Lenah’s Mashiya’s anthology of contemporary poetry, My Journey in Black and White, covers an array of topics that we all experience and question, such as love, heartbreak and the meaning of life. Lenah’s down-to-earth style makes her work relatable, whether or not Shakespeare and Byron are your cup of tea. Check out this sample of her inspiring work, or click through to read an interview with the Lenah.
I am still online
What would I do when I’m done?
But I’ve been online for so long;
How will it be like to be seen as ‘one’
When all I know is not being alone…
Am I sure I want to log off?
You see…
My heart has ran out of data
My soul won’t connect to WIFI
I lost myself when I lost my saviour
Lost connection to my lifeline
I want to be with the man
I asked God to love
Yet detachments grew us apart
Like the separation of two continents
I’m on the other side
Instead of being content
His heart was filled with pride
He never visited or even replied
To my hearts yearning to be by his side
Am I sure I want to log off?
I’ve been online for so long
My eyes are starting to burn
But not as much as my heart hurts
Been staring at this post
Hoping for a response
Yet all I get is a few likes without a reply
Question is not when, it’s why
But I’m still online
Signal is too weak
Must be the weather
Reported is a storm of unanswered phone calls
Followed by windy ice cold presence
Ending the day with isolated endeavours
But I’m annoyed and that I won’t deny
I wasn’t sure, now I know why
I can’t hold on any longer
I’m running with my heart into the storm
Confused is my mind, I’m torn
The connection is weak
Signal has broken down
Gone astray is peace
All because I wanted you around
I wanted sunny skies of meaningless conversations
Followed by warm comfortable hugs
Ending the day with goofy happy faces
But someone pulled the plug
It’s all the same, there was no signal
Our connection died and I ran out of data
I could go on about how I need this man…
But lying to the world is not my plan
At first he was an accessory to the band
Then I wanted to need him but can’t
He doesn’t complete me, no man can
I love the Lord more anyone can imagine
So this is it…
The ground has received the seed
We’ll wait through another season
I’m logging off
Social networks are just not for me!
Time is my medicine
I don’t get it
Please help me understand
If Heaven is so amazing,
Then why do you want to stay here?
Waste your money on life saving machines
When Heaven is the exact depiction of a dream
It’s beautiful, its paradise
But you would rather stay here and drown in lies?
You’d break, fall, hurt and call it life?
I don’t get it
But maybe because I’m in my youth
I’d rather rejoice in the sky
Than accept the false truth
So please, when I’m dying;
Don’t try and save my life
I’m not the type to commit suicide
But I’m not trying to justify
At the same time,
I won’t just sit and let life pass me by
Because if I had a chance of going to heaven,
I certainly wouldn’t waste earthly time
I don’t get it
One hand washes the other;
I guess that’s why we have two
Then why hurt a brother
Just to get your way through?
I don’t understand
The life of give and kill
Replace in order to fulfil
The work of Satan just to get a deal
To sugar-coat the bad,
When we all know its evil
I don’t get it
I probably never will…
Why watch pain and suffering
Of poverty stricken people?
When you could be an angel
And give a cure to the crippled
Watch diseases spread like corruption
Watch greed, anger explode; eruption
I still don’t get it
I live a life…
Where trusting is earning
Meaning has been deprived
No longer earning before trusting
Where trust is taken without warning
And success measured by earning
How can the result of trust be so disappointing?
Yet the point of earning only exists for a moment
When earning is securing for life;
You maturing
When you spend your life naturally mourning
We hurt, we’re wounded
And then trapped in suffering
All these negative forces
My heart is healing now
Time is curing…
Deceit in this world
Who lied to me?
I was sold dreams indefinitely
I continued to live falsely idiotically
But surprisingly
I love the curiosity
That builds in people’s minds amazingly
Yet patiently I wait undoubtedly
That I will find my prince charming waiting for me
Not artificially, but joyfully
My God helps those who help themselves, gracefully
So watch me help me, without disbelief
But faithfully
I won’t cry reminiscently
But happily live abundantly
I won’t lead misguidedly
But fortunately with overgrown prosperity
Honestly…
Who lied to me?
Who actually lied to me?
Was it the world boastfully?
Or was it my heart gullibly
He who lied to me lied to themselves foolishly
Mathematically, two negatives results in positivity
Thus simply two lie’s equals to honesty?
They lied pathetically!
But triumphantly, I don’t want to be the casualty
I want my future growth, relentlessly
I don’t have the keys to the door
But watch me!
I am breaking free!
For a copy of My Journey in Black and White(R150), send Lenah Redirile Nooi-Nooi Mashiya an inbox on Facebook.
Courtesy of Lenah Mashiya