How far gone is my soul and mind,
That coming back seems impossible?
My hands ache to be guided by your prompt,
Yet hours of blankness dull my bluntness.
But I can still etch out classics,
If brilliant minds will rub with mine.
My pen waits close, surreptitiously listening,
To gather in ink the wisdom you proffer,
For my momentary moments of madness.
The top ten will never be my goal,
But that one top spot that crowns the race.
A trophy beside my poem will render it more comely—
Not just this week, but at the marathon’s end,
For this is no sprint that halts at a hundred.
Yet the nearest mile I first must conquer,
Before the next, and all the miles ahead.
Though my fingers ache as though racing in fear,
No shadow of doubt will bow me to defeat.
Oh mine! Oh mine! I see it now—
A wonder folded deep in my words.
I’ve penned a masterpiece for the summit,
No judge can dismiss its rightful claim.
If none are near to ring my bell,
I’ll strike it loud with resounding voice.
I am no gentleman in this contest,
But a rival running the race to win.
Half the course gone—my pace surges higher.
Like it or not, this is the best.
The goal is to score a goal
Go for goal and earn three points
The world stage football festival seems cold
Thou art giant among Aficans
Set the pace and surmount Mount Rwandan
The rest will bow down
all decisions won't be easy
who knows what lies around the corner
be true to your ambition
AP: Honorable Mention 2025
The nourishment we get from food
can do our body worlds of good
Eat right by day, don’t eat at night
Life gleams and sparkles like starlight
Yet what about man’s eternal soul
Nourishment, too, is its goal
For without it, humankind
develops the body ~ shrinks the mind
City light dazzles the eyes of man
But the spell of corruption has an iron hand
It blocks the truth and holds one down
Till chaos and confusion is only found
Children are born innocent and pure
Have no way out of the lure
Generations of greed, jealousy and pain
Create a state of living in vain
The universal law holds the key
The door is open for all to see
A thread of hope can guide ones stay
For those who wish to improve their way
Choose each stepping-stone with care
For every action the soul will wear
Return to the core of one’s true self
Truth, compassion, tolerance is true wealth
1992, a precious teaching was revealed
The great universal law, Falun Dafa is real
Truth can arouse the deepest of souls
Return to one’s true self is the ultimate goal
They cheer the name before the game,
the brother’s brother takes the field.
The rest play well, their skill the same,
but fate’s already been sealed.
The gifts are passed in quiet ways,
a handshake, promise, knowing smile.
The worthy wait through endless days,
their merit lost in someone’s file.
The ball still rolls, the crowd still roars,
yet justice sits outside the gate.
True talent knocks on unseen doors,
while favour walks in dressed as fate.
And still we watch, with bitter view -
football returns to days we knew.
(“Rainbow Body” detail, 2018, original encaustic)
A Journey Without A Goal
The path to enlightenment is a wondrous
And delightfully paradoxical thing!
It is complex and yet simple,
Endless and yet immediate.
The problem is it is never us who becomes enlightened,
Since enlightenment is a reunification
With what has never been divided,
And so the journey then becomes nothing but a dream.
What is found in enlightenment is what has always been,
The dharmakaya, “body of truth”,
That which is changeless
And actual.
But since this isn’t a person or identity
It means we who find it
Have never actually been separate from it
And so have never actually existed…
The questions remain;
Who/what is dreaming?
How can they/it actually ever wake up?
What then is the true nature of the dream?
(8/11/25)
I wielded might. I've found it null and void.
With all my riches, I just get annoyed.
Did I not rest in the lap of grandeur?
Did this yet bless me with rock-hard valour?
I'm able to see a bloom as a bloom.
In marriages of times, I am a bridegroom.
Each scant blade of grass is a Bodhi tree.
With the season's changes, I must be free.
Wellness must spring from optimism and peace.
Boats of my untamed thoughts must be at ease.
I took pleasure, once, in arrow and bow.
Shouldn't I, for my forgiveness, pray now?
Enlightenment
Enlightenment, don’t know what it is…
As endless waves swell and break
On the ocean of Samsara
All the while under Nirvana’s spacious sky.
Is there such a thing
As a final goal,
Or is it instead
An endless process of becoming?
How should I know? But I do know
That once I knew with all my heart
I would eventually become enlightened
And in that moment it didn’t matter when.
Because when you know with all your heart
The goal has already been reached
And the endless process of becoming
Is known to be nothing but a dream.
(8/4/25)
miniscule ant
purposeful frenzied movements
i ponder her goal
Solace
Solace rests with a soul in skies afar
When stars illume one`s goal,
Providence makes one a whole,
In life one has played one`s role.
That's Not The Goal
What?
Goal.
What?
Any Of 'Em.
Goal?
Yes.
Oh.
***
Are You Sure?
YES!
-Gray Squirrel
05-11-2025
California Dreaming
5/9/2025
Her memories like the softest, velvet clouds, gliding swiftly, were being
Dried from their moistness.
How grateful she was to follow.her dreams to California, freed from their
cold, and most unhelpul voices.
It took her some time to let go of old friends and warm, familiar faces,
And she knew it was her soul’s relentless, choices.
On the airplane, tears fell as the plane ascended, and she realized, heading
into the sunset, the strength of her own inner voices.
Spinning a Warrior`s Soul
In the long journey of life, we embrace
Our path may be laid with thickets and thorns,
Some may plant nails along to halt our pace
Others may hold our high headway in scorn,
Let`s not dread, but stay steadfast on our goal;
Some may try to rock the hull of our boat
Others to take the wind out of our sail
Some may wish to steal the shine of our coat
Others may seek from our path to derail,
Let`s not fear but brace our will as a whole;
Some may try to stab us behind our back
Some may try to steal the shine of our seat
Some may wish to deal us a severe smack
Without any speck of shame of their feat,
Let us not shrink but spin a warrior`s soul.
“With patience and perseverance
We can win the hardiest race.”- By author
**************************************************************
Patience and Perseverance
On the journey of life when we embark
Let patience allied with perseverance
Be the lighthouse, our path to lit with spark
And permeate our spirit with endurance;
When wilful whirling winds waft down our soul
Let us not yield to dark clouds of despair
But forge ahead steadfast towards our goal
Without a single shaggy seam of scare;
Let`s not try the hilltop at once to clinch
As we may tumble down a dizzy slope
But, move forward step by step, inch by inch
With patience and perseverance to cope;
With patience we earn the Lord`s divine grace,
With perseverance we win the tough race.
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