conquering the insubstantial

i remember well: i was not even ten

and my brother in teen

you taught me to beat the devil

conquering the insubstantial

as we walked in the dark

where non-stop the dogs bark!

now i take rest in the thought:

to come out too late, i ought

not, lest my daughter fear the devil

when one, for sure, she finds

in this land where two are absent:

dogs that bark

and nights that are dark

henry victor     29.10.2002

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

declining to teach

after spending almost my entire life

canoeing in the shores of the Palk Strait

surrounded daily by dolphins

and hammer head sharks i feel

a sense of defeat to teach

my daughter canoeing in the banks

of Athabasca where salmons swiftly swim

with Athabasca Falls only few blocks away

i shudder and cease boasting

my past boating, soberly announcing:

‘boat making and boat paddling

are butterflies, discovered and caught

and never taught’; politely

but with no dithering, declining

to speak of sailing

to the sacred, into the ultimate

© henry victor      04.08.2003