Monday, December 28, 2009

Music that touches the heart (repost from 1/31/2009)

Here goes another one of those nights where one song keeps you awake, replaying over and over again…Sometimes you want it to just stop; stop it from bringing back memories that are repressed; stop it from making tonight yet another sleepless night. You try and hold on to your sanity, grasping on to every strand of meaningless material in your head, just hoping that you will not get lost in those wistful memories of years past. As your eyes begin to cloud over with thought of yesteryear, you realize that what you dread the most was not those memories resurfacing, but those memories once again becoming reality. You see where you will be and what you will become. You see yourself without that façade, the evil mask that has hidden your true identity.

From behind the ephemeral strings of memories that cage your soul, you scream for help….help to solve your problems, to understand the meaning of your pitiful existence. You try and understand why you are lost, lost within the metaphysical. While seeking the truth about life, you find that you are unfit to bear this charge. All you see is not what life has to give but what life has failed to give. You see the faults that have defined who you are, but you have failed to accept that this identity is truly yours. In the people that surround you, you find qualities that make them superior to yourself whether it is in the physical or in the mental.

You try to be like them, and the harder you try, the harder you seem to fail. All just to be noticed for once. The more you conform to society, the more invisible you become to those around you. You used to believe that being like those around you will make you stand out more; that it will have others view you as you see them view your idols. In the end, you are just another person who has blended into the background of normalcy. You hope to impress, but all you have done is degrade yourself. You want to be someone to rely on, but all you have become is someone who does not know his own skin. You want to be a good person, but all you have done is shown your faults. You want to show that you can love, but all you see is hate.

All you want to do is find where you belong and what makes you special. As you attempt to find this, you realize that what was most important, slowly yet surely, falls away into the deep, dark crevice of memory. Finding the light necessary to fully illuminate this cave of despair and reveal all that was and is good will take time…and in this time, you will listen to music to soothe the soul. But once again, you find yourself thinking about what has been, what is, and what will be. This vicious cycle reveals to you that the bright light has always been there. It is the light that shows you these memories; it is the light that reminds you of who you are; it is the light that defines you. The light…the music...as one.

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Memories

and so we run
leaves crunching under
the piddle paddle of laughing feet
memories of good times
past

two what do we owe the pleasure
having memories of reminisce
when tears show and hearts cringe
two this end individual one

what captures lasting moments
two images of retrospect
pictures I keep locked away
seen with changing thoughts

as time passes
temporal feelings
a bleeding canvas of painted life
what I saw is no longer
what I see

if you are just
another beautiful girl
as memory fades
then you two should disappear

-----------------------
我每天还在想你。

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Like a fine wine

all things need to be aged
w i s d o m
perfection
is that not the final goal?
but I am no connoisseur
drink here, my offering...

from deep within I pour
contents of the ages
raw emotions
untainted by bottled corks
carbonated machines
mixers and dispensers
purity of the soul
offered as fine wine

with all the struggles endured,
the taste only grows
stronger
bolder
meeker, milder
each test yields better flavor
but I am no connoisseur

one test, one barrell
continue to drink
the age is wrong
but I am no connoisseur
addictions: hard to break
and, so is habit.

so I ask
perfection when?
drink the last drop
the last barrell
do not say "perfection"
but I am no connoisseur

there is none left
relish the taste
but why listen to me?
I am no connoisseur


-----------------------------------------------------------------------
I still can't get over your taste.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Not a poem, but contemplate it anyways!

If you must dream, dream big.

If you must accept reality, accept that reality is defined only by you.

If you wish to live in the middle, keep your feet rooted in that which cannot be changed while constantly striving for the top.

Live!

To an old love:

I open old
letters
intently
scrutinizing
l
i
n
e
s
that r u n

decip
(hid
meaning
den)
hering

pity to read
read to pity

growth of love
changing
drops
of
tears
cascade down the path of hearts

past is which that
nettogrof
towards the future
expected
let us move

forbackward

through crinkled sheets
fading lines
to the time when
my soul and yours
inetwrnited

----------------------------
Published in 2010 APEX Washington University Arts & Sciences Undergraduate Journal

Saturday, December 19, 2009

To dream

On that note,
I bid thee sleep,
to dream of dreams,
to pine of pines,
for I know good and well
that dreams are,
but, a glimpse
of future foretold and past unveiled.
so I send thee yonder,
towards the misty land,
where none can see thee ponder
of dreams where dreams are banned.
so close thy eyes and let mind wander;
let thy feet take ghostly saunter
towards unknown monsters
in pines of dreamy land.

let not one wake thee
from golden slumber
for nothing but dreams
is ageless, of priceless wonder.
so sleep, my dear,
please sleep!
to dream of days of old;
to dream of days foretold;
to dream the dreams
that dreams may take mold.

So, let all those behold
these dreams, such dreams;
who dares doubt fool's gold!
For thy dreams reign supreme!
Watch, listen, silently thy dream begins
I beg thee take hold.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Reminder

do you play the game to play or to win? Who are you playing with?

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Do you see my struggle, Gatsby?

So I stare out into the distance, across the dying expanse of field, towards the fading horizon as the merging stripes of the sun's colorful rays glimmer off the mountains. I stare deeply into the setting sun, allowing my eyes to adjust to the radiance that is there. So beautiful, yet also so deadly.

A blinking red dot out in the distance shifts my eyes from this beautiful display of God's awesome power. I can no longer look out on the horizon without seeing it; that painful reminder that love will always be my Gatsby struggle. Every morning I wake up with the hope that the light has gone out or that my attempt to reach it will be achieved that day. Every day! Do you know how difficult that is to know that your dream eludes you each and every time you look for it? How many times do I need to persevere then fail? I've modified the engine to my car so many times, and each modification brings me one mile closer, yet I am still SO far away. I always have to turn back and start from the beginning; I always have to return home knowing that not only did I fail but I have nothing to show for my effort. I return home to look across the horizon at that blinking red dot.

I'm tired of driving out knowing that I have a safety net, the possibility of going home. I'm driving fast out across the desert using all the gas that I have in my tank. And, in the end, being unable to return home is just a consequence I will have to accept. If I must die trying to achieve my dream then let that be so, at least I know that my spirit will float along the horizon towards the setting sun. I'm putting it all on the line for something that I know I can achieve. Failure is no longer an option. Who knows, maybe when I reach it, it won't be glorious as I thought it would be. But I know that when I look back at all that I had done to reach this blinking dot, that I will cherish what I have for it was not done easily but with much pain and much suffering. That is how I know it will be good, because what would not be good that did not require some hurt. Who is to know what pain is when one has never felt pain? Who is to know what love is when one has never felt love? Who is to know what loss is when one has never felt loss?

This is my Gatsby struggle: my search for love and my search for a future that contains love and family.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Hello, my dear, goodbye

when we first met
was it just coincidence?
my heart jumped a little
feelings i easily brushed aside

but when i saw your eyes
oh, how beautiful they were
kaleidoscope you say?
capturing with rapture

we progressed
down a road that little knew
they know not our times together
our secret life

you will not be my whiskey lullaby
i do not give up so easily
but for you and our love
I drink this poison merrily.

so my dear
I happily said hello
Now
I happily say goodbye
Suddenly, like a gale on a tiny pond
a rush of wind spurned by the coming storm
torrents and torrents of rain
pound silently against my crops

Oh! look how they have suffered
taking the brunt force of attack
without sun, with too much rain
they have been unable to produce

slowly see how they grow and wither
shrinking back into their pods
planted at the wrong time
the farmer sheds tears of loss

with fewer and fewer tears
the hurricane of emotions cease
sputtering and dying
the eye of the storm had come and past

now all that is left should be sunshine
so why does the sun shine less bright?
its not because another storm is brewing
the forecast looks clear

the remnants of grey cumulus clouds
still cover this rain soaked earth
we know that those clouds will disappear
with it, will come that sunshine we seek

Cirrus clouds will fill the sky
the birds will come out again to sing
and I like this sodden patch of mud
will dry

ready and willing
for new planting
of crops that can
hopefully
grow

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Fragile

Little container
teetering on the edge of an
abyss

Will some hand come out to
grab it
or like times before

will it just fall to the ground
shattering
pieces of life scattered

across the ground
strewn in fragments large and small
lay my heart

broken

Glass

Please be careful
my heart is still fragile
torn in too many ways to count
forever filled with doubt

You are beautiful to me
why is that so hard to see
keep pushing me away
when I know you want me to stay

let me hold you tight
keep you warm on this cold winter night
my dreams were so bright
so full of life, so full of light

my dreams turning gray
as you constantly keep me at bay
why can you not let me say
just let love be what it may

tonight i watch you dream
in the caress of golden slumber
my dear sleep well
let my heart feel
fragile
just
one
last
time