The Land is Good but the Harvest is Bad

Mattock-strength invested
cutlass wounds inflicted
precious time invested;
we have planted the seed
and have murdered the weed
as crying skies did rain
an ample amount of rain
again and again;
we said,"The land is good,
so bountiful shall be food
and plentiful the grain".

and we python-slept,
of all hope bereft
our labors all deft
to ensure a golden reap
amidst a heaven-ward heap
of vegetables,legumes and fruits
for we held true all truth
that good planting equals good reaping
and so deeply we sleep
to dream of the harvests left
and of happiness' cleft

so on the harvest day
each man went his way
to harvest grain or hay;
but what we did see
was what should not be;
pests and parasites galore
had vented vandalous furore
on the harvest days before
leaving what shall no more
last the day after yesterday;
this complacency made me say,
"Tha land is good but the harvest is bad."

Inside the Woods

Beneath a cloud of trees
i step on dry leaves
the eyes love everything they see
including falling leaves;
falling and crackling
under my feet.

flowers and plants grow
in bunches
in admiration, i move slow
in crunches
as bright sunrays sneak in
to my eyes

what Nature endowed
to these plants and leaves
has made them proud
in their colorful sleeves;
hepaticas and wake robin
adorn my muddied feet.

the sugar maple loves to flow
her great branches
while the darkened woods glow
with sunlight's lit matches
shining on footpaths meandering;
delighting my eyes.

^

Biography

Prince Mensah is a 23 year old Ghanaian, born on the 21st August 1977. He attended Adisadel College and the Extra Mural Academy, both in Ghana. He has been writing poetry since the age of seven and has a long list of unpublished anthology of poems. He happens to write plays and filmscripts as well. It is Prince's goal to be among the new leaders of African and what he calls "global" poetry. His poetic inspirations are William Shakespeare, Keats, Blake, Byron, Soyinka and Nature. To him, poetry is the pristine condensation of the whole existence of man and his environment.