A story of life
Forty-five years
they've spent together,
sharing laughter and tears,
consoling one another.
She's given him eight children,
six daughters and their two brethren,
all brought up with love and care,
all aware that mother's always there.
Year in, year out
daughters married and moved out
and sons set up households, too.
A huge clan, numbering twenty-two.
Sixty-five father is now,
good-looking still, though, for his age.
Sixty-three mother is, but now?
Pale and frail, she looks her age.
Bearing children must have caused the weakening
of many a bone and muscle.
And she doesn't care for family planning,
which for her is something of a puzzle.
Now she takes ill quite often. Just hear!
Hypertension, heart condition and whatnot.
Dad takes care of her with compassion and fear.
What if he's to lose all the love he's got?.
But then one rainy morning
Mom could hold on no longer.
Done are her days,
may in peace she rest.
Everyone's grief-stricken, mourning,
But Dad is sadder than the rest.
However, within ninety days
Dad seems to light up youthfully.
His life seems as if filled with rays.
All smiles he grins most happily.
Everyone seeks an explanation.
What if it's mental illness he's got?
And there comes the surprising revelation.
Believe it or not.
Dad has met a young woman,
thirty years less than his age
who has agreed to be so human
as to get to him engaged.
Thus she'll come to share life in the house
where peace has reigned for forty-five years.
No one knows what her presence will arouse.
Disillusion? Resignation? Compromise? Tears?
Now here the life story ends.
It's for you to make amends
and for you to make a guess
what will be the rest.
By Djoeweriah Poorwo S.
Love is
Love is the ruler of all the earth
It can't be measured by material worth
It's the sign of the stars, the moon and sun
It's the feeling of happiness, laughter and fun.
Love is the ruler of all we say and do
It can make us happy - it can make us blue
It's the softness of the wind, the stillness of night
It's the heat of the sun and the brightness of light.
Love is a feeling of everything we share
Two people in love doing anything they dare
It's flying skyways and byways, passing mountains and streams
It's the want of two people, the fulfilling of dreams.
Love is the beauty of a growing blade of grass
It can be reflected in a mirrored plate of glass
It's the flight of a bird, the chattering of a squirrel
It's the feelings we gather as we fall in its swirl.
Love is the flowing gleam seen in your eye
It runs through your body like an unforgettable high
It's the rolling of a stone, the waves of the sea
It's the laughter of children running from tree to tree.
Love is so many things, to each a different face
It puts itself above all else, never taking second place
It's the warmth you give - the softness you show
It's the tenderness we share that keeps our own love aglow.
By Darrell Hausmann