Unnoticed I quietly slipped away
from the over-crowded room
words vilified and polluted within
there was too much gloom

I didn't say anything
all I did was to lend my ears
they spoke like chosen prophets
they stirred up apocalyptic fears

to the guillotine they referred
and next the execution on the electric chair
the listeners could hardly breathe
visibly they trembled--the tension they couldn't bear

the gentle evening breeze greeted me
as I stepped away from the closed door
I wondered and wondered--how
such people could assume they knew infinitely more!

A constellation of memories
in the continuum of time
vague images and confused feelings
few moments were glorious and fewer, sublime

the sadness of the face--it's hard to hide
the past self oscillated between hope and despair
set-backs were far more than triumphs
the summation is wear and tear

give me the person without regret or remorse
even the saint and the sage doesn't dare such to declare
living is never a gift but a load-some baggage
fate is a mocker whether you are here or there

nothing hurts now and my lonely song I have sung  
I no longer plead for comfort, solace or favour
where's the wisdom, certainty and serenity?
what's left is the road sign that reads: 'Life is error'

There's a chapter of your life
that could never be closed
you will recall the time
when love in gaiety posed
in the greenfield of your youth-
you wouldn't stay but walked away
though there was splendour among the hills
and the sun was bursting-red in passion
surely you should have harkened to your heart's thrills?
but no!   why? your fancy was wild
another was waving from the other end
she was fairer and her light-brown hair
was drifting in the breeze bearing her seductive scent-
you didn't say goodbye while you left
you didn't explain why--
she stood still as though in a daze
there was a tear in her eye...

two decades had travelled by
to that once-green field you returned thereafter
this time weary and disenchanted to regret and cry
she who was faithful had belonged to another.

Close your eyes

Your world, not extending
beyond the soft quilt under
your skin, unending


Soft ripples of cloth, and picturesque seams
Nothing here but
You, me, the sky, and soft dreams

I'll reach up and take the stars from the sky
If only to lay them at your feet
to place them in your hands
to bring light into those glazed eyes
or give a glow to a world so bland

and each one would be folded
into a beautiful origami castle
I, the lord, and you, the vassal
Or perhaps me as the king
and you as a queen, whichever
My gentle playmate.. which one is better?

I'm a majestic creature of the sky
You're an empty-faced child on a quilt
Each star shall be used as a stepping stone
so I might meet you in the place I built


Let us meet, as lovers, or
at least equals
on this starry floor

The first word-
'I'
the last word-
'die'

Beyond the furthest stretch of time
the wildest longing of the dream
beyond the last harvest of the roses
the dying rays of the evening gleam--

there's still the unaddressed and the unrest
that dimension of the infinite that could not be grasped
the heart searches for what's not there
the absolute looks away and the wonder and beauty they don't last.

Do I make decisions by thinking
or feeling?

I see
but how clearly?