IN THE GRIPS OF GRACE

IN THE GRIPS OF GRACE

I don’t mind when my head is bowed

The weight of cares bald my scalps

The pains of age and growth

The wavering fortunes of doubts and cares

I have often wished

I would cross the finish line stronger than when I started

But so often I fall and sprain a limb

No matter how long the nights persist

I can get up and run again

 So when the angry winds shake my resolve and all

When the sail is rent and the rudders’ in splinters

When there is a wreak and all falls apart

I can cuddle in the arms mightier than i

Cos I am firmly in the grips of grace

It is like walking off the cliff

And there is mad rush for the medics

The shouts of aaahhs and ooohhhs

But I won’t come crashing down

Because I never fall beyond grace

There is a whisper in my spirit

A still small whisper saying

Where sin abounds grace abounds much more

Where pain abounds comfort abounds much more

Where misery abounds hope abounds much more

Where penury abounds abundance abounds much more

Where sickness abounds wellness abounds much more

Where the impetus to give up is highest the power to continue is a million times  MORE

Where the road ends the passion to become a trail blazer comes

Move on there are no DEAD ENDS in God.

So when the news is all gloom and doom

And the markets crash and turn

Just know nothing can take me from the grips of GRACE.

The Endless One

i got a measuring line
and measured

the length and depths
 of heaven

i have tried to fathom
your length

but my measure has failed me
words fail me too

for how can i measure the
smile of a baby

the joy of a mother
holding her child

or how do seeds grow
a seedling enters the ground

and a small shoot
breaks from the crust of wet earth

or how do babies come
little and fragile

the sequence of life
and the mystery of death

the process of life
and the steep of aging

i have tried to measure
the oceans

and the world in them
a universe of extreme beauty

i tried to measure the vistas of the mind
or where do you go when you sleep?

what moment do you fall asleep
when you are awake

beyond the realms of matter
i can feel you

beyond what my little mind
can comprehend

i can boldly call you
ALPHA AND OMEGA

The Limitless One

you are God
simply God

if we are constrained by thesame limitations
then you wont be God

but what limits me
cannot limit you

what holds me down
cannot hold you

little wonder the centurion said
speak the word alone

and my servant will be whole
and whole he was in the same hour

for he reasoned
you didn't have to walk the distance

your word is you
you are your word

for he reasoned
that his limitation was space

but you created space
you pre- existed space

his limitation was time
but you are ageless

his limitation was matter
but your gave form to every material

his limitations was death
but you are life

so  he reasoned
"i am a man i am limited"

but i say unto a soldier GO
and he dashes

how much more
the Father of Spirit and Life

speak the word
because what holds me cannot hold you

these fetters are cobwebs
before you

you entered the strictures of death
and dared his sting

the pains of death waned
the pangs of death wilted

death where is you sting
grave where is your venom

speak the word
limitless GOD

and all of creation will
OBEY

speak and my heart will
OBEY

speak for you live forever to speak
on my behalf to the limitless one

A Parable Of Rods

Lord i am not special
i am like any other

i am Moses' rod
an ordinary piece of wood

a found object
a stray,a common

not favoured by birth
scholarship or connections

i am not curvy or smooth
not manicured or polished

except by the rough edges of your dealings
and the winds of life

 i am Moses' rod
eating other rods

i am Aaron's rod
budding

and how can life
out of dead wood flow

yet it budded
yet it flourished

i am a David's staff
to chide and to comfort

i am Jacob's rod
worn out by use

i am Jacob's rod
bowed by experience

i am Moses' rod
parting the Red sea

i am just ordinary
but touched by an extraordinary God

a mere scapel
in the hands of a MASTER

a pencil in God's
MIGHTY  HANDS.

She Walked Free

they had taken her
perhaps with nothing on

they stripped her of dignity
and every right to justice

they had taken her
but not alone

they had taken her
but brought her alone

and how will one die
for the sin of two

her secret sin
in the full glare of the day

her secret moans
was now open screams

the news had filtered
several versions and lewd graphic details

her friends were repudiating
her enemies jeered

and the stoners
practised their skills

her nude torso was gracing facebook
and tweeted on twitter

and they gathered stones
to finish what  was left of her

the stones of blind hatred shredded her soul
before the stones could tear her flesh

but they stumbled on him
and what an idea

perhaps we can stone them together
perhaps he will make a slip and...

they called him Rabbi
a bait for his buy-in

this" woooooman" emphasising her impending woes ,
her looming doom

was caught in the ACT
in the very ACT

but he scribbled in the sand
and he kept scribbling

they screamed Mr Rabbi
we have caught a sinner

but he scribbled on
and they screamed into his ears

we pulled her from under a man
a strange man

but he scribbled on
they yelled into his ears

she is a sinner
SINNEEEEEEEEER !!!

he lifts his eyes
and says let the best of you cast the first stone

he could see their secret sins
and they knew

their secret desires and past actions
played before them

slowly they threw down the stones
from the eldest

she knelt beside the hip of stones
knelt beside what could have been her tombstone

he changed her story
go and sin no more

she knelt crying
soaked in tears of gratitude

she watched what would have become her epitaph
"here lies a harlot,caught in the act"

he changed her story
she walked free from death's jaws

When The Roof Caves In

lord  i have forgotten my punctuations
and i hope my diction is correct

lord i am not trying to make it rhyme
because it doesn't

lord i have gone thru all the motions
but i have come back to you rather I'm trying to

a whisper tells me
"call it quits and walk away"

a whisper tells me
" go back to your old friends"

that you don't keep your promises
and you treat your friends badly

but lord i burnt the bridges
along time ago

there is no "back"to return to
i am stuck for good

but you've pushed me up the ladder
and pulled it from under me

i come crashing down
but i don't hit the ground

we've gone thru the map together
but I'm holding the map and compass

and i am feeling lost
i can feel you around but cant find my way

lord you've destroyed my confidences
i am hanging on nothing

lord stop playing these games
tell me you are near

the roof has caved in
and all i hinged on it

the roof has caved in
and has choked my heart

lord tell me you are near
yell into my heart

scream into my ears
speak to my fears

tell me I'm dreaming
but let me wake in your arms.

It Is TIme

When the brook dries up it is time for the ravens when the ravens stop it is time for the angels when you have run the journey of 40 nights on the strength of a meal and you're exhausted it is time for the widow woman when the famine has done it's worst and the barrels did not waste it is time to feed from heaven's chefs to be nursed by kings and suck the breast of queens to dwell in houses you did not build to eat from vineyards you did not plant happy birthday it is time for Mrs Olusola Opesanwo

And She Touched

today is like any other
the morning peeps from
under yesterday's darkness

the birds sing
the sun wakes with a wink
the shuffle of feet  and all

today is like any other day for her
only this flow wont stop
today is like the day it all started,just another day

only that hope has drained away
along with it
her time,money,pride,self esteem and youth

what could have become of her family?
her husband and children
her hope,her desires her all

what the doctors left
the quacks took
what the quacks left

life was taking
slowly and painfully
like a guillotine in slow motion

a shred of wasting humanity
her life was like
waiting for the hangman

she measured time
from rays through
the key hole

or from the misery
they called meals
few and far between

but she could hear
firstly whispers
then shouts of joy


she could discern
the mood of passing feet
she could feel unusual energy

then she heard
the blind see
the lame walk

the poor have the gospel
preached to them
even tax collectors returned their loot

she had asked her doctor
who is HE
some apprentice carpenter he mumbles

but can he heal me
you cant go out he says
if i cant help what can he do

but she dares the darkness
she steps into the light
she breaks away from the darkness inside her

if he can raise the dead
then just a fraction of his power will do
she dared the keepers of he law

she touched the skirting of his garment
and it stayed
her darkness shrank before his light

she would have sneaked back
but he turns around asking
who touched me?

in a sea of heads
he could feel every pulse
every seeking heart

the throng pulled and tussled
but she touched
touched with an intent to draw out

she came seeking
she returned healed
emptied of life,she returned full

drained of dignity
she returned dignified
dead she got her life back

she said in herself
if i can touch the helm of his garment
and she touched

My Father,My Father

My Father ,My Father
the chariot of Israel
and the horseman too

My Father
the wheel,the motion,the way
the rudder,the compass,the direction
the chariot of Israel and the horseman

My Father
the endless one,the timeless one,
time,season,age,minutes,
seconds, and every measure of time
the chariot of Israel and the horseman

My Father
the song,the music,the rhyme,the rhythm,
the note,the voice,the pitch,the tone,the melody
the sound and all that soothes the heart
My Father,the chariot of Israel and the horseman

My Father,
the message,the medium,the missive,
the word,the letter,the thought,the thinker
of all said and left unsaid
the chariot of Israel and the horseman

My Father
the story,the plot,the muse,the storyteller,
the narrator,the narrative,the written word
the spoken word, the true and faithful witness
the chariot of Israel and the horseman

My Father
the war,the battle,the bow,the arrow,
the victor,the conqueror,the captain,the banner
the one who leads our victory parade
the chariot of Israel and the horseman

My Father My Father
the hill,the valley,the cleft
the alpha,omega and everything between
my father
the many breasted GOD.

Mowumi,Hurray The Storm Has Lost His Voice

Mowumi,
I can still remember our first meeting
the friendship,trust and  alas its 18 years

i can remember the strolls
the laughter and gentleness
you read my poetry
despite my angst against God
you stomached my oddness
my dressing and weird friends

we had combed the several gardens
friends and nothing more
just very" good friends"
then we lost"friends"also
you lost yours and i lost mine
or did they show their true colours?

we have weathered the storms
sharing a bottle of Pepsi and a snack
heading to Kano and you to Benue
keeping vigils at phone booths
hugging the mouthpiece
straining to hear you
remember the days of NITEL

but the storms kept coming
they were baby ,"toy" storms
then we tied the knot
i had returned from Kano a different man
had burnt my anti -God poetry
we tied our commitment of faith
love and storms gathered

they gathered as fair breeze
gentle ,harmless breeze
they gathered like the evening breeze
then they became stronger
softly at first then the whistle began
to thunder

first, it was my sudden relocation
to Port Harcourt
and the battle for a child
the strange ants,the nightmares
the lost possessions
and the storms gathered
alas in the midst of it a baby girl
a wonderful gift

the sudden move again
the wrong investments of trust and funds
the years of paying what we didn't owe
then when the stern would have
broken from the fierce winds
against the run of predictions
what they called a benign tumour was
a baby boy

we had hardly settled
when my mild side pains became long nights of crying
you often went from hospital to office and back
from scan to scan
and finally the long night of the knife
without hope you were by side
and when the hordes of hell came calling
you would in prayer resist

from theatre to theatre
and i despaired of life
all the horizon was gloom and death
but you were there
daring the storm to do its worst

i cant hold back the tears
 but the long nights are bringing out laughter
strokes that don't break the back make it stronger
then you were at the the very verge of death
the very door of it
the child,the wrong injection
the surgeries and the storm wreaked  its worst
and we buried her
oh death where is your sting?

and then i fell
the round of surgeries again
the spending of time and love
the healing,wearing a wire
and being nursed
but the storm has wreaked its worst

Mowumi,
the storm has lost its breathe
the wind is gone from its sail
our little journey is still on
we started as two
and are now five
Akorede,Iretomilowo and Semilore



Mowumi,
we are are thankful
utterly thankful
for the many miracles
the tokens and the seemingly intangible
we remain steeply thankful
to the Almighty

Mowumi,
the storm has lost its voice
its hoarse strain is barely audible
and we celebrate today
may it be a new day
may the many miracles cement our
commitments
to God and each other

Mowumi,Adenike,Kajotoni
the storm has wilted
its resolve broken
the night has given birth to praise
the sighs to singing
the hissings to hallelujahs
the night is over

Mowumi,
as your days
shall your strength be
you will call one and a million
will answer
the pleasure of the lord will prosper
in your hands

HAPPY BIRTHDAY