Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Limericks


I wrote these limericks when I was feeling tired and bored. They don’t have metrical feet at times.

There once was a girl named Yangzom,
Who was a good friend of Pangzom.
She was ugly and lazy—
Quite frankly, quite crazy—
So Yangzom just stuck close to Pangzom.

When I dream, I dream in my sleep;
The dreams unknowingly creep.
They have no fixedness
To calm the sadness—
They just go on till desires reap.

My eyes are burning bright like fire;
She's the object of my desire.
She sat on the grass,
Covered her ass,
Then someone set my desire on fire.

A crafty man Jigme made a speech,
Promised to stick like a leech.
He wagged to get support,
Then ran to a port,
And built his own house near the beach.

There was a boy with a toy once—
The toy was a big fat ounce.
He tried on some frocks,
With that, he rocks—
Then removed its penis in flounce.

There was an old man from nowhere
Who kept pics of chicks everywhere.
He went to slumber,
Counted the number
Of pics on his wall—what a scare!

A fox went to search for carnivore;
Soon the cruel fox found a war.
"You rock," said a cock.
"You'll soon get a shock,
For I've declared a big war—so roar!"

Monday, June 10, 2013

Grandma and the Frog


The story was told by my mother when I was a child. I have roughly reproduced it here.


Grandma had a big house. It was surrounded on all sides by all kinds of trees—cypress, oak, fig, mango, walnut, and others.

She loved her trees.

Inside, however, she had almost nothing—just a few empty pots and pans. Her rice bag was nearly empty. She was very poor.

One day, Grandma went outside to look at her trees. She noticed a dry branch on the cypress tree. She was very sad and asked, "How did your branch become dry?"

The tree replied, "The thunder struck me."

Grandma was heartbroken. She said, "If your branches can dry up, then let me also be struck."

So she hit her knee very hard. Soon, her knee swelled up big. Grandma cried out in pain.

All day and all night, she sat near the oven, weeping. "It hurts so much!" she shouted at last. "Take back your pain!"

She struck her knee again, even harder.

The skin opened, and out jumped a frog. It landed right on the oven. "Let me burn this frog in the fire," Grandma said angrily.

She threw the frog into the fire. It burned like dry grass.

The frog quickly croaked, "Take me to the third room!"

Grandma carried it upstairs and placed it there. Instantly, the room filled with all kinds of grains—rice, wheat, maize, and millet.

"Take me to the first floor before I burn completely," the frog said again.

Grandma ran downstairs and set it there. The room filled with farm animals—a cow with a calf, a hen with four chicks, a pig with two piglets, and a horse with a foal.

"Take me to the garden," said the frog.

Grandma ran outside and placed the frog in her garden. The garden filled with all kinds of vegetables—radishes, cabbages, potatoes, pumpkins, leafy greens, and turnips.

By then, the frog had burned completely and turned to ashes.

Grandma felt both sorry and happy. She now had grains, vegetables, and animals to keep her company. Her home was no longer empty.

Yet, for a long time, she was not completely happy. She missed her sick cypress tree. One day, she went to visit it. To her delight, the tree had no dry branches anymore.

Grandma smiled with happiness.

Sunday, June 9, 2013

My Love is Not

My love is not
quantifiable,
justifiable,
describable,
payable,
buyable,
demonstrable,
measurable,
or calculable.

So reasonable?
No.
Love doesn't live in ledgers
or fit inside a proof.
You cannot weigh it on a scale
or return it for a refund.

---

My Love Is

My love is:
undie-able,
viable,
doable,
lovable,
appreciable,
and forever.

It does not fade like a receipt.
It does not crack under examination.
It breathes in the ordinary—
a quiet hand, a shared silence,
a meal eaten slowly together.

It is not reasonable,
and that is its reason.
It does not ask to be proven,
only to be felt.
It does not demand return,
only to remain.

So if you ask me what my love is worth—
I will say:
Everything I have.
And if you ask me to explain it—
I will simply stay.

Friday, June 7, 2013

A Lost Hope

Failure is an orphanage—
all wishes grilled,
left alone, neglected.
A victim of sorrows and anguishes,
so paltry, so lamentable—a soul.

Redundant among the masses,
shouting at the loudest,
yet no one listens.
As if blind, dumb, and deaf,
you endure the blackest life.
Hopeless has no wish.



Time waits.
Time waits, but not forever alike.
It hides the lies,
untold the truth—
like the sun concealed behind clouds.
Yet it will rise shortly—
the joy of seeing the world,
the pleasure of being alone with oneself.



Failure and success,
good and bad,
high and low,
rich and poor—
all will disappear.
But these tests of fate will continue
as long as one is alive.



Blame it on time,
each and every day.
Too many promises—
promises to love,
promises to play,
promises to succeed.
An endless file of promises.

Odd, how we are drowned with dreams
and drenched with so many failures.