Winds whisper through shaking leaves
As dandelions dance around you and me
In the autumn breeze
My hearts an open ocean
Yeah, you’ll see,
like waves caress the sand
We’re connected hand in hand
With you, that is where I stand
I’m proud to be called your man
Sunset skies reflected in your eyes
I’ve been falling for you
Baby, I’ve fallen for you
Her soul is beaming through
I feel the chemistry build up inside

Sensations tingle from deep within
Just like air need to breathe you in
Yeah, girl, you’re my everything
Fill me with hope, fill me with strength
Yeah, girl, you’re my everything
Just like air need to breathe you in
Fill me with passion, fill me with love
I’ve got you girl, and that is enough
Fill me with light, fill me with joy
Yeah, girl, you’re my everything
Just like air need to breathe you in

Gotta song coming on,
Music in my bones
hearts synchronised
to a beat all their own
Just like stars, the nights are ours
Just like rain, you give life to me
You help me grow
You’re the knowledge
I need to know
The power you’re sending
From your magnetic connection
Electrified, re-energised,
vital signs come alive

Sensations tingle from deep within
Just like air need to breathe you in
Yeah, girl, you’re my everything
Fill me with hope, fill me with strength
Yeah, girl, you’re my everything
Just like air need to breathe you in
Fill me with passion, fill me with love
I’ve got you girl, and that is enough
Fill me with light, fill me with joy
Yeah, girl, you’re my everything
Just like air need to breathe you in

Beauty is found
Wherever you’re around
With style through grace
Your sweet cherry lips taste
The more I get of you
The more I get of us
Gets me hooked like a drug
You’re the bandage on my scars
I admire all that you are
Need you at my side
For the rest of time
I see us forever intertwined
Forever I want you to be mine
I see it in you, I feel it in me
I tell you all the things you need
Together we’re better
This is my never-ending love letter
For you

Sensations tingle from deep within
Just like air need to breathe you in
Yeah, girl, you’re my everything
Fill me with hope, fill me with strength
Yeah, girl, you’re my everything
Just like air need to breathe you in
Fill me with passion, fill me with love
I’ve got you girl, and that is enough
Fill me with light, fill me with joy
Yeah, girl, you’re my everything
Just like air need to breathe you in

©2018 Written By Benji James

How fragile is your mind?
Does it stand against the tides of time.
Which from your perspective or mine
Can last forever or a moment.
Either is fine,
Its power we find.
During the reclamation of mind.
This dividing mind.
This self that is no longer mine.

Dangerous words are the ones that slip
under our guard.
They nestle next to us at night,
and whisper treacle-sweet nothings
that trickle and slide down canals
to a dosing mind, honeying the way.
They want to ensure easy passage
for the poison kept still at bay.

They tuck us in,
fluff our pillows and our egos,
till we give them freely
those moments of sincerity.
All those genuine smiles and hitched breaths,
we suppose their value
was in their exclusivity.

We break off these pieces of truth
like our hearts are homemade chocolate,
and hand them over in pretty gift wrap.

It’s when these snakes have us so charmed
and they are sated,
that they finally snap and spit.

Their bites are full of venom,
and we see their fangs too late.

A take on violence

The exiling waves of life
Battered a Syrian child
Swept ashore. We scrolled.
We shrugged this violence.

Eyes glued to a simulacrum of love
Expecting the controlled dominance
Of a filthy rich fictional character
We said: “It’s vanilla.”

Violence as an idea is sweetened
You gulp down the pill
But violence as a means is condemned
You still gulp down the pill.

March 6, 2018
Lyon 1 University

Divisiveness is a sword wielded by a leader fool.
The people suffer while the leaders rule and huge
profits for them ensue. A game as old as when
human man did first rise up to stand, within his
own small clan, picking up a club to strike down
his fellow man.

Thousands of years gone by and we have learned
nothing new, still the leaders rant and we implode
and like addled sheep too easily led we march out
to our own inevitable slaughtered end.

Kings and Despots rule for their benefit not ours.
Divisiveness is but one of their deceitful tools.
Divide and concur is the rule.

A thin silver string.
Keeping our lives,
tied to one another.
Is slowly beginning to break.

It has become worn out.
Untangling around us.
We realize it is not long enough to keep us together
While we are so apart.

Predictable.
The moment we parted ways.
It was all over.
We knew
there would be a time
When we would reach the breaking point.

Each and everyone of us.
Pulling it in so many directions.
It is thin
It is weak.
It will...

SNAP

What is broken stays broken
There is
No duct tape that can fix it.
No new string to replace it.
No nothing to keep us tied anymore.

If only our relationship wasn’t as fragile as a thin string.
We could have avoided this poem.

So many Junes and Julys
I spent watching the paint dry
on our brand new cream walls
instead of going to play football
with the other kids my age in the street.
I sat and wondered why
my shaking knees did not smile, why
my bony fingers could not disguise
their quirkiness under pretty blue eyes
like all the other girls did.

And yet many paint coats later
I now realise that these walls have not changed
anything but their colour
in the many years my parents have lived here.
My parents, who spent so many years teaching me
to be loyal and kind,
not only to others
but to myself.

I like to think that if the walls could talk, they would say:

It does not matter what colour you decide to
dye your hair (or your walls),
because those who really love you
could not care less.
We have seen you grow into the person you are today;
stubborn, passionate and genuine,
but we know that you may still need to borrow
other people’s glasses to see it.
The road to self love is difficult
but know that you must love yourself
before loving anybody else.

You may not believe it yet
because you see others as the galaxies which
you could never be, but we promise that
you are the stars, and anyone who refuses
to look through a telescope to see that
does not deserve to see you shine.
There are lakes and rivers waiting for you
with open arms, and sunrises
which will put on their best colours
just for your eyes to see.

Your body is made of stardust,
you are stronger than the trees you have grown to love,
and though you may not be perfect
you are enough.

Web of thoughts in my mind
Flow of emotions in my veins
Leaving me indecisive about the action to take.

I try to find a balance,
only to find myself in a tug of war
between my impulsive-fragile heart and wise brain.

Incertitudes, chaos, doubt, and fear
overpower certitude, tranquility, trust, and confidence.
leaving me ambivalent about my thoughts and emotions
overthinking and overanalyzing.

Because if I don't act accordance to my mind,
I face consequences.
If I don't abide by my heart,
I regret.

Love yourself,
So you can love others better
Trust yourself,
So you can trust others better
Take care of yourself
So you can take care of others better
Be kind do yourself
So you can do it for others
Do it for yourself
So you can do it better for others
Because self less
without ‘self’
just leaves you with less.