Nothing have I
to declare or defend:
I'm out only to learn
none will I offend

but I do know well
not everyone will be a friend
yet towards goodwill I'll bend:
wherever I'm, I stand content

Weary and downcast

with friends I can't discuss

in my desolation and loneliness

to poetry my haven I turn -- the dust


drops off and a new world

begins all at once to unfurl

a new man I become

ready every challenge to confront

I'm old
admittedly
you can say
(if you may)
I ain't young
anymore
but meet me
at the sport-field
the town-hall
the dance-floor
the swimming pool
the walking-trail-
what you the young do
I can too

so
this you
should know-
my age
doesn't count
at all!
and life
I continue
to celebrate!

You met me today
study me tomorrow
make no decision
until me you really know

why the rush at all?
I wish you'd go slow:
force not the flower's growth
its natural course it has to follow

The word
that goes along
with loving-
'belonging'

I went to the mountains faraway
not to survey the view
only with the purpose of searching myself
and life to clearly see through

my old self I left behind
a heavy burden to unload
hoping lightly all things I'll bear
and to return in an enlightened living-mode

You went so far

looking for others

that you totally

forgot your own self

Don't look to me
as your role-model
you never knew
how hard I had to struggle!

Analysis of posts in social media


Themes on positive thinking, motivation, exhortation, success, self-improvement and leadership :                                constitute 65%


on life, humanity, values, nobility, religion and the arts.      20%


misinterpretations, misleading statements, untruths          10%


******* / nonsense                                                                    5%

Does the clock
click backward
for your sake?

Poignancy
is best expressed
through poetry-
prose takes second place

I never asked you
    to trust me implicitly -
    'twas your fault
     don't blame me!

     No advantage
     of you did I take
     nor was I manipulative -
     not even once did I fake.

To love poetry
is to love life
in greatest intensity
despite our individual strife

infinite strength, hope
and comfort it does shower
its every word raises us above
and blessing it confers every hour

but we all lie -under some circumstance,
either to protect or to avoid hurting that person

You are in the midst
          of listening to internet music
          ( your favourite classics)
          and all of a sudden
          from nowhere
          came along the advert
          that mercilessly cut it off-
          aren't you tempted
          to reach out
          for a sharp knife
          to stab the disturber ?

         The flow of music-lines
         has been lost
        like a broken vase
        your enjoyment has been  tossed

       into nothingness -
       you'll have to return
      to the very beginning
      with a high degree of pain

All alone
  in my humble study
  I read until late hours-
   religiously

   to another realm
   I am transported- mysteriously :
   daily it has become my sanctuary
   and from my sorrows it sets free

Every life
has its own shadow
though not all
of such are aware or know

it's hidden in
the subconscious's labyrinth
and over time it does darken
to that path a person hasn't been

such is the nature
of the insidious shadow
to its darkness it clings
itself it hates to show

how apart it does  it stand
from its inborn owner
when his last hours have been taken
the mystery remains forever

Idea-poaching
   is quite common
   in social media-
   so demeaning !

   Disguised
  in words that are different
   which upon careful consideration
   contain ideas that are stolen!

Grant me

not courage

but faith:

the latter

will set me

whatever

the circumstance

in steadfast state-


where courage

does hesitate

all will be saved

by unfailing faith

Learn
from outside
understand
from inside-

know the essential
the trivial set aside-
let your own insight
be your life's best guide

Know what you love
reject what you don't desire-
for the right choice
that's what you should aspire

Don't push me-
myself I've long diminished
all has been fine
and well with life I've fitted

an outsider you are
of me what you know is limited
leave me alone as I'd unto you
none would have reason to be irate

Do not love
too much-
just right
is enough

but do not love
too little-
that will blemish
and fail to ennoble

Aussies
are fond
of saying:
' No worries!'--

Such optimism!
But tell me
can anybody
be free
of every worry?

You are a true optimist!

I am not one and pursue small dreams.

If they are over-sized, my life-boat is likely to capsize

Love is not everything
    poets over-romanticise :
    there's more sorrow than joy
    it will bring tears to your eyes

Every life
is some sort
of literature
in individual thought
though the person
this, knows not-

it's there hidden
in the labyrinth :
a few are fortunate
to have it lifted
and writing is wrought

Wooden bench in park
grandpa told me his story
now I sit alone


* I wrote this just now, sitting on one in the public park

The night is full of frost
and all around is stark silence
but I've a mission to keep
I can't stop- and am unafraid of loss

the wood is invisible and deep
my footsteps are uncertain
I'll not surrender my courage
my promise shall not be broken-

bitter winds they smite my face
I feel the sore in my eyes
it's as though I were in a foreign land
every moment does agonise-

I can't walk back despite all
unfulfilled would be my task-
the night darkens in thicker frost
I hold fearlessly to my faith and trust

When the best reply
is silence....

Endless exhortations:

Be positive!
Be positive!
Be positive!
Ad nauseam!

My reply:
I'm never
never
never
negative!

Do you read me?
Do you read me?
Do you read me--

you---the awful grief!

A public speaker
might not be a leader-
Lao Tze would have said:
a true leader
doesn't have to be vocal

Lovers -
(never mind
what the poets say)
can truly be very
dangerous people

If I were to depend
on people fighting for me
I'd have lost -miserably-
all my dignity

Life is 70% fact
30% fiction
all because
of the imagination

Shakespeare was wrong in saying
'love looks with the mind'.

This humbly is mine:

Love looks not with the mind
but truly with he heart
feelings the former has none
the latter wins in every part

When the mouth is shut
no one will be upset

For no academy
      do I qualify
      so I create
      mine inside

      no BA, MA
      or PhD
      no certificate
      nothing signed

       by any VC
      outside-
      of course
      to me, all jobs denied

      yet in my own way
      I do take pride
      I labour all day
      my own certificate I provide

Not knowing
     is the best beginning :
     an empty vessel
     invites the fullest filling-

     the knowing
     is the impeding
     within its self-constraining
     nothing new is the acquiring

You aren't lost:
        the bridge
        of sorrow
        you've crossed

        how clear
        is the water below
        it was so darkish  
        and brownish before

        gone and forgotten
        is every past shadow
        so blissful is the day's sunshine
        in every tender glow-

        fear or tear- no more
        only faith and joy to show:
        having crossed the bridge of sorrow
        such peace does the heart now know

The veil
is not lifted yet-
be patient
wait-

it will dissipate
the dim mist ahead-

silence the mind
listen to the heart
leave the past behind-

winters-
they all melt away
fresh springs will prevail

hope is strength
the spirit shall not fail

doubt not
a single moment
the best
is on the horizon

long
though the night is
dawn will be the reward
nothing will be missed.

My teacher
my guide
my friend
my sanctuary
my solace
my worship-

your name is
Literature!

Have you changed so much
that you've forgotten who you are?
You've known me for such a long time
why have you lost complete touch?

Faraway unknown
     deep in the Australian bush
      nature's richest gems

Love is bliss
but also pain
beware of
the first kiss!

The young are yet
to know love's chagrin:
they are too innocent
and will realise this in time

No one can claim
  himself he owns fully
  he has absorbed
  that of others, at least partially

  we're each to some extent
  a bud graft and a hybrid
  but such would
  any of us admit?

A poet?
Don't say
I am one
not even at
a far distant day-
too mighty
is that word!

First
the 'I'
is the word
I must delete

If yourself
you should judge
do be gentle
we're all fallible

never forget
the past mistake
is a lesson acquired-
there'll be a better take

as with time
you forward travel
the dark will give way
to the light--once the veil

has been lifted
it's all clarity ahead
be gentle with yourself
let no tear be shed