IF TEARS HAVE THE POWER OF SPEECH

If tears have the power of speech
every single word they utter
would melt the hardest heart
(tears--they don't lie)
purity drawn from life's river of sorrow
every drop unblemished
truth has nothing to hide

it's as though
a new vocabulary
has appeared with tears
a language beyond
the sufferer's reach

tears -they don't lie
let them flow
they know
the heart's every woe
and are the sufferer's proxy

they console
they cleanse
they redeem
they heal

because they don't lie
they transcend
all human foibles

their purity breeds
a new heart
which having been purged
by the crucible of pain
would not bleed again

FIVE HAIKU (5th COLLECTION)
1

Two old men converse
in low monotonous tones
their eyes seldom meet

2

Evening deepens
casting shadows on the field
the birds fly away

3  The bird in the cage
    it struggles to fly away
    as it thinks of home

4

I bought a painting
(from the antiquarian shop)
marked: ' painter not known'.

5

One of the kids cried
(they were ******* gelato)
' ****, I have dropped mine!'

I HAVE NO NAME

Whether you know me or not
it matters not whether we have met or chatted
just think of me as that person
without a name--perhaps once you spotted

somewhere and had forgotten
the world has 7.3 billion names and it's fine
if I were not remembered
what's a name though it were mine?

I am a face as everyone else's
(somewhere in the wide universe
that's my home- an address is just a convenience)
unknown, often wondering what life's grand design and purpose

is, humbled by my own frailty
and insignificance of me being an ordinary man
if we should meet someday, somewhere, somehow
just know I have no name, so call me 'human'.

'LOVE IS BLIND'?

'Love is blind'?
what nonsense!
then how come we have
'love at first sight'?
Shakespeare in one sentence
had hoodwinked us since 1616
true, he wrote great drama and poetry
but we must note
he didn't study medicine
nor opthalmology
and mind you
we are living in the 21st century
with all the science and technology
surely it would be the greatest folly
to just quote the bard's cliche blindly

the eyes have it
ask the ophthalmologist

without the eyes
the lover would not see
beauty
and as a corollary
how could you love somebody
if in the first instance
you were blind id est--you couldn't see!

careful, so careful we must all be
to differentiate between reality
and the ranting of silly poetry
if this myth were to perpetuate nilly-*****
mankind would look really silly
that would look good not even to the slightest degree

and one more thing
please bear with me
and this is the bard's secret history

he had chancre--venereal ulcer
for which he received treatment
could he have written 'Love is blind'
being affected by that odious malady?

London's brothels he did visit frequently
when he was away from Stratford-upon-Avon
he drank a lot too--there is ample evidence
he also had anasarca (oh mercy!)
result of mercury-related membranous nephropathy
( we shall not defile him further-
but his alopecia was due to treatment of mercury
for his syphilis---what a medical litany!)

in conclusion
we could somehow see
that England's greatest writer
was not as bright as he had been taken to be.

TO ALL POETS

Each of us is different
yet we are (bottom-line)
the same
true to self
that's what really  matters
words are the joys and tears of our heart
none can stop them--never, ever

He sits by the stop  
But never boards the bus
Smoking sweet smelling
Cigarettes
Fingers yellowed.
Drinking straight from
The can
Under the midday sun.
Beads of sweat on the brow.
People get on
And people get off.
Never him.
He tells me that
Sometimes
The greatest joy in life
Is watching others make the journey.