Betrayed (Dedicated to the smartest 11 year-old I know)

Two lives that bore another
Sleep in two distant corners
Of a remorseless world
The little nest they built
Once held together by love
And promise
Is now fractured by memories
Half truths and lies
And betrayals
Of yesterday

Their little boy
Is tucked under a blanket
Of a dark experience
He sleeps
In a forsaken Palace
Trying to hold on
To receding dreams
The only glow in his world
Is the dim starlight

He struggles to understand
How those who loved him
And he loved so dearly
Could let him down
And take away his childhood
He will have to learn again
To trust
The love of another person
And to bear the pain
That love alone can cause
In its absence

People he once loved
Commands him
To have more faith
And hope
But each rising sun
Is a test that he must pass
To survive in a world
More cruel and unforgiving
Than those who stole the smile
He always wore on his face

He wakes up
To endure another day
To win the small battles
That life has arranged for him
To fill empty minutes
At school
With friends
In the playgrounds
Along dusty streets
And long winding roads
Of time

Sometimes he sings
A soft happy tune
From a happier time
He pretends and acts
But he cannot find the script
Of this drama
That he is acting in now
The scenes roll on
But there are no awards or medals
For the best actors and actresses

He can no longer notice
Or smell the sweetness
Of flowers in his own garden
Because winds carry the stench
Of rotting garbage dumps
That a wasted city
Has thrown by the roadside
He bravely blows away
Painful memories into the breeze
But also looses his grip
On happier ones

Beautiful stranger

I do not know what made me write
An unsigned verse to a charming dame
She replied before the dawning twilight
With adorable rhymes; mine seemed lame
She said, my words had made her day
And gently asked if I would reveal my name
I was trying to keep my thoughts at bay
Maybe she thought I was playing a game
I was nervous because I felt she might
Think I was pursuing pander and fame
My conscience raging; I was trying to fight
But my heart had already accepted the blame
I took off the mask that concealed my face
In truth and honesty I could see no shame
I pledged my amity and honoured her grace
It pleased my scruples, my mind was tame.

incomplete

On a mid winters' day in July 2006...

I came home from church in the morning and walked to my office at the university under a cloudless sky. Fresh shoots and buds are peeping out of their hiding in barren branches in the vain hope of an early spring. The day is bright, but the winds carry winter's chill. The sun beams a mild warm grin on the southern hemisphere and my heart remains lost in thoughts and dreams... of you.

I do not know where you are, yet I know that every day and every step I take brings me closer to you. Each battle I fight is fuelled by the promise of you and your warm and comforting embrace. I try to imagine the sound of your voice and to hear you whisper in my ear... and sometimes I almost do! I hope to catch the smell of your hair in my breath, though often I fail. In my dreams I see your lips curved in a half smile... and I smile back. The depth of your eyes stirs me in the depth of my soul. Your gaze makes me shudder. I crave to be in your dreams. Tonight you will probably be in mine. In you I shall find the reasons for my existence. Every time I watch the stars and moon, I wonder whether you are looking at them too. I thank the sun every day for keeping you warm in your own corner of the world. Thoughts of you keep me warm, as I wait for you patiently in my corner of the world. One day, our corners will merge... and become whole. I think of you whenever I hum a beautiful tune to myself, with each verse I write and with every jab of my guitar. I cannot see you or feel your touch, but I live in hope. The strength it gives me knows no failing. I miss you. I miss you most in the height of my happiness and in the depth of my sorrow. I preserve those moments so that I could share them with you one day. I remember you when I am afraid or tempted; then I am redeemed. I do not know why I put all my faith in you; when I do not even know who you are. I am awed by how you inspire me merely by the promise of your existence. The promise of you inspire me to be a better man... for you.

No matter where you are or what you are doing right now, I want you to know that I love you. I love you more than my heart and mind and soul could express. I have loved you from the beginning of time; and I will love you forevermore.

A sailor's quest

A lone ship drifting far out in the ocean
Led by a sailor with unyielding devotion
Sailing away from his golden beach
To an unseen port he is destined to reach
Guided by the stars at night in its course
The wind on his sails are his friends and foes
Braving the storms that others would dread
He sails with his eyes looking firmly ahead
At times he drifts with the ocean currents
Battered by the wind and harmful torrents
Trusting the compass of a perceptive mind
The path of his vessel he has clearly defined
The sea has proved that his spirit is fit
And the harrow of time has calmed his wit
But beacons of light in the distant shore
Tests his patience and burgeoning lore
The ocean in its grand and lonely expanse
His exhausted heart, it often would lance
But the hand of his captain on his shoulders rest
Though invisible they guide him in his daily quest

Our lantern white...

A lone white lantern dangles in the air
Lit by a candle burning bright and bare
A heart is dreaming about a maiden fair
Her startling smile and glazy eyed stare

Four hands did make the lantern white
As two hearts danced in blissful height
One flirting look and a mocking fight
Mixed in laughter made a frendship tight

The lone white lantern; in the wind it trills
Its light spilling out through naked frills
The lantern and candle in their daily drills
Lights their hearts with smiles and thrills

(Choose your own ending)

A gust blew the candle dim and dark
Hearts had lost their dreams and spark
The hull of a lantern; now merely a bark
Dangles in the corner of a forgotten park

or

Dancing in the wind our lantern white
Inspiring, uplifting and burning so bright
May eyes that behold this glorious sight
Light up and share love’s blissful flight