People dread the day

thinking it's the same as yesterday

all they do is to tolerate

its opportunities they don't celebrate

Double the stake
you'd double the trouble
what's the problem
with these people?

I am not here
the world's wrongs to correct
the truth simply is
I can't even save my own neck!

Living is about learning and expanding
cherishing, feeling, loving and understanding.

Life is
either this or that
some things make you happy
others they make you sad-

a time to embrace
a time to kiss
only hoping
the undesirable to miss.

Live simply
eat moderately
speak gently
sleep soundly

give generously
receive graciously
act humanistically
pray soulfully.

I don't aim for altitude

my focus is on attitude

Old age doesn't need
to count the days
its heels are dogged*
by time's unyielding pace

old age is a creaking tree
it can't hold well to its place
it has to give way somehow
that eager saplings will replace

old age has told its weary story
all it wears is wrinkles on its face
despite the vagaries of past seasons
it has tasted the lips of grace

old age is the letting go
the acceptance of the very last phase
no remorse or regret should it know
neither does it need hanker after any praise.

We are each
an actor
but shouldn't expect
life to be an agreeable spectator.

May my life
just be as good
as a cup of fine coffee!

Success--   a dangerous word
it somehow tends to the downward

It's in your mind
     the dark and the bright
     once the right path you find
     there's the light even at midnight.

A day is not about hours
it's your engagement with time
did you let yourself down
or achieve something noble or sublime?

There's no cure
for this my addiction
it eats into my entire system-
my nonsensical verse that defies perdition

No deal!
you keep the money
what you steal
don't offer me!

So many paths we have together trodden
Sad moments we'll set aside, glad ones recall
Love's vows shall never be broken
We'll give each other our very all.

Though our spring and summer days are over
Autumn's mellowness will welcome us still
Let our hearts draw closer and grow warmer
With sweet contentment and understanding fill.

'Twas fate that brought us together
Life should be ours to richly fulfil
Neither trial nor travail should set us asunder
Rather strength and endurance instil.

The sun is beckoning and far from setting
Its beams are still hovering over the nearby hill
The evening is awaiting us with its blessing
How calm,  how gentle, how beautiful are these hours still.

Let's not try to make
a case for truth
it needs no recognition
nor proclamation-
in our declaration
we would fall into
grievous mistake--

let us in our poverty
of understanding step away
from its sacred gate
let's work on the daily practical
the mundane, the banal
the routine from which we can't escape

yet comfort, joy and satisfaction
there is-- in tasks honest
simple and menial
engaged with devotion
for love and duty's sake
in every ounce of our endeavour
meaning and purpose
we proudly create

truth though hidden
in its overseeing eyes
might glance our way
and in generosity say:
your humility
and simplicity
moves my heart-
a friend I will be
let us come together
as a family
let us with one heart
love and celebrate.

I have nothing to add to
  neither do I have any mission
  that I'll leave to you
  just note my admission.

I have nothing to show
as nothing I know

You can walk away  

  it's not too late

  lest this friendship

   you later regret

Today I will not write
tell a joke, dance or sing
just in no mood (nothing's right)
to do anything

even though the sun is shining bright
and flowers are beckoning in the spring
long will be the hours of the night
I won't be bothered even about sleeping.

A dream within a dream, beyond the fondest dream

setting sun sheds its fading light on the silent stream

a gentle mist hovers over the silent trees

how calmly drifts the evening breeze



for my love my heart is waiting

my dream she will soon be fulfilling

A drop in the sea
but felt and remembered
purified by the sublime
fortified by the sacred-

its home is where
love- and- beauty bred
time shall not look away
as its wonders richly spread.

A DRY SPELL

It's a dry spell
the land is barren
all the crops fail
flowers perish in the garden

my heart now knows
the driest spell
since you walked away
my pain words can scarcely tell

I remember then
the field was bursting
with the sweetest roses
when we met in that spring

my heart is now
only a wasteland
you caused all the flowers
to die-I hope you understand

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

In my nothingness and emptiness

I discovered my wholesomeness.

Sit quietly

listen attentively

observe keenly

live detachedly



work diligently

act righteously

feel humanely

be mindful of mortality

If it doesn't add
to a new and happy experience
that's an empty venture
a burdensome nuisance!

Don't ask me
to advise
all my life I had problem
giving myself the right advice

Do you consider
this your advice?
can't you see your act
is to add to vice?

But the wise
aren't around
the unwise
are here--to confound!

Dearest poet you I deeply long for
but fate dictates our love 's not meant to be
my parents have bethrothed me
to the son of the rich Lin family--

poets are poor like beggars
thus they spoke to me
I would have children
did I want to live in poverty?

How pitiful are scholars
they dream but make no money
bread and rice have to be paid for
they don't grow on the tree.

Your thousand poems I've hidden
under my pillow and each word I embrace fondly
forgive me for failing you my love
we have to accept the cruelty of destiny.

The best part
of self---a deception
a denial --none such-
all is false description-

but none would admit their worst is hidden
for such overcoming there's no prescription
human nature is selfish, callous, warts-ridden
a tale too tragic for mention!

Put me not on the stage
but gladly put me away
there's only the clamour and rage
that breaks the heart of day-

there belong those of courage
that of me I never could say
from none need I seek advantage
I alone chart my own silent way.

My self denies my convincing
  how could I go about affirming?

The Emperor's order I must obey
I'm biding you and our son farewell
several thousand miles away
when I'll return I can't tell-

all able- bodied men have been summoned
to help build the Great Wall
news travel fast--my friends have perished
none has been able to return home at all--

kiss my baby-son for me
he will grow strong and tall
tell him his dad was a brave solider
he heeded readily to the Emperor's call--

I'll write you every night
each letter bears my love and tears
if fate dictates I should fail to return home
I'll remember you both for a million years.

An old man am I
you can leave me behind
my wings have shrunk
I can no longer fly

if you do ride by
just say 'Old man, hi!'
I'll respond with a genuine smile
under the warm cheerful sky

By being a fool
no envy do I court
the smart walk away
of me they carry no thought

never mind I be such regarded
by none's fancy am I caught
to be mocked is to be rewarded
I would never change for another spot!

It's the brightest summer
but my lonely heart bears
the sombre barrenness
of the deepest winter-

she doesn't and might never
know I'm the silent lover
every dawn I hide behind my window
as she walks on the same path over-

once we met face-to-face
a gentle smile she did show
not a word we spoke
too brief was the encounter-

years went by, so carelessly
I was still a bachelor
we met one day at the village fair
she met me and said: 'This is Susie, my daughter'.

The moors are sombre and dark
as though my heart's weariness they bear
melancholic is the moon,  even more the stars
the foreboding  mood pervades everywhere

I am lost in longing and reverie
where has love fled?  What has it to declare?
Is life but a lie?  Is hope in denial?
What's right? What's fair?

Through the rain-stained window I gaze
not a shimmer of light anywhere
only the haunting cry of a birdsong
and the sighs of winds in the eerie air-

sleep will elude me tonight
I'll be laden with my unrelenting care
destiny is not of my choice or call
my brokenness I'll still need to wear.

I can't understand
verily I'll never know
this hour when my doubts
dissolve--my heart starts to glow

like a light resurrected from the unknown
to dispel the darkness of my sorrow
will it long abide and guide
or fade like dew upon the morrow?

I bring time to a standstill
as I think and write
I call in the rain
I bring down the sunlight

in the mystery of words
sound, colour, shape--bright
images flash across my mind
I become the day and the night.

The woods
they darken
yet twilight
has not fallen

song-birds cease their singing
before the stars brighten
what does love have to say-
'is your heart sore and broken?'.

The blank paper
is friendly and invites me
to communicate--'Emily
give me your poetry'

tonight I reply in my reverie
'I can't--my heart is heavy
the words they shy away
another time--maybe'.

Friendship wears a mask
love smiles to deceive
life is a myth
time is a thief

from that which
is but dirt and clay
a *** I shall fashion
ugliness to put away.

Only this I've learnt
and come to know
the bulk of life
is but a cheap show

my heart, my bleeding heart
tell me what I should follow
why are you silent and look away?
do you love to mock me so?

It has rained all night
I can't go to sleep
I'll take up my pen
my thoughts are sombre and deep

memory knows when to intrude
dark secrets it loves to keep
it stirs up scenes of the past
but those chapters I would skip.

Time shall forget me
how glad I am this to know
what I am I choose
life's ebb and flow I follow

in silence and without complaint-
fate waves its power in grandiose show
but nature is larger and wiser
like a plant it helps me to grow.

How far
you ask
is the journey
and the needed task

this only of myself
I can say and  trust
a step at a time I take
as long as it does last.

I look at the flowers
they nod and they know
me. In their silence they say:
'  Your life is pain and sorrow--

We see those tell-tale signs
in your eyes and desolate face
yet every sentence you write
is blessed with beauty and grace'.