IT CAN’T BE RIGHT

It can’t be right, it just can’t be right
that life should always be ‘me’
looking beyond myself at the world at large
sets me free.

It just can’t be right
that others should not have their say
I should heed and listen well
never walk away and utter: Nay.

It just can’t be right
to count myself as winner
that everyone else should be loser
what and who can define someone as  victor?

It just can’t be right
to turn away from the misery
of my fellow-men
I am part of humanity.

HATE AND LOVE

Hate is easy to define
(not love)-
it’s the message
of molten steel
tight fist
wicked look
red-hot eyes
it yells
and rages
it kicks
it wants
to shake
the building down
it wants to tear
your heart to pieces

in the public square
it makes itself
felt and seen
with obscene utterances
it holds
a poison vial
it condemns
and your name
is forever smeared

but love
(the most- used word
and most profaned)
comes
in so many colours
shapes and sizes
kaleidoscopic
chameleon-like
it stays
(none knows  for how long)
for some reason
it goes away
(what in love is fair?)
it forgets
more
than it remembers
it forgets to remember
it remembers to forget
(should love be embraced or avoided?)

what does the heart say
what words does it choose?
does it know what it says
and why does such it say?
what will it say
tomorrow?

passion and kisses
moonlight songs
sweet embraces
under the palm tree
the wine is strong
life is paradise
nothing is amiss
love is bliss
(love is forever!)


moonless and murky night
the nightingale sings
no more
wine has gone dry
the night is tedious and long
two dismal worn-out faces
their eyes hardly meet
the hour is never so tardy
  (she is with me
but her heart is elsewhere
not a word she does say
I know she will go away)

she pretends
to attend to her hair
but looking
in another direction

I could sense it all
she picks up her bag
quick-footed
she disappears
into the night
she does not even bother
to say goodbye
(my instinct turns out
just right)

hate and love
only two words
on which side
are you?

FIVE HAIKU

1

The sunset’s last rays
light up my beloved’s face
I just want to stay

2

Red autumn leaves fall
one by one on the  wet ground
the crows pass them by

3

The town languishes
it’s the coldest winter night
the streets are empty


4  

The same fisherman
the same river he travels
he feels not the same
5

Friends of long ago
meeting after fifty years
they struggle for words

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

MAN’S INHUMANITY

There’s so much anger around
tolerance is a long-forgotten word, sadly-
and I begin to wonder in the silence of my heart
whether there’s any hope in humanity

anger, rage, frenzy, then hate
the will of  such people must be obeyed
society stands on shaky ground
compassion and charity is dead

to what are we humans born
but that we should kindness show?
goodness no longer rings in ears
  the world is ruled by endless callousness and ego

what took wisdom many a century to build
hate can demolish in a moment of frenzy
everywhere we hear the cry of pain
and sense the demise of humanity.

INFINITY

Close your eyes
feel a star
falling
into your hand

open your heart
let love enter
that star
is for whom you adore

POETRY*

It's never easy
to write poetry
as assumed by many
often a poem is a mystery

where's the poetic- river source?
how many miles must its waters cross?
the poet finds himself only
at the river-end where springs his best poetry.