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

peace and tranquility

i do not turn to you for my peace and tranquility

though i will enjoy both if they are a by-product of truth,
righteousness and a sense of equality with no discrimination
towards the small, the poor, the less fortunate -

those who live in a humble

abode, and use little
or, no weight to throw around
to make life easy for themselves!

i find my moments with you filled with agitation

for i bring much conflicts to your table
ending up battling you like Jacob with the angels
on his way to make peace with his brother Esau!

i pray that you give me grace when the going is tough

that i may never disown that which you own
deep in your heart and soul that i may learn your will
and live the same even when that brings nothing -

nothing but a constant pain

for there is more peace
being grafted to your mind
than in all peace and tranquility!

by the waters of the Pacific

by the waters of the Pacific

i sat down and wept
as i remembered the hundreds
of immigrants cheated
and let down by a culture of bigotry

on the weeping willows

i hung up my violin
and my cymbals refusing
to sing the songs of plenty and freedom

in valleys of the Rockies

and in spacious prairies my Caucasian
hosts wanted me to sing
some songs of joy

but, how shall i sing

the song of joy and freedom
in a land where the colour of your skin
matters the most

if i forget my rights let my right hand

wither and if i forget my honour
let my tongue cleave to the roof
of my mouth

if i do not remember your discrimination

or, if i do not set my rights above my joy
let me perish in this alien land

blessed is that one who takes up the cause

of colured immigrants and does not dash
their hope on the rock of prejudice

henry victor     27.05.2002

 

and fruits hidden

i hid my soul in your heart like a seed
deposited in the dust on a cool evening
just before the sun had set closing
another date with his mate, the mother

earth, eager to see and benefit

from a fragrant flower and fleshy
fruits; though my soul barely soared
and like a seed scarcely saw light

water, or those nutrients, yet the stone

germinated eventually to be trampled
under foot growing as an unwanted plant
to be uprooted and replanted many times

dropping leaves, drooping almost to die

but continuing to exist with many bruises
inflicted carelessly, yet growing into a tree
surviving with scars and fruits hidden

henry victor     21.06.2002

 

Spare Wheel

Sparsely used second-hand spare wheel am I
Tightly screwed down below the dark deck
Shut out of sight, sitting stoically nearer to street
I stroke, or touch not that passing path
Except in very, very rare circumstances
When one of them becomes indisposed
But only for a dreadfully short moment
Then I am tightly fastened once again
In that very same stealthily secret space
In a planet where sharing is just a concept

Sparsely used second-hand spare wheel am I

Not inside an exciting sportive automobile
But in the precinct of wheeling and dealing of divine