Behind And Outside The Dark Cloud Poem by Niki Nicholas Nkuna

How far are you from danger?
Hearts of gold shining in your face
Blighting concern for safety
Spiteful spikes invincible in sunny days
Sensible during soft dark days
Seasonal changes lulling the mind
To mind no effect of nature but one’s concerns

How far are you from calamity?
Hard hearts darkening the light of day
Like the hide and seek of the sun
Gliding in and out of the dark clouds

How far are you from disaster?
The louder the cry of the awakened child
The deeper the pull from deep sleeps
Like the precarious climb of the rocky mountain
Perturbed by the plateaux whose fringes end in waterfall

How far are you from peril?
Wide awake from all kinds of extremities and comforting corners
From excellent and mediocre praise
Knowing the dress code for all seasons
Vigilant enough to see the moon behind the dark cloud
Paying no concern for the fluctuates of care but to oneself


How far are you from menace?
The cards stacking like the axe being sharpened in hindsight
The rhythm changes in tandem with seasons
Like the spiteful smile discerned by white teeth
In the absence of contemplation
When the axe finally fall attention maybe late
To assuage the pain
The smile will return and dwell on the agony
Bluffing the crazy minds and faces