Excerpts From The Vineyard

EXCERPTS FROM THE VINEYARD: SHYVINO BOOK OF RHYMES BY MELVIN O. NZEFILI

Poems and Quotes

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THE CHASE Weariness got me squinting It seemed to be gloaming ‘Twas strange all that was happening Not sure if I was dreaming. For the noonday feigned evening It got my head aching Wondering how I reached this land Of gloom and doom; a wasteland. The inhabitants did not heed me When I spoke to them they ignored me. I sought a hut to lay my head Huts lying in ruins I found instead. But found I did what seemed a club And saw indeed, it was a pub. Now strolling in to buy some drinks I saw ‘twas filled with the strangest beings Seated at table with some drinks In hand and drank with noise making I ordered for a bottle of rum Noticing me they then kept mum. They seemed so much focused at me And with no doubt maliciously These creatures busy drinking liquor No doubt about me seemed to whisper. Like silhouette was their appearance And made my presence glow with radiance. “They must take me for an intruder For they seem mean and so sinister.” It made me squirm and start to wonder A stylish way I’ll use to scamper Out through the door from this grave danger Believe you me they made me shudder. For absent was their chest to their head And present was their belly to their feet.

If I stayed long I would’ve been dead Or thrown and locked down in a pit. So from the pub I dashed like an arrow But after me these strange beings follow’d. Though weak I felt I kept the lead But they closed in despite my speed. In slow motion they had been coming With such vain speed I had been running. Suddenly my legs seized running To the ground I saw me falling. These headless beings caught up with me Their machete swung tardily From me backwards with motion slow And then forward at me to blow And all I could was cry for help But woke on my bed with a yelp. “A bad dream what a relief!” But on my bed I felt stiff Like a corpse unable to move a limb I thought, “Persistent seems this dream.” Felt bound in chains my feet and arms Was worn out couldn’t raise the alarm. Minutes later I felt some power To leave my bed then said a prayer To thank the Lord Who had saved me From demons that would have killed me. Melvin Ochonogor Nzefili {Tuesday 15th February 2005}

THE HIDDEN TALENT He tries to do what you can do But only tries in vain; Because of that he frowns at you With jealously and pain. Is it your fault, he cannot be The man he thinks you are? If only he could pause and see What he seeks is not far. I said to him, “The stuff within, Will one day surely rot, Because you have not looked within To see what you have got. “You never know what you can do Until the day you try, You best be no one else but you Until the day you die.” Melvin Ochonogor Nzefili {Friday 25th February 2005}

SAID THE MASTER TO HIS STUDENT I can show you the way But I can’t walk it for you. I will show you the door But won’t open it for you. Teach you to be a man But cannot be one for you. Show you a pretty girl But will not woo her for you. Don’t aspire to be like me You might not be who you should be. Aspire to be like no man, And aspire to be the best you can. Seek what I seek for perfection All men are different and unique To ply a route to perfection Which is what all man-kind should seek. Much routes to that destination, We pass from various locations. Some take a different direction Which leads to imperfection. Despair, deceit and confusion, Might make you give up perfection But you must become a fighter By this you become much stronger. I’m born a fighter and this is true Won’t show it, neither do I have to The humble would rather keep silent, The proud snob would try to prove violent. Your disciplined mind will conquer all Your untamed mind will bring your down fall, Because if you can control your mind, Then you can control things of all kind.

Do know that you can’t know it all Think otherwise, then you will fall. Be tenacious, alert and wise, And learn from what’s before your eyes. Answers you seek are around you Not just books, some books are not true. Do these you’d be wise at young age Wisdom depends not on old age. Melvin Ochonogor Nzefili {Wednesday 16th March 2005}

TRUE AFFECTION I’ve met with girls from time to time, Of different kinds in my life time. I ask myself from time to time If we’re wasting each other’s time. When I’m with them I feel the same As hanging around with the guys. Something with you is not the same And when I look into your eyes. It goes beyond your graceful gait Or your figure shaped out like eight, Or for the fact you’ve lost some weight, But for the fact it might be fate. It’s you I find hard to avoid. Thoughts about you fill my heart’s void. Oh no! My friends I now avoid. They now with me are paranoid. A lot of things I now think of: Do I feel for you lust or love? I sought for answers from above, To what is lust and what is love. My love I know flows in your heart. You’re uneasy when I’m in sight. And then from me you stay apart; It is the same both day and night. My love for you in my vein flows Into my heart’s chambers it flows Like blood, and that keeps me alive. If that love stops would I survive?

Like a man in the desert needs water, In the same way we need each other. Like fishes in the sea live by water, That is how we live by each other. With no doubt we fit together No trials can keep us apart, For it’s hard to say it’s over Though we tear each other apart. Death alone might keep us apart In the flesh, but not in spirit. For we live in each other’s heart In fact, our love has confirmed it!

Melvin Ochonogor Nzefili (Saturday 18th November 2006)

SEARCHING FOR A PEACE OF MIND I’m searching for a peace of mind, A way that I could free my mind. A peaceful state I want to find, To forget thoughts of various kind. Stay sitting by the riverside Listening to the rushing tide. And then let these thoughts flow inside To go with the returning tide. So now I try to close my eyes, I’m soaring from the earth, so high Leaving my problems below the skies. Again and again this I will try. Or turn problems into a kite So that the wind that blows so right Would blow this kite away from me So I’ll feel some tranquility. Melvin Ochonogor Nzefili {Saturday 25th November 2006}

Almost Crossed Over Head in the clouds I’m soaring, I’m no sensation feeling, All I see’s in my mind’s eye, Not from the physical eye. I am in a state ecstatic My name sounds forth from far away, Someone’s trying to get to me, It seems close but yet far away. I seem to be coming closer, As the voice transforms to wailing, I awake to reality, Beholding my brothers in tears. I open my physical eye, And in a blur I seem to see, A lot of people as they cry In joy as they got through to me. But now I am so paranoia, I was almost free from these ill days, On earth journeying to euphoria, Till my brothers tricked me back again!

Melvin Ochonogor Nzefili {January 2007}

Quotes “God has made us all beautiful: He has given us beauty, our actions have either made us retain it or lose it; look within to see which one it has done, because physical appearances say nothing about the inside.” “A man with pains in his groin should never think of fighting.” “The man who is really in love with a woman never realizes that he is in love, until when his love for that woman is tested.” “God is Love and is beautiful; unless you love all (as God does) and not some, then you are not completely beautiful.” “An atheist never acknowledges God until he exclaims, ‘Oh God!.’” “Associated with us all being different human beings are: different ideas and various approaches to a problem; it is what actually makes the world go round.” “I don’t have to do what you do to be successful, so allow me do my own things.” “Forget God, forget paradise; forget Satan, forget condemnation. Which do you choose?” “Act like a soil in which a little seed grows to a big tree, by making good use of the little you have, to make big things.” “You can only carefully get to the top floor, by using the stairs.”

“When you learn to love yourself as you are, love your life despite the ups and downs in it, appreciate nature and life and smile at your foes and in the midst of your problems; you would already be radiating love and attracting good fortune!” “You have to recognize the fact that, no matter what people say about what it takes to grab the bull by the horns; there is a great difference between ‘being bold’ and ‘foolhardiness.’” “I can neither tell you to go with her nor not to go with her. You are a grown man now and you have to make more of your own decisions, but all I can tell you is that, if you really love each other, you will surely stay happily together for a very long time even till death, because you like

each other for various reasons. But if you only like each other based on materialism, there is bound to be problems propping up after a while, especially when that material thing is gone, because there is nothing more to like each other for.” “We are always carried away by the sweetness of sweets and chocolates that we fail to remember what damage they can cause to the teeth.”