The Scars of the sky are traced on the heaven’s skin, yet nothing is seen on her face or eye

Charles Lipanda Matenga, a young poet and writer from African country D R Congo shares his poems

Charles Lipanda Matenga, a young poet and writer, who was born in DR Congo, raised orphan and spent life in a refugee camp, shares his poetry

Charles Lipanda Matenga, was born and raised orphan at Rwenena Village, Uvira, Sud-Kivu, D R Congo in 2005. Charles Lipanda Mahigwe is President of African Youth Artistic Poetry-AYAP.  

THE SCARS OF THE SKY

The Scars of the sky

Are traced on the heaven’s skin

Yet nothing is seen

On her face or eye

We’re often told that

The sky is the barrier

Between the heaven and the earth

 

But whenever I look at her

I see the beauty

That never seemed to exist

Her face is so pretty

Her eyes roundly glitter

Her nose is as cute as cat’s

Her lips often bring curls of drops of rain

Her voice is tender and soft

 

There are many scars like stars

On her body

These scars are still painful till today

They raped and tortured her

For her resistance

She endured all the pains she felt

They thought they destroyed her tenderness

But the good thing is

Those scars turned to stars

That one is able to see them

There so high

Lighting from the sky

 

From scars to stars

She became prettier than before

No matter what you go through

You gotta also endure all pain

For no pain, no gain

Be patient

Open your eyes and look above the sky

Where the Ether is neither scarless

Nor starless

And see how beautiful the sky and stars are

Smile and smell the incense

From lovely flowers

And you’ll be full of cherish and towers

Of strength

The scars of the sky

***

ACHIEVE YOUR DREAM

Life is dark

So you cannot see through its back

Unless you’re the moonlight

Look your dream is on your sight

Hold it tight

Never let it go

For once it disappears,

You’ll never get it flow

Get up and begin your safari

Remember the part of journey is end

 

Don’t use your time stupidity

But use it wisely

Don’t despair for the calamities, challenges and disasters

That you’re going through

You may fail

For if you don’t fail,

You’re not even trying

You fall down

You may lose everything

But never lose hope

For it’ll help you to cope

***

MY CRUSH

When I was at Primary school

I saw a girl

She smiled as I walked by

Her smile was like a flower

Attracting insects

With sweet smelling

Her face had colorful forceps

Bounded each side

Her lips were so attractive

Producing curls of fluids

Her voice was like the morning melody of slow motion of music

As she said her name with Swahili accent

T- U- L- I- Z- O

My heart became ice

Nothing I could do but just sighing

As she was walking

She was the star moving daytime

Through the clouds

When she disappeared

My heart started melting down

I couldn’t help myself

To say I love you

But these words were like lime in sands

I was in standard four

One class ahead of her

But this memory today

Is like a satellite in space

Capturing every detail

And now I should sail

***

TRY

Things can be hard

And make you mad

But life is not bad

So it’ll never rend you sad

 

Clouds are blue

You can see everything knew

So you ne’er know

Unless you try

 

As the air moves,

The trees respire

An animal also loves

With intention to inspire

 

The sunset lightens so bright

Nothing hides

For there’s light

We’ve to stand vociferously for our lives

***

LIFE IS WHAT YOU CHOOSE TO BE 

Sometimes you fail to define life

Because of what you’re passing through

I know you’ve been trying hard and hard

But you never see any changes

But lemme tell you something

Life’s a choice

A choice that you got

The choice that stands straight

On your hands

As eggs being held not too tight or too slack

For them not to fall or be crushed

That’s what’s said to be life

 

Life’s not easy as you think it is

You’ll find some people struggling

To achieve their dreams and goals

Yet others are standing as unmovable as the American Statue of Liberty

These people are the shadows of others

For once somebody moves

They also move

They’re the blowing winds

Without direction

Look as the sun rises,

The shadows grows

And as it sets,

It shrinks

There’s no sweet without sweat

There’s no peace without insecurity

And there’s no independence without struggling

Read: WHEN SHALL MY TEARS DRY? – Poetry from D R Congo

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Prepared by Angela Kosta Academic writer, poet, essayist, literary critic, editor, translator, journalist