Author’s Note:
Every month I’ll be conducting a Poetic-Challenge, challenging various poets, whom I personally know/interact with, just for the sake of sharpening/improving my own poetry, general-goodwill, respect for my fellow “Brethren of the Paper & Pen”, and to just see who from among us has the best “Poetry-Skillz”…Every month, I’ll be picking a brand-new Poetic-Challenger, via Facebook/Twitter, to compete with. This month, it’s Humza Oza. Next month, it could very well be anyone of you. So, just be prepared, with some fresh-rhymes.
Topic: Honesty
Gareth Bryant
I’m not the Man You think You see:
When no one’s around, no one to hear the ways my inside voice sounds…
…There I am, in the dark, far apart from others, with only me & my wounds.
These scars of my heart that bleed not red blood, but, crimson emotion…
…I often think of my past hopes ruined, as if shrapnel from an explosion.
The complexities of my self-made travesties tend to keep me up all-night…
…Regretting what I didn’t do or should’ve done, only intensifies my plight.
From the surface, you out there are only exposed to the glamour & glare…
…But, when I’m alone, what I see in front of me, in the mirror, I can’t bear.
I notice the ugliness of what I work so hard to keep hidden from public-view…
The radiance of my face is make-up, that I just use, to hide the real me from you.
My true self is nothing how I portray it to be; there’s so much I’m not happy with…
…Sometimes, it feels like everyone’s just against me, even loved-ones and kith.
But, then again, no one who’s around really wants to see the real you…
…It reminds them of the skeletons in their closets that make them blue.
It’s an uncomfortable reminder of how fake they are…
…They have distanced themselves, from truth, so far.
People often despise in others what they really see within themselves…
…Then they deny truth, which is embedded in the heart, where it dwells.
But, that’s the way the reality of the World works…
…Integrity, honesty, sincerity don’t have any perks.
Gareth Bryant/2013
Humza Oza
Honesty defined:
More important it is for you
The things you say, the things you do
Greater than the majestic sea
The greatest thing for you or me
All on its own it has the power to save you
Its a simple, golden, all encompassing value
It has the power to help heal nations
Its one of the easiest ways to salvation
How it does this I’ll demonstrate
Lets say you have something bad to do
Go to some place of sin or do something wrong
Just imagine now your father you run in to
And he asks “My son, where were you?”
Just think if you stopped lying
And told him the truth
He’d probably weep, start crying
That would be to sins committed by you
But if you intend to be honest all along
It has the strength to emancipate
It is greater than the majestic sea
The simple concept of Honesty.
Humza Oza/2013
A smiling face
Unblinking eye
The colors of sunrise
Warming, infusing
The letters of moment
Until red-hot,
They boil over and
Spill into the ineffable space
Between two persons
Who have nothing to hide
Nothing to hide
Because all that can be known
Is known
And all that can’t be known
Is embraced for what it is
The heart of faith
Of trust
Of wordless recognition
That all is well,
All is well:
That truth has indeed brought freedom
From fear
And opened a space
So great and wide
That this sunrise love
Can light the dark places
And show forth the truth
That makes shadows fade
Until there is only light,
Only light.
I vote for this one!
Very talented…both are nice and insightful… Gareth has the edge in his continuous rhyming and picturesque prose. Carl Pontiak