MOTTOS

I have two mottos that sustain me
Through whatever comes along.

Number one says simply:
“LIFE IS TOUGH - BUT I AM TOUGHER”

The second is
A little longer.  It says:
TOUGH TIMES DON’T LAST -
TOUGH PEOPLE DO.

I don’t know where
These words all came from.
I only know they keep me
On my feet and moving on.
ljm

there is an ache

it cuts
at moments
through your heart

   strong as the wind
   that makes the desert move

it stays with you
for all your life
until you breathe your last

  and even then
it will not be enough

There are hearts that are so tender, Lord

Hearts that are so rare
that every little grievance
causes pain that we can't bear

Oh, hear our cry,
dear Lord we pray

Give comfort and assurance

that though we cry
you are near by
to strengthen our endurance

Matthew 24:13
But he who endures shall be saved

"Acquiescence of a Poet dips his pen in an inkwell,  
And secretes his or her fervor and soul ,
With alluring  words of  nuance,
That tell a story of emotion of,
Love sadness and more in  canticles or sonnets,
That one will never FORGET"

After years of aimless wanderings
Leaving behind the cities of midnight revels
And the fevered journey in metro rails,
I am back at the land of my people.

Wherever I went,
Under which ever roof I slept,
I had carried my land,
As a jewel in a casket
And ensured it rested safe
Ever under my pillow

As I moved with aliens
Unable to merge with their cultural mores,
I saw my land glimmer in darkness
Like a dew drop on a moon blanched leaf

When I sweated in the blistering sands
A patch of green landscape, like an oasis
Wafted me in a cool embrace
Then dreams poured in like star light
And I wandered in the meadows of my youthful love
My heart struggling to forget old longings
And memories lashing upon me like tidal waves

Pursued by that inalienable shadow
Suddenly being born in flesh and blood
I hastened to the streets of my youth
With hopes galore and plans vivid

But alas! There is none to recognize me
Oh! I am a stranger here
An unwelcome stranger among total strangers
Now I wonder which is truly my land?
The one left behind or the one just landed in?

Oscillating between these two worlds,
My fractured identity looms large
With worms of memories wriggling in my flesh
And a myth suddenly dying in my brain