I am me -
the only me
that will ever be.

and to be me
is to be free
and to be free
is to be me,

so let yourself be,
embrace your me,
and set yourself free.


*this poem was semi-inspired by these words by Oliver Sacks:

"There will be no one like us when we are gone,
but then there is no one like anyone else, ever.
When people die, they cannot be replaced.
They leave holes that cannot be filled,
for it is the fate - the genetic and neural fate -
of every human being to be a unique individual,
to find his own path, to live his own life,
to die how own death,"

Leo

Learn your limitations as a human

And then push past them.

You won't get far, it's true, 

But you make magnificent gains

When you muster the courage to question 

The origins of your being. 

We can only know

That we know nothing. 

And in knowing nothing, 

We really know something. 

And in knowing something, 

We indeed know everything.

To admit that you know nothing

Is to discover everything-

And this is the highest degree 

Of human wisdom.

time

it's becoming easier to think of you, now.
 time does something beautiful like that -

while we're constantly concerning ourselves
with the tedious tasks of everyday living,
time never stops moving.
and what's funny is that we forget
that time is indeed moving along with us
as we walk the path of our day, our week.
and then we have these breakthrough moments
in which we remember:
"has it really been a month, a year, a decade?"
and we realize that the hard things
have become a little less burdensome.

that's what I love about time.
It heals without us even knowing.

Today is new.
There is no other like today -

this day, this blank slate,
this unwritten page in the book
of my existence, this breath of
fresh air, this 7,489th day
of breath, of movement, of life...

And today,
I will live.

stay with me

tell me -
now that I've captured
your spirit,
will you stay with me
here for as long
as we are
physically apart?

will you guide my feet?
will you direct my heart?
will you live inside me
where I can feel you,
where I can know you?

you can stay for as long
as you please. 
oh, how I have missed  
your love
for a long, long year. 

your return fills
my spirit with joy -
a desperate longing
that has finally been
fulfilled.

stay with me..


It's almost been a year now since I've lost my dad. Today I felt his undeniable presence join me. This was the first time I felt him this near, this real. It felt like a beautiful reunion, a running into the arms of a long-lost love, a sensation of being lost and being found. I know that he is alive; in what form he lives, I know not. What I now know, and I indeed know fully well, is the reassuring comfort of his presence.

In the wise words of Rumi:
"It is a drum and arms waving.
It is a bonfire at midnight on the top edge of a hill,
this meeting again with you."

There are two phases in the life of a truth-seeking individual:

a time in which the human learns
and experiences and feels
and takes a look at others
and attempts to understand them -
to put themselves in their shoes,
to respect their perspective,
to realize what it truly means
to love another as yourself.

and a time in which
you apply what you've learned.
this is compassion.

and it is impossible to have one
without the other.