loving often feels like running hurdles
but it's endless; there is no specified finish line
you keep jumping hurdles
and you keep running

you brush aside fatigue
you brush aside pride
you burn the desire to quit

you don't stop running.
that's what love is:
running endless hurdles.

When the day is over
and night takes its place;
Would you wish you weren't sober
if you still remember her face?

I've quit drinking, I would say.
You'd smile and congratulate me.
Is it really worth the price I pay?
The ability to access lost memories...

Now I can see how lonely the moon is
As I recall of the first time we kissed
Is it just as sweet for you as it is to me?

When the day is over
and night takes its place;
Is anything even worth anything?
At the end of the day, you gotta live it alone...

two lovers making love in a Ritz room
life is heaven, but for whom?
a government official returns to his family
life is heaven, but for whom?
gods watch in pleasure from far up above
heaven is life, but for whom?

houses made of thin sheets of metal
life is heaven, but for whom?
wooden beds and endless drops of sweat
life is heaven, but for whom?

words of love and tender affection
life is heaven, but only for some
fancy dinners and bottles of wine
life is heaven, but only for some

as for the rest,
I needn't say

we walked together through that old wooden fence
then you asked, 'can we please, please dance?'
I said I was too tired to do anything
'how come you never ask me to dance now?' you asked

I said I didn't know
you looked away from my eyes
nearby a rivulet quietly flows
'now we are built on lies'

I agreed, but I said something else instead
'look, honey, you know I love you'
I was honestly lying
you were right to say what you have said

you looked beautiful today, darling
in that white, white dress of yours
kissing your father's cheek
and your mother's hand

nothing is left of us, darling
at the end none of us were trying
but today I saw you smile again
though you belong to another home now

though I had to say the hardest line in this little life of mine

congratulations on your wedding, Gina.
I'm happy for you
I'm happy...

as the mists of night rise,
I can see the faint illusory white light
in the distance, gleaming beautifully
like an oasis in the middle of the desert

I get up from my bed and open the window
tears welling up in my eyes, dissipating sorrow
suddenly, I saw life as it is and it was wonderful
I haven't had as terrible a life as I had thought

Isn't it funny how life is but a fleeting moment?
I can't say that it isn't filled with harsh torment
But happiness isn't too few to mention too
Life isn't always all shades of the color blue

I rest my head on my pillow again
Still, in my chest, I feel the subtle pain
But tomorrow is a new day
and, perhaps, the beginning of the end
of all this terrible pain I've endured.

i am the ocean waves
crashing into your beaches
only to find everyone

and everything

but you...

I look inward and found mere hollow space
seems I've run my course and lost the race.
looking back and thinking of long lost days
when games were the things we all played

now we dig deep at one another
like madmen loose in a hospital
we rip out one another's hearts
tears in our eyes, unable to speak

in the end I could fight no more
all the fibres in me you've torn
you've nailed me to the cross
you've crowned me King of Loss

I could call on father above,
but what's the use?

tell me, dear
what's the use?

Nobody told me how much life would change once I graduated. The immense feelings of nostalgia, I barely managed to dissuade it. My heart, in all its complexities and difficulties, yearns for all kinds of things, scenarios, people - feelings. my heart yearns to feel. love keeps me warm, but lately, I've been awake with alarms, ringing like a maddened storm.

I think of the people I no longer talk to, my mind can come up with a few. Do people get over this? or is this a mist you cannot miss, haunting like a broken wrist, a cruel fate twist, that drives you searching for some kind of bliss?

I am undone. There used to be so much sun, but now it's hard even just to have fun. Is it cowardice to want to run? I imagine buying a gun and aiming it at my head, a joke so blunt.

I lay awake yet again. Dreams used to be so grand. But now it's all so bland.

I don't want to be bland...

you are now nineteen
look at your reflection on the mirror
how much have you matured
like a blooming sunflower

you are now nineteen
your hip's growing
your lips full
and now you get bored quick

now you are nineteen
your face calls me
ah, lady, I can't look away
in your face I am frozen

Gina,
now you're nineteen
happy birthday,
my unattainable queen

you are the monsoon that suddenly left after causing a flood in a village called I.

along these lines
these strands of hair
the blackening shadows

of their beauty explicit
and at the same time subtle

intertwined with your curves
your edges
your color
and you discoloration

along these lines
i found your true beauty
and in it lies my happiness

lie the lies that form a sense of happiness

i wrote a poem for you today
it was written on the very back of your notebook.
i compared you to a beautiful spring in May
how even the most serene view you overtook

i wrote a poem for you today
i said 'i love you' in it
now i am in disarray

do with me as you deem to be fit

i won't change my words
'i love you'

What I lack in me
You, like a tree
Provide always for me

Even though you're no longer with me...

that night
the night we walked side by side
feels very far away
like a distant light
hand in hand
Vredeburg laid quiet

the street band

remembering it feels very lonely.

last night i realized
i needn't be dead to go to heaven
or be called upon by god

only your soft body

lying quietly next to me

takes me to heaven.

those were the days
when love sprung from the hearts of children
when love seemed so innocent
now it's a mere field so barren

you called me from afar
I came to you, no more than a lover
our hands met with tenderness
goodness, we weren't even 13 yet then

then springtime arrived
we went out feeling much more alive
our lips embraced each other quietly
as quiet as the love that bounded us then

now we are both twenty-three
spring means nothing more than collapsing trees
the warmth now feels hotter than ever
and what we seek in love is nothing more than peace

but then again
when night reaches its height
sometimes I still seek for you.

someday I won't be bitter
someday I'll stop loving you
someday I'll no longer feel blue

but, for now
the calm orange light
breaking through
I can no longer fight
a feeling so true.

cruel is the month of July

i brought my Fear and Trembling to the hills
i don't want to think of the stacking bills
those trivial things no longer give me the thrills
or the quiet love that slowly kills

“...why bother remembering a past that cannot be made into a present?”

that line had me bent
all the things i thought i could mend
why must i fall towards the deep end

i must reflect upon what is past

but life must be lived forward...;

I often wonder
whether in those books you read
you ever read my name
between the lines

like an unexpected gift
or unfortunate rift
like a rifle aimed at you
or flowers handed to you

do you ever feel like I am there?
staring back at your weary eyes
do you ever stop and think back?
the love we never got to share...

a poisonous thought, come evening
I wonder and wonder and wander
to you, the birthmark on your wrist
the poems you write, the meaning you twist

between the lines
did you ever wonder?

quietude of love
everlastingly beautiful
rambunctious excitement
effervescent life
never, yet, the twain shall meet

between the lines
did you ever wonder about me?

July was in full bloom
I could see clearly from my room
the moon and the stars alive and well
The painting of the romantic night quickly fell

I walked to the window and sat
The streets were empty
The apartment even more
A night in the city’s belly

Buses, old and new, passed by
Men and women, of young and old,
stood still and are terribly ill-humoured
No jokes or stories were being told

A cigarette was lit in the room next door
If drink was at play, I was done for
She passed me a lighted one
Her gaze more dangerous than a gun

The streets became animated now
The cinema blurted out hundreds at once
I wondered what was on show?
She replied: probably another low

She brought out a bottle of whiskey
She said: once I leave, you’ll miss me
I said: is there a charge or a fee?
She said: you know it’s always free

She was right in that too:
I miss her alright.

We separated
I gathered enough courage
Courage to confess
How I've loved you
For months

You seemed a little bit embarrassed

I was an idiotic parrot, stuttering each line

I cannot help the feeling of defeat afterwards.

My nerve broke when I said I loved you.

Longing desperately of the things left unsaid
Looking out the window, the one we used to stare at in bed
I see a phantom at the far end of the field, your whole person is red

Your lips, however, are black, dark as an abyss
Has it been that long since we last kissed?
And is it really your lips, your body, red as it is, that I miss?

The sun shines almost unwillingly, lethargically
Clouds moving in, as if they are climbing miserably
O Loved One, I can’t fathom this vision, this phantom of your body!

Jumbled up thoughts get entangled inside my head
Before I manage to call out your name, I find your phantom had disappeared
And so, once again I find myself twisted and all the power in me all fade

Oh, Loved One, where are you now?

I awoke
In a pool of nostalgia
Of a memory so far
Yet so clear

Of a memory from seven years ago
Such a tender kiss
On the cheek

Of two lovers

Not yet thirteen.

I cannot remember when the last time I was this in love
when the last time an image of a woman terrorize my heart so
when the last time my heart throb so deeply when near a woman
it all begs the question: am I prepared to let her go?

I cannot remember when the last time I was this anxious
whenever I hear your voice echoing in my lonely heart
whenever your head is rested upon these weary shoulder
it all begs the question: must I go back to the start?
must I admit of losing each time?

                   experience had taught me what it means to love
         to lose
                                                 to suffer in that very same love
                                                 to love
             to love
but still I lose to her, my Muse,
my
my all.

like the golden sunset
slowly turning red
you are the beauty of the world

Golden girl, how fair you look today
I'm in disarray
Am I drowning in your bay?
In the stillness I lay

How impossible!
Feeling so gullible
To where you are, I'd like to travel
I give no mind to the troubles

Darling dearest
My feelings are in earnest
Your beauty, dear God!
Like golden skies and other fantasies

i cannot deny
         the feelings i have
erupted like Merapi
                       at the sight of your beauty
your voice softly touching me
         like soft wind in May

goodness, i'm in love.

you and I
we are trying
to make sense
of this old feeling

called love.

I am a narrow stairwell
Waiting for the morning bells
To ring, for the early birds to sail
Watch all the cabs be hailed

Waiting for her to come
Will she come today?
Doubts, I have some
Should I kneel and pray?

But to whom?
Who would to listen to a narrow stairwell
Maybe God would
Will I look like a fool?

My claustrophobic natures will intervene
When was the last time I had a nice dream?
It's always the same, redundant scene
The scene is always the same and redundant one

I am a narrow stairwell
Waiting for the morning bells

perhaps
i should have
seen the obvious:
the margins between
hope, fear, illusion
and the bitter truth
and how i
shouldn't have
mixed them all
into a blur
to satiate
my innermost
desire.

You.

My memories of you become a blur after a while
Of the times we walked home, side by side, mile after mile
Of the times we spent understanding each other's anatomy
Oh, darling, tell me... How is it like being free?

Will you sooner or later forget me?

Will you remember me at all?
      
              Darling,
Know
              that
                         your
        Voice
                          Echoes
When
                The sun
                                         Dies.

i feel inexplicable happiness when i am with you
once it is over, though, i feel utterly blue
i know, i know, it is very much true
'she feels nothing more than good friends with you'

but my foolish heart remains so
it keeps thinking that she is giving me hope,

what kind of hope shreds the man to his last piece?
what hope?

this morning I woke up in a cold sweat
I guess I dreamt of you again
the image of your brown eyes
will forever cause me pain

the image of your tender laughter
like a forever lost, loved daughter

I sat on a rock above the hills, gazing beyond what was visible
The thoughts of long lost past breathing incessantly in my chest
Thought they were dead, laying motionless amongst the rubble
Will I ever get my long yearned rest?

Of the glory I so long for during my youth
Of the lovers I had lost during my living years
Of the parents whom are now somewhere I cannot see
Tell me, dear ol' heart, are all those things gone for good?

No, I haven't gotten the glory I dreamt of
No, I haven't eloped with the girl I, in truth, love
My whole life has been but a disillusionment
A mere shadow of what it could've been

Ah, but here comes the daughter, so lovely and tender
And the wife ever so loving and ever so caring
No, I wouldn't have traded my 'shadow' of a life for anything
For what we eventually get at the end, that is the true glory.

Last night here was a play
In it a middle aged man recalls his past
How his friends came to him like a parade
How her first encounter with love was
How long do those memories last?

Like the man, a wave of memories struck me
I played the man
Had a lover in hand

I was the man

Seven years have passed

No signs of them disappearing anytime soon.

it was really dark
the view outside passed me by
a mother crying over her son's death
a bird grieving for its lover's demise
a man feeling lonely after an ending
i didn't realize
the last one was my own reflection
i wanted to call...
who?
anyone
anyone who wants to answer
who would listen
but I'll just ramble on and on
about how you left me
and how you didn't even say a word
this view is killing me
when will I reach the ****** station?
and what will I do then?
what?
where will you be by then?
Paris?
London?


I don't know
about anything
anymore.
not even myself...

even if i had known love has been and always will be quicksand, still i'd jump in it, simply in order to tell you i love you. simply to drown myself looking at you. even if i were to drown again, again, again, again....

there's no set of eyes i long for more
than yours
no gentle touches i pine for more
than yours
no person i yearn for more
than you.

oh, what terrible pain it is to behold
a love and hope you hold dearly,
to fall apart and crumble
to see that you are not the cafe she was looking for
to finally understand that you are a shirt one size below hers
that you are nothing more than a conversation machine
that you are a good friend
a friend
...

what the hell does valentine's day means
when you lay awake at 1 am
anxiety's got your left hand
memories has got your right

and she has your whole heart

and you're not in control of it all

what the **** does it mean?

we were young
i remember still your red shirt
you wore on independence day

we were young
our hands met
and decided to stay that way

we were young
you told me to look away
and you kissed my cheek

my heart traveled at light speed
i stood in silence
you kissed me again
again
and again...

o, this vain trepidation,
the fear that though it is you
who demands sincerity,
you're still treading
on both grounds

and i wound up lying on the floor
beaten and battered. and you're
the one dealing the final blow.

you've been hollow
sending me on the verge of sorrow
anticipating a better tomorrow

i write, and write, and write
and yet my feelings just fight
all the way through the night

they bicker
they thrash

they fall apart
soon to follow my heart.

O, speak, Torment! I shall lament no more; no more of this uncertainty in which I have been thrown in, no more of this game in which my Virtues always win, in which I always surrender to the tenderness and reproach of the Lady. I, too, wish to speak my mind up. For I love thee not like a cat loves a mouse, like a dandy dragoon Captain loves a Cossack woman. But I love thee like a young man falling headlong in love, like the Priest loves his God, a devotion only a man who had long been tormented by solitude and uncertainty could gather in his heart, like a dying man grasping for his last breath; but do tell me: dost thou despise me? O, this torment of uncertainty!

this life
is filled with
enough uncertainty

please,
at the very least,
tell me that your love
is certain,
as certain as dawn arriving...

how much longer must i wait?

right now
we are staring
at each other's soul

right now
we are distanced
like Jakarta to Seoul

right now
we are laughing
though not like cheap flick

our screens
connect us

the last straw

it is difficult
to take a deep breath
inside a crowded room

to keep going
fully realising
you may never be enough

for yourself
for her
for anyone

to know you may never be enough
never...