oldest man!

 

to become the oldest man

ever to have lived in this world
is not what i aspire for
but a tranquil and a hard-working
life that i keep yearning for!

let me remain close to those

whose life i can make it brighter
and when i have to leave this world
let my going be swift and painless
to me and those whom i lived for!

while living let my life

be simple as well as my food
including more gorgeous greens
with less of manifold muscular meat
consumed with ceaseless cheer!

in my short life let me not campaign

against the wine that tickle
my soul but never going after
for me and mine, that very same
to sustain their, or my, laughter!

let my mind never settle down

with those who settle self-confidently
with easy answers that repudiate further
probing the well-traveled path
of life’s more complex questions!

04.01.2002

 

deserted cocoon

he was the crusty cocoon covering the caterpillar

boneless, yet filled with vibrant life, and belittling
the very source of her security, and the sacrifices
the casing made to transform frailty and un-beauty

later to lighter flight, much fluttering with splendour

of myriad colours as of acrylic paint and clear-coat
for weathering both the hot sun and the wet rain
before seizing the right moment to flirt with another

and never return to the cocoon, the first house

that remains deserted, forever a broken heart, blood
now dried, able to give no more life, mere useless
clothing, like the shed skin of a snake now escaped   

henry victor     25.06.2013

* This poem is dedicated to Fari Lotsali of Eagle Nation Buffet in Pitt Meadows, BC

 

from your son

mommy! you made your slim and sensual frame

into a shapeless bundle, bundling my being inside
you for nine long months, keeping me, a worm, warm,
free from hunger and thirst, marks of the world outside;

and today! you struggle to work so hard to remain a mom
of great affection, cuddling me, as you march to a profession
greater, and your time for me is likely to reduce, to dim
like a lamp gathering smoke soot on her facial expression,

like your mom before you, travelling that path of darkness

prior to teaching you skills to swim, to avoid sinking in a pool,
without that settling in a trailer park, to bike and hike, distances
incredible to inspire me, that i may avoid the way of a fool!

henry victor     12.05.2013