Tag: africa

A Tribute to China

You are the mighty dragon
Whose history is lost in the mists of time
Shrouded in mystery and enchantment
And breathing fire

Your dragon emperors
Ruled the endless skies and earth
With flaming tongue and snaking tail
And armoured scales

The dragon flies again
Awaking from its night of red dreams
Craving the horded treasures of the West
And rising like a golden sun

Waxing like a silver moon
Shining the ancient wisdom of the East
Trailing iridescent sparks of change
The phoenix flies again

Cocooned in silk
And flowing with ripples of water
Through peaceful rockeries and gardens
Were your phoenix empresses

Singing spells
And rising in a blaze of coloured feathers
From the ashes of grey modernity
You are the mystical phoenix

Wayne Visser © 2017

Book

Life in Transit: Favourite Travel & Tribute Poems

This creative collection, now in its 2nd edition, brings together travel and tribute poems by Wayne Visser. The anthology pays tribute to the likes of Nelson Mandela, Maya Angelou, Barack Obama, Antoni Gaudí & Leonardo da Vinci, and reflects on travels ranging from China and South Africa to Ecuador and Russia. Life is lived in the in-between / In transit / Between coming and going / Between staying and moving on / Between here and there / And what we call home / What we call settled or contented / Is merely a resting place / A station for refuelling / A nexus for reconnecting / A junction for changing direction. Buy the paper book / Buy the e-book.

In the end
Life is cruel
It takes
Too much
Too soon
It gives
Too little
Too late.

Do not
Be fooled
Every ending
Is not
A new beginning
Some endings
Are just
The end.

Life is cruel
In the end
It cuts
Too deep
Too quick
It hurts
Too much
Too long.

Still
It is true
Every ending
Had a bright beginning
And a middle
Rich
With meaning
To the end.

Life is cruel
In the end
It tears
All apart
All away
It grinds
All before
All to dust.

All we can do
Is celebrate
The beginning
Cherish
The middle
And live
Fully
To the end.

Wayne Visser © 2017

Book

Life in Transit: Favourite Travel & Tribute Poems

This creative collection, now in its 2nd edition, brings together travel and tribute poems by Wayne Visser. The anthology pays tribute to the likes of Nelson Mandela, Maya Angelou, Barack Obama, Antoni Gaudí & Leonardo da Vinci, and reflects on travels ranging from China and South Africa to Ecuador and Russia. Life is lived in the in-between / In transit / Between coming and going / Between staying and moving on / Between here and there / And what we call home / What we call settled or contented / Is merely a resting place / A station for refuelling / A nexus for reconnecting / A junction for changing direction. Buy the paper book / Buy the e-book.

A Tribute to Marie Steyn

I know a special lady
And you may know her too
She’s just so vriendelik
What’s a guy to do!

I know a gentle lady
She is a Kaapse nooi
I would not tell a lie
Sy’s so vreeslik mooi!

I know a clever lady
She has great taste in men
You ask me how I know?
I am one of them!

I know a lekker lady
She always makes me smile
She tells such rude grappe
With consummate style!

I know a super lady
She doesn’t mince her words
She’ll say just what she thinks:
‘Jong! That’s for the birds!’

I know a loving lady
She cares from start to end
What’s more, kan jy dit glo?
Sy’s my beste friend

Wayne Visser © 2017

Book

Life in Transit: Favourite Travel & Tribute Poems

This creative collection, now in its 2nd edition, brings together travel and tribute poems by Wayne Visser. The anthology pays tribute to the likes of Nelson Mandela, Maya Angelou, Barack Obama, Antoni Gaudí & Leonardo da Vinci, and reflects on travels ranging from China and South Africa to Ecuador and Russia. Life is lived in the in-between / In transit / Between coming and going / Between staying and moving on / Between here and there / And what we call home / What we call settled or contented / Is merely a resting place / A station for refuelling / A nexus for reconnecting / A junction for changing direction. Buy the paper book / Buy the e-book.

A Tribute to Galapagos, Ecuador

Genesis islands, straddling Hades and Eden
Ancient follies forged in the fiery mists of time
Land of contortion between struggle and freedom
An ode to creation and its ebb-flowing rhyme

Puzzle of the Pacific, of cold blood and fire
A cauldron of species, our map of history
Giant tortoises tread with evolution’s desire
Our past leaves a trail, our future a mystery

Saludo! To Darwin and his unholy treason

Wayne Visser © 2017

Book

Life in Transit: Favourite Travel & Tribute Poems

This creative collection, now in its 2nd edition, brings together travel and tribute poems by Wayne Visser. The anthology pays tribute to the likes of Nelson Mandela, Maya Angelou, Barack Obama, Antoni Gaudí & Leonardo da Vinci, and reflects on travels ranging from China and South Africa to Ecuador and Russia. Life is lived in the in-between / In transit / Between coming and going / Between staying and moving on / Between here and there / And what we call home / What we call settled or contented / Is merely a resting place / A station for refuelling / A nexus for reconnecting / A junction for changing direction. Buy the paper book / Buy the e-book.

I am thirty six
And in one long short year
My world has changed
Expanded
Intensified
With more shades
Of dark and light

I have ascended to summits of hope
And tunnelled through caves of despair
Without giving up

I have skipped across meadows of ecstasy
And waded in swamps of sadness
Without being trapped

I have showered under waterfalls of passion
And walked on glaciers of numbness
Without losing heart

I have strolled on beaches of contentment
And battled with tides of disappointment
Without being drowned

Each frontier I cross
Expands my awareness
And deepens my understanding

Each horizon I chase
Widens my experience
And heightens my sensitivity

Each new low I plumb
Lowers my expectations
And raises my beliefs

Each new high I scale
Softens my defences
And hardens my resolve

I am tired
And yet I feel that my reserves
Are being steadily replenished

I am adrift
And yet I sense that the wind
Is blowing in the right direction

I am alone
And yet I seem to be starting
To open my heart to possibility

I am scarred
And yet I am a little more prepared
To contemplate trusting again

I no longer brush away my tears
For they help me to smile
With my eyes

I no longer curse the darkness
For it helps me to pay attention
To the light

I no longer fear the pain
For it helps me to know beauty
More intensely

I no longer hide from uncertainty
For it helps me to cherish moments
Of knowing clarity

I am thirty six
And I have emerged
From the cocoon of self-pity
Bewildered
Relieved
With wings
Still wet and crumpled

Wayne Visser © 2017

Book

Life in Transit: Favourite Travel & Tribute Poems

This creative collection, now in its 2nd edition, brings together travel and tribute poems by Wayne Visser. The anthology pays tribute to the likes of Nelson Mandela, Maya Angelou, Barack Obama, Antoni Gaudí & Leonardo da Vinci, and reflects on travels ranging from China and South Africa to Ecuador and Russia. Life is lived in the in-between / In transit / Between coming and going / Between staying and moving on / Between here and there / And what we call home / What we call settled or contented / Is merely a resting place / A station for refuelling / A nexus for reconnecting / A junction for changing direction. Buy the paper book / Buy the e-book.

A Tribute to Manfred Max Neef

He walks the mountains, plains and fields
At home with forests, wolves and birds
He’s naked in the power he wields:
The sword of truth; the axe of words

He knows the chill of foreign lands
And sighs the loss of good friends passed
He feels the warmth of welcome hands
And beams the joy of love that lasts

He’s felt the ire of dictators
And known the grace of humble kings
He’s filled up books and newspapers
And given gifts of voice and wings

He warns of theories, now unmasked
That leave the earth and people cursed
He points the way – we all are tasked
With putting needs and nature first

He says to see, just close your eyes
To hear, be still and feel your heart
Real changes always wear disguise
And grassroots play a hidden part

Then in the quiet hours between
He listens to the tides of Brahms
Or pens and plays a piece he’s dreamed
Or rests within his lover’s arms

He’s just a barefoot ‘household’ don
Whose feet have trod the sacred round
He counts success by hearts he’s won
And handshakes from the underground

Postscript:

Dear Manfred, if you read this ode
You’ll know the gratitude I feel
For our chance meeting on the road
And spokes of friendship on life’s wheel

Wayne Visser © 2017

Book

Life in Transit: Favourite Travel & Tribute Poems

This creative collection, now in its 2nd edition, brings together travel and tribute poems by Wayne Visser. The anthology pays tribute to the likes of Nelson Mandela, Maya Angelou, Barack Obama, Antoni Gaudí & Leonardo da Vinci, and reflects on travels ranging from China and South Africa to Ecuador and Russia. Life is lived in the in-between / In transit / Between coming and going / Between staying and moving on / Between here and there / And what we call home / What we call settled or contented / Is merely a resting place / A station for refuelling / A nexus for reconnecting / A junction for changing direction. Buy the paper book / Buy the e-book.

A Tribute to Moscow, Russia

A summer day in Gorky Park
The world is freshly green and bright
New lovers stroll and children lark
While bladers glide in happy flight

A sky of grey, a wrung-out heart
My world is teetered on a knife
I wander, silent and apart
While shadows stalk my happy life

Wayne Visser © 2017

Book

Life in Transit: Favourite Travel & Tribute Poems

This creative collection, now in its 2nd edition, brings together travel and tribute poems by Wayne Visser. The anthology pays tribute to the likes of Nelson Mandela, Maya Angelou, Barack Obama, Antoni Gaudí & Leonardo da Vinci, and reflects on travels ranging from China and South Africa to Ecuador and Russia. Life is lived in the in-between / In transit / Between coming and going / Between staying and moving on / Between here and there / And what we call home / What we call settled or contented / Is merely a resting place / A station for refuelling / A nexus for reconnecting / A junction for changing direction. Buy the paper book / Buy the e-book.

I have no way to know your grief
No salve of rhyme to bring relief
No words of wisdom or belief
No way to cheat life’s senseless thief

I have no way to block the pain
No shelter from the driving rain
No words to make the madness sane
No way to dry what tears remain

I have no light for these dark days
No shining star or warm sun’s rays
No passage through the lonely maze
No honey for death’s bitter ways

Yet with these simple words I send
My love and blessings as a friend
With hope that broken hearts can mend
And faith that this is not the end

Wayne Visser © 2017

Book

Life in Transit: Favourite Travel & Tribute Poems

This creative collection, now in its 2nd edition, brings together travel and tribute poems by Wayne Visser. The anthology pays tribute to the likes of Nelson Mandela, Maya Angelou, Barack Obama, Antoni Gaudí & Leonardo da Vinci, and reflects on travels ranging from China and South Africa to Ecuador and Russia. Life is lived in the in-between / In transit / Between coming and going / Between staying and moving on / Between here and there / And what we call home / What we call settled or contented / Is merely a resting place / A station for refuelling / A nexus for reconnecting / A junction for changing direction. Buy the paper book / Buy the e-book.

In Memoriam: Karen Weinberg

She made me laugh – let’s start with that
(The time she wore a witches’ hat)
Her cheeky banter full of fun
And, on my word, she loved to pun

Enthralled by British comedies
From Eddie Izzard to John Cleese
Held captive by Austen’s tease
(Young Darcy jellified her knees)

And then there was that Stephen Fry
(She’d have proposed, but she was shy)
True, he is gay, but love is blind
And she was smitten with his mind

She lived for art and loved to sing
Such colours in her offering
The shadow of Matopos stones
The glow of rusty vineyard tones

Baryshnikov upon the wall
Unfettered horses in the hall
She saw the beauty, heard its tune
She caught the light, lassoed the moon

King Singers’ a capella hums
Dusty stomps of tribal drums
Her world aloft on violin strains
Juluka flowing in her veins

Soprano voices in the air
Mama Mia’s songs of cheer
The concert halls, the silver screen
She soared the heights, touched the dream

Her head was swirled with maths and stars
Her memories stitched with faded scars
She knew the dark, yet channelled light
She felt earthbound, yet showed us flight

She long ago left creed behind
And saw all faiths as intertwined
Her wisdom caught the ebb and flow
Of New Age waves and Oprah’s show

So deeply loved, and yet alone
She found her peace, her bay view home
Her friends and loved ones scattered wide
She was the rock, we were the tide

Just like a snowflake’s crystal maze
Her beauty sparkled through our days
And just as ice must melt and flow
Back to the source – we must let go

Our daughter, teacher, friend and sister
How we loved her, how we miss her
We will not let her vision fade
Now she is gone – I wish she’d stayed

Wayne Visser © 2017

Book

Life in Transit: Favourite Travel & Tribute Poems

This creative collection, now in its 2nd edition, brings together travel and tribute poems by Wayne Visser. The anthology pays tribute to the likes of Nelson Mandela, Maya Angelou, Barack Obama, Antoni Gaudí & Leonardo da Vinci, and reflects on travels ranging from China and South Africa to Ecuador and Russia. Life is lived in the in-between / In transit / Between coming and going / Between staying and moving on / Between here and there / And what we call home / What we call settled or contented / Is merely a resting place / A station for refuelling / A nexus for reconnecting / A junction for changing direction. Buy the paper book / Buy the e-book.

The year is new
Poised
And expectant:

Like a spring coiled and ready to be sprung
Or a tangled ball of wool, come undone
Like a gleaming highway slick for smooth travel
Or a dusty footpath strewn with rough gravel

Poised
And expectant
The year is new:

Like a newborn lamb unsteady on its legs
Or a stale pot of coffee brewed from the dregs
Like stepping forward, each step like the last
Or leaping the nest, escaping the past

Poised
The year is new
And expectant:

Like a see-sawing scale, about to tip
Or a teetering cliff, afraid to slip
Like a snail slid across a line in the sand
Or the long thin finger of destiny’s hand

The year is new
Poised
And expectant

Wayne Visser © 2017

Book

Life in Transit: Favourite Travel & Tribute Poems

This creative collection, now in its 2nd edition, brings together travel and tribute poems by Wayne Visser. The anthology pays tribute to the likes of Nelson Mandela, Maya Angelou, Barack Obama, Antoni Gaudí & Leonardo da Vinci, and reflects on travels ranging from China and South Africa to Ecuador and Russia. Life is lived in the in-between / In transit / Between coming and going / Between staying and moving on / Between here and there / And what we call home / What we call settled or contented / Is merely a resting place / A station for refuelling / A nexus for reconnecting / A junction for changing direction. Buy the paper book / Buy the e-book.