deserted

deserted in the desert

of the dusk of my youth

to stagger and stumble

on the swamp of unemployment

to become trapped

in the trap of poverty

but i am now intoxicated

with red wine

that divine love demanding a dance

expecting from this toddler of grace

a demeanour of the man

who embraced

his death in loin cloth

leaving elegance

his fabric of glory to enemy

to cover shame

the stink in soul

and with cream covering

aging wrinkles

henry victor               11.10.2011  

untested love

was there an error in my ear

or was she knocking on my door

when dusk has set in to empower

my hermitage and i freely cover

with silence my mind and heart

and lay my aging frame

those tired limbs to rest on bed

upheld by a simple iron frame

she insists now she has some old wine

some untested love that i should sip

before i retire, and she has more to offer

without taking away my chattels

© henry victor           29.01.2018

care-taker

a mere care-taker

of your dancing stage

my heart

am i not?

dusting

and re-arranging

after each concert

for your next

fresh one

at dawn

with, for sure, pain

and pleasure to taste

before another rest

in the dusk

to dust my heart

and clean the blood

until you shut

the screen

to announce

the close of dance

© henry victor          28.01.2018

blind and deaf

my old age love, my urge to hear

a little music in human laughter

for my frail body to do my final dance

made me blind to the world’s taste

but what caused your blindness

making you bite the hand that fed

day and night as you were nestled 

in that heart you kick now to bleed

and what triggered a pile up of wax

to the point of deafness in your soul

too, stubbornly refusing an active feel

of my humanness, brokenness, my need

© henry victor            24.01.2018

a simple life

life and order painted

in a war cemetery

is not what i sought

after for my life

but a little brook

rolling over a rock

the hardened pain

of loveless years

that i may sit still

and listen to music

in the running water

and in the wailing

of the swaying perches

the choice of magpies

and the plainer raven

far from hustle of the town

© henry victor           24.01.2018

cataloguing

the longer i wait to be hired

my mind wanders from peaks

majestic to silent lakes

and sunny sandy beaches

my mind also walks through bushes

the elegant elephants walked my trail

to make my soul, rushing faster

from the scorching sun, there so typical

yet, the stronger ironwood

and the sturdy satinwood

the costlier ebony, and other softer woods

including the saner neem

grew with the aggressive buddha’s bo tree;

the delay in hiring could make my heart

resent and renounce the cooler shade

of the shimmering poplar

and the silent weeping willows

the majestic oaks

with the cosmetic russian olives

and the friendly birches

© henry victor      27.07.2001

schooled

 

i was schooled

not in the school

of scoundrels

who, exactly know

the way of success

and plenty

these seemingly wise

rebuked me

for my refusal

to follow

their easy model

rather i was schooled

in the school

of trees

and those distant stars

as the clouds

fair and dark

tutored me

to be free

like singing creatures

of wings

large and small

to fly, and fly away

and never be afraid

of want, height

or even failure

i was schooled

until i learnt

the lessons

to let go

as those seemingly wise

rebuked me

for my refusal

to follow

their easy model

of success

and plenty

© henry victor     25.01.1981

strengthening my solidarity

from the fossils buried deep under glaciers

earth, and oceans, your writings of the history

of my world you continuously create and heal

i decipher my revelatory beliefs of you, to call

it my theology, promoting it with my praises

of you so silly, empty, and deceptive to neighbors

and self without strengthening my solidarity

with that life-giving mother nature

the rivers, the plants, the animals and the fowls

including the turkey, a foolish imitator of the peacock

may be then, and may be then, i will have a chance

of not ending myself a sandy, or a stony fossil

© henry victor             27.12.2002

 

 

blend together

these are that i need most

and these, together i must blend

speed of the fastest horse

gentleness of the gentlest woman

sure footing of the slowest tortoise

sluggishness of the laziest sluggard

patience of the most patient hawk

wisdom of the greatest sage

business of the busiest ant

crudeness of the carefree teenager

courage of the fiercest lion

fairness of the fairest judge

roughness of the roughest rock

innocence of the innocent infant

sweetness of the sweetest sugarcane

bitterness of the collegial rival

vigilance of the watchdog

study-habit of the studious student

sharpness of the sharpest knife

firmness of that autocratic dictator

smoothness of the cloudless sky

charm of the charming youth

vanity of the prettiest peacock

quickness of that courtroom advocate

wakefulness of the nightly owl

greed of the greediest moneychanger

hardness of the hardest coconut

wit of the wittiest Shakespeare

© henry victor     17.09.2004

winds and waves

winds, tough, have calm down

waves, huge, have now subsided

i am at perfect peace under ocean bed, buried

© henry victor     11.09.2006

impossible possibility

does a dry rose

ever provide a throne

for a buzzing bee

can a drooping flower

carry in its bosom

drops of sweet honey

for a fluttering butterfly

will a hermit’s heart

ooze love

and rhythmically dance

to a young woman’s music

© henry victor          08.01.2018

a single hair

i picked a hair, a dame’s, for sure

in my oatmeal this morning

as i was about to pour water

and stir with some sweetener

making my breakfast, a poem to enjoy!

i remembered, those days, for my mother

it was only i, among her five boys

somehow found her hair in my meals!

ex-spouse of 35 years too have protested!

and now, i talk to this woman, also about

what we will do in bed, but only in cyber

when via camera, she walks into my kitchen

© henry victor             07.01.2018

uncluttering

my life is cluttered like my carrot plot

in my backyard beautiful with its green

when captured in a photograph

but when pulling them out for the table

to cook, or to eat as raw salad

there is a different rhyme

useless, too thin, also drying too fast

in a day, or two, but soon ready

to be dumped in the dump that garbage

maintaining my regular payment of the city tax

hence my life has to have much uncluttering

starting with my study needing to be cleaned

with papers filed and some books discarded

the two spaces with hardboard also need

a little mopping to remove my grandson’s spill

my pantry needs arranging

and much to throw away

as i did with my spouse

kitchen cupboards too need a little arranging

with those closets upstairs to be emptied

adding some order to the piles of clothes

the bathroom i use needs scrubbing

with that shower rubber fixed

the wire mesh on the window

in the living room can wait

for fixing till next spring

but windows need cleaning

though only after the garden is fixed

with at least all carrots pulled out

and distributed to those deserving

and undeserving with the hose pipe

wrapped and placed in the garage

the garage too needs cleaning and the basement

a major project before i complete

my paper on the theology

of the missio dei for the SPG journal

or that workshop on pluralistic perspectives

for the White Court Christians

with Justin, my daughter’s son i give in

putting aside all other

while i have to consider my daughter

and her laziness that has piled up a major clutter

with her boy-friend and his direction less life added

threatening to flood not only my basement

but my entire bungalow drowning me to death

i need to sleep enough to give my heart

rest and an opportunity to heal

with enough exercise to get rid

of excess sugar and that fat

while the major task would be to bring enough money

to eat appropriate food and pay the bills

which means also putting up with mediocrity 

the main ingredient of the present life

© henry victor     02.10.2012