Bits and Pieces

Change

Spring slowly creeps along
Early morning the forest reverberates
Winter’s birds exercise their voice
Time moving by
Sunlight drives away the pain
Intimate
With my friend
The rain

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, 2012-02-29.

Words find me

I look silence in the eye
Lack of language
Laughter
Sadness
Pain
Lost crying
These new words
Requires another try

By Simone Beartrice Naik Noemdoe, 2012-02-29

Listening

Engaged
Every dialect nuanced
New words captured
Meanings stay the same
Assimilation
Celebrated
Social systems sanctioned
Each fresh phrase
In my mother tongue buried
This language finding a home
Amongst many
My soul captures
Seasonal blessings
Listening

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, 2012-02-29.

Connections

My connection
With a past
Best forgotten
Tenuous
Most cannot fathom
This propensity for coping with loss
Minds operating
On autocorrect
Inching closer and closer
To a peaceful end

My connection
With a present
Best remembered
Glorious
Most can fathom
This drive to nurture
Instant gratification
Shaped by shifting life stations
Systems operating on old familiar patterns
Inching closer and closer
To an exciting end

My connections
With a future
A total mystery
Most can fathom
Every day’s gift promised
All experiences treasured
Pain buried
Love triumphant
Dreams more and more distant
Humanity’s comprehension of life
Inching closer and closer
Unravelling mytstery's end

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, 2012-02-28.

Protected

On the small dark road home
My guardian angel
Is a rabbit
Skulking away from danger
If I could count life
In bunny years
Mine will be shorter
With no tears

On a sleepless night
My guardian angel
Is a night owl
Keeping watch in the darkness
If I could have night vision
Twenty/Twenty
Hindsight
No risk of being blindsided

On a dreary morning
My guardian angel
Is the early bird
A bright song
At the break of dawn
Heralding ideas kind
Chasing life deep inside
No worries in the past
Hope here and now
Energy converted to power

My guardian angels
Walk with me
A clear path
They always see
Their lives a vision in my dreams
Night and day
Slowly mingles
Time and space
In perceptions trapped
Everything ordained
Our lives
Guided by destiny

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, 2012-02-27.

Curiosity

For your comfort
I tote
My heritage
Like a cheap handbag
Fables
Overheard
At kitchen tables
Smoke filled rooms
A slave legacy blue
Black of mixed descent
Through and through

For your curiosity
I can tell
The tales
Filled with concepts imaginary
Records in displacement lost
A transitory tragedy
Dignity maintained
My looks
A genetic gift
Ancestors still find
A way to live

For your interest
I’m grateful
Through telling
Their legacy alive
In action
Their gifts celebrated
Love and pain
Otherwise contained
Power and pain
Part of the game
My descendants
Spinning their own tales

Where are you from? Is a common question and the easy assumption is Indian. It is so much more complex than the questioner is interested in finding the answer. Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, 2012-02-26.

Collisions

Reference points
Familiar places
Well known faces
A store
Of automatic recall
A biological
Chronological
Genuine
Thrall
Conversations
Interesting or bland
Random ideas
In a random environment
Foiled

Recall points
Intervals in time
Words hurtful
Actions kind
Natural instincts
Seldom Blind
The soul’s solidarity
Offers
Precious
Parity
Occasionally
The self
Needs the most
Charity

Colliding points
Inadvertent
Exchange
Accidental
Common trust
Easily foiled
Good intensions
In perverted agendas embroiled
The greater collective
Suffers the wrath of the corrupted
Life choices
Externally forced
Adaptability
Every victor’s strategy

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, 2012-02-25.

Introspection

Global Lethargy

Knowing
Is not enough

Telling
Is insufficient

Change of practice
A beginning

Mass transformation
The golden innings

Human impact
Hard to retract

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, 2012-02-24.



Solitary Action

Small changes
A beginning

Individual choice
Continuous streaming

Girls and boys
Adults in training

Local actions
Critical distractions

Natures’ gifts
Resiliently redeeming

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, 2012-02-24.

Back and Forth

My pendulum
Swings
Back and forth
Sometimes
Keeping pace
Showing great form
Almost
Accurate
Like a metronome

Keeping track
Fast and slow
My mood swings
Fish and chips
Blues and swing
That time of the month
Melancholy brings
Life largely
Touch and go

Keeping in the swing of things
Adaptation
Trapped in choice
Not as bad as we might think
Redemption
Every day a new beginning
Each moment ticking by
Each breath
A moment closer to the end

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, 2012-02-23.

Winter Trance

The puddles jump and jive
Reflected
In the weak city lights
Twinkling
Blinking
Like tired eyes
After a long days’ labour
The exhausted winter
Cannot
The value
Of this gift
Treasured

Concentric circles live for seconds
Vibrating
Disappearing in the dark soil
Soft
Savouring
Like revived dreams
After a long sleepless nights
Imaginable
The significance
Of this interlude
Understood

Little pools shine like broken glass
Vacant
Capturing lost souls
Gentle
Enabling
Waking at the break of day
Barefoot in the sun play
Childhood rules abandoned
The importance
Of this witness
Assuaged

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, 2012-02-22

Conquerors

Young talent
Blocked
By petty jealousies
Resource scarcity
A development fallacy
Fresh leadership
A rare reality
True mentorship
A gift
Against tragedy

Young talent
Frustrated
Mediocrity
In threatened leadership
Wilfully elevated
Plain speaking
Considered a travesty
Toeing the line
Expected naturally
Suppressing
Personal growth sadly

Young talent
Excels
Futures
Not by minor setbacks foretold
Development
Still nurtured
Out there
Eminence bright
Shine your light
Visionaries are constantly searching
Cultivate your inner yearning
Ignorance trumped with constant learning

For Phemo and Jayati, By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, 2012-02-21.

Faded

Sunshine on the horizon
Eight in the morning
Soon
A new spring dawning
Winter storms raging
Soon
Our memories
Of these darkest days
Will be fading

A full moon on the horizon
Eight at night
Soon
A new season dawning
Life storms raging
Soon
Our memories
Of these dark dreams
Will be fading

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, 2012-02-20.


Immigrants Assimilated (Svenska För Invandrare)

Almost
The entire world
In the room with me
Today
All in pursuit
Of a new language
In which to
Love
Laugh
Learn
Play

Academics
Mother’s new
The unemployed
Also in the queue
Students
Girls and boys
English, French
Chinese, Russian
Arabic, Persian
Bangla, Hindi and more
Soon all singing
Swedish dinner songs

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, 2012-02-20

Slavery

Slaves
Seek liberty
We expect
Heroes to the rescue
Trapped
Not
All about the cheap jobs
Sometimes
No end
In blurred eyes
Our visions reflects some truth

Slaves
Seek liberty
We know
Abstinence, the solution to the rescue
Imprisoned
Not
All about withholding access
Often
An end possible
Release from addiction
Leaves the user only with a vision of prospects blue

Slaves
Seek liberty
We understand
Deliverance to emancipation equated
Freedom
Not
Automatically slaked
Persistently
Society unstable
We are all victims
In its end game

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, 2012-02-19.

Not so Blank After All

Blank
The recesses of my mind
Temporary
No words to find
Raw emotions
In plain sight hiding
A new day
Newer challenges
Finding

Blank
The screen I find
Fleeting
Slowly concepts
Waking a tired mind
Creativity sublime
Life’s seasons composed
Identity corroborated
Space and time
Integrated

Blank
The canvass of life
Transitory
Layered in colour
In comfort buffered
Idealists
Trapped
Lifestyles questioned
Sadly it feels like all environmentalists’ lecture
Mass change
Still
Gloomily neglected

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, 2012-02-18.

Change

The theory of change
Excites me
Transformation
Shakes foundations
Seldom
Only about
Merely moving
Life stations
Shifting
Places

The theory of change
Baffles me
Walking the talk
More than
Betting
On a cheap raffle
Random luck
Part of the deal
Anything else
Seems
A steal

The theory of change
Complicates thee
Reams of paper
Challenges
Evolving theories
Positivity embraced
Negativity pained
Emotions tainted
True revolutions
Not
Fought by heart’s feint

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, 2012-02-17

Complexity

Mediated
Life
Unsolicited
Issues
Complicated
Mistakes
Repairable
I’m sorry
Not so horrible

Interceded
Life
Intricate
Issues
Mediated
Victories
Celebrated
I’m happy
Not so difficult

Negotiated
Life
Unadulterated
Issues
Facilitated
Stalemates
Overrated
Time travel
Not so complicated

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, 2012-02-16

Jewels in my Treasure Chest

Friendships
Strong and solid
Slowly shaping
Filling
Spaces hollow
Complementary
Setting seeds
In gardens fallow
Companionship
Today
Long into tomorrow

Health
Better than sallow
Warding of threats
Minor ailments hollow
Summer, Winter, Spring, Fall
Every decade older
On skin and bones showing
A state of mind glowing
Body and soul
Together holding

Family
Connections living
Taking
Less rewarding than giving
Siblings closer
Offspring growing older
Ailing parents
An ever present open shoulder
One through many
Collectively
We build
A treasure trove of memories

Love
Sometimes an emotional roller coaster
Solid as a rock steady
Shaped within
Deeper than skin
Better if not in pursuit of glory
Seldom just about good news stories
Mother, father, sibling, offspring
Lover, Life Partner
Cherished
Naturally relished
The biggest jewel in my treasure chest
Giving more than receiving
Leaves me heaven blessed

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, 2012-02-15

Transformation

Slowly
Fortunes change
Everyday
The world a different place
Whilst most things
Still seem the same

Slowly
Lives change
Everyday
The world a stage
Flashed on the evening news
Challenges remain the same

Slowly
Ideas change
Everyday
New concepts smites practices old
Revolutionaries acting bold
Millennia’s mysteries untold

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, 2012-02-14.

Love for Sale

Love for sale
Once a year
Time to tell
A loved one dear
The one chance
To undying devotion confess
Rewards
When you least expect

Love for sale
To the gullible
Stable emotions deep
More than
Commercial tricks fellable
Promises ready
Love’s rewards happy
Gradually steady

Love for sale
Tokened
Relationships
More and more brokered
Innocence captured
Betrayal ruptured
Singular identities firm
Collective memories preserved

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, 2012-02-13

You’re Welcome

Please
Knock on my door
When you are hungry
Ask me for a blanket
When you are cold
Claim a smile
When you feel down
Friendship growing
Will be a jewel in my wooden crown

Please
Write me a letter
When you have no one else to talk to
Welcome me to your home
When you are lonely
Take my hug
When you need a shoulder to cry on
Partnerships sharing
A sign of goodwill in times daring

Please
Think about me
As we are slowly maturing
Endure my repeated old stories
Take my compliments genuine
When you need a place to hide
In my home a refuge you can find
Soul mates
Survives all the world’s blows unkind

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, 2012-02-12.

Lifecycles

Expectations
By trepidation tempered
Dreams
To disappointment surrendered
Identity
In stories collected

Dreams
Through hard work realised
Expectations
To realities capitulated
Identity
In expression arrested

Identity
More and more authentic
Dreams
Greater than pedantic
Expectations
Less and less frantic

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, 2012-02-11

Mass Action

The rank and file
Excluded
Their battles
Purchased freedom
The masses
Economically
Omitted

The rank and file
Exposed
Their risks
Boldly taken
The ruling elite
Politically
Secluded

The rank and file
Expectant
Their dreams
Waylaid
The global economy
In a shambles
Rolling mass action
Survival strategies call for new angles

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, 2012-02-02-10.

Survival

Slaves to wages
The working poor
Day to day
Week to week
Income trapped
Life narrowly mapped

Slaves to things
The working poor
Back to basics
One by one
Inequity trapped
Futures widely capped

Slaves to systems
The working poor
Compliance rarely rewarded
Good governance retarded
Freedom boxed
Progressiveness mobbed

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, 2012-02-09.

Layered Lives

Archives
Stores knowledge of our pasts
Records will us outlast

Earth layers
Stores the history of nature
Without protection we face failure

Tree Rings
Stores knowledge of every season
Revealing its core almost treason

Old bones
Stored living moments
Secrets revealed less coded

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, 2012-02-09.

Good Days

I had a great day
Food on the table
Snug in a bed
Interesting books to read
The cleanest sheets I can get
Blessing like this
I don’t regret

I had a great day
Creative spirits celebrated
Some good friends connected
Sisterly love protected
Quiet solace brings perspective
Blessings like this
I don’t regret

I had a great day
A fine mind to contemplate
New ideas to pontificate
Fresh tracks to elaborate
Another day to rejoice
Blessings like this
I don’t regret

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, Inspired by my beautiful and vivacious sister.
I love you! 2012-02-08

IN CONTRAST….

Male Supremacy Reigns

Machismo men
Rules
The world
Tough lives
Facing
Little girls
Vulnerability
Constantly
Disasters
Unfurl

Machismo men
Pains
This earth
Tougher lives
Roughcast
Elderly woman
Defencelessness
Tragedies
Hurl

Machismo men
Raised
On earth
Their chauvinism
Well protected
Gentle souls too quickly rejected
Revolutions
In lieu of women’s power
Sadly
Underrated

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, 2012-02-08. This piece was inspired by a discussion with Anders after we watched a documentary about the lives of women in Brazil who live with HIV/AIDS. I have to state the facts as a reminder to myself of the millions of vulnerable women of all ages out there whom are powerless and un-protected. Thank you to those of us who can stand up for ourselves as well as a salute to the men who treat women with dignity and respect.

Market Mediated

The other half
Lives splendidly
Throws away resources
Recklessly
To this half
It’s all done
Effortlessly

This half
Lives battling
Uses resources
Sparingly
To the other half
It’s all done
Wastefully

The two halves
Rarely genuinely meet
Each bargain
At their end
Of the street
The Mister
Tries to mediate
Desperately

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, 2012/02/07

Thinking...

Conventions
Rule our lives

Intensions
Pay a price

Progression
Comes with sacrifice

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, 2012/02/07

Enchanted

A full moon
Promises
Illumination
Challenging clouds
Practicing
Evasion

A full moon
Promises
Elation
Questioning souls
Pledging
Vitality

A full moon
Promises
Love
Questioning seasons
Celebrating
Motion

A full moon
Promises
Sweetness
Questioning reasoning
Liberating
Peace

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, 2012-02-06.

Unexpected Gifts

Ancestor’s gifts
Rages inside me
Rearing ideas
Like blood in my veins
Their labour’s wages
My hands stain
I refrain from
Carrying their pain

Ancestor’s gifts
Celebrates inside me
Praising concepts
Like the lines on my face
Their labours’ victories
My laughter infiltrate
I remain strong
Wearing their gain

Ancestor’s gifts
Rises inside me
Seeking outlets
Like the grey streaks in my hair
Their labours’ intensities
My pride infused
I remain seeking
Stronger weekly

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, 2012-02-05.

Contemplation

Life’s tax
Call on the living
Chasing the best
We can be
Flout the mood of the day
Come out
On stage

Life’s cracks
Call on the living
Finding skills generous
You and me
Detriment
Hiding behind
Pride

Life’s pains
Call on the living
Slowly tales spinning
Me and mine
In mind-cycles trapped
Thine onerous enemy
Time

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, 2012-02-04.

Cleansed

We don’t live our live
Counting regrets
Every day
Seeking only moments
To recall the very best
Laughter and pain
Divided by a hairline crack
Lessons
Always have an impact

We don’t live our lives
Only mending fences
Every day
Moving forward
Fighting not to be held back
Staying on well-known paths
Avoiding difficult tracks
Creating a view between
Imaginary ideas and known facts
Hope subconsciously nurtured
Death as in life
An activity frantic

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, 2012-03-02.

Cleansed

We don’t live our live
Counting regrets
Every day
Seeking only moments
To recall the very best
Laughter and pain
Divided by a hairline crack
Lessons
Always have an impact

We don’t live our lives
Only mending fences
Every day
Moving forward
Fighting not to be held back
Staying on well-known paths
Avoiding difficult tracks
Creating a view between
Imaginary ideas and known facts
Hope subconsciously nurtured
Death as in life
An activity frantic

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, 2012-03-02.

Scattered

Scattered
Like broken bricks
Ideas
Collated
Open source
Celebrated

Scattered
Like snow dust
Sunshine
Elevated
Openness
Animated

Scattered
Like exploring families
Love
Correlated
Assurance
Underrated

Scattered
Like new dreams
Success
Deliberated
Profits
Illustrious

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, 2012-02-03.

Conflicted

Connected to the world
Spoilt for choice
Reading freely
Comrades contemplating leadership
Elders highlighting gender disparities
This corner warmer
Happy days
Growing longer

Excluded in the world
A harsh reality
Billions trapped in inequality
Hard workers
Struggles bold
The battles
No longer about wars cold
Food on the plate
A choice
Which they don’t hold

Included in the world
The ruling elites
Middle class comforts
Milk and satellite TV
Liberty
Common as eggs and meat
Good intentions
In policy buried
Execution
A hit and mystery

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, 2012-02-02
Inspired by Archbishop Desmond Tutu
http://forumblog.org/2012/01/davos-2012-time-to-close-the-gap/


Outside In

Inside my bubble
I learn new things from time to time
Creating small changes along the way
Slow journeys
Passing life
Day by day

Inside my bubble
I try to find new voices from time to time
Chasing tiny improvements along the way
Slow moving
Accepting existence
Year to year

Inside my bubble
I seek solace from time to time
Pursuing inner peace
Slow aging
Skulking forward
Decade to decade

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, 2012-02-02.

Treasures

Going Local

In my hart
Is ek
Innie Kaap
Afrika
My huis
Daar is ek geskape
Elke oomblik in my siel
Beleef ek die pyn en vreugde
My reise sal altyd gemeet word
Teen al ons realiteite en sagas

In my heart
Always
In the Cape
Africa
My home
Created
Every moment in my soul
Pain and joy captured
All my journeys eternally measured
Against our realities and fables

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, 2012-02-01.

Treasure Box

My treasures
Are locked
In tastes and flavours
Layered in spices
Smothered in butter
Diced and stacked juicy
Every deposit
Leaves me rich
An inheritance’ gift

My treasures
Are celebrated
In a riot of colour
Textured soft and bright
Tucked away in corners
Stripped cleanly
Every piece
Gives me pleasure
The perfect giver’s gift

My treasures
Are collated
In soft matter
Jumbled in codes
Orderly expressed
Loudly shouted
Cloak and swagger shrouded
Every collection
Expresses a view
Waiting for a reader’s view

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, 2012-02-01.