The Poet And The Poem

Between the Poet and the poem Who is telling the story? Sometimes the Poet's message Is drenched in despair Should we get concerned? Or should we pray for the poem? It is a beautiful relationship Between the Poet and the poem They are holding each other Intimately embracing each other The message is not separable from them The message is flowing out of the river of the spirit And the Poet and the poem are both vessels To carry the message downstream Into the heart of humanity Sometimes the poetic spirit wants to bring comfort To those who are enveloped by the blanket of sorrow Other times the spirit is comforting the Poet It is not easy to dislodge the poem from the Poet This is a bond between lovers or dreamers or seekers They are forever tied to each other Always in each other's lap The Poet and the poem are branches of the same tree - spirit They are feeding from the same root They are standing on the same ground They are funnelling the same energy The Poet and the poem are inseparable But the Poet has to let go of the poem And let it be planted in other people's hearts This is the gift of poetry to humanity For the Poet to share his/her spirit With others ©Kenneth Maswabi