God and Poetry: Your Failures Do Not Define You

God and Poetry: Your Failures Do Not Define You: "Have you ever failed miserably at anything? Have you ever made a big mistake that seemed impossible to repair? Or maybe you had people stare..."

God and Poetry: Little Longings

God and Poetry: Little Longings: "Through this living nightmare They wonder how they’d ever make it Caught in a clash of gunshots These children are casualties of war The..."

God and Poetry: WE Are Not The Orators of Our Souls.

God and Poetry: WE Are Not The Orators of Our Souls.: "When we are grieving, we feel like the weight of the world is upon us and that no one could possibly understand our heartache. We allow emp..."

God and Poetry: LET DESTINY SPIN THE BOTTLE

God and Poetry: LET DESTINY SPIN THE BOTTLE: "Breaking up with someone you care about is one of the toughest decisions any of us will ever have to go through. Dealing with the pain and ..."

LET DESTINY SPIN THE BOTTLE

Breaking up with someone you care about is one of the toughest decisions any of us will ever have to go through. Dealing with the pain and heartbreak is never easy. We just have to live the days as they are set out and not live in the past. Sometimes, it could mean breaking up with a child hood sweet heart who left you for another guy or a ten year marriage ended by adultery. Whichever it is, hope is the indispensable key that keeps us living after one love is lost.


Even though, the nights never remain the same, the walk in the park feels lonesome and without a friend in the world and sometimes you wake up feeling the wind diffuse through the window, satisfying that empty space he/she once filled. But with time, the shattered heart begins to heal as greatness unveils the beauty of your essence and hope starts to whisper in a distance to recover your lost love. The nights begin to bring tender passing, healing your soul with glorious blunder as nights of dreams soaked in tears begin to dissipate. Finally, sadness comes to an end as happiness conquers all hate. Love sprouts as sadness shrinks and with time you realize that you are strong, you are a survivor, you don’t need the words of another to affirm the glorious beauty on the inside of you. For you are special, a blue rose amidst a dozen of thorns and whoever broke your heart just couldn’t deal with the splendor of your attraction.

At last, you feel whole again as you realize that the end of every road marks the beginning of another and the end of every thunderstorm marks the rising of the sun. On your new journey, you begin to tread on soft waters with the knowledge that love and life has its imperfections and sometimes the heart just goes where it goes, we can’t constrain it. Soon, you make your own mistakes as you become someone else’s lost love and then it dawns on you-THE BEAUTY OF LOVE LYE’S IN SEARCHING. But how would you search if you never experienced the beauty of a first kiss, first love and first heartbreak? Then you dust the sand off your feet with the pride of a man, the valor of a woman and the innocence of a child as you let destiny spin the bottle.

written by,Michael Ogah

WE Are Not The Orators of Our Souls.

When we are grieving, we feel like the weight of the world is upon us and that no one could possibly understand our heartache. We allow emptiness to build a home on the inside of us and melancholy moods to decay our spirit. A deepening sea of nowhereness consumes us and eats away our happiness, and then we feel exiled, different and disdained.

Every day we hope for a rainbow, a symbol of one of Gods many promises to give us the courage to trust in his promise (a promise of life and not of death). But still we feel isolated and alone; we can appreciate the beauty all around us but cannot feel it in our hearts because we’ve lost that one person that made beauty significantly flattering. All of a sudden happiness becomes as elusive as a leaf in the wind and a smile becomes as pungent as venom.

But I believe that that major tragedy and loss in our lives is a door to grow ourselves, to become more loving, compassionate and accepting towards others. I know grief is agonizing. That’s why I believe these painful moments in our lives are sacred and blessed with by the presence of spiritual helpers and friends, who feed us with feelings and perceptions that will assist us to heal and transform, especially if we give them the chance to help us.

Soon we begin to phantom the look of happiness when all of a sudden the smile of a baby melts our hearts. Then we realize that there is much to look forward to in life, the beauty of a marriage, the birth of a child, and the comfort of friends and the embrace of a wife.

Then we allow the wings of joy and love to carry us to view beneath the shinning sky and the spacious promise land. We become more accepting to be alive as we realize that no one lives forever and no matter how much we wish everyone could live forever……,we are everything but not... the orators of our souls. God Is.

Little Longings

Through this living nightmare

They wonder how they’d ever make it

Caught in a clash of gunshots

These children are casualties of war

They become prisoners to this shattered shell

This fortress of falling walls

Every day they cry blistering tears

Their hopes have been wrecked by the storm

Their sad twinge and tweak of pain tells a story

A story of the sun going down

A story of voices crushed like a way-side rose

A story of chimney-pity and widow-feeling

Yes-these are their stories

Stories of bitter cold lasting sorrow

Stories of dark rainy tomorrows

As I write this poem my eyes are cloudy with tears

For I do not know where the blessed silence of this glowing city is anymore

God where is your hand?

For our song is long forgotten

And every day we yearn for noon to come

Lord! Take my life

Take my long lived life

But spare my children

For their faces glitter with innocence

And their hearts are as pure as untrammeled dew

And so, for the sake of

The orphans

The refugees

The widows

And the homeless

Every day my prayer echoes a cry:

That oh! God:

Let the graying days go

Let the melting mountains grow

Let the sundown sow

And let the morning horns blow.

In the mighty name of Jesus I pray

Amen! And let it be so

.....................

These are my little longings.

(C)opyright.michael ogah

Your Failures Do Not Define You

Have you ever failed miserably at anything? Have you ever made a big mistake that seemed impossible to repair? Or maybe you had people stare you in the face and tell you “you’re just not good enough”

If so, then you’re not alone cos I had been there at some point in my life.

Though young, but there were times in my life when I wanted to give up. I just couldn’t deal with shame then. I remember my primary five teachers telling me “you’re never going to be as good as your brother was”. And then each time I picked up my books to read or stared into the mirror, all I could see was failure and so I never bothered to try.

…..To try to press on….

…..To try to persevere….

…..To try to keep on…..

Or even to try to figure things out.

Somehow I felt my teacher’s knew way better about me since I was just a child and elders are considered to be the wise ones. I felt like they knew I was never going to be a success story and so this mind set continued until my junior years in secondary school.

You see, I had attended two primary schools to be specific: Command Primary School Lagos and Home Science at Ikoyi in Lagos.

I remember while doing my third term in primary three, when our results came out and my class teacher called each pupil individually to come and receive their report card on her desk as she cautiously placed it in each of our palms. While it was my turn, as I got to the desk, she just stared at me through her medicated lenses with a look of disgust as she threw my report card to the floor.

I remember feeling inferior; like something was wrong with me, like God had intentionally created me with a low I.Q. I felt sad and somehow I felt like I was the biggest disappointment to my parents. Honestly….. I FELT DULL.

By the twinkle of an eye, years had rolled by and I found myself in JSS 3 about writing my junior secondary school certificate examination popularly known as J.S.C.E.

It was a night to our first paper and I felt like there was so much I needed to tell God as my heart had been burden with grief owing to my past failures in school. And so, during our night prep, I sat down with a pen in my hand and began scribbling down a prayer note to God. I can’t clearly recall all that I said but it was close to something like this:

Dear God,

You might not know me but I know you and my name is Michael and I have so much to share. You see, the past years have been rough for me and it has got me wondering “Lord, were have you been all this while?” “Have u been there?” coz each time I pray Lord is like you don’t answer and so I have decided to write you a letter.

God my exams are coming up and I need you to help me. In Church we are told to make prophetic declarations concerning what we want and so here’s my own declaration

Agricultural science-A

Mathematics-C (I’ll manage)

English-A

Social science-B

Etc.

Thank you father cause I know it is settled.

P.S

Michael Ogah.

That day while the rain fell heavily and the wind blew northwards, I folded the letter and addressed it to heaven. Then I stepped out of my class and let go of the letter as it swirled in the wind and finally landed on the grass. Somehow, I felt like while the letter swirled in the wind ,that was God reading it.

Finally, I and my colleagues had written the exams and the result was out. Even though my result was not as I asked, it was by far an Improvement. My latter years in senior secondary school were cropped with success stories and to end with, I graduated as the best literature and Christian religious studies student.

At last I had learnt so much about what we go through as humans. I learnt that over and over again, year after year we keep blooming as humans and we are given second chances to shine. I learnt to let go of the past, learn my lessons… never forget them but move on. I also learnt to forgive others and forgive myself because it is difficult to move forward and take advantage of second chances if you are stuck in the past. YOU JUST HAVE TO LET GO .

Today one of my favorite quotes is from Ann Landers, who says “If I were asked to give what I consider the single most important piece of advice for all humanity, it would be this:

Expect trouble as an inevitable part of life and when it comes, hold your head high, look it squarely in the eye and say “I will be bigger than you. You cannot defeat me”

Wow. I love that!

So people, let the bright sun shimmer on ya’ll , let the gentle rains touch you and let the vibrant colors and warmer temperatures caress you as you stroll on life’s pavement knowing that “your greatest glory is not in never failing but in rising every time you fail”

Peace.

Michael ogah.