last request

since i have had my share

of pain, painful, and pleasing pleasure

i plead with you to take me

home now to be with you

like me wrapping my mat

after napping a whole night

in case you decide to delay

i do not ask for a relay

of pleasure and pain

but a quiet desk, and a pen

for the flow of my fable, my gory

to transform into a soothing story

henry victor     27.12.2003

death gives life

death, the destruction of the bee

at such a great height

leads not to the end

but yields to a new hive

from the new honey will ooze

boosting novel life!

defeat, destruction of victory

after patient endurance

leads not to the end

but yields a fresh muse

transforming thoughts

into lines, prompting peace

© henry victor     23.01.2004

being in love

my love for you, utterly, embraced

the total you, including the new life

bulging, but silently, inside your belly

and ear-rings, your protesting my style!

my love for you bent mine straight

into your heart with a mesmerising energy

submitting mine to your diction, a dictating

i blindly delighted, as if you are my mother!

my love for you painlessly twists my arm

that i neither dream nor truly pack my baggage

to leave my old home, or go out to look

for a spouse, a re-placement for a lost love! 

© henry victor          02.06.2016

i'm Jonah

i’m Jonah singing un-rhythmic song

instead of researching and writing

paper for presentation to correct wrong

in social milieu; much evil promoting

i go to Tarshish avoiding Nineveh

dodging task entrusted to perform;

i sleep much at bottom of the boat

undisturbed by the turbulence out

i grumble when comforts i earned not

from me removed swiftly, for another

to enjoy while i’m in discomfort

wailing with songs in my chosen corner

© henry victor     19.05.2003

bamboo branch

with vacuum i have filled

my vacant mind

transforming self

into an empty bamboo branch

now i wait for you to blow

your whispering wind

bouncing rhyme and rhythm

by being in that void

singing a song in my heart

making my soul to leap

and dance as my dead body

walks to my grave

that final empty space

for a final sleep

as my soul braves your surface

like a lion not un-brave

© henry victor     01.08.2003

a remoulding required

my mind needs to be redesigned

possessing all the characteristics

of that back-country duck’s back

that none can ever easily wet

my spirit requires transformation

that neither praise nor curse will stick

after installing my very best

in the sacred or the secular precinct

my life hungers for new ideals

a real, the second nature of a cuckoo

that sings not for human applauding

finding reward only in an act of singing

© henry victor     19.11.2003

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