What scares you more?

Being blown up to pieces in an airplane midair,
Or spending New Year's eve alone in your rocking chair?

Dying from disease at an age very young,
Or living a long life, yet ending up nameless and unsung?

Getting laid off at work with four mouths to feed,
Or getting paid less than a friend who has not your fancy degree?

The vagaries and randomness of the world around,
Or the voices in your head that never let you sleep sound?

December 29th, 2009.

Wishes for a very happy 2010.

Dilemma

Up in the cloud, O drop of dew
You are so clear, white, pure and true
Do I wish you rain down to earth
Wash us all and quench our thirst
But lose yourself in the mud and dirt?

O lofty ideal, high up in my mind
You are the dream that keeps me alive
Do I take you from thought to deed
To lend a meaning to the life I lead
But see you twisted by practicality?

From a pedestal up high, you always inspire
O dear mensch, whom I deeply admire
Do I wish you come down to me
So your virtues from close I get to see
But along with them, your human frailty?

October 3rd, 2009.

Air

The reason you're born, the reason you live
The reason a fire burns from deep within

Never shows itself but in the subtlest way
Like the gentle sea breeze on a summer day

For more space it never begs or pleads
Only fills up the void and makes you complete

And in a suffocating moment when it's gone
You'll realize its worth all along

True love, a treasure to cherish forever
Like the air we breathe, as priceless and dear


April 10th, 2009.

Raising a plant

It takes a lot to raise a plant
An art it is indeed
Knowing when to sow and how to tend
To nurture life out of a barren seed

But when to stop too one must know
And accept what it has grown to be
For no nourishing can ever spring
A palm tree out of a poppy seed!

Raising a plant, like raising a child,
An art it is indeed!
Between nurturing and overbearing
Is a very fine line to breach

January 31st, 2009.

The Sea

(An old one, written on June 1st, 2006.)

My heart pines
For the land of my dreams
The land across the seas
Where nothing is amiss

The desire is no joke, no whim
It burns me from deep within
So into the sea I dive in
But know not I how to swim

My dream sets my soul alight
I tell myself 'I must fight
I must swim to stay alive
Only in the land of dreams must I die'

The sharks of the sea bite me deep
A different man I am when the scars heal
Soon I learn all I need
To stay alive in the stormy seas

At last one day I reach my dream -
The shore, all quiet and serene
The feel of this land under my feet
Is for what I have so far lived

But I am a seafarer, a dreamer no more
I do not belong among the people of the shore
My hands are rough and my voice hoarse
Back to the sea is where I must go

My heart pines
For the dangerous seas
Where I tame the sharks that bite deep
Where only the brave dare to be

The Winner

My thoughts outpaced my feet
To the finish line as I raced
With the wind, like bitter truth,
Hitting hard on my face

Thoughts of my sweat and toil
Every hour, every day
And of all the health and luck
That for no reason came my way

Thoughts of the lazy few who to win
Never did sweat or strive
And of the one-legged cripples who couldn't win
However hard they tried

I am told the sight of the finish line
Must put one on cloud nine
But I, the winner of a race of cripples,
Just let out a sigh

January 1st, 2009.

Wishes for a prosperous and peaceful new year, and a world with equal opportunities for one and all.