african | Wayne Visser

April 19, 2017

Blurred Vision

It was just a glimpse at first
But enough to look twice
Enough to spark intrigue
To prick my senses
Burst my bubble
An intruder
Alert

She floated in the distance
A figure out of focus
Blurred at the edges
Defying definition
A form in flow
A chimera
Alive

It’s not that she was perfect
And I never saw her face
But she fit the moment
Echoed my longing
Spinning in sync
A coincidence
Aware

She passed without knowing
That I wanted to reach out
From fantasy into reality
To touch her knee
Kiss her neck
A butterfly
Alight

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.

April 19, 2017

Birthday Truck

Jump and dance and roll your eyes
Chase the garden flutterbys
Play with bunches of balloons
Sing aloud your favourite tunes
Wish yourself the best of luck
‘Cos nothing stops the birthday truck!

Book

Life in Transit: Favourite Travel & Tribute Poems

April 19, 2017

Birthday Train

Throw your hands up in the air
Run around without a care
Ask for wishes to come true
In everything you say and do
Enjoy the sunshine and the rain
‘Cos nothing stops the birthday train

Book

Life in Transit: Favourite Travel & Tribute Poems

April 19, 2017

Live 8 Rap

A Tribute to the 2005 Live 8 Campaign

It’s not too late
To join Live 8
To change the fate
Of billions of poor
To do more
To settle the score
On the raw
Deal of the past
At last

We won’t take the bait
Of the G8
Stalemate
For too long they’ve lied
Telling us their hands are tied
But they can’t hide
From the rising tide
They know the cure
For sure

Let’s speak our voice
We have the choice
To cast off the net
Of crippling debt
To increase aid
And make the trade
Fair and square
If we dare
To care

This is our chance
To dance
To a different tune
To turn up the heat
And feel the beat
Of Africa’s drum
The silent hum
Of those who refuse
To succumb

This is the time
To rhyme
For a better life
To end the strife
That’s rife
To make our mark
And take our part
In walking the path
With a heart

Let this be
Our plea
For the rebirth
Of earth
To make poverty history
To shape a new destiny
This is the space
To take our place
In the human race

This is the tipping point
To heal the disjoint
Of separation
To make reparation
For exploitation
And close the gap
On the map
To open our souls to the tap
Of the Live 8 rap

Book

Life in Transit: Favourite Travel & Tribute Poems

April 19, 2017

Forty Five

The turn of the seasons, the loop of the sun
Another year over, another begun
A decade ago, I felt barely alive
Now, healthy and happy, I turn forty-five

I’ve searched for new answers to questions of old
I’ve dared to be different and dreamed to be bold
I’ve tickled life’s wonder and kindled love’s spark
I’ve travelled to places that each left their mark

The mountain cathedrals of Peja’s great charm
The hills of Sri Lanka with Buddha-blessed calm
The joining together with Amazon friends
The fresh new beginnings and reconceived ends

The nocturnal sparkle of Moscow’s Red Square
The spices and colours of New Delhi’s flare
The rejuvenation in the fairest of Capes
The call of adventure and shifting of shapes

I’ve weaved webs of words to teach and inspire
I’ve called on our leaders to change or retire
I’ve spoken with students of making a dent
I’ve gone to great cities and learned as I went

The Singapore gardens with green walls of flowers
The Caspian welcome with Baku’s flame towers
The Da Vinci artworks Milano unveils
The Stockholm ice bar with its blue winter’s tales

The waffles of Antwerp and Amsterdam’s eye
Ann Arbor’s giant cookies and trails in the sky
The Tesla electric with still Scarlett pace
The Force reawakens from frontiers of space

I’ve listened to whispers of fate on the breeze
I’ve taken a step on the long walk for trees
I’ve dreamed of a future where waste is no more
I’ve reached for the circle with life as its core

The terrors of Paris; its climate accord
The march of brave migrants across Europe’s ford
The struggles of many show will to survive
I’m counting my blessings; I’ve turned forty-five

Book

Life in Transit: Favourite Travel & Tribute Poems

April 19, 2017

Love the Landscape of Your Life

A Tribute to Jeanette Hilda Visser (Mom)

Love the landscape of your life – it is shaped for you alone
Trust the terrain on which you tread – its pathways will lead you home

As you pause for breath upon your trail on this Earth,
There is much reason to linger and savour:
The vistas and views, the companions you keep,
The blessings you hold in your favour

And the cairn tall beside you built stone upon stone,
Is the beacon to your adventures and travels:
‘Cross mountain and bushveld, through desert and forest …
And within … as the journey unravels

But tarry not long for the track lies before you,
And the expedition is far from its end:
The mountains they beckon, the trees whisper welcome,
In new lands which await ’round the bend

Love the landscape of your life – it is shaped for you alone
Trust the terrain on which you tread – its pathways will lead you home

Book

Life in Transit: Favourite Travel & Tribute Poems

April 19, 2017

Footprints

Laughing, smiling, making jokes
Dreams, desires, fleeting hopes
Not defined, not quite clear
Not quite far, not quite near
Out of reach, close at hand
Sets of prints upon the sand
Follow now and now to lead
Now to give and now to need
Perhaps in time, in time I’ll know
Where those footprints are to go

Book

Life in Transit: Favourite Travel & Tribute Poems

April 19, 2017

Building Stone Upon Stone

A Tribute to the Centre for Human Ecology in Edinburgh, Scotland

For many moons have gathered now
People from different lands
Around a table carved from wood
Searching to understand
Why we choke the Earth and Sky
The Rivers and the Seas
And why there is injustice still
And social inequity

We’ve travelled over land and sea
And around the jewel of Eire
With its walls of stone and sacred sites
And people to inspire
Our pilgrimage across the hills
Is also one within
For we know: before the world can change
With ourselves we must begin

When we go our different ways
We’ll take all that we’ve learned
And try to realise the better world
For which we yearn
And the Celtic knot may join us still
Through the vision that we share
That all life is connected and
Needs our love and care

We have grown, we have grown
Building stone upon stone
A foundation of hope for tomorrow
We have grown, we have grown
And though our future’s unknown
Every ending is just another beginning

Book

Life in Transit: Favourite Travel & Tribute Poems

April 19, 2017

Orbits

A Tribute to Fiona Moore and Family

For scarce hours, friendly and warm,
Like the smoulder of a wood-burning stove;
Our lives overlapped in sync –
A strange warp of time and space

Banter reverberating around the kitchen,
Like the rhythmic drone of didgeridoo;
Music lacing brick and tile –
A fountain, a mirror-loch, a trickling spring

Tales of travels and rainbow cultures,
Like meridians across the Earth;
Pricks of experiences remembered –
Needles connecting latitudes of energy

Stars shine brightly in the dark Scottish sky,
Like a cosmic dance in step;
Their light winks over the fair Cape in time –
A promise of orbits to cross again soon

Book

Life in Transit: Favourite Travel & Tribute Poems

April 19, 2017

Forty Four

I rise to greet the day on condor wings
Half asleep and half awake
Amidst the fluttering veil
Of Amazonian dreams

I turn to gaze across the landscape past
Part hidden and part revealed
Beneath the carpeted green
Of expeditions trod

I see the cairn where stones of love were placed
Some jagged and some smooth
Upon the meandering trail
Of intertwining fates

I hear the echoed tale of lost and found
With strangers and with new friends
Upon the unexpected flight
Of misadventures led

I feel the shadow of missed paths and tasks
Not taken and not fulfilled
Among the refracted maze
Of industrious grind

I touch the shape of memories crafted
On islands and on mountains
Within the squares of power
And sun spirals of art

I turn to gaze at the stretched horizon
Part misty and part defined
Beyond the boundaries mapped
Of predetermined ends

I rise to greet the year on thermal winds
Half afraid and half inspired
Above the flickering flames
Of unquenchable hope