These eyes, which had seen more,
came back with a smile,
back to you my dear,
my dear white chrysanthemum!

I departed poorly
with my blackly bitter summer,
And ordered life in bright colors.
It gave me autumn
dressed in blazing orange and red.
Delivered to me in dreamful
and magical tints of gold.
I didn’t even notice the autumn rain.
Smelling the fragrance of the breeze,
I heard beautiful music from the rustling leaves.
Now, my heart began beating a familiar rhyme.
Love will gather my wistful, unspoken thoughts,
With new songs of harmony
from these autumn leaves.
I still have a lot of these colors.
I still have a lot of LOVE to give.
I’ve known love like I’ve known fall for so long.

Enjoying nature’s poetry,
written in vivid colors.
Each leaf speaks to me
in tints of red and gold.
Red leaves of the maple trees
share lovely memories.
A hopeful dream’s etched
on the golden leaves
of the ginkgo trees.
Trees of brilliant colors
softly humming in chorus.
The beauty of autumn,
the gathering of vibrant hues.
Nature’s imperfection and beauty,
Life and nature’s harmony,
Together, they work wonderfully.
Nature’s visible glories and life’s reality,
Us, our colors inside
as humans,
the mere reflection of our humanity.
What beauty it is to embrace
our magnificent colors within us!
There’s no vibrant
and luminous color,
other than forgiveness,
love, compassion
and kindness
deep within ourselves.

I found my peace in solitude.
I found my calm in silence.
I discovered light even in darkness.
Nothing can shatter my strength.
Nothing can ruin my confidence.
I’ve already found me.
I have found everything I need within myself.

Call someone.
Read a book.
Enjoy the sun.
Allow yourself to breathe deeply.
Take a walk.
Express gratitude and kindness.

Muse and meditate.
Add a daily entry in your journal.
Gain clarity about your passions and strengths.
Invite positivity and act in service to others.
Connect yourself meaningfully to people and things around you.

I miss the pleasant times
When the skies are not cloudy all day
When deer and gazelles joyously play
When I seldom hear
words of contempt and distaste
When family and friends love each other’s milestone and celebrate
When humans respect opinions
and differences
When love is contagious and healing
and selfless sacrifice are present
But the world today currently faces a virus
more infectious and virulent
The most despicable pandemic
of hatred
A plague of intolerance and disrespect
When friends and family members
are disowned and hated
When love is gone and hearts are darkened
I grieve!

Can you take me to a special place
where the wild
becomes my blissful sky?
Only you and me,
dreaming while gliding with glee.
Help me find my lost essence,
my disoriented strength.
And marvel at the joyous,
glossy evergreens
till the darkness sets in.
Please hold my hands until my moon glows again.

In the darkest hours,
grief is overpowering.
The stars,
fade.
The moon,
dull.
This grief.
Drowning me in waves.

Wrapped by just her flesh and skin with nothing on, half-awake on her silky fabric bedsheet
She watched him walk slowly towards the door in his torn jeans and tight shirt
With a quiet gaze and a tender smile, he gently waved goodbye
In and out of her vision, his retreating figure shimmered
She must have trembled because he stopped
He smiled, walked back and passionately whispered while caressing her curves
“Please forgive me!
Please forgive...
my hands for always wanting to touch you
my lips that are burning to kiss you
my arms that are dying to embrace you!”
Her guardian angels clapped in awe as he asked again for gentle kisses
Then they swam together in furious waves, merging into the vast glimmering ocean
They were beautiful whales dancing in their own song
Then they found calmness as they reached close to the seashore
As they began to drown themselves again in melodies of the ripple waves
She forgot and suddenly realized
Waking up in a middle of a poem, she was fooled by her own metaphor

And my melancholic train got derailed again at the chaotic intersection of holding on and letting go.

A portrait of love
In the realm of fantasy
Our hearts beat in sync
Rainbow paints on a canvas
Only us, in bed, naked

I wonder why I don’t see the beauty and the sparkles of the blossoming cherry trees.
Why I don’t feel the joy hearing the songs of the birds near me.
All I see now is the surge of political hypocrisies.
Blames and hatred ignited by partisan politics fueled by cruelty of humanity.
I thought I was part of the world filled with love, light, and beauty.  
But I am now in the midst of uncertainty,  
where cooperation, unity, and solidarity among people are indeed illusory.
Everything now seems dark, cloudy, gloomy.
Stigma, racism, discrimination, and xenophobia,
the ugliness of humanity.
This crisis tests our capacity to understand, to overcome.
I am now sitting quietly in darkness to transform my fear to trust humanity,
To have patience and slowly erase anxiety.
I am trying to continually believe that we all live under the same glow and glitter of the sun.
And that though we may even have different rivers and mountains,
we still speak the same language.
The language of peace and harmony, the language of love and shared humanity.
I am looking forward soon, on the very day when we humans wake up to a new reality.
With our helpful hands, open arms and compassionate heart, shining each other’s  journey.

And like me,
he gets enlivened when nature metamorphoses.
He dances with the ocean waves and gapes at the splendid, scarlet sunset.
He enjoys the ripe air with the pleasant dewy petrichor,
and adores the bespangled night sky.
Would my ancient peculiar rhythm meet his empathetic heartbeat?
Maybe.
If he could immerse in my murky depths.
If he’d help me journey through
this twisted path,
from a thorny to a glorious trail,
from the grotesque to the sublime.

The new dawn’s calling me
for a quiet escape
Setting sail to see the sunrise
The soft clouds and the blue sky
in between

And we frolicked with our arms entangled
under the stunning gleam of the moonlight.
With the diamond waterfalls as witness,
dreamy as the rainbow,
cascading solace in our thoughts.
We’re out of the gushing downpour.
though we still hear and feel the water.
Exalting how we climbed
the higher and steeper trail
with dangerous cliffs in thousands,
we continued to hold hands.
With even a tiny bit of love but a ton of hope,
we eradicated fear
and let the light come through.
Merging us again into one!
Reshaping,
transforming,
mending,
stitching every hidden torn and burn.

Seasons do not compete with one another;
neither does the night’s magical brilliance of the moon rival with the gorgeous majestic sunrise.
The persistent, melodious rains do not clash with the rainbow’s splendor.
Nor the dreamy perfumed clouds race with the joyful, pleasant winds.
Beautiful things happen in the right perfect time.

And yes, it’s almost over,
Countless things, I will remember.
The glitters and the sparkles,
Prolong your stay, just so I wish.
But then again what I am sure,
You’ll wander back more beautiful.
Goodbye for now, my feathered leaves.
I bid farewell,
I would try hard not to shed a tear.
Farewell my friend,
my lovely Autumn friend.
Thank you for lending me your golden wings.

She’s into ravens and dragons,
charms, prayers and spells.
Enchantment and mystery,
spirits and fantasy.
Phantom and magic,
dreams and stardust.
She’s into fascinating connections,
rituals and meditations.
She gives thanks to the sun,
the stars and the moon.
She trusts patience and love.
She adores understanding souls,
She’s into all these
and a thousand things more.

After lengthy days of torment and grief
Braving the cold, remained the last leaf
Feeling the slightest breeze
She slowly danced with grace and ease
Like a ballerina driven by the sound of her heartbeat
She made her final dance
And with her gorgeous golden autumn wings
She’s now ready for winter’s frigid embrace

Your words are like flowers
blooming for the first time
in the early days of spring.
Charming
Mesmerizing
Glorious
Like the light pink pretty petals spilling into the winds,
whispering intensity and sweetness.
I find myself blushing and gliding.
With your rhymes sending me into a lovely realm,
I am now in your fairyland.

Luminous fireworks
Into the sea of silence
Stranger on the street

She wears a mask of ease and tranquility
to cover her suffering and pain
She dons her mask of courage
to hide her failures and fears
She puts on her mask of confidence
to cloak her shame
Though reluctantly she keeps her mask on
and disguises to show an illusion of fulfillment, happiness,  and success
Day in, day out she slips on a mask
and cloaks herself in disguises
Her bright and colorful mask is a reminder
of her need for the approval of others
Yet her glowing fancy cloak pulls her away
to her true self and hides her real heart and identity
But one day she finally paused,
she closed her eyes and then she realized
Pretending to be someone she isn’t other than herself does not make her worthy and happy
Her understanding of herself and her flaws matters
Her deepest desires and passion to accept herself blossom
She begins to release herself from the layers of life’s loathing and hypocrisy
Throwing away her mask
Imperfect and flawed, she embraces herself happily

She made her crown out of thorns and broken things and built a castle in her ruins
and became a forgiving queen.

How could you stay
so happy like that
For you know, I’m so far
It’s been quite long
since we became miles away
I won’t forget your loving ways
Thanks for making me so alive

Tonight, the stars and the moon shine
so bright upon me
And I say, I’m missing you
Oh, please understand
why we are apart
Oh, please bear with me
Because I really need to make you feel
this love of mine
And even though I’m so far
I’d try to light a candle for us
Oh! For us, for us for us
And even I’m here alone
I’d try playing our song
For us, for us, for us

And I hope that in your dreams
You would feel
That I have your body near
my arms while we’re dancing dear
And I pray to see my life with you
I hope it’s soon
Because I’m tired of dancing
on my own

And tonight, the stars and the moon
shine upon me
And I say, I’m truly missing you
Oh please understand, why we are apart
Oh, please bear with me
Because I really need to make you feel 
 this love of mine
And even though I’m so far
I’d try to light a candle for us
Oh! For us, for us,for us
And even I’m here alone
I’d try playing our song
For us, for us, for us

But I’m so afraid
Because for months now
The candle’s spark is getting weak
Like your love
That I used to know
And what I only ask
I beg, oh please
Don’t let our love go
Don’t let our dreams fade
For us, for us, for us

And she loved all the things that tore her down.
Often left empty and alone,
she said she’s not broken.
She has flown into agonizing
fire and danced in perilous storms.
Her bond with her rhymes freed her faithful soul.

And just like that,
I lost my poetry again.
But my nighttime friend was there.
The moon who holds my desires and fear.
The one who keeps all my tangled thoughts.
Reminding me of the wishes I’ve daily written in the night sky.
All my stories of pain and love,
my sunken dreams and storms.
Yet I told the moon of what I know,
that my loss does not have
to be an end.

And then there’s something tantamount to this sunbeam in these bleary times—
the wildflowers, which grow everywhere in their own paradise;
a kindergartner running by herself even a few feet away from her friends, picking dandelions,
still with a sunny smile.
The ray of light shining through the window of isolation rooms as a sign of hope from heaven.
Sparks will still flow within our hands.
To still feel the everlasting warmth of sunshine.
The light we needed to surpass this cloudy shadow of our current circumstance.

She was molded by life’s mischances,
combats, and hurts.
Shrapnels and shattered glass
are stuck in her hands.
Her toes are burned from walking
through agonizing fire.
The endless fights and struggles
made her dark and cold.
But she remembers
each savage war
she has won.
With her loyal heart,
her armor,
and her fortress,
her passionate soul.
She continues to face her battles
and uses her torment
to wear badges
of strength
and courage
adorned with golden fronds.
She knows when wars are over,
the flowers will still be
bright and beautiful.

Her heart hungers for the essence of her being.
She continues to search for enlightenment
and peace.
Thousands of heartaches and trials,
she met along the path of finding herself.
She carves out time every single day to reflect.
Then she realized.
There’s no need to search outside herself
for answers.
She found the answers
where she found the questions.
She found the answers inside herself.
Meaning is what makes one’s misfortune worthwhile.
The storm came to teach her how to sail
and she continues to catch the wind.
Confronting the ocean’s of life moment after moment,
she found the strength to leave her past
to the shores
and just brought the lessons she has learned.
Then out she sails for her new horizons ahead.

Longer sleepless evenings
Humid, dark, and bleak
Serene and sorrowful homes
Blossoming sakura trees weep
With heavyhearted lonely buds
Spring, unforgettable saddest spring
Trees not lovelier and so are fields
Nor the day more delightful than the evening
These unhappy blooms in pink
Signal a different kind of grief

I exhausted every moment of my life
scattering seeds
in all bounds and boundary
of my deep-rooted burns,
and now a tangled, torch-lit garden grows.

He came like a wind,
whispered music in my ears,
swiftly brushed my lips,
then brought cold creeps to my skin,
lulled me and just disappeared.

And she painted the sky with her poetry
Calm but misty
Still dark and heavy

Her poetry loves her usual melancholy.
Her rhymes couldn’t even summon the sun when dark clouds lingered over her.
She just waits for the fragrance of rainwater to wash away the dirt from her tears.
The misty yet melodious pour.
A lengthy silky strand of memory that always escapes.
Heartache and hope,
rhymes and misery,
lyrics and odes.
Slowly lacing themselves to the value of who she is.
A continuing thread of love and grief.
A colorful crochet of life’s  tapestry.

And he loves me for the beast
that I am
Just sitting with me
Loving me there
through my darkest nights
Keeping me company at my worst
Tenderly gazing while I heal
Holding my hand without looking away

I haven’t written the saddest lines.
Only a tiny strand separates happiness
from melancholy.
I couldn’t describe sorrow in words.
I’m just waiting to see the autumn fields.
Summer has set me aflame.
And the sun didn’t rise today.

I can either spend my life fighting every single thing that doesn’t go my way, or calm down and believe that life’s challenges can be overcome and happiness can be attained.
My enormous odds, struggles, and difficulties are opportunities for me to gain wisdom and grow tolerance and resilience.
Dead-ends,
detours,
u-turns,
even mishaps,
they’re going to work to my advantage.
I believe that I’m already on the path to freedom from pain and confusion.
I believe that people can replace hatred with love, anger with patience and acceptance, spite with generosity and compassion, and jealousy with kindness.
I must walk the path to save myself.