The Dark Clouds....... Poem by RIC BASTASA

oh i have many other stories to tell you
some too private
but how i wish i had the courage of the winds
and the waves of the sea to tell you that
or those forest monkeys that create too much noise
or even the parrots,
i still have none of any of those and these.

i respect the silence of the stars
the placidity of the lake which even if
disturbed by the ripple of the paddle and
the lonely boat, still manage to retain back
its lucidity.

i have many stories to tell you perhaps
when you are dead, perhaps when i am dead too.
you know how they laugh at us, the way we parted
our hairs, the way we dovetail our fingers.
the way we dance like those bent bamboos.
the rules are clear they say, only one, and only one
rule and only one love. Here the fans are wrong.
Here the fingers of the hands which lengths are not uniform
have no place.

they say they care for us, and they say even that they
love us. They all wish us all well, to be happy, and that
in this pursuit, with all determination, one should be
praised and glorified.

That pursuit of happiness is a democratic ideal.
They all pursued it with their errors too.
But they are justified by their numbers and for what
they are and we all bow to it.

There is no such cloud as black as the heart of man.
No cloud as black as the sand without eyes to look
and stare that long with each other.

ah, these stories shall remain inside an bowl.
covered by a sheep skin, and layered by the years and years
of dust.

there is a curse. One who discovers it and reads it
shall suffer the rest of his life, just like all of us.

dark hearts, dark souls, dark eyes.
they wish us all well, They wish us happiness
but they never really understand what it means.