Opa Waxes Lyrical, Forty poems in fifty years

By Mbokodo Publishers and National Library of South Africa’s Centre for the Book

Opa Waxes Lyrical

 

This is an anthology. There is no "chassis" under these poems. The only connection between them is in Part 4 where eight of the ten poems celebrate the Millennium Development Goals. The common denominator is authorship. They were written over a period of 50 years, the first one being written in 1969. So they vary widely in content and style. They are stand-alone, and not presented in chronological order.

The four clusters are a bit arbitrary:
· Love
· Faith
· Life
· Purpose
Occasionally, there is a "tent peg" to maximize the reader's appreciation of a poem. But for the most part, each one "floats" on its own.
Some poems were penned in South Africa, others in Asia and  America. Some are short, some are long. Some will make you laugh, others will make you cry. Some will inspire you, others may depress you. All these highs and lows are encompassed in one life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: NLS ’s Centre for the Book
• Release date: Apr 19, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201702052

Mbokodo Publishers

Colani Nkosi was born (16 April 1994) in Mpumalanga, Nhlazatshe. He is known in the music business as SooPurB. He is a Siswati Hip Hop musician, songwriter and record producer...fell in love with music at a young age and has been ceaselessly growing as an artist. He's done performances on national television shows -  SABC 1 (YoTV Live) and eTV  (Shiz Live) and also got featured in various publications such as Mpumalanga News, The Star, Times of Eswatini, Daily Sun, Slikour On Life and more. His music plays on radio stations such as Ligwalagwala FM, Ikwekwezi FM, Mkhondo FM, BCR FM, etc. He is a life-long scholar of the music industry, as a result, he decided to script this book to simplify the industry concepts for other aspiring South African artists and wannabe talent managers.

Book preview

By

CHARLES O. STEPHENS

The publication of this book was made possible

by a generous grant from the National Library of South Africa’s Centre for the Book’s Community Publishing Programme.

Opa Waxes Lyrical

First edition 2021. All rights reserved

©2021 Charles O. Stephens

Published by the National Library of South Africa’s Centre for the Book ISBN: 978-0-620-91171-9

No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission of the copyright holders

Cover & Book Design: Comfort A Taiwo

Contents

Preamble v

Honourable Mention vii

Love Poetry 1

Instinctively 3

If you really care, why does it end there? 4

Boaz loved Ruth 6

ode to Bathsheba 7

Artaxerxes loved Esther 9

Waxing not waning 11

The ministry of absence 12

Faith Poetry 15

The Prince and the Pauper – a Psalm 17

Topcoat 19

Three strikes and you’re out 21

Lord, I believe; help mine unbelief 25

Idiosyncracies 30

Bends in the road 37

Modern mendicancy 43

The prayer of lords 44

Take this 45

Children of night 51

Song for the birds 54

God loves the man 56

Did you ever see the wind? 58

Acorn 60

Taking it personally 63

Do not be afraid 64

Advocacy is a high calling 67

Life Poetry 73

A tough row to hoe 75

Alienated by entitlement 77

Congratulations! 80

Amber Joubert 1991–2010 82

Preso na liberdade 85

Inconvenient convictions 89

Purpose Poetry 91

Women at the centre 93

Let my children go! 96

Were you there? 98

25 million lives rescued 100

Both sides 102

All night, all day 104

Make me a channel of your peace 106

Will the circle be unbroken? 108

Groanin’ in the wind 110

Terminal blues 112

Epilogue 113

Bonus Poem 115

Three sides now 116

Preamble

This is an anthology. There is no chassis under these poems. The only common denominator is that they were written by the same author.

They were written over 50 years, the first one being written in 1969. So, they vary widely in content and style. They are standalones and not presented in chronological order.

The four clusters are a bit arbitrary:

•  Love

•  Faith

•  Life

•  Purpose

Occasionally, there is a tent peg to maximize the reader’s appreciation of a poem. But for the most part, each one floats on its own.

The author’s road has been long. He was single as of yet unmarried when he started writing poetry and two wives have survived him. Two dissolutions later, he is all the wiser.

Some poems were penned in South Africa, others in Asia and America. Some are short, others are long. Some will make you laugh, others will make you cry. Some will inspire you, others may depress you. All these highs and lows are encompassed in one life.

The author was born in Africa and has lived here longer than anywhere else. He resides in South Africa now. But his world-view is both internationalist and Biblically literate.

So it may seem a bit distant to some, and to others – closer than breathing.

He has been a lover many times, a husband twice, a preacher, a prophet and a writer. So fasten your seat belt because this is a roller-coaster ride across five turbulent decades.

Honourable Mention

Special appreciation is due to the National Library of South Africa (NLSA) for its Community Publishing Grant. Its Centre of the Book is not only a way of encouraging budding artists but also of conserving wisdom. Books are like that, of course. They are fairly resilient and can resist the dust for years and years between consultations by different and diverse readers.

The elders are outnumbered in Africa these days but their wisdom should not be ignored by the rising tide of youth.

Poetry makes advice very palatable. There are even a few songs in the lyrics that follow. So hats off to the NLSA for keeping print-media technology going and growing. Printing replaced manual copying on scrolls. It is so much more stable. Digital is faster but only time will tell how stable it proves to be. So, once in print, a