stoning and snowball throwing

i fled in fear from fellows

who felt might is right

and lost no time

implementing what they considered

exact and precisely accurate

hunting down

and stoning prophets

following their precursors

hesitating not

opposed and maligned Amos

Hosea, Jeremiah, and John the Baptist

now i sit, silently

with more hurt

and no further energy to sprint

among masses with language of right

tinged with democracy

spending moment after moment

networking with similar color

class, creed, similar speech

and a malevolent ‘hi’

with a filthy smile

while dodging liberties

of alternate voices and vision

these enemies

of modern day prophets

playfully fling snowballs

on heralds of peace

more painful

than the earlier stoning

henry victor     18.08.2002

beyond the psalm twenty-nine

when the ideals of the Nazarene

evaporates in the crucible

of the empty episcopacy

filled to the brim with hypocrisy

then it slips into putting on

a magnificent clothing

enjoying the political influence

it can exert  and the tribal strength

assigning self-glory and power

speaking with arrogance

and thundering over those paid reverence

to the humble man from Nazareth!

there the episcopal voice

breaks the cedars

making Edmonton skip like a calf

and the new immigrant like an ox

young but wild

the brutal feminine voice

flashes forth flames of fire
bringing to knees

the Asian and the African wise men!

this vicious voice causes

also the withering of oaks, stripping

the forest bare and the temple pews empty

henry victor      07.01.2007

walk the path of Jesus

i have halted my hoping

for your encouragement

and you sustaining my work

of justice and reconciliation

and i expect not you

the patron of the patronizing

rich and the insensitive pretenders

to keep my vision alive

for i am brutally betrayed

by the same kiss of Judas, the pan handler

and cautiously rejected

by the chief priests and caesars of today

and thereafter cruelly crucified

by the sadistic fun loving masses

but will i not continue in the same path

of that crucified Jesus of Nazareth

henry victor     21.06.2003

cross roads!

you summoned me to serve

but i strive for success

you called me to work

but i vouch to win

you challenged me to crucify my ego

but i attempt to prolong my years

you beckoned me to be hopeful

but i venture to multiply my happiness

you christened me to quest for powerlessness

but i pile up power for many lives

you made me to love the other

but i dare to loot

you expected me to live your will

but i pray to impose mine

© henry victor     30.12.2003

varied roads

Miller and i together met our master Jesus

the Nazarene in whose school we schooled

before we drove together on the highway

until we came to the single junction

at the junction with no signals we decided

to part our ways; Miller took the path

lit throughout the way enjoying power

in the roadway of magic filled with pilgrims

those pilgrims sang the name of the master

as i took the path, unlit with only few trekking

this service road was named: nameless

with neither power nor magic to make it easy

henry victor     11.01.2003

walk the path of Jesus

i have halted my hoping

for your encouragement

and you sustaining my work

of justice and reconciliation

and i expect not you

the patron of the patronizing

rich and the insensitive pretenders

to keep my vision alive

for i am brutally betrayed

by the same kiss of Judas, the pan handler

and cautiously rejected

by the chief priests and caesars of today

and thereafter cruelly crucified

by the sadistic fun loving masses

but will i not continue in the same path

of that crucified Jesus of Nazareth

© henry victor

 

beyond the crown, the miter, and the gown

without the king’s patronage my ancestors alleged

poetic muse will not flow to the street

without the bishop’s consent my associates assume

ministering the marginal is invalid

without the professor’s sanction my progeny profess

search for wisdom does not begin

yet with all my stupidity i did encounter

immortal songs outside the palace

enduring mercy outside the cathedral

and endless learning outside the university portal

© henry victor     11.09.2003

wait to enter

as i tightly gripped the walls

with my soft fingers, you gently

embraced my total frame expanding

ever so fast like a new house

with a sacred chamber one day

will house another me now housed

with all essential fluid, fire and firm

flesh, mettle to let me hold my soul

until ready to enter the theatre

that dance to perform with music

from other dances around and joy

and sorrows trapped deep in mind

© henry victor           02.06.2016

keep plodding

i feel sick in my heart that those who align

not with those who crave for control
suffer most, with all
support removed too quick!

this was also in the case of Jesus of Nazareth;

i try hard but my mind is too bleak
to anchor my hope in a life
beyond the hillock of Calvary!

world, in any case, even my soul

keeps moving, changing and growing;
a way you take your people into an experience
of journey, a resurrection from death!

‘plod, and keep plodding’, to my spirit

i say, for that is the game
that you want me to play until my body
finally returns to his bed, the earth!

 

new flower to bloom

praying fervently for the women
walking to Golgotha in the valley of Dunvegan
i lift them up to your throne
as they weep and cry for your Son –

their sons and daughters crucified again

and again in that cross of convenience
to maintain control and influence
of the powerful, fewer names in the town

and villages around giving no chance

for a new flower to bloom
in the backyard of your temple
or in the valley spraying with venom!

give me grace never to disown

these simple women and their spouses
with children struggling like a hen
in the chicken pen with a weasel in!

 

breathe your breath

i pray you will breathe you breath

to strengthen my mental agility
even as i face my accusers, the bunch
ganged to remove me from my seat!

i have opted not to be dictated

or, directed by any other than your spirit
blowing where it wills gathering the small
and the wounded, healing them, your cause!

i am part of a crowd that lacking

this-worldly sophistication to manipulate
the forces that, eventually, write the right
recording the wrongs, changing events!

since the meek look up to me to fight

the arrogant men and women of this world
i, in my utter helplessness, lift
up my eyes, heavenwards to you!

as i turn to you for grace, my mind

sways like a pendulum, this way
and that way, first to your power that creates
the cosmos, recreating colour-filled morning

and evening amusing my eyes

then , at once, wander into Golgotha
he place of mere skulls
to reflect your powerlessness!

nevertheless i choose your breath
adding freshness to my soul
freedom to my spirit, refusing to bow down
to the insolent might!

 

 

 

dream short lived

i bring to you the dream

i feel will be short lived
in this country
of peace!

exactly a year ago when i escaped

that tragic accident escaping
with a minor bruise to my ford focus
my red station wagon
i assumed you sent your angels
to shelter me for a greater work
in the peace country
of building a togetherness
with three distinct communities
that this unity becomes a model, to shine
as bright light for others to walk
with ease!

today after so much of hard work

from passionate and single minded
commitment to you and your Kingdom
with willing, simple, and transformed life
with much grazing your word
i find there are still forces
surfacing from self-importance desiring
a takeover i cannot battle any longer
with ease!

hence, here i stand

for your opening me the door
your showing me the path
to walk my next step
or, for your sending me that angel
once more that i may return
in peace!

Insanity

Yesterday

With might and main I laboured

To diligently learn the art

Of lengthening simple shoes

For the ever expanding

Tiny feet of my little daughter

 

Today

I am frighteningly tormented

To discover the contemporary wisdom

Of conveniently cutting feet

To fit useless foot-wears

Made by the reigning professionals

 

Disagreeing

With the modern overnight professors,

I am very assertively informed,

By their cowardly counsellors,

Is plain insanity

Fit enough only for dismissal

 

Ethnic cleansing

In the political arena is easy answer

For those wolfish rulers

Greedily striving to firmly establish

Corruptive power and stinking business

Instead, dealing positively, the prevailing pluralism

 

moulding the clay

in an unexpected moment you, the source

and content of my being, the providence
dumped into my hand a lump, a handful
of clay to mould, to squeeze into my soul,

with your intent to realign my finger

and my voice to your purpose littered
in a bird with wings free to fly away
breathing a breath of rebellion to rebel,
 
with my pain and pleasures now i clean
a baby’s bum, carry a child, run behind a teen
and beyond, my sculpting a living being
in which is hidden the trends of my doing

henry victor     29.04.2013