If you wish
to know the truth
let yourself
be the truth

I'm part of society
  but to it I don't belong
  it has its own music
I sing my own song

Not through my words
nor my poems
would reveal the true me-
they are but fragments:
the intrinsic
is contained
in my within

perhaps
only a small part
of my true self
you could but best
have a glimpse

self is seldom transparent
each hides a veil within

you might trust me
implicitly
but I remain
somewhat
a mystery
in between

It was failure

which led me

to the right path:

I've since regarded

it as my life's true treasure

You conquer
not by intelligence
but by good manners
and character

I'm not smart

to any degree:

what I am

is due only

to my curiosity

I'll let my ego
go to sleep
only my humility
to keep

Let love reign

let compassion fall

like merciful rain


let joy spread

like beautiful flowers

in every shape


let every heart

be at peace

never to cease


let smiles grace

every moment of day

to chase every sorrow away


let  faith and hope

be life's beacon

let prayer never be broken

Let love reign

let compassion fall

like merciful rain


let joy spread

like beautiful flowers

in every shape


let every heart

be at peace

never to cease


let smiles grace

every moment of day

to chase every sorrow away


let  faith and hope

be life's beacon

let prayer never be broken

If you haven't wept
over a poem
or a piece of music
your spiritual self
you're yet to own

When stepping aside
sets everything right

Live simply
leave quietly

feel deeply
accept humbly

hold gently
release freely

cease striving
embrace the emptying

When the best move
      is to be still and not move

How I see myself
is more important
than being seen
by others

Tragic this is:
you're owned
by the world
but don't belong
to yourself

When you're sad....


When you're sad
recall your growing-up years
riding your cycle after school
with your heavy book-packed bag
your face being caressed
by the gentle  breeze
that drifted above your head
and not for a moment thought
you'd ever grow old
nor that life could
in any way be bad

that resplendent feeling
that made
you lord of your domain
with all life's delicacies
graciously placed on your very plate-

shouldn't you  now be glad
a glimpse of eternity
you've inherited
and that more beautiful things
would follow in abundance
in your every future step?

When you're sad
recall your growing-up years
riding your cycle after school
with your heavy book-packed bag
your face being caressed
by the gentle  breeze
that drifted above your head
and not for a moment thought
you'd ever grow old
nor that life could
in any way be bad

that resplendent feeling
that made
you lord of your domain
with all life's delicacies
graciously placed on your very plate-

shouldn't you  now be glad
a glimpse of eternity
you've inherited
and that more beautiful things
would follow in abundance
in your every future step?

The Zen and Taoist person, in letting go, lives in a higher transcendental state---a free and unfettered state,  as he's no longer subject to the vicissitudes of life--his peace is enough happiness

Between success
and honour
it's the latter
that I'd prefer

If we don't lie
have could we survive?

I've to take leave
for your sake:
staying on an extra moment
will only cause you more heartache-

it's the dictate of fate:
we aren't made
for each other
we've to break

this had been steel-cast
long even before we met :
it'd be a true blessing
not to remember but to forget-

farewell, farewell now
my once dearest beloved
when you see the stars in your loneliness
a single tear you shouldn't shed

Sadness to some extent
   makes a wholesome person:
   happiness without cessation
   is a life lived in disproportion

The world's greatest history
is nothing comparable
to the poignancy
of a person's individual story

I am off for war
  tell Mei dad will be back soon
  before spring's return

Renunciation
   is the highest purification

The world should have hope with the arrival of every child----

they will create what we couldn't and bring our dreams to fruition.

Tell me the colour
of your past and I
will construct your story
and explain to you the how and why

Tell me the colour
of your life in the present
I'll compose for you
music that speaks of your heart's hidden content

Tell me the colour
of your dream--your fondest-
its semblance I shall interpret
and relate how you will be blest

Tell me the colour
of the future in which you want to be
I'll look through my prophetic prism
which will reveal whether you would be sad or happy

Life is a sticky matter:
    we get more stuck
    than unstuck-
    we can't duck!

Life shouldn't be over-rated
or romanticised
this would only
have us later agonised

for we'd but have lived
through rose-tained eyes
where pain or suffering
would not arise

only with the march
of time,  to lament and realise
we'd self-deceived, believing
that there were an earthly paradise:

life we shouldn't over-rate
or romanticise
its bluntness , harshness
and sorrows we've to learn to recognise

Life has to be lived
though some might not
find it beautiful:
they manage somehow
with a calm acceptance
and don't succumb
to despair or grief-

fragile and vulnerable
is our very human condition
we look before and after
but seldom find our equilibrium

the self is our greatest burden
we bear as best as we can
life has to be fully-lived
it can't ever be abandoned.

I prefer
the word 'woodland'
to 'forest'
it's inviting-
(the latter
I associate
with 'being lost')
and I imagine
it's laden with rest
poetically expressed-

woodland
once my childhood heartland:
after school
there I was
chasing butterflies
in my school-dress

a cool stream
ran between
the foliage
I was lulled
by bird-songs
that drifted across
the silent space

woodland
is good-land
my bed
of tender memories
how could I
ever forget?

Religion then
I had none
when compassion
set in---mine I found
all at once:
no church
nor place of worship
an intimacy
I share with only
the Transcendental
where absent totally
is the search or reason-

the self-diminution
the letting-go
the renunciation
the non-attachment
and the final liberation-

if I need a name-
I'll call it the
'religion of man'

When you are
your own agent
of change- you create
the desired environment

If I should die
this do remember
with no regret:
I'll still love you
in equal measure
from the Other Side

I've wept over and seen too much
of the world's cruelty and misery
it's my humble sacred duty
to exercise my utmost humanity-

wars, conflicts and devastation
the massive hunger and isolation
children who have never known
a single day of peace or consolation-

how I do hate the word 'ideology'
it divides people into every conceivable category
(the 'I',  'You'  and 'They' become a huge chasm )
a justification for acts against humanity-

yet,  we're all an integral part
of one global community:
let love and compassion flourish
to herald in an enlightened century.

Happiness shared
is doubly blessed

lt's not your good look
or talent that attracts others
but your spontaneous charm
expressed in naturalness

My very old age

is of no disadvantage:

I can still appear on the stage

and much noise I can make!

Love is perceived
not by reason
but mainly
by imagination

You like yourself

this is fine

but indulgence

will make you blind

For everything
there's a limit-
even love or enjoyment
this saying does fit!

Don't say 'everyone'

when it's only 'some'

generalisations such as this

can be really dumb!

Not knowing
  isn't ignorance
  this I often choose
  in my leaning
towards emptying

shorn of questioning
and of doubting
I've found an equilibrium
in non-clinging

all forms are deceiving
in their showing-
the substance
is in hiding-

in the not-knowing
is the beginning
of discovering
that state of self-liberating

The day
  is not just 24 hours
  it's a whole continent
  of itself
  in its myriad constellations
of  happenings
and events-
an elongation
to the universe
well beyond
this definition
of 24 hours-

into this continuum
we move on
to time indefinite
until our last breath

the day then
is transformation
and even revolution
our destiny
our own becoming
until we meet
our end

Those who know you well
tend to keep away to avoid familiarity
those who have just come to know you
wish to know more out of curiosity

Faith is stronger than hope

Because I forgot myself

I discovered my true self

Life is everybody's story
but none can describe it accurately

How do we find
our level with life?
It doesn't look our way
nor cares for our strife.

Only we in deed and mind
our own worth can measure:
we'll then be able to look at it
on our terms--- without the least of fear.

The older we grow
without much questioning
we'd somehow come to know
that life isn't within our controlling

and wisdom lies in accepting
the flow of its tide in its inexorability -
what's the use then of sorrowing
over our very  vulnerability?

We will not rage nor complain
but to our humility serenely hold
in acknowledging that pain
is the heritage of us mortals all.

There's the morrow's each glorious dawning
and the calming of the mellow evening-fall
our heart should have no cause for despairing
as our past courage and patience we gladly recall.