I bet my dubious shades guide

your eagle eyes upwards

to discover the owner behind all the

misguided mayhem widespread,

citizens’ neglect,

They,

hungry for a dismal drop from

the political gravy train,

You,

marginalised and displaced,

Hoping for some underhand favour to gain,

Me,

watching the marauding masses

clamper and loot,

Other misguided fools even willing to shoot,

Lamenting my initial honest intentions,

Allowing twisted and cowardly conventions

to cloud my judgment,

Causing my political entrapment,

I know my stoic attire

do not immediately inspire,

but I’m advised that the colours

will prevent a devastating,

constitutional fire.

I bet my Sahara blasted shades

kept you intrigued,

Contorting your humanitarian streak,

If only you could adjust your focus,

You’ll realise my real purpose,

Lower your gaze and lock eyes with me,

Beneath the shades is where my true identity

hides,

My roving eyes cleverly concealed,

Witnessing a nation not yet truly healed,

Suspicion and deceptive the daily grind,

Hoping to recognise and find,

a worthy, wise leader honest and kind,

Providing you with a respected, man-made messiah,

politically prophesied to mesmerize

and cause a great, new nation to rise,

forgiving present injustices and political lust,

adjusting our inherent

oiled moral compass !

Esroh

If I seem disjointed and contorted

even haunted,

Please do not turn away

your startled gaze,

Allow the colours to dazzle

you or even amaze,

If only to soften the surreal blow

of a fiery blinding world war inferno,

My complexion still bears the scars

of military imperfection,

The Great One shocked to the core

of brave young ones

waving farewell to their grieving moms,

Their eyes burning for the instant loss

of naive and brave patriotic sons.

My journey was one of necessity

on the raging roaring battlefield,

My kind ensured erroneous effective,

Strangled and twisted in burning barbed wire,

It clothed us in heinous hellfire attire,

Not even my tired trained muscles

could stop the insane crazed carnage

of each side paying horrid homage

to the sincere notion of liberation,

Saving the soul of a global nation,

Rescued and nursed back to existence,

I have no regrets of my proud

and loyal equine pure bred persistence,

So if I seem somewhat pensive

from an experience so eerily intensive,

Let my multicoloured melange exterior

brighten your emotive saddened interior,

My kind still healing from a

heart-wrenching war,

Collectively and forevermore,

We are known as

Esroh.

Radiant Radiance

Kissed with radiant stellar light,
What an awesome serene sight,
A starry spiral of sparks
igniting our bonding hearts,
Some say divine
as long as we are blessed
with starlight shine,
Our union blessed
with the next generation,
Intellectual affirmation,
Feeding their inquisitive sensations,
Each trial a necessary test
striving to confidently confess
our humble humanity,
Yearning for earthly longevity,
Ultimately to always adjust
our spiraling
moral compass!

About the Poet

Don Beukes is floating on poetry and wants to share globally his literal mentality. Originally from Cape Town in South Africa, he was born, raised and educated in the last two decades of Apartheid and hope to adjust our moral compass in an ever changing global village. His recent publications can be viewed at https://donbeukes.wordpress.com/

The post Poems by Don Beukes first appeared on Prachya Review.

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The post Art Works first appeared on Prachya Review.