The Fairest In The Land

We have gazed upon your face

We have beheld your beauty

Your love and devotion be our duty

We covet, and we want, and we crave

A single kiss from your lips

Will put to flight a million woes

And a touch from your hand

Will put to shame our foes

Our children will sing and dance

While upon wheels of steel we ride

Our danshikis we will spread out in pride

And the damsels will be entranced

For you, many a-lie have been spun

With no shame or remorse have we cheated

And fuelled by your passion, our fists have swung

 Alas, dreams and hopes and lives have ended

O fairest of all dames

Whose beauty is widely famed

From lands far and near Knights have trailed

All in hopes to have you tamed!

Riding upon the wings of the storms

Came the Strong, Self-assured One

With his fists of iron and will of steel

He sought to bring you to your knees

“I have subdued many-a wench!” He roars

“With my skill, my schemes and my force

Your charging Bear will I slay!

And then over you, my Bull will reign!”

His dark stallion you have made but a pup

And his robes lay in tatters amidst his sobs

Oh, how pride has gone before a great fall,

And cunning become but the low mimic of wisdom!

Pale as the dusk, the Holder came,

Seeking your favour not just for a season

Eyelids you batted, he wanted your kisses

You offered a smile, he wanted a missus!

His obsession his own ruin has wrought

The tighter he gripped, the faster you slipped

Acid in his belly, fire in his arteries

You burst his bubble and he with depression filled

Through catastrophic loss, to him is revealed

That you, fair maiden are like the wind

To no- one you answer, to no-man you belong

Temporary custodians we are, as you choose, so you love

Upon a horse blazing like the sun,

The Dazzling One arrived all a-bling!

Brandishing you upon his arm, his trophy to be

That far and near, all will see and shout ka-ching!

But you fairest of all, are no man’s show-case

You sing no man’s praises, all except yours’

Your pretty robes of green and pink and copper and gold

Are yours to flaunt, you won’t deign to share

The Tranquil One no sonnets or war-cries sing

He seeks not to subdue and neither to cling

From a distance he beholds your beauty

And accords respect as he sees due

He duffs his hat and walks on by

Content to have you in his sights and not his heart

For he wisely knows you’re a charming friend to meet

But without warning, a treacherous mistress to follow

And to the one who grabs not

You have freely given all

Because you desire to be attracted

Rather than pursued

Oh what a lesson for us all!

Worldly goods and treasures should not enthral

And wisely choose to what we give our lives’ worth

Because truly all things that glitter, gold are not!

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Who is rich? He that is content. Who is that? Nobody!

- Benjamin Franklin

Money is like love; it kills slowly and painfully the one who withholds it, and enlivens the other who turns it on his fellow man.

- Kahlil Gibran