rusty, mouldy, and faulty

your household cherishes rusty liturgy

irrelevant to daily days

giving no stimulation for struggle

to overthrow burden that cripple years

men and women who bear your son’s name

play with a mouldy mindset, dead doctrine

that has lost its power to guard your yard

from straying cattle destroying vegetation

children in your hall dance to faulty tune

until they are tired to meet death

and your banquet hallway is empty

being freed of all perishing wealth

henry victor   09.05.2003    

Note: Art work here is that of Justin Victor, my grandson when he was 5 years old: A Dinosaur (with a small brain)!

stoning and snowball throwing

i fled in fear from fellows

who felt might is right

and lost no time

implementing what they considered

exact and precisely accurate

hunting down

and stoning prophets

following their precursors

hesitating not

opposed and maligned Amos

Hosea, Jeremiah, and John the Baptist

now i sit, silently

with more hurt

and no further energy to sprint

among masses with language of right

tinged with democracy

spending moment after moment

networking with similar color

class, creed, similar speech

and a malevolent ‘hi’

with a filthy smile

while dodging liberties

of alternate voices and vision

these enemies

of modern day prophets

playfully fling snowballs

on heralds of peace

more painful

than the earlier stoning

henry victor     18.08.2002

a peep

that was a brief visit

to heaven; just a peep

i should say, into the garden

in which the only work

is much play

and harvesting to eat

to be gaudy

and gay

enjoying the caretaker’s labor!

for sure, i never planted it prior

making me feel

as if i was there to steal

but the sturdy warden

had a smile

as a bird that alighted

on my shoulder too

place and people sure did woo

for me to stay

to continue my play

but i did change my mind, my way

henry victor      15.04.2007

Saskatchewan River

i went by the Saskatchewan River

my new guru and an untiring comforter

this time, just to thank her

for the previous day’s lesson, my only offer

also for the quarter, much bigger

rise from the usual nickel

she gave me as i beat the trickles

of the spring rain, to explore her

further change for my soul

now hardened like a range of mountains

evolved through a long time

difficult to get rid of like the lime

deposited inside my kettle

that boils water

a generous gift

of the Saskatchewan River

henry victor     04.05.2007

escapee

 

you were just a few months old

when we bought a dozen of budgies

to keep the house noisy and colorful

it was then that one of these birds

got out of our aviary

that tore my heart and caused me pain

not because of the loss of my funds

or the decrease in the sound

but the escapee knew not

to survive in the outside world

marked by too many predators

now with three months more

for you to be eighteen

and with your flight

away from my sight

the same concern surfaced in my heart

leaving me with a sleepless night

henry victor      26.09.2007

bliss in ignorance

in ignorance

and more

in ignorance of one’s own ignorance

there is a perfect bliss

the bliss of a tortoise

inside her secured, secluded shell!

in ignorance

nothing is ever complex

for all are too simple

and for all

one has a simple answer: God’s Will

surfacing from the shallow waves

on that sea of ignorance!

but drown me, O my Master

in the depth of the ocean, the confusion

that is generated

from the multitude

of the multifaceted truth

or in that drowning, that death

there is, for sure, my bliss

my own restlessness!

henry victor      21.09.2007

too soon

a single Amaryllis bulb

into my Christmas gift did bump

like devotion to Christ

i, on time, with care did plant

blood-red flowers soon did bloom

delighting my heart

prompting fingers to photo-shoot

like fancying a young bride

too soon the wisdom of the astute

did knock on my door, my head

dollars in night dreams too fade

on waking like my drooped floret

© henry victor         12.02.2018

blow, i pray!

winds from God: wind

from humanity, winds from nature

winds from north, winds from south

winds from east, winds from west

blow, i pray; blow it hard

blow in my nodding mind

and in my unproductive yard

until aged are dropped to be dead

blow, i pray; blow it hard

until the self in slumber is awaken

and the roots are shaken

and shaken hard

and new life become firmly rooted

in my mind and in my yard

lent to me for productive plenitude

blow, i pray; blow it hard

© henry victor     03.02.2004

towards my home

i discarded

my comfortable couch

the cot i snoozed

and my job in university

that provided

me greater security

before i began packing

to go

on my way

i learnt the need

to leave behind much

i had been hauling

dropping further

my academic gown

i secretly cherished

with pride

i then omitted

shaving my beard

with rhythmic regularity

also omitting

trimming and grooming

my hair  

that was of no use

for my journey

steadily ignoring

the lust of my flesh

feeding not

much my body thirsted

and hungered

after a little while like a python

constricting my mind

i continue slithering

henry victor     16.08.2003

deer in solitude

my life is in the solitude

like a deer wounded

and deserted

by the herd

and i live in this seclusion

rebelling

refusing to run like a coward

with the herd

my courage

made me pause

to stop and watch

my pursuer

making self

a vulnerable beast

to continue

wildly in this cave

abandoned previously

to be healed

or i am completely

dead

henry victor     05.01.2003

reappearance of variety

sparrows bathe in front of my home

announcing the arrival of spring

i pulled to roll my curtain on pane

letting in joy birds bring into my hut

the absence of varied colours around

earlier made body shiver and freeze

so i closed all cold and social increase

with it i shut out light with my blind

now with the reappearance of variety

in shade and shape, the extra energizing

i receive for my path and my dancing

locking up tightly the monotony of winter

© henry victor     15.03.2003

Canadian citizen

rootless was my childhood beginning

with no granddad nor grandma to call

on, and having no cousins to play, or fight

with, i was then a son of an immigrant!

adopting men and women of dad’s new town

as my immediate relatives and watching them

enjoy my mom’s food and house keeping

i did overlook that i was born an itinerant!

considering a floating lotus, a perfect floret

my only girl’s welfare, a being accidentally

acquired to increase, at least, my branches

i am, now, a new, rootless, Canadian citizen!

© henry victor     06.05.2003

change

seasons change, with it scenes that create

moods and perspectives change, changing values

that change priorities, also, changing memories

with it change faces, changing the change in faith

garments change, with it, music that make

tastes and emphasis change, changing homes

that change addresses, also, changing friends

with it change foes, changing the change of habit

work change, with it the vehicle that carry

identities and personalities change, changing change

that change seasons, also, changing the author

of change, changing decay, and even death

© henry victor     06.05.2003

hope: merge with the large

money, always, easily slipped

through my fingers

lands that i tried to own also slid

quickly from my hand

the bed i slept in the night

someone else secretly

occupied in the day

the juvenile bird i cuddled

in my bosom

to give warm comfort and a nest

flew away to build her own

my remains too, soon

the fire will consume

leaving, perhaps, my soul

to merge with that larger soul

that welcomingly smiles

from behind the veil

© henry victor

a vision for my mission

i am like a chameleon constantly checking

the very strength of my post i occupy

doubting deliberately as doubting Thomas

until i am absolutely sure i can never be sure

to settle like a barn owl in my barn house

poised within despite scores of unsettled pressures

content with picking to eat rodents that destroy

life so precious while rest of the world slumbers

© henry victor 29.08.2003

 

sandwiched

sandwiched between the jagged immortality

and the feeble mortality

i carry within me the great sea

with her pounding waves

on its sandy soil

are scattered shinning shells

where even a silent shrimp

find a safe home

in surrounds of rocky reeves

while elsewhere

with those changing seasons

including the fallen leaves

and broken branches

the abandoned agricultural implements

witness the deer carcass

protected by a coniferous forest

henry victor      11.09.2003

me, a territorial hen …

time, that precise moment

will bring back my muse

easing the present that, un-

productivity, my current obese

releasing larger energy, power

into my mind and soul

refusing to lay an egg, like

that newly purchased fowl

in her new territory, my new home

and her new habitat

that is far, far away

from her former perching spot

overtly affirming her territorial

bent to move with ease

rare, but definite dissent

indeed, in that new space

am i, a territorial being, to freeze

like a computer before picking

another opportunity, to move

forward the past not licking

but laying my eggs

as a matured hen

again, with

a greater regularity!

© henry victor     09.10.2003

snow melting

 

sun-light strong and bright

piercingly penetrating

into my infrequently used office

down below people looking

for profit so cheaper

my silence disturbing

to seek or not to seek

your assistance

i need assistance to resolve

ground filled with snow

and sure, soon it will go

tree empty of leaf

and sure, soon it will grow

thoughts and concerns creeping

into my mind only to fly away

like those noisy sparrows

not sure what i want

menacing money, or an easy employment

with money in plentitude

sometimes, may be most of the time

strong yearning to go

away and be no more

a sense of betrayal, a sense of failure

sense of helplessness

and a sense of emptiness

strong senses silently pervading

ruling heart

and guiding mind

hostility, and enduring consciously

consistent hostility, cause

my weariness and a loss of heart

happenings contrary to my likings

and events to others taste

leading to disappointments

my blindness and my inability

to see snow melting

cause of my weariness

sun-light strong and bright

piercingly penetrating

into my infrequently used office

© henry victor     04.02.2003

living nightmare

my waking from slumber was too sudden

also, announcing others, my companions
in journey, about the entrance of our train
at the destination, with effects to un-board

before the carriage is shunted to the yard

to be locked for hours, may be for days
before becoming a carrier of another herd
in ride to a distant land, a different moment   

but it was nightmarish to unclutter dream

filled minds, purposeless lives, lumped
in the baggage of laziness with scattered
shoes and stocks of habitual procrastination

24.06.2014

finding mine

spring, i know, certainly follows winter

and you, with your inscrutable will, demand
absolute submission from me, and to me
you promise mercy, grace, and prosperity

as you outpoured the same to Abraham

Job and Jesus, not merely mythical figurines
and pieces of playful poetic ploy, inspiring
a waiting for your offerings with patience

while on my part, as a traveler of a pathless

path i have knocked every alien door
with the hope of finding my chair to rest
my feet continuing to trek your subtle trail

henry victor     05.06.2002