King of all kings.

You

are the trustworthy grip

of my father's

You

are the gentle stroke through the hair

mother does, when I am disturbed

You

are my unanswered prayers

as well as my answered ones

You

are the temporary tutorials

in friends, in foes, in between

in every heartbreak

in every bliss

I have been hoping that

You would come

and secure me in Your love

Only to realise I failed

to see, and I do now

that You never left at all.

Bedtime stories.

I am always there
to listen
what better way to peek
than to listen?

If you could only hear
the smile that is in their voice
They are defined
by what they love and see

Tell me more
for your stories has now
become my bedtime stories
scars and lessons learnt.

I will be listening,
always.

Otōsan.

Otōsan,
5 years, 6 birthdays
Do you look down sometimes?
Because I still need you

Was that you in my dreams?
Securing me in embrace
Destroying my Berlin Wall
'let it go,' you said

It does not get better, Otōsan.
I just toss everything like Tiny did
Far away and damaging upon impact
to the unsuspecting

The budding men in my life
are guardians in place of you
and I am an unfortunate lesson
for the daughter they will grow.

Otōsan,
5 years, 6 birthdays
The more I have grown
The lesser I understand.

A Timeline Overlapped.

For him
already 2 years in
of a loss deemed irreplaceable
a friendship set on fire.
I had worst, I said; but how am I to know-

I am only a stranger, looking in his window
of a depression he called home.

~

For me
it was 3 months in
of an irreversible turmoil
of a magnitude only understood after a messy escape.
I am so done with her, you said; but how were you to know-

You only see as far as today, a chapter
of a story much is still unwritten.

~

When it starts for you
it is a slope growing steeper over years.
Even a support needs support
and you succumb into anger.
You left her alone, they said; but how were they to know-

A kind only sees their kind, and you are not
A sturdy mountain is always alone.

***

When I get into his shoes,
his past becomes my present.
Get into mine-
hopefully the wisdom of my pain
will guide you to the way out.