Hmmph! + Conscience

Waves :

Hmmph!

Oh what a waste of time this is!

Are you a fool, or physics wiz,

As you once claimed, for if you were,

You'd spend, instead, more time with her,

Your wife, I mean, that Mrs. Li

That you've forgotten -- I mean me!

-- your disgruntled wife!!!

Wai-Sin Li,  NY. Jan. 29, 2006.

Confession: 

The short piece above, "Waves -- Hmmph", was written, not by Wai-Sin, but by me, a day after writing "Waves".   Over a month later, on a Saturday, with Wai-Sin not home, I had the time and privacy to write the piece below, which I present here in partial reparation for the earlier deceit.

Arjun (Babui) Janah.  2006, March 11.

Li Wai-Sin -- Conscience.

"I am not complicated, " you once said,
When I was cross at you, by anger led
To question how you differed then from me.
"I'm simple -- just," you said, "like one- two-three."

And so you were, my true and simple love,
As I found out, as years were counted out,
And you held true, amidst the pull and shove
Of wordly things, to that which does not shout

But whispers, soft, the simple, quiet truth
That we ignore at peril to our soul;
Because the strength to face and follow through
This truth, by habit formed, does keep us whole;

And when we do forget, or put aside
This listening, by complications led
Astray, from hard and narrow to the wide
And easy road, we weaken, and grow dead.

For a dead heart is what you do not have,
When those around avert their eyes or sleep,
And you, awake, must see, with pain, and choose
The path you tread, though weariness be deep.

For pain must come with love, and love with pain.
This is a truth we face, or cowards be;
From you, my love, I came to learn again,
That duty clear, that we need hearts to see.

And though you are, like me, a human, frail,
When you and I are gone, with our travail
Then past, and those who still remain do wail,
And then move on, I hope that those prevail

Who see the humor of  it all, and laugh;
And drink a toast to you, my angel half!
While in their hearts a blossom opens up,
That gives them strength to see, yet not give up!

Arjun (Babui) Janah.
Brooklyn, New York, 2006 March 11.