Group 1

Some days along the beach, the wavy water is clean As though looking through a transparent glass screen Other days, the same water, dirty brown or murky green. Some times my mind is clear, sharp and lean Other times emotions run rampant and mean. Appearance in motion, temporal scene; The essence remains what it's always been.

I once met an apparition, a ghost Knowing my innermost secrets would boast Of my deepest desires, darkest deeds Of my cruelest curses, natural needs This omniscient apparition, divine Introducing himself always decline As if haunted by an overseer Invisible, yet always so near I faced my every thought, every fear So this ghost to me would appear Until one day in a state of trance Saw this apparition in one clear glance At last I learnt how everything it’d know This ghost was none other than my shadow.

I picked a few grains of sand For inspection, put them in my hand; Different shades and shapes though unplanned Randomly formed an orchestral band As though there was an invisible hand Conducting them from his stand. Whether it was planned or unplanned I do not know, nor understand. In any case the grains of sand Obey the same law, same command, Without question, without demand, And without fear of reprimand.

From the river bed, I picked some pebbles Formerly rocks, turned mutinous rebels Now they just lay there, motionless and dead Their last resting place is the river bed. Further down river was a sandy shore Grains of sand covered the river floor Rocks and pebbles against the river's trend All became sand by the rivers end. All former rocks opposing the flow Misjudged the power of the rain and snow Force of the river made them tumble Now they just lay there accepting, humble. If we too ignore the power of our source Constantly oppose our life's river's course Tumble, fall and move, until we are dead Humble and still lie in our Final Bed. But if like fish with the river flow The course of the river we get to know We can swim with ease to the river's motion Until in the end, we reach the ocean

By a dumpster in an alleyway I heard a gleeful cockroach say "O how much to God I pray Humankind go on as they may Both in their work and their play Everywhere their poisons spray And different species slay Dump their sewers into every bay Turn the blue skies to dark gray Until one day, playful and gay With their own fragile lives pay; And when everywhere in waste shall lay Roaches roaming free over rock and clay." I heard a passing elder roach Taking a different approach Hoping mankind no more encroach Stop being beyond reproach. The old spiritual cockroach said "Solution is not having mankind dead Bringing the way of restraint instead Puts all of us much further ahead Everyone will have food and bread Their thirst and hunger amply be fed Instead of gray, blue green and red Over all the earth shall gladly spread. No need to choose between roach and man A much better world both of them can plan."