POEMS

BETWEEN HER WOMB AND YOUR TOMB
By Emmanuel Z. Cisco

There is a first day and then, a final day.
And a few thousand in between
Life is the name of this game, press ‘play’
In the game of life, it’s always your choice to lose or win.

You started out naked, helpless and ignorant,
And you gurgled and giggled your way out of diapers into childhood
As you grow, know that you’ve been DNA-coded to do something different
Sometimes Life may deal you bad hands, but you’re to play them good.

See each day as a small-scale version of your entire life.
As the sun rises, you rise out of bed like you came out of your mom’s womb.
The night falls and you fall right into bed like you’ll fall into your tomb
And you abandon everything to sleep like you’ll do in afterlife.

Between your mom’s womb and your tomb lies your lifetime opportunity
You’ve got to be grateful because someone out there just took their last breath.
Oh, how they’d wish they could atleast do more for this generation and posterity
But their life has been permanently seized by the unmerciful hand of Death

Someday your journey between her womb and your tomb shall come to an end
And you’ll finally close your eyes and fall into that eternal sleep.
You’d look back on the golden opportunity of life you had on Earth to spend
And wonder as you’re lay there to rest, how many people have paused to weep?

JUST THINK AGAIN
By Emmanuel Z. Cisco

Should you find yourself back in Liberia battling the raging storms of unemployment,
Just think of those still in Buduburam clinging onto the hopeless hope of resettlement.

Should you find yourself still in that dusty and disappointing camp of Buduburam,
Just think of those who’ve returned to Liberia with no employable skills at all, not even to make a farm.

Should you find yourself still languishing in Buduburam for no justifiable reasons,
Just think of those who have traveled "abroad" but cramming those Western prisons.

Should you find yourself burning with the desire to just enter the university,
Just think of those on DAFI scholarship who cannot even score an ‘A’ with that golden opportunity.

Should you find yourself as a DAFI-scholar waiting for CCG allowance before you can eat,
Just think of your colleagues who, since high school, have not even touched pen and sheet.

Should you find yourself trying to escape the trap of poverty by chasing a college degree,
Just think of the huge number of educated people you know, who are not financially free.

Should your car breakdown, leaving you miles away from help, don’t despair;
Just think of those who, from Buduburam to Kasoa, cannot even afford the ‘trotro’ fare.

Should you find yourself somewhere "abroad", struggling to pay your bill;
Just think of those in Buduburam hopelessly fighting the battle of hunger still.

Should you find yourself being constantly frustrated by your family/friends’answering machines,
Just think again; maybe it’s time to finally break those dependency-chains.

Should you find yourself still living in one of those Buduburam dungeons
That thing you’ve been calling a ‘house’ for over ten years;

Just think of those lying in some expensive hospitals counting on the surgeons;
To take them through their crucial operations in so much fear and tears.

Should you find yourself sharing useless tears over the many challenges you have to face,
Just ask yourself this simple question: "Why can’t I just surrender to the power of God’s grace?"

You should believe that the race of life is not to the swift,
Only God, on this journey of life, can truly give you a lift.
And know that your experiences are only just forming your success story
When shared at the right time, will ultimately give your Maker the glory!

So whoever you are, wherever you are, whatever you’re going through, just think about those on the other side of your situation and appreciate God more…