Paradise lost

These heady days of balmy breeze

The ocean waves and swaying trees

The pure white sand and Crystal blue

If only what we saw was true . 

These days of hardship nights of tears,  enough to make the strongest fear 

The tropic heat that burns my skin

The dusty streets of shanty tin

These barefoot crowds with shifting eyes

Remind me that we peddled lies

And left them in their run down city

While preachers taught them grace and pity

So children cry to the crescent moon

And look around an empty room

We stuff ourselves to overfed

While all they crave is daily bread

And all around black poverty

Serves the whim of white luxury

I wish that we were truly free

To create a world of harmony

So many fly from lands afar

To bask in the heat of proud Africa.

But when they've spent their plundered gold

They leave this paradise lost and cold .

Joe Morriss

Mombasa , Kenya 2019

Circles broken

A circle unbroken

Joined hands welcome more

Her childhood friends in days of yore

Where sunfilled eyes

And pretty dresses

Begged no disguise

With flowing tresses

She laughed and sang

The playful round

Loves sweetest pang

Her joyful sound

As a girl she was

The apples eye

No need to rest

Till lullaby

The heart of God

Neath blissful sky

No need to ask

Or question why

But circles cease to spin

And hands that held grow thin

And endings come

Where they once begin

The shoulder tossed

And tear brimmed eye

Where trustt is lost

In the long goodbye

The tresses fall

and curl and die

The dresses torn

Loves heart belie

The circle trod now stands alone

And every heart has flitted home

Yet here she stands

That little girl

With every pleat

And every curl

No more to dance

Play hand to hand

And laughter fades

On summers strand

The hours of night A restless heart

The names of those who must depart

Called out into the voiceless dark

Where only hope and angels hark

The circle turns

And flowers grow

Where once the friends she used to know

Played happily every summers day

Before their dear ones went away.

So hold her hand and whisper love

Dry the tear, let  memory stay

Reach out your hands to god above

And circles joined will turn again.

Joe inspired 19.1.19