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This End of The Telescope

Derek's view from this end of the telescope.

When love beckons to you, follow him,
Though his ways are hard and steep,
And when his wings enfold you yield to him,
Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
And when he speaks to you believe in him,
Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden.

For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you.
Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.
Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,
So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.

Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.
He threshes you to make you naked.
He sifts you to free you from your husks.
He grinds you to whiteness.
He kneads you until you are pliant;
And then he assigns you to his sacred fire,
that you may become sacred bread for God’s sacred feast.

All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart,
and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life’s heart.

But if in your fear you would seek only love’s peace and love’s pleasure,
Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love’s threshing floor,
Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.

Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.
Love possesses not nor would it be possessed;
For love is sufficient unto love.

When you love you should not say,
‘God is in my heart,’ but rather,
‘I am in the heart of God.’
And think not you can direct the course of love,
for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.

Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself.
But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night,
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;
To rest at the noon hour and meditate love’s ecstasy;
To return home at eventide with gratitude;
And to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.

Dark night of the soul.

They say that a picture speaks a thousand words.

They say that a picture speaks beyond a thousand words.

By Noreen Ariff (loyarburok.com)

Dream flight | credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/shelbob/

 

Bagaimana ya

hendak ku luahkan

Isyarat hati, agar jelas,isyarat jiwa, agar pasti

Agar kau tahu

Diri ini bergelora menanti hari, mengira waktu

Menunggu saat-saat agar kita dapat bertemu

Melepas rindu.

Ingin sekali ku panggil merpati, minta ia sampaikan

Warkah jiwa dari ku untukmu

Bersalut harapan, dimeterai dengan mimpi-mimpi

Agar kau tahu

Hati ini hanya ada satu nama

Dan di situ telah terukir namamu.

Hendak juga ku panggil awan turunkan hujan

Dan dari rintik-rintik hujan itu

Akan ku lukiskan perasaan ku terhadapmu.

Tapi,

Aku tidak pandai melukis.

Lalu Aku tulis puisi ini

Kerana ini sahajalah cara yang ku tahu

Untuk sampaikan hajat agar ia kesampaian

Agar kau tahu

Keadaan ku yang memujamu.

Biar bukan Hanya Tuhan sahaja yang tahu.

This article was first published in LoyarBurok and mentioned in Malaysia-Today.

A, C, D, E, F . . .

I went to kindergarten at Tadika Riang Baru.

The author, the 'angmoh' kid and Joanne.

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Sam: It’s me. It’s your Sam. Don’t you know your Sam?

Frodo: I can’t do this, Sam.

Sam: I know. It’s all wrong. By rights we shouldn’t even be here. But we are. It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo; the ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end… because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was, when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines, it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you, that meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going… because they were holding on to something.

Frodo: What are we holding on to, Sam?

Sam: That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it’s worth fighting for.

A ‘haiku’ on racist stereotypes in Malaysia.


We call him keling

We imitate his accent

Laugh at his dark skin

 

We call him apek

Tell him to “Go back China!”

“Rearn to speak Engrish!”

 

We call him huana

Lazy, rempit, ‘subsidy’

Can marry four wives

Why can't we be like them?

Let’s look at each other with colour-blind lenses.

My text for the National-level Public Speaking Competition 2009. Originally a one-word essay written for my mid-term English paper, it has been revised countless times to its present form.

 
Love is what makes the world go round. This phrase is often quoted and considered by many to be a universal truth. I however, beg to differ. In my humble opinion, ‘money’ is what makes the world go round. Yes, money is what sets the world in motion. Without money, nations would cease to exist. Without money, kings and queens would be mere paupers. Without money, some lose their meaning of  life.

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“You-Know-Who.”

“The One Who Must Not Be Named”.

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As a writer, you struggle with finding “yourself”.

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The cover read, “PEPERIKSAAN AKHIR TAHUN 2010, BAHASA INGGERIS”.

Like a ballerina’s tiptoes, her fingers traced the length of the examination sheet ; her index finger counting the words of her essay.

A black cardigan worn over her school uniform. A white lace hairband trapped her shoulder-length locks in order. A ring on her right hand, golden in colour, but I doubt it’s authenticity. She was after all just a student, a refugee from Myanmar at that.

Her hands gripped her blue pen, writing furiously, running a race against time as the clock went ‘ticktock, ticktock’.

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