A handful collection of sixty four poems Ecclesiastes is really rare wisdom versed as it subtitles. It' more than a poetry collection and garnished with uncommon wisdom that every being irrespective of age, color or race needs. After reading one would suggest it is a treasure locked in a chest and hidden on an Island. The first chapter titled “Secret Chapters” premiers the collection.
In the first and second poems of the collection- “Pride of Ink” and “Drawers of Ink” the poet exhibits his creative prowess as a poet and the strength in the liquid substance named Pen: Caged/And let out through a point/Ideas flow/Imagination registers/Dots on paper;
Without the powers of reality/Clairvoyants would not convince/That liquid could speak/with the voices that could; /Build or pull or destroy.
It is only when you read that one would understand why the chapter is referred to as secret. It is filled with motivational and inspirational lines that could make the foolish wise, to the wise it will offer understanding and proffer direction to life. Many of life unanswered questions are found in this collection. Here are some lines from different titles:
"In Barren Land” Of? Fate/Predestination/Time, chance and seasons/The weak lay blames/The favored has stakes in boast/Mine gradually… consistently/till each explorer/Owns a stake in nature's treasury.
"Seat of Worries” is not without this unique trait: Locked up by circumstances/And made the gate man/In the Island of uncertainty/The foolishness of dreams/The vain of wishes/The beauty of fantasy /The man sat on convenience/A prisoner of self/Yet the key holder.
Wonder how it feels to have ideas and no drive for exhibition read “Empty Wallet”: Optimism could obliterate/Anticipations would be antagonized/As stiff and still as breathless being/Like the burnt-bundle of tied notes/The hope of unrealized dreams/Thought would wander/The taste of reality/Leans on the spirit of dead heroes/Immortalized on rectangular papers/Endorsed by the living signature.
Have you imagined the “foolishness” of dreams…? Leaf through the series on dreams: No restrictions/To all that could be cherished/The highway to wishes;/A straight road/With the end in view/Most dwellers/Never exist in reality, still/Everything seem possible/Here/Beggars ride on horses/Princes assume the Almighty/Kings dethrone gods.
"People' Opinion” would open your eyes to see that some smiles are meant to be stabs while helping hands could mean misguidance: If it is a white Cain/The world would lack/The visually impaired/Catch the dog by the neck/Their suggestion/Could opine it were by the paw/Their followers/Assume the traits of the inhabitants/Of Gaga land/Actors of the scenes of confusion.
The second chapter- “Relationship X-Ray” is a play of words on love and romance. Have you have doubts it' true; a world without love is as bad as dead. Everyone needs it so this x-ray reveals the fracture of broken love and how it would be mended. Send an unbeliever some words from this piece and she would be baptized.
Here are excerpts from “Repeated words”: From afar though,/I clearly heard the sounds of babbling/From the vast trampling feet/Resistance could not shut the ears/As different face of genders/Meet from opposite direction/Fluency stammers her speeches repeatedly/The foot misses steps./The quartet-word with blood complexion assures:/It is the fore-runner of availability clause/That validates the signs of the unspoken words/Talk to me, please.
When a man finds a sight he likes in a woman he must be tempted to be among the “Idol Worshipers”: Sitting at the gate at eve/Hearing whispers from afar; /Suddenly there was a flash/ From the face as goddess/Of beautiful flowing river/Necks crack and screw and giraffe-/To capture a glimpse of the flash/Adoration and obeisance-/To the flash/Admiration affirms the mind of these eyes/Have bowed before this beauty/Of the diva
Unfortunately she left you and you still love her, why not “Throw the Cage Wide Open”:
Conservation covers concern/Possessiveness prides partnership/Cage may not be for birds/
Till there came an itching ear/That yearns for soft rhythm/Throw the cage open…/If you caught a bird/though she flee away/Shut not the gate against them.
What if she refuses your overtures you may need the “Woo of the Restricted”: My heart I give to you/Ensure it didn't fall/It is fragile and could break/The only place to keep it safe/Is in your heart-/Give it to someone else/He might be my enemy/And could crush the chest/You can give me yours/I promise to take care of it/And make you feel like/A natural diva.
I never believed there is any energy in what we know as the weaker vessel till I discovered this “Strength of The Weak”: Made with one out of many/Formed outside creation days/After the creator had rested/Though the product of necessity/Her strength/Set the creator at work/After he endorsed and confirmed all good/And welcomed the Sabbaths rest/Her strength/Lured the premiere father/To digress from plan, ate the forbidden/And were repatriates of Eden
Not even the last chapter “Reflections” could summarize this collection though; it has the highest number of poems in the entire collection. Amongst many other poems the poet seems to want to change the whole world when he reveals “The Price of Paradise”: When these hassles are gone/All would subscribe to eternal rest-/Save the scions of perdition-/Where no harm would hover/My tour to the Deadland/Contrite my heart so hard/Behold the cry of the unborn amongst others/That was forced by caesarian of non-professionals/And burnt right on the second she left the Bellyworld/An elderly, still in penury/ Reflected how he saw burnings beneath,/From aerial view- before they were blown up in a bird's belly/none recounted their ordeal loudly save in whispers/For phobia of yet another scene
That would cause their second death/the sketches of the suspects were obscured/Like a masked masquerade in the dark/I can't identify the man if I see his picture/They were mere sketches/Done by mere ghosts that are foreigners to canvass/Why a faithful would slay a fellow believer/Why a man would kill his brother/We are one in Abraham/After our tongues were confused in Babel
From whom then do we learn this huge fracas?-/Assuming the visa to the holy city is the color of crimson.
Ecclesiastes is a treasure every twenty-first centurions should possess. Unless you are living in the space but I suppose the life span there is about 300 hours of living in the shuttle. There every sojourner is non-immigrant that would land on the earth and would need a guide to life.