Nostalgia * Poem by Niki Nicholas Nkuna

I longed for my beauty and the beautiful things I have seen, had and lost,
My heart still aches as I see them beautiful things in the mind,
Although the heartache fills salty and sweet,
I’m rendered restless by self-inflicted inexplicable pain,
Yes, it is inexplicable because it is salty and sweet,

Good feeling to stand in the derelict or refurbished building,
But cannot say, welcome home, sweet home!
Because of the tombstones nearby which take me down memory lane,
Because of the sweet and bitter voices echoing in the back of my mind,
I hear them and hear myself responding in ecstasy and pain,

I see them strings of love and hate,
Intertwining all the living and the dead,
The beauty of nature and the ugly side of it,

Nevertheless, I am resolved to pick the good wood amidst the sting of dry thorns,
For life is made of what was, what is, and what is to come,
No regrets for what I have seen, endured through tears of joy and pain,
Last thing to do,
I knelt and thanked the gods for the pain and joy of yore,
Pain and joy of now, pain and joy of the future!

N Nkuna,8 February 2013