peeling
petal after petal
of pink peonies
she coyly ponders.....

he loves me
he loves me not

as this
melancholic yellow rose
domiciled in the forbidden city
seeks bodacious love
amidst
poems and peonies

© 2021

with
an accepting smile
i embrace
those two invisible friends
knowledge and death

the bliss gained from true knowledge
seldom taught at any college,
that vantage point
from where
the lingering fear of death,
is vanquished

then
both of you
hand in hand
stealthily become my left and right half
as i merge
with the macrocosm

© 2021

into this fire
of pure awareness
i offer
the body
mind
intellect and ego ....

in the charred embers
of this funeral pyre
emerges
a pristine white lotus
with one thousand petals
each petal
a proxy for a billion residual desires
burnt forever

now,
time and space 
simply fade away

© 2021

under a torrential shower
of iridescent peacock feathers,
i spy
the cosmic flautist,
whose conch shaped eyes
ooze boundless compassion,
his dusky complexion
mirrors the night sky,
as the twinkling stars
in the firmament
stealthily become his garland

what will he do next?

steal the heart of the next damsel
who comes his way?

start another world war to fight for justice?

or open his mouth to show us the whole universe within?


© 2021

at the junction
of your vermillion adorned forehead
where the rivers of 
ida, pingala and sushumna meet,
lies the point of singularity
from where
our cosmos exploded
into this unwieldy clutter

with it
an unseen fifth dimension....
a spider like web of illusion
deluding all humanity
into incessant action
where
only karmas multiply

oh maya!
i implore you
to end
this vicious cycle

reveal
that white lotus with a thousand petals
sitting in your cerebrum,
where the love of your life
sporting that chiseled crescent
meditates
in contemplative silence

© 2021

i bow
in silenced awe
to a moonlit silhouette
of a half man,
half woman

a celestial being
for whom
an offering of
a garland of pink lotuses or dried skulls
merely the same,
each half
in dizzied love
with the other

as i ponder why?
he - the cosmic father
also became
she - the enchanting mother


© 2021

lurking behind
that nervous but sensual laugh
hides an exotic goddess
pretending to be
a die-hard feminist

was it the regimen of a demanding mother?
was is it the separation from your misunderstood motherland?
is it the distance from your chosen lover?
or simply sadness from an unrequited love?

toss away the jin guo
and let the river flow.....
for this world to see
the true guan yin
rising within you

© 2021