I want you to know that you will always be apart of my life
There's no one who could fill your shoes and fill them right
True we may have had our share of ups and downs
You would always be a treasure that I've looked for and found
You have left marks and signatures that became apart of me
You have helped me to learn this new person i came to be
You had patiently listened to me as I cried
You didn't try question me or ever ask why
You were able to understand me when no one else did
When I didn't want to talk I ran to you and hid
I had always shared with you things that I was ashamed of
Having relationships with others was never enough
They weren't able to learn me as a person the way you had
They didn't understand my silent words or able to make me laugh
We spoke with our eyes and knew each other's emotion
When it comes to different ideas we shared the same notion
I've was always accepted by you and was able to be myself
I would never find these exact qualities in anyone else
________________
Heroine content with her beloved’s
love, affection and dedication,
one with her own mind.
____________________
Heard had I tales of male malefaction
By and large true, far from fiction,
As happens oft, one out to prey
Gets hunted O to be the prey.
Full of hopes I’m your spouse,
Not filled with any grouse,
For, you my love belied this old wisdom,
I’ve been a free bird in your kingdom--
A truth that needs no proof,
Nor display from a tallest roof.
Lifelong shall ye be my temple’s deity,
We shall be together for life
Lived forever and rife
If not for eternity.
_______________________
Natya Shastra |08.02.2025| Free verse,
Note: This is eighth of Ashta-Nayikas, eight heroine types, as classified in a Sanskrit treatise on performing arts in Bharata’s Natya-Shastra. The state (avastha) of the eight romantic heroines widely themed in Indian paintings, literature, sculpture, classical dance forms and music. Swadhina-bhatruka is the eighth of the eight such heroines depicted here in poetic form.
My grandmother's hands
knew things mine have forgotten,
how to make bread rise,
how to hem a dress
so it would last.
She saved everything:
buttons in mason jars,
stories in the space
between stirring and serving,
love in the way she said
my name.
This is what we lose
when we move too fast,
the slow art of remembering,
the patient work
of passing things down.
Her kitchen was a kind of church
where recipes were prayers,
and every meal
a small act of keeping
the world together.
Now, I try to learn
what she never had to teach:
how to make something
with my hands,
how to turn memory
into bread,
into words,
into something
that will feed
the ones who come after.
Each story I tell my daughter
is a vote against forgetting,
a way of saying:
this mattered,
we mattered,
you matter too.
Our family bonding of sweet delight
keeps us joyful despite pressure-filled blight
allowing home to showcase love’s pure might
glowing with kindness and forgiveness-light.
Thrilled with our kids along their cheerful ways
we enjoy together family days
as they help in household chores midst their plays
letting us laugh out loud, thanking* God's grace.
We are blest that contentment makes us glad
against materialism’s tempting fad
while vanquishing the feeling to be sad
since we are sheltered, fed well, warmly clad.
*Ephesians 5:20 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
April 18, 2025
8th place, "YOUR CHOICE S" Poetry Writing Contest
Sponsored by Brian Strand; judged on 4/21/2025
When you have none to clean your spectacles,
You wait for the miracle,
That is when I come to you,
And clean it and give it back to you.
When you cannot but polish your shoes,
And your frail hands tremble,
Then I come as the captain of your cruise,
As you begin to grumble.
Love is filled with gratitude,
It does not accompany pride or attitude,
It comes into use when you are in trouble,
And in front of it- even the mountains tremble.
Simple happiness on a weekend:
A simple family bonding
Eat together, going to the park
Children feeding the fish
A little window shopping
Buying second hand books
Children playing at the arcade
Meeting family friends.
a smile starts with God
inside your heart bonding grace
embrace you in His,
peace, love and presents
presently is He we are
one with the Father
10/14/24
written words by James Edward Lee Sr. 2024©
Until the satire makes you happy,
Until the exhaustion seems glossy,
You need to prove it somehow,
That you are not unknown anymore now!
Until the feelings hit hard on your chest,
Until a stranger can hold your waist,
Until an unknown can call you by your surname,
Until you play something that does not look like a game;
Until you are jealous of some stranger,
Until you know that you are a pretender,
Until you kill someone with their attitude,
You and I are friends with undeniable aptitude;
Both you and I are dazzling and chilling like spring,
With eyes that gleam and minds that softly sing.
Those sweetest words gazing upon the skyline,
A promise made in silence - "Your heart is forever mine."
Both of us are now waiting to meet in the sublime,
Our fate is a mysterious, yet forsaken paradigm.
You smile more and be happy when I am around,
Draw your kiss on my forehead until we are unbound.
My son Kevin is a fine young man
With a positive attitude and the motto “yes I can”!
His energy is amazing and there’s no challenge too great
Results oriented like his mom, he’s a winner out the gate
Anything mechanical a piece of cake for gifted hands
Fast cars his passion as we watch from the stands
A Navy vet for which we are proud
Lots more to tell but there’s too big a crowd
This message should be perfectly clear
I will always hold my son Kevin dear!
Showing care and concern
from one heart to another
the bond of loving
What the future holds for us, no one knows for sure
Hopefully, very shortly, headlines will read for cancer we have a cure
The human race is like a giant jigsaw puzzle, with each of us being one piece
To achieve success we all need to work harder, a chance for a better world will surely increase
Everything we have in life is from the efforts of so many people bonding together
Why is it that we elect politicians who can't do this whatsoever
I think a lot of them have egos that are so big that they won't even give it a try
What kind of profession pays this well, where nothing seems to get done, it makes you want to cry
If you hired someone to clean your windows and they were still dirty after they left, what would you do
Certainly, you would never have them back,and you would hire a new crew
Compromise is something that seems to have completely disappeared
Politicians, please stop the name-calling and bickering so that we may be able to stand up and cheer
Everest
makes brothers
of the fiercest
enemies
of the most
distant strangers
of the worst
ill intended
of the lost
— and the found
(Kathmandu: May, 1982)
manifesting illusions of wispy smoke
renewing our refrains in anxiety
shape shifting for variety
each setting baroque
dreams within dreams replay
stuporous ego entertaining itself
veiled remains light of our true Self
till the day demon of delusion we slay
Basking under celestial rays
there we are…
mother and son
beyond hope-filled mirth
jubilantly surmount
imprisoning boundaries...
since special child
freely wheels himself
to optimize bonding delight
midst God’s boundless grace...
while I plunge into faith-flight
beholding his courage
wondrously liberating.
recognising our default orientation as trance
purity of silence too scarred by thought spirals
our presence neither immanent nor transcendent
yet deludedly affirms meaningful dwelling in darkness
akin to the irony highlighted in Plato’s allegory of the cave
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