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Dr Peter Lim Apr 2021
Our doubts multiply
the more we believe what others say
we have to step back constantly
and keep others' thinking at bay
Dr Peter Lim Apr 29
We are each
an author of our life
our story differs
from others
but the same goal
we aim to achieve-
ourselves and others
to understand and reach
and thus our life
to fulfil and enrich
Dr Peter Lim Nov 2020
That I of long ago
still does endure
with time--more so
I am sure

this is the sum total-
what little do I know
of life that's particular
or general- do I scarcely grow

if any, at all?
yet fleeting moments
simple, ordinary, small
guide my waking movements

all said, this is the overall:
though ignorant, myself I still own
I should stand tall and not fall
living is about being what I am--alone
* after Emily Dickinson
Dr Peter Lim Jul 2019
I counted---1,2, 3 up to ten
it shocked me: none is a true friend!
Dr Peter Lim Jul 2019
So often I don't see eye-to-eye
     with this uncompromising 'I'
Dr Peter Lim Jul 2019
So what? No big deal though I was there
it's no one's business such to notice or care.
Dr Peter Lim Jul 2019
Look, look, look ten times at me
  study, closely study--I'll still be mystery
Dr Peter Lim Jul 2019
Me--wise?
   something's wrong with your eyes!
Dr Peter Lim Jul 2019
It makes no difference whether I stay or walk away
    the crowd will continue to sing on:  This is OUR day!
Dr Peter Lim Jul 2019
Friendship is perilous, do believe me
  caught in its trap, you'd never be free!
Dr Peter Lim Jul 2019
'I forgive' --two words most unreliable
     the expression always infect me with goose pimple
Dr Peter Lim Jul 2019
I waited, I waited-- in faith--so long did I wait
  you didn't turn up---with others you chose to celebrate
Dr Peter Lim Jul 2019
Enough, yes, enough of myself I've had
walking away does make me less sad
Dr Peter Lim Jul 2019
Another time
but what awaits- deja vu
as before?  
nothing is likely to be new-

another time
the past is an appendix
inoperable and undetachable
though the body is grievously sick-

another time
promises are too quick
to fall unto the dust
reality springs to kick--

another time
my parting hour I can't pick
only the now matters
nothing else does stick.
* after Emily Dickinson
Dr Peter Lim Oct 2021
Autumn, season of deep longing

as summer has its farewell bidden

hearts are tuned to rejoicing and loving

affections should no longer be hidden--



O my beloved, wake from thy slumbering

lest our moments be time-stolen

every falling leaf is a tear of mine in flowing

of undying love in each poem it has spoken.
Dr Peter Lim Dec 2019
Avant-garde poets are those who could pull a rabbit out from a hat but, after writing their lines,  what has been written, they immediately forget
Dr Peter Lim Nov 2024
Quest and conquest:
the former speaks of self-fulfilment
the latter is about self-aggrandisement
Dr Peter Lim Feb 2021
Life is a puzzle

              it's up to me

              not to make mine a muddle
Dr Peter Lim Jan 2019
Go into the world
to learn
like a child
in kindergarten
Dr Peter Lim Jul 7
Did you find yourself
or did others?
Can you tell
regardless?
Dr Peter Lim Oct 2021
Am I not more

the cause of my own suffering

than that occasioned by

others or any other human being?
Dr Peter Lim Feb 2020
Why do we live so hastily?
Is it because we are afraid
of facing the grim reality
that our life is empty and unhappy?
Dr Peter Lim Apr 15
Don't say
  someone is happier
  than you are-
  you don't really know
  he might have misery
  by far!
Dr Peter Lim Apr 3
People with extreme views
should be avoided
otherwise they would
have you voided
Dr Peter Lim Mar 22
They have after their names
a string of degrees and qualifications
don't be taken in by such credentials
study what they are closely--as persons
Dr Peter Lim Aug 2020
Still the same as ever before
the over-played and too weary song
memory grinds in subconscious grooves
to the past feelings stubbornly belong

no,  I'll sing such no more
as the silent moments come along
my heart should remake itself
my love shall do no wrong.
Dr Peter Lim Jun 2018
We are each
a word in life's lexicon
as we  struggle and suffer
our vocabulary enlarges
we begin to understand
grow stronger and learn--
we are one, all alone
but in our darkest moment
courage and hope emerges
we have no reason
to quit or walk away
bereft or despondent

pain, suffering depression
a ubiquitous  human lot
when the battle has been won
there shall appear
the light warm
and resplendent
* inspired by WOKE, a poem ofJeannie Kristufek Khaswrsz, a fellow HP writer
Dr Peter Lim Jan 2021
I stepped aside, I paused, I had a second look at what was before me.  I was not lost, only awed by the silence and poignancy of the moment.



  I was walking alone in the empty field in early summer in Melbourne. Part of the grass was parched but birds were having their pick of food and made gentle noises, they fought  to get the benefit of more pickings.



Suddenly an eagle stooped over them and they flew away.  There was a row of tall trees the leaves of which swayed in the wind, and their rustle was pleasantly audible.  Birds twittered intermittently and flew from tree to tree.  The sky was white and bluish but the clouds hardly moved. The sun was benign.  



As I was writing my thoughts sitting on an old, partly damaged wooden bench,  I heard someone playing Schubert's Standchen followed by Massenet's Meditation from Thais and lastly Beethoven's Romance in F---I drifted with the music and felt the pieces were played by me.  I was in deep reverie, I felt light, peaceful, even blissful; the moment was sacred and sublime; everything within me was in place--there was no need for thoughts or words---life had manifested its secrets and mysteries to me; there was no need for any search or quest;  I forgot myself in the awesome flow...  Suddenly, came the rain and I was wakened back to reality.
Dr Peter Lim Jan 2018
Here I suffocate
under my own skin
looking no farther
from this tiny corner
while the world
looks away from me
as though I were
no more than a shadow--

the forest doesn't have
just one tree or a few
but thousands--how else
could it then be defined so?

If I wish to be
among the lot
as a tree
I've to take root
and be conjoined
to wider world
out there

for if I were
to stay here
my leaves
would never
stretch far beyond
I would be lesser
than what I could be
a virtual death
that would be me

there's
a wider world
space for every tree
and flower
to blossom
and grow

unless
I dare
to take
a new look
at my inner self
I would never
know
whither
I should next
go.
Dr Peter Lim Dec 2024
The logs have burnt out
    outside the winter winds howl
    couple in deep thought
Dr Peter Lim Jan 2018
I gazed faraway from my window
into the misty winter dark
waiting for the appearance of a shadow
that shall be you who would bring me love's divine spark.
*  inspired by Carina's A WINTER'S TALE
Dr Peter Lim Jan 2018
I gazed faraway from my window
into the misty winter dark
waiting for the appearance of a shadow
that shall be you who would bring me love's divine spark.
* inspired by A WINTER'S TALE by Carina
Dr Peter Lim Oct 2020
I'd rather end power
than to empower
Dr Peter Lim Jun 2019
A woman would DIE the moment
when unexpectedly being offered a diamond
Dr Peter Lim May 27
Don't say
' the future'
  better:
'  tomorrow'
Dr Peter Lim Feb 2
I've written enough
there's no urgency
to write more-
too many flowers
will choke the meadow
too many words
will confusion draw-

silent I'll be for now
for my next inspiration I'll wait
there will be the right ripening
my life I'll then happily celebrate.
Dr Peter Lim Oct 2018
Reaching the peak?
such I dreamt never
despite the strife
the sweat and the fire

no legend nor Ulysses
he was the indomitable power
the highest building I stooped to watch
hitting the sky was its tower

that scene humbled and shook me
so long ago but I still remember
it portended to warn me of vanity
a friendly and timely eye-opener

hence, content to know and acknowledge
I am but a from-time-to-time simple writer
skirting on the edges of words and ideas
for consolation and new worlds to discover

upon my dying bed before long
a voice I'll hear:  be a humble learner
as a child you were---in gladsome wonder
forget the peak as you write or speak---just be a beauty-bearer!
Dr Peter Lim Feb 18
Why the haste?
Take your time to taste-
that which is rush and hustle
where then is the pleasure?
Dr Peter Lim Jan 2021
Student to Master:
Revered Master, please tell me why I am so unhappy.

Reply: From your tone and posture, so suggestively
this I can say unreservedly:
it's because you have taken yourself too seriously.
Dr Peter Lim Feb 2021
We talk too much

few people do we touch

and most rush away as such!
Dr Peter Lim Sep 2019
Backward into time there was another me
I was solitary but brave and sure
my finger stretched out to the edge of eternity
life was instant glory---pain I'd not have to endure-

the years spoke later:  how fragile is beauty
for love that's vanished, where's the true cure?
lost innocence weeps to last for a century
the waters left to drink have all become impure.
Dr Peter Lim Jun 2020
Bad writing
is prevalent
virulent, insolent-
the writer's very dying
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