Promise

As I wake up in the morning,

I am yet again facing the aftermath

of breaking the promise to myself

that I would go to bed early.

I wake up and ponder yet again

what has gone wrong.

Haven’t I made a solemn promise?

Was my resolution not strong enough?

So, again, a solution is sought.

New resolutions are made,

a forgiveness is given,

and a new hope is molded.

12.26.2025

Refinement

Thanks to you,

the world shined brighter.

My eyes filled with wonder,

my lungs could breath the warm air easily,

and my heart ran as freely as it can.

You’ve taught me the world can be molded with my hands

with a vision imagined through my mind’s eye.

Day after day, I am relishing the lesson.

Wherever you are, I wish you happiness.

12.23.2025

Tapestry

No more boasting.

Let’s face the facts, not impressions.

Let’s keep our minds sharp,

and weave the threads of our stories

to build a tapestry of network

that will wrap us in warmth and softness.

Let’s be honest to ourselves,

and deal the right things, for right time and right people.

Let’s build faithfully, intellectually, and emotionally.

Let’s be what matters the most.

12.21.2025

Friend

To listen to the story,

to offer a listening ear,

to share the burden in the heart

is a rare value we find in life.

To respect the other

regardless of the standards

and rooting for the other

without a need for evidence

is what I appreciate from a friend.

As I watch the crow’s feet growing deeper

in the eyes of the friend

I once knew from my childhood

I wonder what a blessing it was to have met such person.

12.20.2025

Blessing

The rain trickled down

soaking the hardened road.

Many had walked on the path

and some stopped and lingered.

After years,

no one walked on the road anymore.

One day, a bulldozer dug up the road

A new building was built on top of where it laid.

Did any of it meant anything?

Those people who walked by

and the road that withstood everyone walking over it?

I’d like to believe so.

And I’d like to remember it all.

12.16.2025

Taste

Taste is cold.

You eat what you find pleasurable.

You spit what tastes bitter.

But have you thought about

what it is like to taste bitter to others?

We all want to be accepted — to bring pleasure to others.

Even if yourself tastes acerbic to others,

if you were to taste someone caustic,

you wouldn’t hesitate to spit them out

even as you beg for others to accept yourself.

So, taste is cold, I think.

But a part of me also hopes

that it is a guide through a narrow path

for us to ultimately reach what we’ve all been truly wanted.

12.15.2025

Amore

Perhaps it’s not that you have the capability to do anything that you love;

rather, it’s because you love that you can do anything.

A human can be limited as a mere mortal

yet it’s love that allows for sublimation from constraints.

It’s not what you can get from the other,

but rather what you can give for them.

For their presence in my space is a gift in itself,

nothing can get in the way of your dedication to them.

Let the light grow in this pitch darkness.

12.12.2025

Slow

When your cloth catches a fire,

it’s difficult to stay calm and ponder

whether my buttons are tied in order.

You’re too busy putting out the fire with water.

When the anxiety caught me,

I put on blinders on my sides,

and just ran as fast as I could

without knowing where I am headed.

It was when I could finally stop and relax

allowing myself to melt in the softness of warmth

of those I could trust and rely upon

that I started to see the broken links.

Slowing down, I started to understand

the minute links connecting each other

forming a vast network, pulsing with

diverse colors and brightness of emotions.

So it begins, the brick work to build the foundation

beneath a castle built upon a cloud.

12.11.2025

Mirage

I caught a thread of voice,

one that hides in the shadow,

sneaking in times of chaos,

remaining tense for a moment for an outburst.

Stem of the thread was from the past.

“Don’t smile” the voice said, threateningly.

The hatred, the contempt, and the misplaced anger was what I could sense.

I remember the confusion at the moment,

as an assumption unfortunately started to arise

to inaccurately blame myself.

I want to reach out to the child who holds the stem,

and stand between him and the voice

to protect the child and deter the voice.

I’ll tell the child, “smile as much as you like”.

“Look, all there really is behind

the threatening voice is actually

a tiny mouse, trapped in a cage.”

“You deserve to be loved, respected, and understood.”

“Smile. You are loved.”

12.9.2025