Dark clouds gather.
The dreary rain hardly pauses.
But I do not lose my way.
I know the pity of things.
And the love that rises
from the autumn dusk.
The floating colours
of days to come.

Some dance along
the swiftly moving sky
and pray for a length of years.
With no passion or pride,
only a burning lust
from deep within.
And finding there is
only transient joy in life.
Get stuck on constant replay.
Day-by-day, they lure young
souls with their sham realities.
Never casting an
eye on a world of truth.

Others, reflect the sky
and the water lilies.
Illuminating the young souls
with a heart-land
and fragrant brightness.
Without any distinction
made of this or that.
And a sky of honesty and
integrity that gives lodging
to the sun and moon.
Making something for which
there is no end in sight.

Everything blooms and dies.
This world is nothing but
a swiftly moving wave.
The daylight always fades.
As the cherry-blossom
lie scattered on the earth.
But we have the mind.
Always present.
And yesterday is past.
What shall we be today?​

Sometimes I think I suffer.
But then, I think how I
would feel in the rice fields.
Working 12 hours a day –
with no way to get out.
I think of the factory workers.
Choking while eating.
Choking while sitting on the toilet.
Choking whilst living.
With no way to get out.
Except maybe to say goodbye.
Then, I find unwanted
words and a few good souls –
and put them together.
And I am grateful to resume
such a normal posture in life.
For there is always a way to
move beyond the shadows.

​

A single boat –
talking to the sun
and then the stars.
All about the paths
through ancient clouds.
A place the morning moon
lights the dim scenes
Truly, this is where
the souls of travellers go.
Now that autumn
time has come.

​
​Shadows from
a lingering sun.
Still its glory blazing.
Autumn leaves
are ready to dance.
But still they wait
in fading summer streets.

I went to collect a parcel.
And you joined me.
For a moment I closed
my eyes and breathed –
casting the self away.
My body, heart and soul
in the same place.
In that moment I saw
the earth, river and
mountains melt in the air.
And the melancholy hooting
of the owls, singing
their nightly song.
I wondered where in this
world is there any dust?

A plane overhead
crossing a country.
With streaming circles of
clouds dancing in anticipation.
Waiting for a clear
route to an exodus.
Along the river bank,
the last of the summer blooms.
Yellow, silver and pearl
all clapping as one.
Then drifting back into
an age-old silence.
Above the rim of dense trees
a glimpse of the stars still to come.
So, I give my mind
to rapture and despair.
To the true nature of
a kindred world.
And walk on…….

​

​
​I thought of you last night.
As a sunset and evening star.
Present in my life.
Perhaps, I will not see you again.
But our road was
always my true road.
Yet in the mist of nothingness.
Everything is clear.
To live life beyond a dream.
Then, those two imposter’s –
heaven and hell – are left behind.

​

Can you hear?
All around me, a silence.
The names of the dead
and the names of the living.
Seeping into the earth.
Only the summer breeze
moving the shadows.
Nothing, nothing
in the world – but this silence.
​