your grace

spray me with your grace

until i am soaked in rain

of your love (reigning the world

to bind the wounds of deep hurt

caused by callous creatures, a disgrace

in heaven and on earth);

inspire and provoke deep within me

your forgiveness, a contrast

to my vengeance, revenge-filled

thoughts that translate

into my speech and louder acts

discrediting your image in me

henry victor    28.07.2010

forgive my shirk

grant me oh the nameless

Name

unlimited forgiveness

and overwhelming grace

when i in my nasty arrogance

in foolish forgetfulness

while breaking and smashing

idols of clay, silver and gold

tearing into pieces

icons on printed-paper

or painted canvas

molded through extreme care

and drawn with patience so rare

employing artistic mind

with untiring hand

concurrently retain in the bosom

of my petty being

the silly pride of my race, learning

and other worthless achievement

in such way covetously

ridiculing the tribe, tradition

and other earnings

of my numerous neighbors

considering silently

my puny self, more important

than those who live

and toil around me

entertaining and persisting

in that surest shirk

the groundless superstition

that the sweetest sound

surely, is my own name

henry victor     18.01.1995

temples, cults and faith

many temples are erected

on graves of human intelligence

giving lip services to humane values

with no concern

for those subjugated

many cults hurt

the wretched poor

removing the very livelihood

of the small like cancerous cell

eating up all with no dirt

left at the corridor

many faiths elude reality well

providing a vision to exploit the little

appeasing conscience

the divine within

fooling self until the final reckoning

henry victor     11.04.2003

stop to breathe

‘creative writing’ has become my breath

while relating to people to find something

common like the ‘Good Samaritan’ sympathetic

to man stuck on road from Jerusalem to Jericho

speaking hence to Amber, Ashley, Arsha

Brian, Brenda, Bethusha, Beeby, Benji

and other children screaming and shouting

as they run to the ice cream vendor

and i stop not so much to fix the jammed

ice cream car, knowing well my ignorance

of motor mechanics, but to feel the pain

of man stuck on roads

and admire his patience and persistence

to make the machine work

though he carries not the tools

but a heart for children of rich shy folks

drowning in self-sufficiency

considering themselves more important

than a bard who stops to record

the pulsating heart; nay, to breathe!

henry victor    02.09.2002

two little goslings

as the sun went down to settle

in his home before the nightfall 

i went for a stroll

along a man-made canal

and in the twilight my eyes fell

now on a gosling stuck

on a cement crack

making her un-swim able

to run to her company

and she pulled and pulled until

a piece of skin too was floating

so i bent down to pick

to hold and to heal

the injured gosling

but trusting not my stance

that was nothing but pastoral

she swam as fast as she could

with one hand holding the hanging piece

i walked further and much farther

with a helpless thought

and a new pain in my heart

only to encounter yet another

gosling lost and lonely

and again i stretched my hand

picking her from waters cold

to hold her closer to my warm chest

while she trustingly

settled in my palm

henry victor       28.03.2007

 

two sides

to escape the cost, the pain

i sought the one sided coin

with which i could buy a ticket

for that sailing across my void

a journey from cradle to an empty pit;

generous compassion, i thought

i should transact to live my todays

dodging the travails of yesterdays

but purer the compassion more pain

was on the other side making gain

repeating that Nazarethean likeness

etching in soul, advanced with soreness

© henry victor

soaked in silence

she is either deaf

to hear that loud pulse

caused by my faltering heart

or, is extremely venomous

to sting with a single word

‘drama’, that made me dumb

to speak another word

like a father to daughter

but grace from above

or, from deep within

made me enjoy with ease

that silence above clouds

floating to and fro

aimlessly as a bitch in heat

while stillness from beyond

filled my heart with peace

© henry victor            18.04.2012

Jesus, the Nazarene

when with joy and confidence shouting the name

Jesus, the Christ in small churches and tall cathedrals

marketing his name and brand, while others

advertising their  products to consumers in home

and far away in overseas, Jesus of Nazareth

the man who hung on the cross with loincloth

softly spoke to summon with tone

so temperate that one can hardly hear

to come and live with him, to see for my self

the birds that have nests and foxes that have holes

while he, the son of Mary, the Nazarene

had neither a place to live nor possession to protect

reminding me i have nothing to lose

neither any to market, nor to advertise

but only a cause to live, a life

to suffer pain to offer more for the little

© henry victor     26.01.2003

play kindness

you healed my broken heart

making it overflow with delight

replacing older blocked veins

with newer memories, no pain

flowing like a fresh spring river

surging with melting snow of winter;

in the morning you protested my not

picking and throwing to the second

floor, the dog’s toy to play on way

to your school, teaching me to play

with a four-legged and learn kindness

an urgent skill than picking to count

© henry victor       28.01.2016

arms to embrace

you have given me much moons

and plenty of many an opportunity

yet i remain absolutely empty

but pleading from you for more!

awake now my soul! for it is time

to rise from sleep and slumber

to un-hoard the clutter of desire

in that nothing, the ego, act as if all

instead stretch your arms to embrace

the homeless, the hermits, the marginal

and the bleeding, walking also to the jail

to set free the broken-wing birds to fly!

© henry victor       02.01.2016

arms to embrace

you have given me much moons

and plenty of many an opportunity

yet i remain absolutely empty

but pleading from you for more!

awake now my soul! for it is time

to rise from sleep and slumber

to un-hoard the clutter of desire

in that nothing, the ego, act as if all

instead stretch your arms to embrace

the homeless, the hermits, the marginal

and the bleeding, walking also to the jail

to set free the broken-wing birds to fly!

© henry victor       02.01.2016

toad not croaking!

 

like that toad my little grandson brought
from the park you sit in my unkempt garden
with fewer flowers, fruits, and overgrown
tomato and lettuce plants now in neglect

here i neither see you nor hear your croaking

except, vaguely, as i parse your speech, breaking
of light and sound in my dreams i hardly
ever remember as the morning sun so deadly

towards my night i embrace, dearly, with affection;

for it keeps my eye lids shut and feet in resting position,
my invisible heart and mind complacent of the margin;
thus affirming your invisibility, a faith in great precision!

henry victor       01.09.2013

just in

each morning i wake with your gentle pat
that floats in the dawn light lightly touching
my cheeks and forehead after a good night
sleep with you beside, sleepless, watching

over my feeble frame with that anxious soul
fearful of the faltering arteries, vessels capable
of blocking, or clotting blood that streams
through to keep together the nightly dreams

that i at dawn may pet, pat another soul revealing
your essence, demanding me to bend down
to kiss him sleeping beside after repeated rolling
to lodge my pillow and with his arm to hug to own

henry victor     01.03.2013

Fashioned to Fashion

Your right hand made me
While your left arm cuddled
Me towards your breast
I’m now an earth-seed
I am flesh and blood
Aware of my puny self
And shaping, and re-shaping you
In my own indistinct, murky image
Until I mature to bear
Fruit of self-giving
And my flesh is warm enough
To incubate another life
The very purpose and destiny
That prompted you
To fashion, and re-fashion
My being in your distinct image!

Henry Victor 15.04.2004