Section 4: Life

Prologue

Though  life may seem like a dream, as time flows along the stream

Keep rowing, through nightmare, sweetness and in between

Life overflows with blessings, if counted in retrospect

Live the gift of life to its fullest, so you can leave it without regret

Life is shorter than most have thought, and none lives forever

In the face of perplexity, surrender to the water, and face your fear

Live not for only yourself, live not solely by personal desires

For a life worth living is one lived for yourself as well as for others

Human

By bond a relative

By name a stranger

By planet a native

By face a foreigner

Friend by age

Enemy by place

Alien by language

Human by race

Hypersensitive

I wait for the storm to calm

For the better days to come

Waiting for the dust to settle

For the end of this meaningless battle

Why do we fight in the first place?

How is it that we are fighting for our race?

And why do I have to hate your religion?

How blind should I be with this vision?

Why can’t we just live in peace?

Why must I be blind to similarities

And when it comes to differences

I have to be hypersensitive?

Ocean Wave

I’m riding through this life

As if surfing an ocean wave

Sailing through the good times

As well as the bad days

Boldly swimming across a cold

Body of fresh and saltwater

As my boat and I voyage

To the vast profound yonder

I try to steer this ship

But destiny follows no compass

This cruise is taking me

On an uncertain adventure

Braving raging sea storms

Knowing that all will come to pass

Savouring the calm sea breeze

Knowing that the shore is near

A Hole in My Ship

There's a hole in this ship

That I'm tirelessly steering

And I'm sinking along with it

As I let the salty water in

I have let the wind sway my soul

And dictate my course

Dragging me down due south

When I was bound for north

I'm this ship's captain

Yet I let it be broken into and overtaken

I overlooked the tip

And hit the iceberg that sank my ship 

I want to be unswayed by the cold

And savour the wind of the sail

Now I need to seal the hole

To be able to float on this sea again

Duality of Test

Perhaps

Pain and pleasure

Despise and desire

Prosperity and disaster

Victory and failure

Grief and laughter

Shame and fame

And health and death

They all should be treated just the same

For they are curses and gifts alike

No, they are tests of life

The price we pay for breath

Let It Be

Let the autumn fall

Let the winter crawl

Let the moon wane

Let it rain

Let the storm rage

Let the smile faint

Let the laughter fade

Let them hate

Let them come

Let it go

For such is life

An ebb and flow

Red Book

Before she slept

She took a look

At her red book

Before she left

And hit the road

She wrote a note

She’d promised them

That she’d return

She told she would

She moved away

Away from home

Without a say

She knew that day

Away from home

And their stay

A better world

A world of bliss

She’d been promised

Yet there was pain

Still there was fear

Though in the end

Luck sided her

Her life had changed

As theirs stayed

And forgotten

She had it all

She had stood tall

But—such is life

—Soon met her fall

She realised

That all the while

There was something

She was missing

She then recalled

The note she wrote

Before she left

Her buried root

She’d promised them

That she’d return

She told she would

She was in tears

For she had been

Away from home

And so that night

That chilly night

She stopped and stared

Then take a look

A long, hard look

At her rood book

Lost

I found my home

I lost my way

For I had roamed

Far had I strayed

I heard whispers

A small foul spell

Tempting whistles

The ringing bell

Down the valley

In back alley

I made a friend

With a conman

Blindfold was donned

He led the way

I had been warned

Of such foul play

'What is the price

Of this?' I asked

'Why hide your eyes

Behind your mask?'

'Are all these lies?'

'No', the friend said

'There is surprise

If you just wait'

'Take my advice

From good old wise'

…Or big bad vice

In his disguise

Despite the prize

I missed my town

Out bawled my eyes

Until I drowned

Predator preyed

And the wind swayed

'Have I to stay

Or run away?'

City of sin

Of cold and noise

Will evil win

With its strong voice?

I looked above

To all the stars

Showing me north

Showing the path

I returned home

All on my own

I fled the storm

Then I felt calm

Journey

Where is my place in this crowd

How do I fit in

My whisper versus a noise this loud

Maybe I too should learn to scream

Where is my home in this world

Would anyone accept me

Perhaps home lies far away

For now I'm on a journey

The Beholder

I exist to behold

To watch as grand tales unfold

From a distance, in silence

With the gift and curse of vision

I exist to behold

To see, if not to hold

Lost in profound wonder beyond yonder

Often with newfound desire

I exist to behold

As multiple worlds entwine

Revolving around my axis

Each telling their own stories

I exist to behold

But more than that

For the beauty and my very existence

I exist to thank the Creator

Beauty and Transience

Just as the moon wanes

All things beautiful fade

So do pleasures and pains

So do love and hate

Perhaps evanescence itself is beauty

In a world wherein all things are temporary

Like the oscillating crest and trough of wave and its tide

Like the seasons taking turn and the alternating day and night

Empty

An empty gut, and empty hand

With silverfish as friend of mine

All alone, yet happy I am

Pathetic, but perfectly fine

Liberated, I feel wildly free

From materialistic gravity

None to lose but peace within me

I feel quite full in being empty

Love Yourself

We tend to dramatise our life

When we cannot romanticise it

Because we would rather live in melancholy

Than die of boredom

Epilogue

Fear not the waters, your depth renders them shallow

Fire all of your tears, for downpour precedes rainbow

If you wish for silver, look up to the passing cloud

Or into a mirror, for you are one amongst the crowd