blending

by the river i bend down

to note down

in my note-book

for i hear the water flow

but see not the bottom of bed

not even knee deep

i breathe the fresh air

but creeps that ugly doubt

i think i feel the pollutant

inside the hairy cave

as my eyes gaze across

the floating smoke

but breeze brings closer

the tall grass

while the flower on crown kisses

my cheeks

does it also say:

take it easy

now i become truly aware

of my ignorance

of the music of another language

earlier my eardrums

did vibrate

for songs of winged friends

and my eyes

transcending colour

determines my career and size

of my worn out wallet

there, once i saw

the transcendental unity

the perfect blending of north

with south

with a clout of the latter

in the human litter by the river

it read, SUN-RYPE:

apple banana with citrus pectin

and natural flavor

a perfect dried fruit snack

recommended, also for those striving hard

to keep harm count low

henry victor      18.06.2003

my healing stones

bonnie, my friend, the native elder

offered my daughter

two palms and full of healing stones

now i play with, until my mind

overflows with, grace-filled healing!

these stones are not amethysts,

bloodstone or carnelian

neither are they red jasper,

white lace agate,

brown black purple white agate

the alias, coyomito agate

but simple stones of the simpleton

with red, pink, orange, and yellow

green, blue, indigo and violet

adding a few lime-green and blue-green

also silver-grey

brown, black, white, and gold

included among are some clear

but each one is powerful too

henry victor      08.03.2007

peace trail in the park

the trees in the park

invited me to walk

under their corridors

winds whispered secrets

fresh as freshly pulled carrots

for my feeble frame

pigeons and finches darted

up and down until i crafted

my poem beneath the trees

along the trail i heard songbirds pipe

i may with joy quickly elope

despite sorrow walking beside me

lilacs showered fragrance

lifting me into a tranquil trance

as i walked the park’s peace trail

henry victor      01.04.2007

take leave to hover

o my soul! leave this familiar desk

put aside the floppy disk

drive out of the city boundaries

picking up the pair of binoculars

go out my soul!

the land out there is vast

with landscape much varied

and it is summer time

your eyes and mind need to be tuned

on for machinery discarded and scattered

have lessons to teach

winds there too will sing their refrain

o my soul, yours is a fraction of eternity

let the music of birds enter your hall

driving out every evil in that tiny hell

but let your eyes be free to see afar

and nostrils too smell

away from the jar

let your feet walk where there is none

for what your fingers type will go in vain

o my soul! leave this familiar desk

put aside the floppy disk

drive out of the city boundaries

where space floats to let my soul soar

henry victor     24.07.2002

am i doomed?

in stillness of my heart

to my spirit

i whispered:

‘in the remaining little life

i will indulge

exchanging my lifeless idols

to the living God

of sparrows and swallows’

‘i may regain

my childhood strength

for silliness, swiftness

and celebrate the care-free life

of flying with freedom

and no anxiety’

but my idols heard me

and refused to let me exchange

values, exclaiming

with great revenge:

‘doom you are, with your habits

of craving’

leaving me

to live

grudging my idols!

henry victor     26.08.2002

enslaving my soul

with rising of the sun

common ravens

ring-billed gulls

and on rarer occasions

the lesser loud black-billed

magpies

living in the broader margin

carved by ambitious likes of mine

and me

come to my window

they sing sweeter songs

of sturdy sovereignty

made possible only by a mind

willing

to crucify the bloated ego

without concurrently proclaiming

a pseudo puritanical life style!

as i stop my soul

to listen to their call

to abandon ambitions

i shut my eyes

and plug my ears

(as if someone beside me is snoring)

and bury my body

deep into my comfy bed

shutting

also, the window

refusing a musical light

and lessons provided

by thoughtful birds

my winged companions

by this i enslave

my pitiful soul

in personal

but tainted imaginings

henry victor     22.08.2002

too early

too early to dive, to swim

or for fishing

too early to make love

to make a nest, or for dreaming

some yell at the lake still frozen

to dive, swim, or fishing

some, perhaps, more matured

wait, patiently, until the wind blows

and the sun softens to melt

thick ice to water

that the fish may come up

to peep, to celebrate the spring

and sacrifice their flesh

that you may eat and drink

to make love

and multiply before you leave

henry victor      11.04.2007

pilgrim in pilgrimage

this morning i pledged

in the presence of Canadian geese

i, like their kind, would be at ease

to fly back and forth

to remain a pilgrim in pilgrimage

without securing my location

and i would enjoy the moment

always beating the winter

cold and dark and let it never

dictate, or control my soul

expecting, always, great moments

and attempt to do greater doings

henry victor      26.04.2007

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

untitled

in my little boat i have left the shore

and intend not to return

until i reach the shore

far beyond that horizon

and from citizens there i learn

the art of sailing in rough seas

in my small boat

with a hole in the bottom floor

gulls did declare the regime change

in my home town

and the fishing eagles, to me did inform

my house had been consumed by fire

but i intend not to return

to bury the dead

until i reach the shore

far beyond that horizon

and from citizens there i learn

the art of rowing in rough seas

in my small boat

with a hole in the bottom floor

henry victor     18.08.2007

flowers in the wild

the flowers in the wild

turned down my invitation

to sit beside the flowers in the vase

in that grandiose palace

open merely for an hour

or, may be, a little more!

preferring cold

and a windy breeze

they flatly refuse

the flattery gossips of guests

and the wrangling

within the vase

henry victor      06.09.2007

trail

i walk that old trail

with hope to beat a little

the sugar count

but more to leave another trail

my walk along the river

with a little quiver

caused by my bone

not ready to fight a beaver

i return from my stride

excited like a bride

elevated by the groom

himself driving that ride

though it was only a coin

that i added to my loin

but sure there were hugs

and a kiss from that grass crown

henry victor     18.06.2003

yearning

deep within the forest

elephants walk

the un-walked trails

deep within the forest

wild pigs work

the un-worked land

deep within the forest

eagles reach

the un-reachable heights

henry victor     18.06.2003

fellow creatures

domination and desire

for greater dominance

over other fellow creatures

multiply their powerlessness

unseen they suffer

unheard they cry

in agony they linger

in loneliness they die

powerless!

and their fate

under human control

until the rise of a volcano!

henry victor     10.10.2002

paradigm of gratitude

mountain ash, elm, poplar and weeping

willow, my cherished sisters

children of my mother earth

you are a paradigm of gratitude

the blanket you knit to cover

our naked mother as the cold winter

advances to cover her feeble body

sustaining us in life and in death

shedding your very organ, you absorb

the energy our father sun sends

with such impartiality on the selfish

and the very liberal to warm and nourish,

your willing sacrifice puts me

to shame that i, the leader

with all my learning have mastered

nothing but egotistic grabbing

and have miserably failed

to learn even basic skills

on generous giving

you teach eloquently with regularity

henry victor     09.10.2002

i submit

gentle breeze; can be

windy, rarely cyclonic

i watch and submit

henry victor     13.08.2002

a simple life

life and order painted

in a war cemetery

is not what i sought

after for my life

but a little brook

rolling over a rock

the hardened pain

of loveless years

that i may sit still

and listen to music

in the running water

and in the wailing

of the swaying perches

the choice of magpies

and the plainer raven

far from hustle of the town

© henry victor           24.01.2018

cataloguing

the longer i wait to be hired

my mind wanders from peaks

majestic to silent lakes

and sunny sandy beaches

my mind also walks through bushes

the elegant elephants walked my trail

to make my soul, rushing faster

from the scorching sun, there so typical

yet, the stronger ironwood

and the sturdy satinwood

the costlier ebony, and other softer woods

including the saner neem

grew with the aggressive buddha’s bo tree;

the delay in hiring could make my heart

resent and renounce the cooler shade

of the shimmering poplar

and the silent weeping willows

the majestic oaks

with the cosmetic russian olives

and the friendly birches

© henry victor      27.07.2001

schooled

 

i was schooled

not in the school

of scoundrels

who, exactly know

the way of success

and plenty

these seemingly wise

rebuked me

for my refusal

to follow

their easy model

rather i was schooled

in the school

of trees

and those distant stars

as the clouds

fair and dark

tutored me

to be free

like singing creatures

of wings

large and small

to fly, and fly away

and never be afraid

of want, height

or even failure

i was schooled

until i learnt

the lessons

to let go

as those seemingly wise

rebuked me

for my refusal

to follow

their easy model

of success

and plenty

© henry victor     25.01.1981

strengthening my solidarity

from the fossils buried deep under glaciers

earth, and oceans, your writings of the history

of my world you continuously create and heal

i decipher my revelatory beliefs of you, to call

it my theology, promoting it with my praises

of you so silly, empty, and deceptive to neighbors

and self without strengthening my solidarity

with that life-giving mother nature

the rivers, the plants, the animals and the fowls

including the turkey, a foolish imitator of the peacock

may be then, and may be then, i will have a chance

of not ending myself a sandy, or a stony fossil

© henry victor             27.12.2002