A POEM OF SORROW

IN PRAISE OF THE PHOENIX
(grieving over my wife's passing away on 25 February 2009)


a pillar drenched with tears seems to be crumbling
because of a barrage of attacks coming from all directions
as a battle is waged against the odds of life challenging
not the strenghth of physique and brawn but the limits
of sanity and nerves, of will and determination,
in a world that has gone silent amid crises and turmoil.


who will sit at the steps of a monument
that will never be erected? who will work on a field
where no life will ever dawn? who will sing victory praises
in a warfare where everyone is a loser? where am I heading to
in a forest where no beaten path has ever been impressed?


the world is full of mysteries and miseries and no faint-hearted
soul will ever survive the heat of a conflict that produces
confusions, clashes and cowardice.


a pillar drenched with tears has fallen like
the proverbial Phoenix but will rise again from the ashes
to conquer and blot out the terror of the unknown
and mock the fierce faces of paper tigers on parade.