Curb not your freedom
    it's that which gives your life
     the fullest expression

   or you'd but be a voice
   in the desert  most desolate
  not a single word of yours would be heard

I'll not leave here
nor be stopped
I'll have my say
all stirred up is my thought

this cruelty and injustice
I'll fight with full force
it's dehumanising
so much suffering it has caused

man's inhumanity
to his fellowmen
the worst of the human lot
I'll not cease to condemn

I'll not leave here--steadfast I'll stand
though an army they may summon:
it's a cause I deem worth dying for
this is the call of every decent man

After the utmost helplessness
the sufferer draws from his deepest resources
hitherto undiscovered and untapped
and mysteriously such plight he has conquered -

the human spirit can't be broken
no part of it can ever be stolen:
it takes the greatest pain for its resurrection
no ally does he need--- he struggles and triumphs alone

Less is manageable
more is trouble

I can't even teach myself
how could I any other?

People with extreme views
should be avoided
otherwise they would
have you voided

Let your day
be a silent prayer

Don't judge me
you don't know me enough
as I'd not render
unto you such-

let's lead our own lives
each in  grace and in good faith
only our own business we'll mind
silently our joys to celebrate

our own sorrows to gently bear
with courage, without bitterness
unknown to the world outside
in our singular loneliness

my final hour will arrive
this same path we'll tread
each their own farewell to bid
nothing else would need to be said

I ain't young
any more
time has spoken
but I don't deplore

you'll see me
at the dance-hall
in rhythm and rhyme
unfazed at all

I'll be at the village-fair
to taste the latest ware
and admire the ladies
in their best flashy wear

if invited I'll go
to the stage to sing
though not a good singer
I'll give my everything

don't you say to me:
I'm too old and a useless thing
my heart is the green meadow still
I'm as buoyant as the brightest spring!

Retreat
isn't defeat
nor cowardice-
it's courage
to step back
in patience
and humility
to reflect
to later return
to exercise
the right act-

never mind
the mockery faced
hold your own
in gentleness :
be unscathed
nothing can shake
the foundation
of your faith:
there's no need
to be fazed
or react

be calm
in equilibrium
be set-
from the highest mountain
look down to earth
alone
but unafraid-
a conqueror
you shall emerge!

My name is missing
from the list
what a joy
what a relief!

Since I know myself
why would I want
to be known by anyone else?

I want to be useful and helpful
not selfish, famous or powerful

When I'm too sure
I begin to doubt
it could be illusion
that sets this about

It's rare wisdom
to live a life of silence

Do not believe

so much in others

that you no longer

believe in yourself

There shall be the sweetest peace
      without a single tear or sorrow
      untouched by the hand of time
      no past, no present nor the morrow-

     empty of love and pleasure
     gliding with nature's  eternal flow
     the  once-stricken heart is now in perfect rest
    suffering and anguish it no longer does know.

I choose freedom

over wisdom

without the former

all is doom

Do not confuse
your impatience
with eagerness:
it's not worthy
of note-- too wide
is the difference!

Your outlook
shouldn't be shaped
by just your looking out:
your inner self must engage

A home love does need
are you one who will accommodate
or rather look away
and its beauty fail to celebrate?

Last evening rays
reflected on calm water
fisherman heads home

I didn't chide myself
  though I acted silly:
  no one did I offend
  I didn't cease to be happy

The music of JS Bach Influenced by the Chinese

I read a decade ago that JS Bach's THE WELL-TEMPERED KLAVIER had been preceded by the Chinese in the Ming Dynasty.

Chu Tsai-Yu invented 'Equal Temperament In Music' in 1584, an idea that filtered to the West through Pere Marin Mersenne's book ' Harmonie Universelle in 1636).
JS Bach seized upon the idea...

Source: CHINA---3,000 YEARS OF SCIENCE, DISCOVERY AND INVENTION
by Robert Temple (1st published in UK by Patrick Stephens Ltd in 1986-Foreword by Dr Joseph Needham, world authority on Chinese civilisation)
ISBN 978 315 174066 5339.

I ain't right
all the time
if I were wrong
I'd cause none any harm:

a hybrid I am-
just human

I'll be silent
   glide with the moment

   I'll feel
  with fulness of heart
  from distraction
  set apart

I'll love
words would be superfluous
will you regard
that I deserve?

all the world
is nothing
only you and I:
we're everything

Such a common error:
to take the major
as minor
and the latter
as the former

Don't say 'love'
when the proper word
is 'like'
meaning it does hurt

Because
it has been uttered
it ceases
to be sacred

Every life
has a gap
unbridgeable:
the wish
is not achievable
but such so few
will accept-
human nature
this is--with no exception -

life--the chasm
beyond
the reach of reason

we each seem
lost in the dark
seeking a spark
of light
for deliverance
while time
looks askance
in indifference

so much
of life
is lived
(in silence)
in dreams
too many
that are broken.

Democracy grants
  too much freedom
  overdone it spells
its own doom

Life might not be
a feast
be grateful
if it has given you peace

My boat is frail
       and small
       I've no ambition
       to circumvent the world

      only to the nearby shore
      to set up my home
      independently to live
      its wonders to comb

     to be far away from
     civilisation's harsh voice
     with nature to converse
     to gently find my joys

     to be myself and my own
     to graciously grow old and die
     with the winds on my hair and face
     beneath a blue benign sky

The dark I don't fear

     I've trodden its path before

     through its utmost depth

     I've never shed a tear


    my heart bears a light

    every courage I score

    to the dawn I look

    to welcome the sunshine bright

If you know
what to forget
and not to remember
you'd have no regret

the past
you can't reverse
that which is before you
only this you need preserve

The heart that loves truly
         has a foretaste of eternity
         beyond the pale of the earthly
         it dwells in untold bliss and beauty

Every talent
can be sharpened
by the instrument
called 'perseverance'

Don't reach out
so far and wide to others
that you forget
to render that
unto your own self
and are left empty-
this would be like
a moral suicide-
the self must be
in sound order
and harmony:
this is the top priority
with everything else set aside

Larger than life?
I don't have that capability
all that I strive for
is not to be less than me

or I'd but have lived
in vain and abject misery
what I stand for then
would be worse than inanity!

Thousands of paths
we've each trodden
yet the most desired
are from us strangely hidden

we're left lamentably
incomplete and desolate
still in the darkness
of nowhere-- nothing yet

to hold on to as truly our own
no cause to be joyful or celebrate
as one stranded in the wildest desert
the wasteland that does isolate

us from the mainstream of life-
for deliverance how long should we wait?
When will the light of understanding descend?
Could we ever be able to arrive at the Enlightenment Gate?

What I can't
to others I leave
I'd cause myself
and others no grief

what I can
on I'll stay
to contribute
something for the day

I didn't die:
the poetry
and the music
still dwells
in my inside-
a monument
so beautifully
constructed for me
there to reside
distilled with billions
of blissful musical notes
and such wonderful words
that shall eternally
inspire and abide-

the earthly world
so drab, so weary
so feverish
and so dreary
melts away -
it can no longer
cloud or drown
such divine sounds
nor any sublime word
be brought down

a final farewell
bidden
without a tear
or fear
a lush garden
is hereby born
with the best fruits laden.

Far enough
I've gone
if no meaning
I've found
it's time
to step back
to once agan
reflect
on the why
of things
life's lacuna
its mysteries
at every corner

perhaps
I've travelled
too far
in senseless search
when the answer
is already within myself

but it's not too late-
to my heartland
I've  now returned
emboldened
freshly awakened
by experience enriched
nothing has been lost
or stolen--in no way
have I been diminished

It's a risk
if me you trust
without knowing
what and who
I truly am-

I'd suggest
you hold back
until you are sure
in mind and heart

better still
for your sake
to stay away
lest you were
to make a mistake

we'll walk away
each in their own way
no regret would we have
that's all I can honestly say

Poetry is found
in life's every corner
if only your eyes will open
to each moment's wonder

By myself I stand
despite what others say
whatever the event
of the very day-

I look up to no ally
aloneness is my unfailing strength
on my resilience I faithfully rely
through life's utmost breadth and length

There're tears
in my eyes :
Schubert's music*
has transported me
to a mysterious paradise:
these are tears
of joy, wonder
and ecstasy
beyond
every earthly beauty-

I know and am sure
that in my dying
such  divine music
I'll religiously keep
as I'm lulled
into the sweetest sleep

* Arpeggione sonata

The mind is the wanderer
  the heart is the gate-keeper

Writing is not such intended
      by any stretch
     but mysteriously -some ideas
      could be prophetic

My life
has been saved
not by courage
but patience