all,

I can’t even bear to mention,

Ooh, the doors of the evil being.

 

How treacherous it is to even think about them,

How scary the place they take me is.

You would not want to know.

I meant it,

When I said,

I don’t want to,

I don’t want to do it

Not even once I promised myself.

 

What can be more evil than it,

It took everything I had away from me,

It left me homeless, heartless and broken

 

I had no one to hold,

I had no one to love,

No one to chat with.

My life was cold.

 

Dead I thought I was,

But a miracle is what it was.

I don’t want to go back anymore.

 

Joseph Maliyakini

Zimbabwe

 

19. I am the best writer the world has ever seen

 

From a few drops of ink,

And a little piece of paper,

I had written all about myself,

Well it ain’t that much,

The rest is still yet to come.

 

Every day ,

Every hour,

There is a poem,

A poem is brewing in my heart,

I can feel the words moving in my veins,

 

Poetry has become my life now,

It is no longer a dream I am set to leave,

Rather it is the oxygen that I breathe

A few claim to really know,

But non understand.

 

My words aren’t words,

It is my blood trying to gig life,

I only live for the sake of sharing life.

I only have one purpose in life now,

To make the paper wet with ink.

To draw the heart of the world.

To draw it all in one piece.

 

My words are set to build,

But is that all?

No, it isn’t!!

 

They are to prove to the world,

That there is not a single pen,

That can possibly write as mine.

 

Joseph Maliyakini

Zimbabwe