burnt breakfast

my mind is inclined to do that good

and i labour hard, putting lot of my heart
but often ending with an effort wasted
throwing into garbage like my burnt breakfast

and it continues to pierce my nostrils

even in noon, reminding my lack
of awareness caused by my preoccupation
of another work that could have waited

i pray you remove all greed that keep

creeping into my heart, including hunger
for more work sometimes done in your name,
for your sake with no time for ‘awareness’,

an increased concentration of the One

that matters most at any given moment
to augment energy to complete the task
at hand; this i lack and from you i ask!

making her nest

i observe my daughter growing

from dependence to independence
breaking away from comfort and security
from living under my shade and shadows
to that making of her own nest!

and i congratulate her though inwardly it hurts

sometimes like an anginic piercing in heart
and i know this must happen
and it is to this end my parenting
should journey towards!

this makes me wonder

whether it is a sign of immaturity
that i keep coming to you seeking
shade and shelter under your invisible
wings like a chick running into her mother
hen’s wings every time a raven fly past by her!

teach me then the art of balancing

between my dependence on your providence
and my need for independence
another aspect, the other side, of your providence
demanding my growing into maturity
of body, mind, heart and spirit
that i will eventually be equipped to judge
critically, and create the new city
with you in the ocean i am placed!

place me higher

your face i seek so intensely though often

i stumble around not knowing how to seek
your countenance more effectively and knowing
not exactly in what form i will see
your semblance before my heart will be content!

there is just one desire that is predominant

in my heart though many more may dash
like hundreds of waves dashing at the shore;
and that one is to have you
to my mind’s far-reaching fulfilment!

it is only in you and in your face

that i will find my perfect rest
from all these restlessness that stems
from my search for you
and your exterior expressions!

delay not to visit me with your distinct

form and content that will lead
to the transformation of my life
lived at present in many prisons
from which i am unable to escape!

release me from my prisons and protect

me from those growling dogs
around me snarling all the time they see
me, ready to tear me into pieces
considering my stand too radical!

place me high up on your hill

where neither storms nor floods
can touch me, or the enemy approach to kill
me to rid of all my unpolluted thoughts
emerging from my seeking your face!

 

cornered or enslaved

“cornered”, commented your conscience!

i know for sure you have a conscience
one that you have now, carefully, cornered
for your convenient cornering others!

but as for me, i am enslaved, and you hinted

in your note with the first two, and the last two words
you hand-picked, like you hand-pick tomatoes
in the store before you store them in yours

once we understand who we are in our essence

the rest flows swiftly like in an unblocked kitchen
sink where beyond all violence all is cleansed
before we go for rest or for our recreation

henry victor     05.01.2015

 

i am envious

i realize i am almost, always, envious

of those who get away with all their wrongs
and i keep complaining about the flourishing
of the evildoers, forever scheming
and making no authentic reference to you!

i pray that you will teach me to delight

in nothing but in your sheer presence
bringing home your providence
the form and content i cannot dictate!

help me to be content with your will

that i may restrain my stubborn will
revolting against yours, insisting on my requests
that require not for my greater well being
known not at this flash before a further becoming!

fill my heart with peace that passes all perceptions

too human, too momentary, even if it is soreness
to my present mind incapable of weighing with care
the real gold from that which only glitters!

 

you make me laugh

i find it interesting to note that you control not

the affairs of the world like a lay leader
controlling a church community in the countryside
where the control without the values
of your Kingdom is very effective
leaving no room even for you to restrict!

i have often wondered whether the world

you sustain will function better
if you ran this world with an absolute control
like a grade two teacher in a countryside school!

not that i do not appreciate the greater freedom

you have given to all your human partners
to grow into that mercy full of loving kindness!

but to see that you are frequently left behind

like an Indian bus conductor issuing tickets
standing in the middle of the journey
while the driver drives away makes me laugh
and makes my coming to you for grace
and help superfluous like many rituals in your temple
and a waste of my precious time!

arise, arise O Lord and gird up the loins

of your mind and strike those who interfere
with your will, to spread their arrogant domination!

may your Kingdom with power come

to establish mercy in the margin
Amen, Amen, and Amen!

 

 

a contemporary confession

you are the very source of my life
though you always remain invisible to eyes
with limited focus and incomprehensible to mind
leaping like a monkey lacking patience

i sit not still to carefully weave together

the available evidence for your being
ending at the end doubting you and failing to feel
your presence pleasing my heart, compelling conscience

i am rarely ready to choose your will and walk

in the path you choose as it winds through the dark
valley lacking fame for self and also deficient
with worldly wealth but in plenty is repeated failure

though you have always remained sufficient

for saints who cherished your presence; they learnt
the art of quiet mind and the heart that only houses
your throne, emptying the vessel they sailed calm

but i am growing like a plant bent and choked

by a crowded surrounding desperately turning
towards the life giving sun to shine on her body
to yield a few fold before drooping to die

i pray, hence, you stoop down to lift me up

to the realm of your regular presence, the grace
i may breathe in and breathe out, your life-giving
silver rays to make my limbs strong and stout