The noise

beverleydankers

I wake up to the sounds of the city night

of car doors opening or closing in the parking lot below my window

Of trucks and taxis accelerating as they rush over the traffic light a hundred meters from where I lay my head

I wake up to the sounds of sirens from police cars leaving the police station just 200 meters away

The sounds of pimps and drunks and dealers

Of footsteps and voices below

of people laughing or talking to themselves

Some squabbling over relationships

Or whatever troubles them

I wake up to the sounds of a neighbors washing machine because her kitchen wall is my bedroom wall.

I hear her TV and the other neighbour’s children when they laugh or cry.

Throughout the night I hear the tick tick tick of the electric fence of the neighbor accross the road whom I have never met

This is where I chose to live

Not only because my children live two doors away

But because in all of this noise

There is a measure of safety

In a place I can afford

I do however

Miss the sounds of birds

And am thankful for when I once woke up to the sounds of nature

BJD20181208

Influence

beverleydankers

We could choose to wallow in self pity

Or bask in what we’ve achieved

We could waste our precious brain cells

On what was or could have been.

Perhaps we should be more present

Where we find ourselves right now

Because someone may just cross our path

That we could influence somehow

The Epitome of Love

beverleydankers

The Epitome of Love

When your heart is empty and a loved one is gone

the struggle to get your feet on the ground seems so long

When the pillar you stood on is kicked from under your feet

and your body is afflicted and life seems incomplete

When you think joy is back

But you’re faced with attack

Reading makes no sense

It all seems a pretence

When tears flow for reasons confusingly unknown

Could it be from the seeds one has previously sown?

When black becomes grey and white becomes cream

And all you really want to do is scream

When there seems to be no purpose seen

And life feels like “it has already been”

When nothing seems to motivate

And you are numbed in a tranquilized state

He is holding you tight

With all his might

Because he does not want you to lose sight

Yes in your plight

He pleads “please fight”

I am coming to take you home

Some day

John 16:22 So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice, no one will take your joy from you. RSV

BJD 8 May 2011

Becoming the Animated Object

beverleydankers

As I thought about the children’s story I am writing about a Marshmallow family I realised that unless I could imagine what it would be like to be a living marshmallow I couldn’t write the story!

So if I look a little squishy, seem a little sticky, or sound a little sweet 🙂 it’s the marshmallow in me that’s coming out! How can I write about a marshmallow climbing up a confectioners sugar container if I cant imagine it? How can I understand the pain felt by little squishy marshmallow when his finger gets stuck under the heavy jar lid if I didn’t get a piece of my own finger sliced off by a slamming door? In my opinion It takes both imagination and real day to day life experiences to develop a good animated story. I guess that is what I enjoy about writing children’s books. I love making inanimate things come alive! The tissues in the tissue box, the stars and clouds in the sky, the flowers in the garden including the lice on rose bushes, or the dead grape vine! I could spend hours, if I had hours to spend, on making things, inanimate objects speak, feel, and give advice, teach eager little listeners and readers valuable life lessons.

Discrimination

beverleydankers

I’m looked upon as filth..
A curse,
A nuisance,
Contaminated.
In isolation…
I feel discrimination.
What did I do?

Life has decided what I would be.
I did not choose life, life chose me.
Is it not unfair,
That I be judged
And made to feel no worth?

I’m marked,
My clothes of white,
My shaven head,
Explain the shame,
Yet, am I to blame?

My culture weighs upon my shoulders,
Discrimination like big boulders.
Diversity, inequality, indifference,
No one should be subdued to these.

No race, no status, no illness, or religion,
No gender, no culture
should evoke feelings of discrimination.

Written by BJDankers 2010

 

Emancipation

beverleydankers

Never before has the longing for his coming been as strong as it is today

Is it to escape life and its challenges?

Maybe that is part of it

The world has become such a harsh place to live in at times

Pain is inevitable,

Poverty rife,

People continue to live in strife.

HIV AIDs is plaguing our nations

Crime is barricades every station

Prices of food make it difficult to eat

Theft, fraud and corruption conspiring to meet

The seasons are changing from what we once knew

In summer we see the soft winter’s dew

The lightning lights up the mid autumn sky

The birds that migrate are not sure when to fly.

But though there is confusion

There is hope to be found

Amidst all the noise

There’s a joyful sound.

There will be freedom for all those who mourn

For even the earth groans with thistles and thorns

We all are in need of emancipation

From chains that have bound us

In humiliation

Look to the sky

Wait in anticipation

The King of Kings will descend,Image

And give us true emancipation!                                                                       Written 12 Oct 2008

Rise Up!

beverleydankers

You may feel you cant go on,
But this I tell you friend.
You have supernatural strength,
Strength that has no end.

I believe that you can stand,
Head held high again.
Your inner person
Being renewed,
Despite the constant strain.

Rise up friend！
There’s much too do
Don’t miss out on life’s beauty！
The world is waiting
just for you
To rise up
And do your duty.

And when you rise
You’ll feel the ground
still firm beneath your feet.
Angels cheering all around
The King upon his seat.

Weary soul, rise up I say
With all that is inside you
Enjoy abundant life that’s yours
Rise up！Rise up today!

Written on 30 March 2013