Do I live only in the past tense of your mind
(memory of a friend, not to be forgotten;
beloved picture set upon a shelf
to dust once a month)?

YOU live in MY mind as memories never left behind
and desires for you NOW are of the kind
that etch themselves on every canvas they might find—
skin, heart, soul & mind…
Yes! Past & present, wish to alight
as hopes and dreams of future flight

My Love, every tense you are to me!
Yet, stagnant in your past tense I must be?

Now, helpless & sorrowful I mourn
Such immense a pity: I, a history, forlorn

Everything goes well

the way it's going, there is --


no final judgement.

Back when Tigers smoked and Cranes
played fiddle late in the night,
back when men left the forests
for fear of the Moon Bears’ songs,
back when women were revered
for their surging red moon dance,
I remember less warfare,
more reason to feast and sing,
I recall my beginning
as father took mother’s hand
and bathed her in the river
in the late Korean Spring.

---

Depressed—fighting silent wars,
Demons whisper through the pores
Of my thoughts. I try to stand,
But the weight won't leave my hands.

I'm not done. I'm not yet through,
But it's hard—what can I do?
I’ve got to fight for sanity,
But it's draining all of me.

Only midday, yet I’m bare,
Empty lungs and vacant stare.
This is more than tired breath—
This is what depression says.


---

I don't want this to be
Like a movie I'd see
I want the good, the bad
And all the boring in between.

Today I got a hug, out of the blue                                                             ­     
                                                           ­                                                               
and it even came with an "I love you''                                                            ­    
                                                            ­                                                        
Such a simple kind gesture                                                          ­                                                  
              ­                                                                 ­                               
  It brought me such pleasure                                                         ­                     
                                                                ­                                                          
It picked me up when I felt down                                                             ­                       
                                         ­                                                                 ­      
  turned my day totally around                                                           ­                 
                                                                ­                                                  
  Just when I thought no one cared                                                            ­            
                                                                ­                                        
someone loved me, someone shared

anxiety wrapped around my neck
and hands struggling to free myself
lying on my bed close to the edge
i was struggling to keep my breathe

in the velvet sheets,
where cries turned into moans
and with a single kiss,
i was brought back from the hell

swing of a pendulum speaks to me
in its back and forth motion
it prophesied to be prepared
storm will make landfall again