Dance me through the panic till I'm gathered safely in
Lift me like an olive branch and be my homeward dove
Dance me to the end of love
- Leonard Cohen
Like a Paperboat
June 23, 2008
Fragile,
I sail into the sea
With mighty sun to keep me dry
and the current beneath to move me
Helped only by the wind
At some point in the sea
I know I will perish
But how far I can go
that is the challenge
So as collected as can be
I’ll befriend the sun, the wind, the sea
Even the vast mammals
swimming around me
For one day, some rainstorm
May whip and ravage me
But I’ll rest in the thought
that…
The hands that created me,
folded me with certainty.
Casualties (a poem written on 3/14/2006)
June 9, 2008
As I pull these stringy strands
from Riza’s head
and drop them one by one
into chaotic tangles,
my heart is seized,
my eyes transfixed
as the news unrolled
and the screen unfold
mud-colored bodies
from the South.
A heartbreaking landslide.
Then a flying cockroach
hit me on the shoulder.
So chase it I did,
till in the bathroom,
I crushed it.
As I ended up ramming down more
of them,
I felt tired somewhat.
It was nothing of an effort
usually,
yet as I reflect on my own life,
I see a dying spirit too.
Unwrapped.
Now I see why
these flying insects,
abound.
There are times
when what surround you
speak only of one thing,
like Death.
And soon as you become aware,
it is shouting.
If only I that landslide
buried instead
these things I pronounce
DEAD.
