Tendai Dawanyi is a native of Zimbabwe. Currently he is a freelance writer residing in Cincinnati Ohio. He also works in news production for a local TV station.
The further you are away from home, the stronger your sense of identity…..
#1 The African Spirit
Its mysterious and intangible
But so real and powerful
Like a raging fire across the Motherland
The fever of the African spirit
Unleashing a piercing cry
From deep within the heart
Capturing the heart and soul
of the African spirit
Playing on the bongo drums
With a rhythmical feel
And a fiery fervor
– Making music of the African spirit
How do you combine power with grace,
Explosive energy with rhythm
Its seemingly effortless
For they that have inherited, the African spirit
The legacy of ancient generations
Is passed on from generation to generation
And as for her children, now scattered afar
They too remain bonded by the African spirit
Mighty as the Zambezi
And as proud as a lion
More colorful than a flamingo
With a sense of identity and unity
That is more intuitive than thought
A flame burning from within the heart
This is the African spirit
#2 THE SIMPLE LIFE…….
When the music floats across the airwaves
Pictures come flooding to the mind
Collages of color, vivid and natural
The wild and the free, the beautiful and the simple
Now only captured in melancholic memories
Education brought much wisdom
And wisdom brought much hunger
For things only money could buy
And now time itself
Cannot bring back the simple life
The pursuits of my heart
Took me to unfamiliar places
Where the cold has pierced many hearts
And the laughter of the simple life
Has dissolved into wishful feelings
Where is the sense of balance
When the agent of progress
Has traded the soul for the world
And there is no turning back
To the pleasures of the simple life
We all have coping mechanisms. Some of us have different ones for different circumstances. Whether they actually work or no, is another question. Here’s one
#3 The Night is relief to a weary mind
The night seems to swallow
The problems of life
If only for a moment
Sleep’s like a drug
Taking away the pain
Till morning light
Hard days seem managed
By a little rest
Until solutions come
Natural and cyclical unconsciousness
Seems to bring back
Relief to a weary mind
Life is a lot simpler when I am honest to admit I don’t understand any of it all..
#4 You know I just don’t understand it at all!
I don’t know the mysteries of life
Why I was born and why I live
And why as the sun sets, I must die
I don’t know why the grass is green
And why the desert grows
Under my very eyes
I don’t know why peace keepers
Are armed to the teeth
Or why in the name of love
We justify murder with thought, word and action
I don’t know why fires can rage so furiously
And yet remain contained
Inside our driven bodies
I don’t know the mysteries of life
And I don’t understand THE Mystery of life
You know, I just don’t understand it at all
#5 FAMILY OF TODAY
Family of today
Where is your future
Without the past
And where is your joy
Without the children
To survive in this uncertain world
You must be ‘as wise as a serpent’
But what is wisdom without the elders
Life is a daily struggle
But its the innocence of babies
That softens your hearts
And its their laughter
That brings you back to your senses
Weeping and laughing together
Is all part of the sharing
That keeps you strong
As the village grows
The hope of tomorrow’s society
Is not defined by politicians and corporations
It is defined in the foundations
Laid down by you, the family of today
Tendai Dawanyi
1998 © Tendai Dawanyi, author.
The author will allow non commercial redistribution of any or all of the above poems to sites on the internet.