if

if you do not want to tell me

the joys
of your friday evening
why should i reveal to you
my pain

you will remain
a stranger
not a brother, not a ...

i let you go

henry victor            03.08.2018

cushioning of nests

murmuring i heard coming through windows

not shut in heaven closer to corridors

opened to slums of children!

heaven confused of ambitious preachers

serving prestigious churches in cities

while sanctuaries elsewhere permanently deserted!

generous gifts and atmosphere of apathy

produced by great organ-music so expensive

are signs for pinnacle of worldly success!

costly stained glass windows permit not

into sanctuary rays of light from slums

and the loud grief and cries of children!

supply station has been transformed by the rich

and their angelic allies into the place of refuge

with no errands except cushioning of nests!

henry victor     21.07.2002

walk the path of Jesus

i have halted my hoping

for your encouragement

and you sustaining my work

of justice and reconciliation

and i expect not you

the patron of the patronizing

rich and the insensitive pretenders

to keep my vision alive

for i am brutally betrayed

by the same kiss of Judas, the pan handler

and cautiously rejected

by the chief priests and caesars of today

and thereafter cruelly crucified

by the sadistic fun loving masses

but will i not continue in the same path

of that crucified Jesus of Nazareth

© henry victor

 

hypocrisy

honey was dripping from food he served

in an elegant golden plate shone, in

his hands, ornamented with gold, while his

mouth, with no stop, dropped words of sweet talk

knives many, invisible and very sharp

in that banquet hall spread all over

his eyes fixed on target to stab, while

heart contemplated that one murder

© henry victor     15.08.2003

Note: First words from each line read together from top to bottom will provide a proverbial phrase!

grace i seek

i seek that grace

that sought me at Calvary

i seek that grace

that paid for my release

i seek that grace

that erected an altar in my heart

i seek that grace

that ordained my soul a priest

i seek that grace

that is absent in hypocrisy

i seek that grace

that overflows in common sense

© henry victor     03.09.2003

dream short lived

i bring to you the dream

i feel will be short lived
in this country
of peace!

exactly a year ago when i escaped

that tragic accident escaping
with a minor bruise to my ford focus
my red station wagon
i assumed you sent your angels
to shelter me for a greater work
in the peace country
of building a togetherness
with three distinct communities
that this unity becomes a model, to shine
as bright light for others to walk
with ease!

today after so much of hard work

from passionate and single minded
commitment to you and your Kingdom
with willing, simple, and transformed life
with much grazing your word
i find there are still forces
surfacing from self-importance desiring
a takeover i cannot battle any longer
with ease!

hence, here i stand

for your opening me the door
your showing me the path
to walk my next step
or, for your sending me that angel
once more that i may return
in peace!

the three

he holds you tight under his arm-pit

dancing on waves like a wood on drift
with other drift-woods swimming not
to the shore, to you, the eternal rest spot

the other, with you on the same spot

too swims with speed, not aimlessly float
but deep under water with intent
to whirl the water above with its content

the third he steers the rudder of the boat

pretending to swim with others in the moat
his own dug-out, to colonise you and the rest
the submissive slaves, with no quest, nor zest

henry victor     31.08.2013

 

tattoo

she tattooed my face on the skin
of her back
sculpting my enemy’s on her bone
deep inside

but all that i needed from her

was a whisper in my ear
and that she walked to my table
to sip my wine, my pain

squeezed from those grapes

of my joys, that unfolding
of her frame in that grotto
inside the cave of my heart

a re-arranging of cells

in my brain
that dictated my past memory
and future path of my limbs

as they walked to my grave

the real sleep, with unreal dreams
set aside, to my re-embracing
my mother’s womb

15.04.2012

Devil’s Face!

Where and whenever I navigated to dodge the devil
God was absent, filling space with hypocrisy that
Builds permanent monument to the sacred -
His, the devil’s, distinct trickery
Church lending the strongest support
There crucifixion is the award for sincerity
The bulldozing of truth and justice
Devil thus continues his rule that
Has a religious face, and
His many disciples, nay, almost all from that
Chapel where Jesus gets his lip service

Henry Victor 31.05.2003

Note: Reading the first word of each line downward will reveal a proverbial truth.