waiting for maturity

my heart is filled with tranquility

now that i am older and feebler
with that my youthful tribulations
and middle age totally disappeared

my feelings were similar earlier

as i became a youth beyond teen
with that no more ailment of a kid
remembering a previous feeling

my wait now for death, the final maturity

with which feebleness and helplessness
will be gone forever and there will be
no more hurting and no more crying

© henry victor     16.02.2003

Bird in Bush!

Life I take in hand like grabbing the bird in bush
And begin to beat, bang, battle and bounce
As if I am beating, battling and bouncing clay
To make a flawless cup
From which I may sip, and at other times gulp
Deriving a pleasing taste for tongue
That my mind may announce to soul: ‘indeed pleasure’
But only to end up with great pain
While my being fly and flee like the bird in bush!

This time I let life pick me like that bird in bush
Picking a worthless, wriggling worm
She picks, pecks, pinching me into pieces
To make me a faultless sup
For herself, her offspring, and then their poop
Deriving from my life a quick kick
While I mumble within my restless soul: ‘painful pain’
A whispering not heard outside my heart
As life is perished inside the belly of a bird in bush!

Henry Victor 15.12.2005

picking cowry shells

while wandering in eternity

i happen to be shipwrecked
and was surely stranded
in those isolated islands

whose seas i sometimes easily crossed

by swimming, at other times struggled
much to escape those pounding waves
clutching currents, and swallowing whales

when i did not have to battle monsters

desperately desiring to make short
my looming living, i spent my moments
picking cowry shells, smooth and glossy

these shells attracted me, ceaselessly creating

a tranquil music in a terrified heart
with a sturdy hope in mind, one day to trade
them for a better life in a yonder world

henry victor 04.01.2003

You the Nameless

pitching, always, Your tent
where I have pitched mine
beside my neighbor’s tent
You ever remain my Lord

You are peace from above
You are light from heaven
with life, that ever-flowing
river, You quench my thirst

You are that glorious whole
You are the most holy one
with praise, my feeble feet
in Your place, discover rest

You are that pioneer
You are that stone in corner
by being my servant
that serves in my need

Henry Victor 02.02.2003

Torment Me Not with Your Absence

despite my running into that abyss
for four decades
the reason for my absence from your grace

You still, to enable me to sublimate
my ever-flowing, limitless libido
the cause of the ill impact
of your grace on me and mine

visited me in that smiling baby
causing also guilt to another
teaching me, an old dog, some new tricks
that I may hound you, the hound of heaven
hounding me, before and beyond, those forty years

but, again, I have fallen from Your mercy
that was short lived in my life
making me now, to wander as a mad dog
looking for one more piece of bone
of seeing that smiling face, Your earlier grace
that I may peep at You, just once more

hence I drive to the west, then to east
looking also in south
sweeping your space from north
beyond Leduc and Millet, the city and the hamlet
while You torment me with Your absence

Henry Victor 14.09.2008

Acrostic Poem in Proverbs Thirty-One

A capable wife is far more precious than jewels.

Best wife she is and the husband will lack none.

Caring him, she does good, all the days of her life.

Diligently she seeks wool and flax, working with willing hands.

Eager she is like a ship of the merchant to bring food.

For she rises while it is still night to provide task for her household.

Goes to consider and buy a field with her money to plant.

Her mind she girds with strength and makes her arms strong.

I see her profitable produce and her lamp never goes out at night.

Joining those weaving clothes, she holds the spindle.

Keenly she opens her hand to the poor, reaching out to the needy.

Leaves out fear for her home when it snows.

Makes herself coverings and her clothing is fine linen and purple.

Never her husband is unknown in the city gates.

On account of her industriousness she makes garments to sell.
Power and pride are her clothing, and she laughs at all times.

Quenches she, the quest for wisdom, teaching kindness.
Reading well the ways of her family, she inspires hard work.
Sooner her children rise up, they call her happy.
Too many have done excellently, but a good wife surpasses them.

Unnecessary is charm, but a God fearing woman is to be praised.

Value her, giving the right share, and acknowledging her worth.
Worthy is a woman striving to be a good wife.

X-ray tube is as a good wife that generates healing and energy.

Yama, the god of the dead, too will bow down seeing a good wife.
Zillion praises are offered to a good wife, with the ultimate being.

Henry Victor 22.01.2003

Jesus, the Nazarene

when i was, with joy and confidence
shouting the name jesus, the christ
in smaller churches, and taller cathedrals
marketing his name and brand, while
others were advertising their own products
to consumers in home, and far away, in overseas

jesus of nazareth, the man who hung on the cross
with only his loincloth, softly spoke to summon
with tone so temperate that one can hardly hear

to come and live with him, to see for my self
those birds that have nests and foxes that have holes
where he, the son of mary, the nazarene
had neither a place to live nor possession to protect

reminding me that he had nothing to loose, or advertise
nor anything to market but only a cause
to live, a life to suffer pain

to offer more life for the little

Henry Victor 26.01.2003