Without stepping
    a foot outside
    the entire world
    is discovered --inside

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

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?

Too much self-motivation
could be symptomatic
that one is still far from reaching
one's desired destination

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.

'Better late than never'-
such a fallacy
cold comfort it is-
you've missed the opportunity !

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!

Even genius knows not itself
and alas ! poor and paltry me
with my so limited knowledge
how could I move to the next level?

I'm no vintage
nor any life's remnant
all that I can claim
is that I'm a free man

living a common life
with none do I contend
quietly attending to my daily task
with nothing to complain

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'.

I love you dearly
  but can't promise
   to permanently stay:
   freedom I need passionately

   love shouldn't be
   the owning and clinging:
   my all I can't give away
   that would be my very dying-

   I will plead sincerely
   that you shouldn't love me
   look away, keep your heart
   to yourself-- lest you suffer endlessly!

Me you should forget
better now than late-
I'd not have you
sigh in sad regret-

'twas written long ago
cast in the stone of fate:
our path would never meet
love shall not ingratiate

I prefer -heartily
(above everything)
being silly
to witty -
the latter
is so very boring!

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.

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

Snow lays heavy on the moors
  I look into the sombre pitch darkness
a deep melancholy overpowers me
my heart is empty and void of happiness-

time has shown no mercy
love has eluded me
my years of waiting
have been in vain--such misery!

Into the murky sky I gaze
in such heartache and reverie
how I struggle to subdue
my longing-  how I yearn to be free!

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

No gift can I ever offer
beyond words that are mine
they may touch no other
but I hope somehow they will still shine

beyond my time and long after
in one heart --though just a single line
and my absence would have been sweet and tender
my life would have been richly blessed by what's left behind

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'.

I can't put up
with the noise outside
my windows I shut
in silence to abide

there's no truth or reality
only that which I feel inside
oft I think life is an illusion
in its strange and bewildering land I reside.

My poems are direct and take an acccurate aim
    my thoughts are distilled in a verse or two
    my soul is eased and comforted (this is enough)
    if the essence therein is pure and true.

Good-bye, good-bye then
what if the nectar of love were not mine?
nature is an undying friend
my heart though desolate still keeps a whit of sunshine.

Roses fade and they die at the end
nothing earthly could ever be divine
life is a sojourn in its every twist and bend
I'm unfazed by what way me it chooses to define.

Send me no roses
love they cheapen
come to me with fullness of heart
my spirit will glisten.

If you must remember
I ask that would not be often
make me no promises
then none will be broken.

Love is bliss
so they say
heaven is a kiss
forever to stay

But I'm none of this
I choose to walk away
love is loss of peace
I make my own day.

My poetry is not roses
each stanza bears a thorn
for love I don't queue
to melancholy I was born.

The wilderness is my very heart
there no flowers are sown
the desert knows my desolation
if I've tears, I'll weep alone.

They are unhappy
they rail against fate
love has abandoned them
now they turn to hate.

  The heart is ever restless
   it lives in eagerness to celebrate
   too soon it walks away from its search
   if only it has learnt how to wait.

But life (few do realise)
is a trickster
they try to bribe it
it answers never

those we triumph
they don't beg nor barter
my poetry tames the waywardness
of life as I'm stronger and tougher.

Writing for fame
to be remembered?
not me. My poems
in dust are covered

hidden in jars
on the table and in cabinet  
they rest. What did I write
yesterday? Oh, I forget!

The beyond I hold
more beautiful than the here
that which is mysterious and intangible
to my heart is more dear

too many they dread
to look into the mist-they fear
the unknown, imprisoned in the now
the familiar they prefer.

They say to me
' You seem unhappy'
   do they really know?
   they just fancy

   for neutral I stand
   what if I were sad or happy?
    joys are short-lived
    does it really matter in what condition I might be?

Trapped in time
and melancholy
a stranger to earth
I seem to be-

I don't doubt as I know
there's a dimension beyond mortality
  I'm on trial and being tested
  nothing belongs to me but my poetry.