Appreciation For The Gift Of Survival Poem by Niki Nicholas Nkuna

The beginning of it all was red carpet love
Call it ‘over the heels in love and fair’ if you like
We were rose petals, wide open to generosity
The stage was set to merry make in the beauty of our love and play

We knew that there would be days when the smiles and loughs will be dry
And that the cold and heat will be unbearable
The mood of our day and taste buds will be sour
Because of the rage of age and blind love
We feared darkness and pain, thus the truth was in the back banner

Over the years our love for one another cooled the summers and warmed the winters
Quenched the desert thirst and satiated the African hunger
Thus over the years we believed our compact love will never crumble
We believed that we will be together through all seasons and places
We believed that should the end of our magic love be nigh
The heavens will fall!

Night and day, sweet and sour in company
But we never believed that God and Satan are forever in a race
And that our union is open to the bitter flip side
That will forever lack in the vicinity of the knot
And take over the driving seat by the leak of the dirty drip

When the dirty puddle blotted our marriage vows
We simple wiped it off, indifferently despite the leak
We simple exclaimed, oh! What a love life
So sweet like the soft walk down the greenery and flowery valley
No need for energy to grind the stones when everything is so right
When everything worthwhile is so free like the believe of a child
Alas! When the volcano struck we hardly could cope with the rubble
We never believed the fairy tale would succumb to the weight of the dirty puddle
We left it late, now I’m crying over the loss of 12 years of life wasted

Hard to believe the contrary, I hung on
Three more years I gave my last breath of love
I believed, who knows, the second time around the rain might come and the flowers bloom again
And that may be for a long haul beyond my weak resolve, I hoped
Little did I know that the dry seasons will return
This time no breath of love remained, except the count of 15 years of sorrowful teardrops

Now I’m stuck in the blood mud with no one to rescue me but myself
With my soul hurt in the game of love,
I feel like I have no heart, no heart can survive without blood
I have been drained of the last drop of blood and hope for tomorrow
All because I’m attached to the last 12 years of sweet and bitter love
All because I’m attached to the last 3 more years of bitter love on the cushion of false love
All because I allowed myself to toil for 15 years for a good turn
Hoping for more rain torrents than the 15 years of sorrowful teardrops

Now I know I will never go forward if I keep on looking back
There’s no gold except a hole in my heart which I can’t endure forever
My life is not made up of misery forever but temporary mishaps,
Abundance of beauty and bliss
Thus I’m gonna move on despite the crooked path and ditches
My resolve is an appreciation for the gift of survival

Perhaps the dance was so hectic that I lost touch of my origin
I’m gonna trace it and regain sanity by the maternal bosom
I’m sick of my own petulance
I’m tired of the whining voice in my ears
I’m determined to avoid the sink into desolation
Empty the toxic thoughts on to a piece of paper
Just like the misery and ecstatic stricken poet
God has seen me through the Egyptian wilderness
My resolve is an appreciation for the gift of survival

I have to stop ruminating in the park station
Stop being kind to pettiness and superficial pursuits
Stop giving my life away to vultures
Stop hemming my life to waste
My resolve is an appreciation for the gift of survival

I must be aware that being hooked to the unpleasant past perpetuates misery and render new love expensive to harness
Be aware that being hooked in the past, not the present, is unsafe and makes me ugly and besmirch whatever I try to do
Be wise that keeping me in the self-pity drone could be a one way ticket
My resolve is an appreciation for the gift of survival

Sing for the ears of compassion to shine a light into my life
Face and embrace my fear
And never forget the perennial haunt of the superstars
Face the truth, don’t live a lie, things have changed
No tickets were sold to anyone for the right to live
I can live by myself, the way I like as God decreed
My resolve is an appreciation for the gift of survival

See the present as a mountain climb not a jump into the abyss
It is now that matters not history
Rise up to the present occasion and lift myself out of the mire
Take the plunge into the rough and tumble of life and poke the middle finger to the unpleasant past
My resolve is an appreciation for the gift of survival