For seven years, I had been travelling to work on the very same route and for most of the time, I found the journey dull, bleak and boring. In the last three years, i felt myself slowly embracing  a familiar sense of emptiness and I could not figure out why.

In all those years, I had not noticed the colourful energy of The beautiful trees and  their new language each morning and even the bright sun had given up on feeding me with its subtle rays of brightness.

I had not even noticed those smiling faces that greeted me wih the first fresh songs of the day- GOOD MORNING – even though the signs were clearly written in their eyes. I had become a prisoner in the puzzle of routine, I had become a lost passenger.

And then one day, as I got back from work, I saw a big signboard just before I could open my door-  the words on the sign board were bright and had been made out of light bulbs in different colours-  its read “if he sky is clearly blue, but you are seeing it in red, the chances are- its probably you- Change and Happiness starts from within- What matters is not what you see but how you see it”. I stood in silence and a whole new journey dawned on me- a journey i had not read in detail and yet, I knew i was not born to be a passenger.

The next morning when I woke up, I instinctively tok a different route to work, I took a slower route that had no shortcuts, I wanted to explore detail, I wanted to drink from nature and I wanted to be part of the music that danced in circles in the wind.

For the very first time, I began to take notice of the simplicities of warm signals I began to understand the language of the beautiful trees and the open secrets of the smiling sun.

On my long route to work, I now stopped and spoke with those strangers who had blessed me with smiles all along-  and as months passed by- thier story became part of their story, my story became part of their song and I began to understand how everything around us is connected.

I now only take that long route to work- even though I am now always late- but my boss of seven years does not mind- he would rather see me late than sad

written by Tony Tokunbo Fernandez

The pockets of the sky are dressed in Secrets

New riddles rise before the dawn

The lips of the clouds are completely  sealed

In profound programmed hesitation,

Our People say “When it rains- there is revelation”

Yet the Rain has been selfish for thirty days

Is it Me, Is it my People, Is ti the Rain?

Its time to look within

And until then  ………………..

The pockets of the Sky are dressed with secrets

WHO RAPED OUR SUNSHINE?

The fear was a tradition of torment

Of broken dreams from a thirsty mind

But somehow

Sunshine had managed to outplay Darkness

Avoiding each strain from the troubled storm

Fear had been raping Sunshine

Behind the hills on an open path

And the rivers kept quiet like they always do

Yet the evil mind began to laugh

Our sunshine has survived from a story

On a windy night in June

Her eyes reached out for glory

With a silver shield and a golden broom

Palm oil and pasta

The blend was awesome

A unique portrait filled with brilliant conversations

The boat was empty

Waiting for passengers that had accustomed new cultures

The Ocean . . .

My homeland of wisdom

A parent to many boats

Having sailed through many shores

Before the dawn had opened its mouth

Tonight my lips are sealed with palm oil and pasta

The liberal statement from a curious tongue

A tongue filled with oil

Oil that has kissed the skin of the land

Oil filled with blood

The blood of my people

With different strokes but a common cord

JUST A MOMENT

A little moment to myself

To breathe

And taste the fruits of this fresh air

To sing in the palace of my bathroom

And bathe my thoughts with the soaps of sweet proverbs

A little moment…

To cook a meal for a thousand people

To listen to the voices of a crying baby

And embrace the hearts of the elderly

A little moment to myself

To give and share

To feel and pray

Again and again

A little moment to myself

To breathe

Slowly

And rest upon the beeches that surround the Ocean

One moment

To touch

To grow

To kiss

And love

To say sorry to the people I have hurt

And thank you to those that make my day.

The Proposal

It felt like A Proposal

Or a forum of feelings

Dancing in circles in a passionate park

There was romance by the fountains

And voices that echoed

Within the warmth of the naked winds

And slowly

The air became filled with little flames

Her eyes lit up with warmth

And the conscience of the moon gazed before us

And blessed the night with a signal

This signal gave birth to a homely intuition

Where all that mattered was Love

PICTURES AND SHADOWS

A day before our meeting

I sat in our room and lit a candle

And when I slept

I dreamt of pictures and shadows

Pictures painted with subtle smiles and mellow voices

Shadows spelt but fading from a distance

I dreamt of the passion in your palms

And the sweetness of a trance

Of messages printed in the wind

But waiting to be shared

And statements, and signals

Prompted by the very eyes of two strangers

A day before our meeting

I sat in our room and lit a candle

Lying beneath the warmth of the naked wind

One Moment of Peace

Every substance is intact

Living through a sequence of peace

Every movement captured

By the raw feelings of self-assurance

I am as calm as the stream

Blessed with beauty and still waters

I shall breathe like a King

Despite the mystery from the grey storm

And trace the pictures of my dreams.

Every seed is intact

Bones that have felt many places

Coloured with stories untold

Freedom is a home and not a prison

With many more songs and voices

Every substance…

Every Moment…

And if you listen carefully

One Moment of Peace

SUSPENSE IN THE RAIN

One warm night

Before it rained

My soul felt your body

Then felt the pain

Of cold distant secrets

Floating in the dark

And a subtle flame

That had lost its spark

One warm night

Before today

I discovered a season

Again and again

Of a gentle voice in a naked room

Undressing in silence

But sleeping too soon

One warm night

And many more nights

Thoughts dressed in feelings

A special delight

The season has started

Before the game

My body is aching

To feel the rain

The Void

The Void has been empty for seasons

Lacking in space and colour

The brain has become a desert

Drained by shallow strangers

The music of the day has started

Cold courtesy and patterned conversation

And eyes that shift when you turn your back

Into a new house of secrets

The Void danced around the room

Still lacking in space and colour

It crept into the depths of a forgotten home

And found the picture of its puzzle

The Void found light

The Void found love

The Void found space

The Void found colour

The Void found beauty that sat within the pages of a rainbow

Music that bounced through the mystery of the streets

The Void found Strength, Mystery, Sadness, Joy, Contradictions, Courage and Pain

And when it had found its album

That Void became Poetry