Poetry | Buddah Desmond

Reborn

You fall back–
thinking you’ve got broken wings.
They’re only broken if you empower mistakes
and pain from the past to rob you of
future’s joy.
You’ll never make it off the ground
running from your history.
Run into it for understanding.
Revisit for healing.
Conquer the aches, soothe the wounds
so you can be one with your spirit
and true destiny.
The internal battle will cease.
Like morning on a crisp spring day–
you’ll be reborn.

Glory

Remove the facade
Release the pretense
Let cool fall to the ground
Get real with me
Get real with you
Lose yourself in the beauty and wonder
of life and love

Experiences in life can make you want to hide
Lock yourself away
Suffer in silence
But alone we are not
While the pictures may not always be grand,
fab and painless
The setup for what’s to come will be sweeter
than the greatest confection
It’s all in how you deal
Take the time you need to cry
Build yourself up and heal
Circumstances need not block your glory

Sometimes you need to reflect and refocus
Reconnect with your spirit and align yourself
with the right energies to move you along
When we lose our way
Can’t figure out where to go
Taking time to get it right
To be a little selfish
Won’t hurt
Putting yourself last leaves the greatest of wounds
By facing the fears and combating the pain
we put ourselves on a path to victory

Turn down the naysayers
Turn up the motivation
Glow up
Grow up
Shine on
Lose yourself in the beauty and wonder
of life and love.

Finding Solace

Oh, the noise can be so loud
The daily and nightly volume of the news,
celebrity dirt, social media rants, political smut
and ego-driven actions of co-workers and
sometimes family and friends
Where’s the switch?
Did someone break the knob?
How can we turn this shit down?
What does it take to get a moment of peace,
solitude and quiet?
If that place can’t be found in the
external world
A trip to a peaceful place on the inside holds
the answers
Mindful awareness
Centered joy
A noise-free wilderness
A much needed turn down in a world that’s
always turnt up,
and frequently for no damn reason at all
Just cause, perhaps?
Doesn’t mean we all have to be subjected to the
never-ending pulse that pulls us away from the
things that matter
When you feel the attraction of this world’s
bothersome magnet pulling you in—
repel
Mark your territory
Find your solace
Keep your chill on reserve at all times
As the world gets crazier and crazier
by the day—
You’re going to need it.

Black Brilliance

We’re not of this world
Is ethereal brilliance
Why they envy us so?

The Music of Life

Life is so complex,
Like the rhythms and melodies of jazz.
It’s ambiguous,
Always open to interpretation,
Constantly moving and changing, like the syllables of improvisational scats.

Each hour marks a line
Which all compile to create each day’s song:
Sometimes fast,
Sometimes slow,
Sometimes upbeat and jubilant,
Sometimes moody and melancholy.
The lyrics tell your story.

The situations, tasks, and events of the day are the notes.
You embody an instrument that plays accordingly.
Some days you may be at the top of the charts;
Other days you may not even chart at all.
Nothing ever really stays the same.
That’s the joy of opening your eyes to a new day.
One never knows what lies ahead

So when you get right down to it,
Life is a series of albums that detail
The colorful phases of your growth, development, and experiences,
All of the hits and misses,
All of the highs and lows.
That’s the music of life.

Gone Too Soon

Battling,
Fighting with the world everyday,
Trying to stand firm on ground that changes like DC metro area weather,
Not knowing when it’s safe to be you, or when it’s best to retreat:
It’s safer on the inside—sometimes.

The golden era ended quicker than you could comprehend.
And you were thrust upon the audacity of disgust and hatred
From people you thought were your friends,
People you thought were your family,
People who said they loved you but you just can’t seem to trust.
You’ve walked a line that many people claim they can handle but couldn’t, even if humanity depended on it.
It’s a line that you don’t want to walk.
It’s a line that often runs faster than the speed of sound and light, with a soundtrack that repeats daily.
And you’re tired of hearing it.

Living in a world where people get high off of ridicule and bullying,
One is left numb,
Not wanting to deal.
The help you need never arrives when you need it.
It always comes too late.
You push and push,
And push and push.
And you keep pushing,
But the force always seems to kill your spirit.
It was at first a temporary thing,
But the period of death began to outlast the periods of rebirth.

There’s a lot that you can and have dealt with,
But it’s the pain and its lasting effects
That cut you down to nubs,
The hurt practically defying man’s comprehension of depth.
If you could only find relief,
A sweet release from it all …
If only …
If …

The inner light quickly fades.
Time halts,
And you succumb to a place
Where your spirit will forever reign.
You’ll be safe from harm and healed
From a lifetime of pain.
If only it didn’t have to come to this.
If only …
If …
You’d still be here.

If only …
If …
You could’ve been saved.

Tonight

Tonight there will be no deaths,
Just jumping cities of light,
Jubilant crowds,
And our guardian angel—Joy—will be working overtime to ensure we all have a good time.

Tonight there will be no war.
Ominous clouds will give way,
Towns will break free of evil’s stronghold,
And the goodness that lives within mankind—our world—it will illuminate.

Tonight there will be no tears.
For our eyes will see the glory
Of a true promised land,
Where harmony isn’t only found in song,
And the people are proponents of eternal peace.

Tonight will be a reprieve from so many nights of senseless madness and untimely loss,
Renewing our sense in a world where faith is never doubted and the respect for
all things living never waivers.
Given these times, hope remains strong
That tonight won’t be a passing fad or memory,
For there’s no reason why every night cannot be like tonight.

Prevail

Blocked,
Stuck in an emotional and psychological rut,
Someone or something hit the switch;
Everything faded to black.

My world seems to have lost its colors.
Maybe I need an OUT OF SERVICE sign,
Or maybe CLOSED would be better suited for my situation.
Lately my own world is more like a prison.
The little light that comes is immediately replaced with clouds of worry,
Raining doubts due to several seasons of mistakes
And occasional storms of depression.

Feeling like a swimmer
Stuck in a race he can’t win,
If I don’t think quickly
The only choices are—literally—
To sink or swim.
I don’t want the finish line to be
The ultimate end.
I want it to lead me
To more days in the sun.

Gotta get out of this
Losing streak,
After being down
For so long.
I’m determined
To prevail.

Luther Is Love

In tribute to Luther Vandross

Luther—
Or Loofah, as some of us called you—
Still in denial about your passing on,
Doesn’t seem real.
Gone too soon,
But never, ever forgotten.

Luther—
The silky smooth voice,
Flawless,
Full of passion and emotion,
Consummate artistry and professionalism.
A rare commodity,
Especially in the world of contemporary music.
You will remain in a class all your own!

Luther—
Exemplifying class and grace on and off the record.
Media seems to want to “out” you now,
But whatever your sexual orientation, it wasn’t and isn’t an issue.
Media also seems to want to make a big deal about your weight,
But that was just as insignificant with us as well.
It’s the contributions you made that matter;
It’s who you were as a person that matters.

Luther—
You sang in a way that made us feel like you were singing only to us,
Expressing all that we were feeling.
It was a musical connection that became deeply personal and spiritual.
You’ve touched us in so many ways.
For you, we are forever grateful.

Luther—
You spoke of love in all of its splendor.
You are the balladeer of love,
One of the greats.
Your music and spirit will continue to move us eternally.
You will always be loved,
For you are love.

Luther is love!

Politricking

They’re up politricking on the hill,
Taking lobbyists’ dollar bills,
Claiming they keep it real,
When they can’t give us something we can feel.

They make promises they can’t keep,
Forgetting that what they sow, they will reap,
Lyin’ to themselves and others to get a seat,
But when it all falls down the incumbent will get beat.

Your approach is haughty and self-righteous.
You come off cocky, act like you’re the second coming of the Messiah.
So sad—people caught on to bullshit,
Discovered you were only looking out for personal interests.

You’ve got it bad and that ain’t good,
Got the nerve to say you were misunderstood.
You give politics and government a bad name.
Liars, thieves, cheaters, adulterers, and politicians—
People will say they’re all the same.

You’re oblivious to the people you represent;
You act like this is a game when it’s a commitment.
You constantly cut and run and confuse the masses with doublespeak,
While your quest to save moral values has only divided and made us weak.

The time has come,
And the people see you for what you are.
They’re ashamed they let you get this far,
But when the time comes they know exactly what to do:
Find the next best thing and get rid of you.