We Wear the Mask

We Wear the Mask
By Paul Laurence Dunbar

We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,--
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties.

Why should the world be overwise,
In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only see us, while
We wear the mask.

We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
To thee from tortured souls arise.
We sing, but oh the clay is vile
Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
But let the world dream otherwise,
We wear the mask!

咖啡旅程

我現在站在這裡.
思考生命的去向.
我選擇了這條路.
開始了人生旅程.
我慢慢地繼續走.

這不是神秘之旅.
時間慢慢飛過了.
這一條曲折道路.
我辛苦探索命運
悲傷和快樂握手.
成功與失敗經驗.
我得到不少沮喪.
也得到不少教訓.
我還是熱愛生命.

我選擇了這條路
慢慢繼續完旅程
等待美麗夕陽紅
有景有色有彩虹
待一杯芳香咖啡
這是上帝的意圖?

Boxing with shadows ?

Shadow, oh shadow.....
Why lurking around ?
Come on, get up, and stand up.
Face me like a human being.

But, you are only a shadow.
You will always be where you are.
Your rightful place is always on the ground,
beneath my feet, along the path I walked.

There are times,
hindrances tagged along my life.
Depending on where the source of instigation,
they tagged behind,
squeezing from the sides,
or leaded from the front.

Hindrances are the occasional irritants of life.
But, these hindrances are merely shadows.
They are real and maybe menacing,
but at the end of the day,
they can't rise above me,
to challenge my determinations.

You may caused me temporary setbacks,
But I shall overcome.
I may fall, but I shall rise again,
with even greater determination.
You will never be able
to taint my dreams,
or poisoned my paths.
The wallet in my heart will always be generous,
But the shadow will always be underneath my feet.

Shadow, oh shadow,
don't ever be mislead !
If you come from behind,
I doubt you can rise to stab me from behind.
If you challenge me from the front,
I shall step on you to carry on forward.
I have greater purpose,
than to engage you lying on the ground.

In life, there are always
inconsiderate people behaving like shadows,
lurking around in emotional darkness with ill intent,
waiting for my enlightened presence,
to cause me mischiefs.
But that is life, and I will let it be.
I can never be a man of no shadow.

With or without shadows,
the clock ticks, and I must carry on.......
I will try, I will try,
to let go, and to move on with life,
and to enjoy
a cup of hot black aromatic coffee.
Om Namo Amithaba Buddha.

Untitled Life....

In the stillness of the night,
staring aimlessly into my computer,
surfing through the cyberspace,
and my mind wondering back into the past....

Flipping through the traces of memories,
I see the faces and hearts of places and people.
I see the desperations, the hopelessness,
the anxieties, the injustices, the paradoxes,......

I felt the breeze of bitter winds,
the betrayals, lies, deceits, and the broken promises.

I felt the tiredness of perpetual struggles,
to maintain acquired material comforts and wealths.
The unbearable weights of responsibilities,
and conscience of my obligations,
stretching every tissue of my muscles.....
God, I am indeed a very tired man.

I have made enough for today.
I shall have a cigarette of contented enjoyment,
and a cup of hot coffee to aromatize my senses.
I look forward to tomorrow.
I know, tomorrow, I shall live my life even better....

Good night.
ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz......