home before february (preview)
DESCRIPTION
An anthology of poetry that views love through five stages in a relationship (Boy meets girl; Love is in the air; Pieces: Missing; Ramblings). Termed “a 365-days-a-year-love-card”, HBF aims to encourage its readers to love beyond February, the “love month”, or any need not to.TRANSCRIPT
P
RE
VIE
W
Trying To Be Home
Before
February.
Trying To Be Home
Before
February.
Masingita Mzilikazi
Trying To Be Home Before February.
Lefoko La Kgosi Publishing
076 162 3430
Layout and Typesetting Copyright © Lefoko La Kgosi
Cover Design Copyright © Thato Dinake, Neo Mofokeng, Nicholas Chikambvi, Khayalethu Ngoma and Lefoko La Kgosi.
Cover Photo Copyright © Popcorn & Cereal Photography
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior written consent of the
author. Short extracts may be used for review
purposes. Published and printed in the Republic Of South Africa.
First edition, 2012
ISBN 978-0-620-55591-3
Copyright © Masingita Mzilikazi
www.masingitamasiya.blogspot.com
Boy Meets Girl Describing you 11
A simple equation 12
Such moments 13
Ribbon of awe 14
The first of summer mornings 15
When you smile 16
She 17
Bully 18
Your name 19
I head home 20
Beauty 21
a sound like summer 22
Depth unknown 23
Flaming arrow 24
Within your smile 25
Love Is In The Air
i looked for you 29
Possibilities 30
A lover without words 31
Come this moment 32
To, for and about but never with 33
Silently 34
...she does 35
Yours 36
Loving you 37
Occupied 38
I came 39
a moment in the life of you 40
Forever moment 41
Re-falling 43
Yours to have 44
Pieces Preface 47
Solitude altitude undermined 48
a winter sunday, today 49
Contents
The attempt at love is the witness 50
Tell me 51
Leave me now 52
Turn the page 53
Sudden departure 54
gone 55
Figment of my insanity 56
For a second, a moment 57
I found our memories 58
Missing
Missed 61
The songs of yesterday 62
Erase you 63
A memory a day 64
Awaiting more 65
100 pillows 66
On a trail 67
university of Johannesburg 68
I missed you 69
Wishing for a dream 70
Echoes through my ear 71
Fleeting images 72
Being here 73
Lonely and alone 74
Ramblings Freenote 77
Falling and taking shape 78
An incomplete poem about love 79
Love 80
a different colour 81
Utter 82
Writing. You. 83
I can’t write you a poem 84
A new persuasion 85
Trying to be home before February 86
Marry me 89
Summer-Rose, forever find breath within my verse.
Boy Meets Girl I met a girl who introduced me to the man I needed to
become.
“At some point in his life, a boy will meet a girl”. I too, met a girl. The girl I
couldn't write a poem for, but spent my life writing poems about. We met at
church, the perfect place to meet I guess. She and I were nothing alike, but
she was the one I liked. She was the uncommon girl – the girl who introduced
me to myself. It’s almost impossible to explain how it felt to be in her presence
– overwhelming to some extent, yet euphoric. It seemed I could never get my
'cues' right around her: if I wasn't smiling at all the wrong times, I was laughing
too hard too soon at everything she said. Around her I was anything but cool.
I know she considered it all cute, but many a time I walked away from her
thinking to myself: "You idiot!” Haha! Most importantly, I remember that all of
this changed me. It is crucial that every boy in his life meet a girl... It'll be the
beginning of the end of his life as a boy. ~Patamedi Jonathan Lebea
She lit a light that set fear to flight/ oh what a magnificent sight/ my eyes had
never set sight on such beauty/ drawn by her flawless smile from a mile/ I was
amazed and astonished for a while/ she moved swiftly to the sound of my
heartbeat/ the soles of her feet left an indelible footprint in my soul/ swift was
the hand that stole this heart of mine/ words could not define nor decipher
emotions that flooded my being/ I froze as those that were in my presence
faded away/ engulfed and consumed by her splendour/ her disposition
spoke perfection into existence/ she personified excellence/ bone of my
bone, a queen seated upon my heart’s throne/ a pure work of art/ God’s
divine design, I required no sign/ I knew she was meant to be mine/ she
brought time to a grinding halt and unlocked my love vault. ~Herman
Mzwandile Mashaya
Describing you
I have borrowed of mortals’ To describe your surroundings Yet to attempt a description Of your make is supernal
11
A simple equation
Your beauty
is the common denominator
of love
and life...
12
Such moments
Such moments are forgotten
when silence was resounding in pierced ears
because the mouth suddenly lost plot
and allowed the eyes to indulge
Such would be the scene
of beauty wrapped in so many words
yet few and rare expressions
watched as it unfolded.
13
Ribbon of awe
Glaze her name on sky scrapers
wrap her beauty with a ribbon of awe
evoke the sun to rise sky- and noon-high
just so that it could mirror itself against her smile
and should I die before these words get published
bury me under the gravel of her scent
let everyone's feet pick up pace to where she leads
where skies walk and roads take flight
14
The first of summer mornings
Had I a say
and the ability,
the first of summer mornings
would be birthed in your eyes
heralding the season of colour
and beauty.
15
When you smile
Careless in how you wield your weapon
You swing, slash and carve
Screaming like a woman in labour
Distilled, sweat flows from your brow
Frantic in approach
Who’s to measure how far the blade sinks?
With ears shut to any plea for help
Men suffer without a stick to clutch on to
Who’s to redeem us sons who delight in war?
A war we cannot win
War not against a military uniform
But against a daughter with an apocalyptic smile
16
She
the firmness of the grip of my heart loosened
all things firm and founded became unbound
the mystery masked in these emotions yielded
it exploded in your ears and scattered
so much said in just one word, “love"
so much withdrawn in one thought
"love" makes no sense when you think about her
she baffles all the more when in expression
i've seen matured men fold at her mention
boys glow with a naive anticipation
seasoned women have termed her a "phantom assurance"
girls boldly require her to accompany any proposal their way
she, a crayon that colours outside the lines
abides in the hearts of those who never tire
those with a thirst for battering
and a hunger for buttering
17
Bully
I am cornered because she looked my way
Concerned by the way she shapes my day
a concert of beauty that conducts my wordplay
And corrugates fear, breath and the autumn situated in May
I danced to the harmony that is the breath in her voice
It suppressed my September renderings
allowing me to hide behind the choice
to render our encounter as another of our few rememberings
18
Your name
Your name caught
in the trail of silence’s trance
where the sound of rain falling
is a direct reprimand to the parched land
weaves me along like a strand
that belongs to the cloth
of those affected by love.
Your name is adorned.
19