Born of the sun and earth
And kin to the moon and sea
Life's immensity
Exceeds humanity
And the planet needs us
No more than fleas
So don't be fooled into thinking
We will always exist
In terms of the universe
We are no more than dust

                                           By Phil Roberts

I love the flowers, I love the trees.
I love the mountains, I love the seas.
I love the darkness, I love the light.
I love the morning, I love the night.
I love the silence, I love the noise.
I love the struggle, I love the choice.
I love the ending, I love the start.
I love the knowledge, I love the heart.
I love the grave's end, I love the first.
I love the greatest, I love the worst.
I love the couldn'ts, I love the coulds.
I love the evil, I love the good.
For the world would not be what it is--
If one of these things should ne'er exist.

(For context, I went to...)
British Kindergarten in England,
French Elementary in Switzerland,
International MS in England,
French HS, then Int'l HS in Korea,
(And then completed...)
Undergraduate studies in NJ, USA,
9-month gap year in Hong Kong,
Graduate studies in QC, Canada.

--------------------------------------------------------­----

I have shattered my identity.
Frequently. Involuntarily.

I have undergone assimilation.
Socially. Psychologically.

I have encountered discrimination.
Directly. Racially.

I have endured isolation.
Grievingly. Impotently.

I have ill-wished on others.
Subconsciously. Unintentionally.

HOWEVER –

I have learned to be human.
Individually. Collectively.

I have discovered empathy.
Emotionally. Compassionately.

I have gained knowledge.
Culturally. Geographically.

I have acquired expertise.
Intellectually. Linguistically.

I have become a citizen.
Locally. Globally.

Perhaps we who are born and meant to move,
Are intended to, and exist to locomote forever,
Walking lands, sailing oceans, mastering the world.

Child of mine please know

All things have a season

All things have a time

If stars can fall, then crash and burn

Humans fight and fail to learn

Then time has nought to teach

The blind will never learn to see

And the deaf will fail to hear

Even mighty rivers run dry

And seas can also die

Today

my heart stopped beating

But time has taught me this...

Love is where you find it

Follow joy wherever you can

Hope can spring eternal

Fellowship remains in man

The darkness is where my soul enjoys
The quiet pleasures of solitude
The darkness is where I hide my voice
Not needing an ounce of fortitude

The darkness is where I can sing, dance
With all freedom to say what I want!
The darkness is where I'm out of trance,
From the cycle that light does to haunt.

The light is where all my fears had grown;
Such brightness that I could not hide.
The light is where my failures, exposed.
Mocked me and persuaded me to die.

The light is where I see all faces,
That want me gone somewhere far away;
The light is where my grief replaces,
And my joy won't see the light of day!

I can not move, I can not just speak,
So freely, for they will judge me then.
In the light is where I feel so weak,
And I long for the darkness again!

I can not hide my face in the light,
I can only hearken their laughter!
And so I cling to the starless night,
And stay in the darkness, forever.

Her passion burns bright
her fire catches me
igniting my soul
aroused by lust violently
her flames engulfing me
consuming my mind
body held in captivity
submitting mentally
enchanted by her majesty

When powers she wields
river she breaks homes
floods paddy fields

Swords of rains
swells her hurt pride
boils her veins

Vengeful she brims
breaks the lock gate
cultivator's dreams

Gone is sweet flow
in the moonlight
soft silver glow

Simmers her soul
raging red hot
she burns like coal

With inflamed tides
she devours the crop
growing on her sides

River now a curse
she wouldn't recede
without leaving scars

She can't be blamed at all
men have only ravaged her
taken her all.