Mui Ne Beach Bumming

Sitting by the South China Sea
Drinking Wax's Dream
This is a dream

Surrealism
Back to the crowds
Enjoying my own space;

This palce
Lights that blink on the night's horizon
The city on the sea

So where do I find myself?
South Central chilling to Reggae beats?
Lost in the chatter of foreign tourists.

The tiny umbrellas
And twisted straws
The shake of ice that brings the people at night
Retreating from the morning light

All this vietnam
A place of diverse experience
Endless surprises from dawn until sunrises

I have found a peace
That I can fold;
Pack and store into my pocket

I see myself no more
Or the self I had created
It means nothing here
Did it ever matter at all?

I will never be the same again
Vietnam is to thank or to blame?
My experience is my perception

My program rewritten
I am kind; forgiving
And as light as the wind that takes me

Cambodian Dreaming

Today I saw the world
In the eyes of a child
Covered in dust
But bursting with love
Eager with anticipation
to absorb all that I could give

My time means more here
Than it does to myslef
The waves of self absorption
Melted; drifted
Away in those eyes

The warm embraces
Gestures that are measured not by money
But by love;
Compassion;
The real gifts in this world

In those eyes;
Those piercing eyes
I find a meaning
And the frivolity
Of my first world existence

Bold In Love

The exterior is merely a reflection
Of waters that flow within
A ripple effect of the mind's journey
Through space and time
And footsteps from the past

The body;
merely a vessel
Is no representation
of worth
Or the value I bring to this world

It carries me on my journey
Taking the earthly steps the soul cannot tread
Giving the mind refuge;
And a pedestal
A home for the spirit to live

The way I feel is what matters;
The choices I make
And the thoughts I allow to linger
Are true determinations
The measure of my character

The past does not matter;
The future is yet to exist
It is the love that I give
Right here and now
That generates the peace I seek

It is time to dispense old habits
Old methods;
Old means;
Old measures of self evaluation
Based on arbitrary standards

I am as free as I allow myself
My consciousness expanding
With each breathe; each heartbeat
The more I realise I am a gift to this world
I more I can keep giving

I say goodbye to the Miser
And cleanse my entity of its toxic past
Shedding it like dead skin
I now step into my destiny; my nameskae
And will be Bold In Love

A Brief Pause In The Past

I guess we are all searching;
Looking for the one
And pause to long with others
We stumble upon in our search
Neither pieces in the other's puzzle
As much as we try to make them fit

Saigon- War Widow

I saw the war today;
Decades before my time
Tears soaked heat glisten cheeks
My ignorance washed away

I turn from smiling faces
That should rightfully begrudge me
And the many cultures I represent
Cultures that I have been born to

To find the real weapons of mass destruction
Black souls of Americans... and Australians
Not those conscripted to fight
But those that crave the spoils of war

Disembowled humanity
Bodies littering the roads in futile escape
Children scream as napalm tears away their skin;
Their dreams;
And chances of evolution

Em dep lum

Tonight I leave a world behind
Encapsulation of twenty six years
To leap forward to the world beyond
And cast away old shadows

New Taste, New Experience
New Vigour
Old Dreams rise refreshed
New aspirations blooming like Spring Time

Winter has passed;
And Spring has burst forth with new colour
A vibrancy unmatched in all these years
Respect for age and time
And faith in true beauty now found

Temples to offer worship
New understandings of all that has come to pass;
And all there is to come
To see bounty in serenity
And what a gift it is to be human

Spirit is what drives us onward
From the smallest adversities to the largest wars
It is what we take with us on our journeys
rebuild, renew, regenerate
And share the prosperity

I stand, ready to be humbled
And truely be grateful for the privileged life I lead
Theoretical understanding
Can never replaced the lessons of what is seen,
thought and felt

On this journey I leave behind I world I've known
And for too long being comfortable
It is time to clear out old ideals,
Addictions to comfort
That stifle the creative energy


Goodbye old life, I doubt I will miss you

Universal Unity

Magical Majesty
Concurrent Coincidence
I am the Creator;
The Master;
And the Student

Zen Like Zeal
Played with flaming flourish
I pluck the cords of life
Like a well strung guitar

You see, I think right, now
Both in this instant
And in collective conclusion
The methodical mind mapping the Mekong
I am at peace in my delta

Now Spring is springing
And all falsities sprung
I am dubious of doubt
And the plague it once brought upon my house

I am at one, it is not accidental
That I move from transient to transcendental
Creative conductor; symphonic maestro
I walk lightly
And fear no more

Angel Bonita

A light in the darkness
An angel in the night
Golden cascades frame the cherub
Who's celestial grace is too much for this world

In the shell of a crazy fox
Beguiles the innocence within
Joyous, pure and good natured
Cunning seconded by
An inexhaustible will

Yet the fox peers into the Lake of life
And recognises not what it sees
This angel in disguise
Trapped by those who will her ignorance

A life blemished with violence
A reaction by those who loathe their own inadequacies
To which pure love is a flame
And not a beacon

Too many poachers surround
Trying to claim the angel's hide
Like some trophy; a captive
Pulling her mercilessly in competing directions

But what they fail to see;
If only they could open their eyes
Through violence and neglect
This angel has flourished
And gained invaluable tools of survival

Try as they may to control you
They are feeble sticks in a raging river
Nothing can contain such spirit
Always enlivened by the challenge

The crazy fox; the wanton angel
The love child of serendipity
Will outlast the throws of man.
She will always be free

Thunder Storms

I wrote this last night while I sat on the verandah and watched the storm thunder overhead

I sit amongst the weather
And feel it ensnare my senses-
The rumble of the electric sky
Bleaches the horizons with flashes
almost like memories
Reminds me that we all have a place
In the majesty of the universe

I have never seen the hills
Quite as clearly as I do now
The wind and rain chills me
But I would rather feel
Than to perceive through glass safehouses
For the first time in years I feel alive

The Clouds announce their prominence;
The Wind blows stronger
As the Rain steadily increases
Yet I remain unmoved.
The Lightening Strikes to the East
And I will live inside no more

Unexpected Discovery

I was looking thorugh old diaries, trying to find a poem I wrote about my best friend (and plutonic soulmate) about a year ago. Instead I found this extract I recorded from a dream I had. I don't remember the "asking", but I felt I was seeking answers in my life abnd the life of my closest friend. This was the response from an old American-Indian medicine woman whose words were translated by a younger female relative of the tribe:



"You come from a time and place that does not respect age.



You are at your peak; and you are beautiful. If you waste this, you will have nothing



You need to believe or you will destroy yourself



**** we can not help- we just give her refuge; let her rest"





**** is my best friend but for respect I omit her name. And in relation to her, I am glad I "let her rest" I have only wanted her happiness and worried not about where her road would take her. I know that she will always grow and that road will always lead back to me.

To Sam

I am glad I am the breeze in your life I always intended
Brisk but uplifting
A refreshing breathe in an ordinary life

I longed to leave no trace;
Just only fond memories
Of distant times where we were all just finding our place

All I foreaw is coming to fruition
And you will bask in a love you truely derserve

For I have been always been a wind
Transient and distant;
Though potent in your memories, there is little evidence of my existence

I am thankful for our regenerated friendship
Knowing now my winds are due to change
My face may give no clue to what is coming
But this breeze is destine for distant shores.

I stand here on the brink of our final days
And smile knowing all that we have achieved
Few can suffer the howling winds of winter
To see the beauty of a new Spring Day

I give love to you and all that you have been
You have found your Juliet and I have found the East
Although we cannot change the past
We have rewritten the future

Thoughts on Love

Like all of us, I have known love, lost love and endured love unreturned. I was thinking about the latter whilst driving to work when this little snippet came to mind:

To know pain is to know the importance of giving love,
And be unashamed of your feelings

To gaze upon the scars of past hurt
instills the need to do no harm

Do not begrudge those for their indiscretions against you
For you have touched more lives in your wake
Than you care to realise

Lament the fact that they have not come into themselves,
The people that they are destine to be
And without this purpose they wander aimlessly,
floundering amongst a sea of pathless souls
were collisions are many and imminent