Pure in it's gleaming marble white
a rare conch shell, well formed,
with 'reverse turning spiral',*
he holds, in both palms with reverence
closer to his naked chest, where
his beating caged heart tries to create
echoes, as if it, in an unknown
mysterious way, represents
a myth entwine him with pure nature.
An intriguing remains, retrieved,
from the accumulated deep sea secrets,
where still his memories vaguely roam
in another life, as a creature of the deeps.
The conch he is aware, hides tender notes
that bridles air, water and fire, cosmic ripples
prods him subtly to accelerate  his quest,
a swim towards the maelstrom of inner core,
commingling with the music cosmos conducts
every moment, with it's billion piece orchestra grand.

She is a flame burning in clarified butter,
his consort,her eyes reflect a concurrent spirit,
both her palms she bring together ,makes a lotus thus
and a red blooming lotus is nestled between palms.
Her lotus speaks of  fecundity,from which flows love and life
generations, descend find succor, in the gentle fragrance,
and warmth, the lotus, protects, even at the midst of a freeze.
Her eyes are blissfully half closed immersed in the fragrance
wafting in the air spreading in waves far and wide.

I have been drowning in my stream.
Sinking deeper, descending to the bottom.
Fighting upstream all these years to find my happiness,
While realizing happiness does not exist in calm waters.
Chaos still persists in my tranquility of life.
Blissfullness only happens within myself.  
Looking for the brightness inside my darkened childhood.
A pile up of abuse and sadness,
Is it possible for darkness and radiance to coexist?
As the stream ultimately drives me to its foundation.
Grounded in the dark chilled soil.
My roots live in this mud.
Established here, this is who I am.
Rising up above, as I feel my freedom of inner peace soar above the hardships of life.
Traveling to water's surface.
All this time struggling to swim against the currents.
Searching for a fictitious serene place that only existed in my imagination.
I am no longer swimming to obtain peace.
I am accepting my essence planted in this stream.
Centered and ingrained to the life I was chosen for.
Gazing up as I comfortably hover up to the sun rays.
Beams piercing underneath sensing the heat of happiness  
Reaching the top, enlightened paradise waiting for me.
Opening my petals one by one; my process is slow and intricate.
The bright cloudless sky above me, soaking in the stillness.
Basking in this moment.
Until the dark sky falls upon me.
I restore myself below the surface, back to my roots.
Until a new day, a rejuvenated mind, another rise to the surface.
Experiencing joyfulness with each blossoming petal.
Embedded in my mud of life, finding delight regardless of where I am rooted.
Understanding that harmony is internally created by me.
Discovering my inner peace within the darkness I come from.
I am me, complicated yet simple.
Universal, yet rare
Fragile, yet strong
Broken, yet beautiful.
I am a lotus

© Jl 2015

Hovering along the river.
A sacred water nourished by water lilies.
The sun kissing each petal evaporating the translucent water drops.
Visiting each lotus, wisdom lies in this pond.
Admiring the serenity and beauty each flower illustrates.
Gaze altered by darkness below.
Discovering the river’s bottom.
The complexity of each flower hides beneath the surface.
Countless lilies firmly rooted in dampened mud.
These magnificent flowers stem from malevolence.
Exploration of each lotus consumed by shadows.
These abused souls have endured untold suffering.
Resurfaced from unbearable knowledge.
Appreciating the resilience of this water garden.  
The buds that persisted despite horrific surroundings.
Examining this pond of loti, praising their bloom.
A water of survivors.
Radiance of inspiration.

© Jl 2015

I've felt passion
And I've felt pain
I've felt the warmth
On a rainy day

I've said goodbye
So many times
Each one with a kiss
And- a heart that I miss
But- when I'm here
and when I'm stable
My heart doesn't let me
Be loving or able

I've felt pain
In the brightest of places
Full of life
and smiling faces
I felt numb
With no desire
A constant stillness
A flameless fire

I felt passion
In the darkest times
I let my mind go
I forgot how to rhyme

I imagined black holes
A strong magnetic pull
A downward heavy spiral
Where my energy flowed

I've questioned myself
I've suffered in my skin
I've searched and wondered
Then began to begin

I let the sun kiss me
On my bare skin
Yet I felt freezing cold
Shivers from a deep strong wind within

I've broken the chains
Of my education
And I've bent the rules
For my own revelation

She contemplated death
as coolly as the opening of
a lotus.

Its light spread on
her mad-locked smile
drained
of his mournful red,
like unfinished smears
of butter on toast.

The *** stood stars on end, so to,
whispered, “play with me,” and in
haste we fled. We explored,
discovered, and devised something
bright, half something else sinister,
notarized – black roots pinned a
pink-scorched Mohawk, and
reciprocated, my wild “Mao-Mao,”
or so she’d named the hair on my
arms. The moon endured whilst we
knifed each other with each and
every gasp and sutured wounds left
prior lovers. I’d only come across
her name near the end, “Xiaolian,”
though the tattoo ‘top her leg, told
me, “Lola.” Come what mothers
christen us innocent would be a
poems in and of themselves,
addendum, the delirium aged and the
dance of neon atop our waterfall
soaked bodies - epic.