The permanence in impermanence

Born as we are, to the death we shall succumb
Yet we live a life as if death we shall never see

In the men's garden, grows the seed of wealth
Trees of envy and fruits of fame
Only to make a glorified death at the end

The rich that beats the success drums

And the poor that begs to live

A day, the death shall level them both!!!

To My Dear Little Son

I chided you today, my dear little son
So that I can see your life's ladder glow
And reap happiness and success as you grow
And be a better man, a father worthy of a son

I chided you today, my dear little son
Not because I expect you to know everything
But because in everything lies your life's success
You can't afford but make fewer mistakes as you grow

I chided you today, my dear little son
Not because you are not worthy of my love
but because life is not a bed of roses
You got to stand and tell the world, you are worthy of a place

I chided you today, my dear little son
Not because I love to see you cry
But because in tears, you will see the message clear
You got to act fast, life is not long enough

I chided you today, my dear little son
Not because I want to show you that I am your boss
But because I want to let you know that I am your partner true
I will stand out if you do and I will fall if you don't

I chided you today, my dear little son
With heaps of pain hidden beneath
So that in life, you do not repent like many a dozen souls
And that I can retire with a sigh, a sigh of deep satisfaction

And if you will, my dear little son
Stand by my side, when I am sick and old,
For life is like a cycle, I have played my part,
And sooner or later, you will have to but play your part!

The Saint who refused to be born

Have you heard of a saint

Thangtong Gyalpo Lanamo

Who is said to have refused to be born
And remained in deep meditation
For the welfare of all sentient beings
For 60 long years in his mother's womb
Until he realized the suffering he gave to his mother

He is the master sculptor, the Architect, the blacksmith
The Philosopher, the subduer, the Iron chain bridge builder,
the spiritual leader of many a thousand beings
The King of the Empty Plains, the Chakzampa Thangtong Gyalpo
To whom in deep reverence, we pay our homage!!!

(Chakzampa Thangtong Gyalpo, Centre for Bhutan Studies, Gerner, Manfred)

The Mother in a Woman

 (In memory of my Late mother Pema Gazom 1946 - 1998)

Mankind shall thrive
As God made a mother in a woman
Nothing less than the Almighty Himself
Brimming with love, care and warmth

She gives us life, shows us light
In happiness and in sadness, she sits there
Like her only purpose is to nurture her offspring,
Asking nothing in return but dedicated until her fateful exit

Mothers are all the same
I went to a zoo, and there I saw the love of mothers
Their love all the same and their worry nothing less
It is our mothers in all forms to whom in homage, I bow in total respect

A Dedication to My King

HM the 4th King of Bhutan

(Written in 2003 to dedicate the Annual Audit Conference Report to His Majesty the Fourth King of Bhutan)

The gallantry of the nation, in one embedded
Mystical amongst the masses, the feted supreme
In unrivalled grandeur, his visions glow
And the lusters wipe the agony laden
In every heart resides thy image sublime
And every lip sings thy praises profound
The root of all ecstasy, the leader innate
It's thou to whose feet, in tribute we humbly bow

May You Live Your Life to the Fullest

I woke up today to find yet another day
A day filled with this usual worldly chores
There is nothing more in life than living to live
Though we know, we shall depart a day whatever

In so short a time, we live a life in nature long enough
And amidst, many like me toil to live a life to its brim
Yet the meek and the great, to our ultimate destiny, the time shall take
As years go unseen and the frailness creep unnoticed

With every breaking dawn, a day closer we live
And everyday, a friend or a soul humbly takes leave
Never to be seen again but only to live in our hearts and minds
Or live in history to remember the souls of the bygone days

In so short a life, I pray, may peace prevail over mankind
And every man live a life that he may die with a sigh
A sigh of satisfaction, a sigh that speaks of his brimming life
left behind, as a chapter new in the hearts of his every fellow man!

I pray......

I submit under thy noble feet, with this prayer, oh! the great one
And pray to you, the same prayer all the time, in rain and in sun
In happiness and in sadness, in victory and in defeat
I make this prayer, from the depth and the purest of my heart

Oh the great one, may you liberate all beings from all sufferings
And may they live in harmony and in peaceful coexistence
May the spirit of compassion spring from every heart
And fill the world with joys of love, and make the world a better place to live!

What a Life?

We are like ants with no time to waste or even take a little rest
Building empires, serving masters and in keeping our welfare abreast
We forget that when the anthill stumbles, all would be gone but in waste
And when we are long dead and gone, even our names fade with time!

A Reward from Him: A Poem to Share

A Reward from Him: A Poem to Share: "If I Had My Child to Raise Over Again by Diane Loomans If I had my child to raise all over again, I'd build self esteem first, and the hous..."

My Feathered Friend

As the dark night passes, the beauty of the dawn adorns
And ere it brightens up my room, there comes my feathered friend
With a beautiful chirping song, small yet loud, adorned with but all in browns
And perched on my window sill, she plays her melodies as if life has no end

I can't but remain still and mesmerized in the beauty of her song
Shrewd yet pleasing, I know not her language but there's a message strong
She sings of a song, a song of a bird, a song of a hardship, a song of a life
A song that every singer sings, songs of love, agonies and of impending strife

And as the glory of the morning attracts wider but dubious audience
She knows she has but a life to fend and a living to make, and thus her song fades
Her tiny legs combing her feathered crown, she admonishes every bit of her ambience
Singing low and in broken syllables, she takes leave, flying away far amidst the shades

I know not where she lives or what she does the whole day long
But there she is, every morning to greet me and sing me a song!

IF

If I have a billion dollar
I would buy every dog a collar
And tag them each to a new home of their own

If I have a billion dollar
I would attend to every caller
And give them what they needed

If I have a billion dollar
I would ask every sailor
To give all poor man a free ride

If I have a billion dollar
I would ask every tailor
To sew a suit for every destitute child

If I have a billion dollar
I would build a house for every slum dweller
And free them from all their miseries

If I have a billion dollar
And only if I have a billion dollar

At places less disgraced by mankind!!!

A night as a vagabond

I took a forlorn voyage one bright summer day
To a place less disgraced by mankind
It was by far like an unfathomable journey to a celestial abode
Manoeuvring through an exotic timberland road

Spiralling up a gigantic hill, amidst the best of nature at display
And as dusk fell, I stopped by a giant tree to call a home so faraway
The setting sun and the birds returning home from a day’s hard labour
The early howl of the distant jackals and the frequent pop up of a fury mole

Aggrieved and disapproving of its newly uninvited neighbour
Yet I stood there basked in the beauty of nature, as they played their role
And soon the unwelcomed dusk unveiled the black curtain of darkness
And the players made their retreat, hopefully for another peaceful night

And In the silence of the night, I could hear a bell ringing from a place faraway
Perhaps a prayer by a lone hermit, a recluse more than these worldly pleasures!

In Memory of My Late Parents

Yesterday, I was a child on my mother's lap
And little did I know, when I wake up from this nap
That I will be on my own, in this vast and weary world
With much to care and a son of my own to mould

It was just like yesterday, when I had them both
I had no worries to ponder but go my way in complete sloth
And today, I take their place and knew what it has been
To leave a place behind and live a life to its brim

I salute them both for what they have been to me and my kin
For what they have undergone, opening lives and lights to a dozen line
And when the nestlings feathered and rose to our feet
Long were they gone, and alone we wandered in this wild street

I think of them, day in and day out and the God sends them in my dreams
With their old smiles and soft spoken words, I walked with them in their realms
And when the night passes, I wake up alone like any other day
Greeted by this worldly chores and all I can, is call it another day anyway

I will wait and play my part like any one of you hath
I will tread the way that you have trodden, along with all my kith
And when the God calls me back, I will come there in ultimate reunion
To be your son again and stay there as your eternal companion

A Tribute

The splendours of their Majesties, the radiance of the Golden Throne
Illuminates this aroma of the nation, the pride that we gleefully adorn
Void is our hearts without their intellection, for they are, our testimony
Of our unity, the source of our peace and the chronology of our history

O' my King(s), thou had been indeed our radiant lights to our dark future
Under thine's majestic grandeur, much have we seen, for others that in ages unfold
Thou burned the mid-night oils, lost in mundane affairs, less likely of any regal stature
While in rhythmic bliss, we reaped the peace that thou fagged in heat and cold

As a child often I ideated the imperialistic state than the gallantry of the leaders
Yet I have heard of leaders who fought war for fame and blood for cozen vengeance
And weighed their glory by the extent of the empires and services their subject renders
And yet we have leaders, who for the nation's happiness, risk their life in deep allegiance

O' our great King(s), under thy noble feet, in triumphant submission, I humbly bow
In ardent love and gratitude, in tribute for all that thou had dauntlessly sacrificed
May thy graciousness over shine our ignorance and in you may we glow
Out of selfishness and greed and for the wellbeing and the happiness of our citizenry

Long Live Our King(s)!!!

The Boy Is the Father of Man

I denied a chocolate to my boy, a busy morn
Turning a deaf ear to all his reasons and anguish
Until in silence we manoeuvred the lane to his kindergarten
Mesmerized in thoughts and in tears, I could see him seated

But not for long as I could hear him mumble again
This time, this strange narration, I heard him say
"Though I don't remember, how good a dad I have been”
"But for sure, would not have been a soul worse than this man,"

"After all that I have done, a chocolate he cannot give me every morn"
And as I looked at him rather annoyed, he made a disapproving glance to say
"You might well recollect what a dad I had been to you when you were like me"
"And that you are growing old, I will wait until you come back as my little boy"

And as I dropped him with his tiny bag, he looked at me and said
"Dad, is it true that when you die, you shall be born as my son?"
Of course I said, but I will remember never to ask you a chocolate
He smiled and as he passed the gate, he murmured, "It’s not about the chocolate alone!"

The Forgotten Mission

There is nothing greater than just being a human
With our own destiny folded in our acumen
The Creator has sent us to pave our way forward
To the ultimate destiny, the place of limitless delight

I have started my voyage here, from this mountain terrain
Where rocks cropped and hills ran into jagged chain
Where flora and fauna exist in equal harmony
From this land blessed by souls, hermits and sages great

In my small room, as the first ray of the sun passes
I stand there prepared to take my journey a mile further
Lighting a lamp, I offer my daily verses, though it far less surpasses
The act of assuming all drudgeries and pains of all sentient being

With dusk and dawns taking its rapid natural turn
However young my heart may yield, a day closer I burn
Like a fast depleting lit incense, I come closer to my end
Though to the ultimate destiny, by far less I may transcend

The bustling lives often override the truth of my impermanence
The greed to ease and solace fake this fugitive hours of existence
Half the time I have wasted ere I realize my mission true
And in bygone days, nothing have I seen but illusions in blue

With my body yielding to time, the gravity I can feel
Now or never will I make my end the beginning of my mission
To the place of ultimate bliss, the destiny my creator had sealed
The place many had long sought but often not unfeigned in true fruition

That Lone Night

I was woken up one lone wintry night
By an anguished howl, made with all its might
And I stood there awake, in the night's pure blackness
Amid the roaring snores and ticking clocks

And there as I turned from side to side
I wondered why on earth did that creature howl
When in deep slumber, all souls had befallen
And yet I heard, a more deeper but a tortured howl

The wind that gently brought the pain in my ears
Blew and passed, but that agony in my heart lingered for years
It was one of those cold wintry nights, in pain and in desperation
It howled the night long until it could make that blissful separation

As the night made its way to the day
I could hear the chirping of those early birds
And the children's cry and their mothers' dismay
I rolled up my blanket and walked through that frosty dirts

Only to find the farmer's dog that fended the crop
Yielded to the chilling frost, its might all dis-robed