Don't tempt me
     many had tried before
     I am content in my poverty
     why would I need more?

Living life
ceases to be costly
when I no longer
take it seriously

Ten persons in the committee
       views expressed amounted to twenty

Chase nothing
  avoid dreaming

This the very truth:
often I don't see clearly
by committing to writing
I do away with ambiquity

Good for you
go for it
leave me out
that I want no bit

Let failure speak
  how sincere, how humble and meek!

I can't see clearly
   beyond my nose
   also cant' tell in any certainty
   which way the wind blows

I lean
   upon nothing
   neither do I hanker
    after anything

I need not
    be strong
   enough strength is mine
   if I do no wrong

Myself I must reduce
  a better person to produce

Giving in
giving up
having given such
no more drink in your cup!

So you want a favour
whom should you ask thereof?
it's none other than the person
you know best--your own self!

This is my way of living---

I know what I can do and recognise there are always many more things I can't do.

So, I let go that which is beyond my capability and reach.

Thus, my life has been enriched.

What I'm saying here is the truth

Join my smile--

life will love to see you

for a longer while

Together we sat to watch the late-hour stars
    as music lingered in the cool night air
    into your dreamy eyes I looked
    a blissful moment beyond every care

  do you remember how we met?
  spring's flowers were dancing everywhere
  you smiled when you walked by
  your beauty with none could I compare

  Such a glorious day this is!  you spoke
  as I was reading Keats' on the bench just there
  my heart leapt for joy and I said
  please sit by me -- as into your eyes I did stare

  oh, Keats' poems I do love dearly
  but how painfully his love did fare
  you then placed your tender hand on mine
  our hearts to each other we freely did bare

   ah, my beloved, how the years have fled
   yet this do allow me to declare:
   that spring day how could forget?
   as every token of love I still faithfully wear.

Be grateful you know little as this gives ample room for you
to learn---and this is the linchpin of your education and progress.

The reward here is the enjoyment--each step forward is likely a sip of good wine which will whet your appetite and bring you a smile through your living days.

Minds that are too full or over-crowded tend to be stressful
and their owners find it hard to relax or be happy.

Be like a child, regard yourself being still in the kindergarten of life
and you will be filled with wonder and joy.

I am blessed as I know little.

The more I assert
   I sound the more absurd

I should be circumspect
about assertion
at the wrong time and place
it could sound like aggression

Don't be taken aback
I'm taking a step backward
why? you asked? Simple:
I'm not ready to move forward

for it's costly and could be ruinous
to find myself stranded or in situations perilously awkward
life is not as easy as taking a drink or walk
nor as lighting a cigarette and least about being rewarded.

That which is imagined
          is worse than the pain

A STRANGE DREAM

I had a strange dream last night.
A wise man said to me so:
‘ There are only two words
  In life that you need to know’.

‘What would that be, sire?’
  The sage stroke his white beard and this he did say:
   ‘ Yes and no’ with a chuckle
    Now, I have promises to keep,  you must go your way’.

Dawn peeps through my bedroom window

   from a strange dream I've just awoken

   my heart is heavy with a deep sorrow

  no words could be spoken-



  she sent me a letter:

  I don't love you-- farewell

   I've found someone who's better

  no further words I need tell

....and suddenly
everyone begins
to be aware
of another
anywhere

strange!
not out of
compassion
or charity
but self-protection!

furtive looks
suspicion
trying to form
an opinion

it's not that
people have softened
but the truth is
with their safety
they are deadly concerned

no
not me
not us!

but maybe
you
he, she
they--

does any of you
or of them
are affected
by the insidious
coronavirus?

Let us not say 'Endanger'
but rather 'End danger'.

Grant me resilience
not intelligence
the latter is not
life's quintessence -

the former
is my unfailing strength
and never has cause
for any absence

The day is far from complete

           if with fine food I don't meet

           all the poetry of life would not compensate

           it's gastronomy that I most celebrate!

When beauty
is over-idolised
it accentuates
the ugly-

each in nature
has their right
all comparisons
only stoop to divide

I'm of no account
   I don't need to be noticed
  or found

When knowing
what to unlearn
is more important
than to learn

Be so unconcerned and detached
   you aren't even aware
   of the smoke coming out
    from your neighbour's thatch

When to disconnect
is better than to connect

Student:  Master, how do I reduce my stress?



Master:     Just think less



Student:   How do I think less, Master?



Master:     Forget words.



Student:   Master, how do I forget words?



Master:     Just breathe in and breathe out

                  slowly and as gently as possible

                  such an act requires no words

                  they will no longer create any more trouble

(.    25 years later, the student took over the Master's role

      in the same place after the Master had passed away)

A tear,a cry, a sigh of someone, anyone
signifies our task on earth has hardly begun.

One is
not smart
just because
he asks: 'What?'

At every bend of time
a new something comes our way
the suddenness and immediacy
a moment that inter-faces
and intervenes
before the next appears

but seldom is that sublime
mostly banal, repetitive, tedious
uninspiring, listless and vexatious

for we've lost
our sense of wonder
and curiosity
our lives have been anchored
on a fixed mental frame
which we can't even
find a proper name
who's to blame
but our ill-ingrained
and iron-cast brain?

we are sinking
falling
into
an existential nothing
a stupor
we are in
and not knowing
we are living
in a prison
of our own making

where's the glory
of the morning?
do we feel
the kiss of spring?
could we shut away
our muddled thinking?

then comes
the gentle glow
of evening
as the sun is fading
but we won't be looking
(blind to beauty
tied to our false-living)
as we are texting
or over the mobile
talking or listening
another day
is swiftly passing
which we end
by saying:
'Ah, life is so distressing!'

at which bend of time
shall we be awakened
be illuminated
and transformed
into an authentic
human being?

A theory of everything?
      Not for me--that I dread
      I know of just one thing
      I'm alive, not dead.

      Let the scientists, philosophers and sages go mad, thinking
      Let them argue, debate and scratch their over-used head
      Life is slogging, struggling, worrying, eating, sleeping, copulating
      Fighting, quarrelling, envying, bad-mouthing---too many tears to shed!

I hope no one
would say to me
' I don't understand
  you don't speak with clarity'

No wonder so many people
you did so often antagonise
you boasted wherever you went
that you were smart and wise.

It's hard not to doubt as there are no straight-forward answers to life's
mysteries. But humility does console a lot as it makes us realise
the limits of our understanding.

Thus, not being able to find the answers is in itself healthy and should not be frowned upon.  

If we have all the answers, wouldn't life be dull and sterile?

As we do not know what truth is,
we should be silent on the subject.

The best love-story is a short one.
In its singular exquisiteness and quintessence,
love has few words to say beyond itself.

I seem to know myself better
when I am not conscious about myself

What will save the world
is not knowledge
but innocence.

What is it to be simple, natural, true and human?

It seems to me that this should be addressed to the individual
and not to the masses.

No amount of reading or learning could help me, nor any advice from the sages.

I have to work this out on my own.

There are thousands
of harmless things we could do
why do we commit the harmful ones
so often--through and through?

Because we don't know
what fate has in store
we will look it calmly
in the face and live more.

You wanted something
really badly
you got that thing
why did you feel let down finally?

When is prayer-time?
simply this:
when you do nothing
that's amiss

Another stupid question
'What's a happy married life?'
ask your grandparents and they would reply:
' A good husband and a good wife'.