CHAPTER 1

HOME

RAIN AND CHERRY BLOSSOM??

Thou art my certain lifesaver,
Renewing my desolate heart.
Thou art my passionate lover,
Caressing my face without art.

Thou art my subtle musician,
Burnishing me on the petal.
Thou art my dancing magician,
Making my falling twirl vital.

Thou art my perspective painter,
Dropping my petals to dress earth.
Thou art my lifetime messenger,
Foretelling my beaming rebirth.

Thou art my eternal soul mate,
Being merged in earth at our date.

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THY EYES??

Thy eyes are starlit,
Hiding Vega's brilliance,
Twinkling at the zenith of heaven,
Reviving my tattered soul, quickened
With sapient winks lighting my path.

Thy eyes are starlit,
Holding Buddha's benevolence,
Transforming into morn dews at dawn,
Rescuing my fettered soul, enlivened
With genial gazes guiding my path.

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YEARNING??

A gentle breeze, thou saith.
Azure, thy quilt unfolded.
Aroma from sweetbriers, thy breath.
Azalea petals, thy lips parted.

Peach blossoms in springtide, thy demureness.
Lightening in sultry summer, thy celerity.
Scarlet leaves in autumn, thy devotedness.
White snow in yuletide, thy chastity.

Purling of a rivulet, thy voice.
Violets in leas, thy color.
Frothy splashes of waves, thy resilience.
Morning glory, thy valor.

A resplendent dew in the morn is thy beginning
And flaming heavens in gloaming, thy ending.

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IRIDESCENT LOVE??

At the first sight, a fiery storm
Nearly engulfed the fledging love.
Narrowly escaping Hades,
In a loving hut, we played house.
Near the railroad harbored younglings.

At a hilltop nestled lovers,
At Koeun nest as newlyweds,
At Lafayette as explorers,
In Long Island as seafarers,
In Chuncheon as a unity.

In Oakland, half left for Lethe.
The partner in pitch-dark despair,
Mourning for one hundred eight days,
Had a sweet dream at Cressington
Right on the one hundred twelfth day,
Half resurrected to hug me,
No longer in grief but bliss.

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COSMOS

Elongated frail necks
In autumn sky, craned
In an unruffled breeze,
Are all ready to gleam.

Eight aesthetic faces
In pink, red, white, imbued
Even in a faint sunshine,
Are delighted to beam.

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CHRISTMAS TREE

With Amie's ethereal art,
Christmas tree's embellished yearly,
With Santa Claus making a dart
Or climbing, angels with holly
Or playing as Muse, carts finished,
Glass candles, and bulbs in red, blue,
Silver, green, and gold, replenished
With delight of our wedding hue.

In my lighthearted hastiness,
Christmas tree is timely settled
With golden bells in vividness
And Santa on dolphin straddled.

Jovial carols are jingling
And cheerful lightbulbs gamboling.

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CIEL BLEU

The heavens reveal their own way.
Crispy air wafts in knolls and vales
And brooms shadowy dust away;
Young branches long for spring in vales.

Amie's sixtieth birthday draws
Near, January 26,
Forty-one years after the day
Of our holy matrimony,

Hundred forty-seven months fleeting
In her cozy omnipresence,
Bliss of Amie's birth exuding
And exposing her quintessence.

Sing a love descant to Amie
To extol her true love to me.

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WINTER NIGHT

Orion trumps the kindred feast;
Next to Polaris Cepheus,
King of Ethiopia comes
With his wife Cassiopeia
And his daughter Andromeda,
Fallen to Cetus's offering
By her mother's hubris only,
Evoking all young men's daring,
Rescued by Perseus timely.

Orion's charm and bravery
Won Artemis's affable heart,
But he's doomed by her archery,
Fooled by Apollo's crafty art,

With hounds completing for hunting
To prepare just for reveling.

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SONG FOR SILVER GRASS

In the fall breeze of refreshment,
Supplely dancing silver grass,
Frozen and with snow daubed,
Longing for new heydays.

In the winter adornment,
Stilling silver grass,
In memories deep engrossed,
Pining for glittering days.

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DOUBLE RAINBOW

Brief rainfall, dousing
Scorching, sultry air,
Squeezing sweat off pores
And slackening arms,
Releases tension
Even in August's ire.
Two rainbows brushing
The azure's stair
And a fleece of clouds
With the beaming charms
Prelude Ascension,
Drawing closer here.

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MISSIVE

From thy wildflower, Amie,
In love — forever
To my [??] Longed in Universe, Th ine,
Surpassing things of this world,
Longed, morn star in my heart!
I love you! Forever!
Matter is but bits of paper.
Just with thy cherished love,
This universe will be
Ever filled, all with bright stars.
For thy aspiration,
Ready, go!

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SERYANG-JE

I'm going to Lake Seryang-Je
To meet a hidden world, glimpsing.

Mist arising early morning
And spreading into the water
Shows the world endlessly changing.

Never the same in Seryang-Je!

I'm going to Lake Seryang-Je.

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RECUMBENT BUDDHA'S DREAM

Thousands of Buddhas and thousands
Of towers stood at Unjusa.

Hundreds of Buddhas and towers,
And temples greet visitors now.

At the sunset mound lies Buddha,
Dreaming to rise in a new world
And enlighten people to reach
Neither ills nor pain nor aging.

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ODONGDO CAMELLIA

Our call without camellia bloom,
Quickening the beats to rapture,
Th e lone call in bloom without thee,
On the ground arranging A-M-I-E,
One by one with fallen fl owers,
Sensing thee palpable to loom.

CHAPTER 2

AFRICA

A LITTLE WONDER

Mind-boggling scenes unfold in Chobe.

Elephants crossing the river,
Tranced by sweet grass in the islands,
Slowly walk into the water;
In the deep fl oat the whole bodies,
With the trunks stretched forward and tails
Up straight out of water, and swim,
Blowing water out of the trunks.

What a marvel such giants fl oat;
What a guide savory fare is!

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SONG OF REED

Mokoro glides on waterways
With rustling reeds and lilies
Over Okavango Delta.
At the stern stands a boatman with
A long pole, steering to reeds,
Pauses at a scene amid sky,
Water and song of reeds, led
To oneness with Okavango.

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FATED MIGRATION

Countless herds of wildebeest end
Last feast and start the migration
For a feast on the savanna
Anew, ready after rainfall,
Across the dark Mara River,
Waiting for the hapless, dire doom,
Joined by drowning or crocodiles;
On the carcasses roost vultures
And marabous having a feast.

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MAURITIUS

The blue and the blue on the edge
Tête-à-tête tell a tale of old;
The dodo, flightless and rampant,
Walked on the island but long gone,
Leaving bones, stories, and riddles.
The dodo breathes alive in farce,
Mauritius polymer notes, coins,
And Alice in the wonderland.

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SOCIAL BIRDS

Arid climate and scarce water,
Never cease their lively babbling
At the large communal dwelling,
Together weaved with twigs and thatch.

The bustling commune delivers
How well the social devoir works
To uplift our sociableness.

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RED DUNE

Dune 45 lies with the head
To the right and the lissome spine,
Enduring wind brooms, and garners
Five-million-year-old sand powdered;
Sunrise on the back transforms dunes
With sharp blades, dissecting scarlets
And shadows to the surreal;
That lasts only for a moment.

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DEADVLEI

No droplet escapes the dead marsh,
Encircled by reddish sand dunes;
Camel thorns stand scorched as phantoms.
At the foot of a dune is life,
Green camel thorns thriving with clumps;
Th e burning thirst, soothed with morn mist,
Revives the phantoms to beauty.

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CAPE OF GOOD HOPE

Emerald sea lullabies sand
Veiled in white on the Dias beach;
The white lighthouse on craggy rocks
Overlooking the blue foaming
Complements the Cape of Good Hope.
How many seafarers found hope
Instead of storms wrecking clippers?
All's mesmerized, its ageless hope.

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TABLE MOUNTAIN

Devil's Peak turns against Table
And blurts, "No mount without its peak!"
Mountain smiles peace with evenness
Where fade apartheid and hatred;
Overlooking on the table,
Vista molded for long eras
And stretched far to the Atlantic
Stirs calmness to delight renewed.

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KILIMANJARO

Kibo away from Mawenzi,
Over the cloud, draws the gaze glued
On its snow, recalling Harry,
A writer with desire barren,
And the frozen leopard corpse in
The Snows of Kilimanjaro.
Never in vain waste the longing.

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STONE TOWN

The Old Fort, walled with gray corals,
Greets outlanders warmly as friends.
Close by stands the House of Wonders,
White as coral and three storied,
Asking a riddle on wonders.
They're electricity and lift.
Tinge, interwoven with colors,
Arabic, Portuguese, English,
Cloaks Stone Town without much ado.

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WHIPPING POST

Men, women, and children were brought
To the slave market. Men tied to
The post were priced by harsh whipping:
Sooner, moaning lowered the price.
Livingston's appeal to free slaves
Turned the market to the Christ Church,
And altar displaced Whipping Post;
His heart was buried nigh the tree,
A crucifix hung on the wall.

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NUNGWI BEACH

Fishers fi xing nets for morn catch
Merge into emerald and white;
Clouds shroud above the coral reefs.

Craggy cliff s jut out over white,
Dazing my eyes under noon rays
To the azure over the jades.

Dhows glide on ripples tinted with
Red rays and somber jades at dusk.
Peerless delight and sensation!

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VICTORIA FALLS

O behold Mosi-oa-Tunya!

Zambezi flows into a chasm;
Her muteness thunders to the smoke,
Engrossing the soul and body;
Rainbows arise from the ravine,
Filling the world with hope and love.

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BAOBAB

A giant takes a child in me
To the home of the little prince,
Removing baobab timely
And the secret of the tamed fox:
The essential is visible
Just with the heart, not to the eye.
The giant unharmed draws water
From the deep to nourish neighbors.

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CHAPTER 3

AMERICAS

PIER 39

Amie used to spend hours and tell
Th e scattering site for her ash
Half the way between Alcatraz
And Pier 39, scattering
Handfuls of her ash to touch on
Th e textured surface to gold dust,
Dancing down with the rays, dazzling
My eyes to eternal bliss and
Whispering, "I'm ever with you."

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KILAUEA

Burning desire to see the blue,
Opening the old scars again,
Crossing roads and rushing to her,
The desire scorching the ocean
To steam and clouds and cooling off ,
Never ending till none is left.

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MAKAPUU BEACH

Manana Isle, cute as a calf,
Searching for Mom in the ocean,
Barrels breaking on sandy beach,
A lighthouse on the precipice,
Beaconing the reefs off the bay,
A day on the beach fleeting by.

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NIAGARA FALLS

The Horseshoe, American, and
Bridal Veil make Niagara
Majestic, graceful, and virgin,
Sonorous and harmonious;
Pleasure and pragmatism couple
In the Falls done for charm and force.

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GRAND CANYON

Aeonic epic, unfolding
On the stage of the Grand Canyon,
Lightens the visual cortex
To impart timeless scenes to me;
Vishnu rocks to Kaibab limestone,
Unraveling two billion years.

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LADY AURORA

How many days passed to see Aurora!
Freed from the official choirs of two years,
With sleepless nights to wish one fair weather,
Thinking the places to meet the Lady,
To Fairbanks, I went in February.

With a camera bought for Aurora,
Late arrival wiped out one of six nights;
The second night, with the thick clouds disturbed,
My patience dried up till two in the morn,
Then showing a faint glimpse of the Lady.

The third night revealed dainty Aurora
With deep emerald and pale reddish hues;
The fifth night with the majestic Lady,
Dancing and mesmerizing all the night,
Lightened all the heavens till early dawn.

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BIRCH HILL

Willowy birches lined on snow,
Opening a scene of Cezanne's
With a trail for Nordic skiing,
Evergreen spruces befriended
And revealed become a backdrop.

Who else would be right in the scene?
A soul with the aesthetic sense
And love embellishing the world;
Birches awning over the snow
Tinge the universe all in white.

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BARILOCHE

A man mounting a horse stands on
The graffitied ROCA platform,
Boldly at the Civic Center,
Facing the Nahuel Huapi
In teal blue, posing a riddle.
From his Conquest of the Desert,
Was the death of the Indians!

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PERITO MORENO GLACIER

Perito Moreno Glacier,
Wide enough to cover three miles
And long to extend nineteen miles,
Expands in Argentino Lake,
Orchestrating a cycle of
Dam, ice bridge, and rupture in turn
To overwhelm viewers with awe
In climate change–shrinking glaciers.

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USHUAIA

The Land of Fire owns Ushuaia,
Bulwarked by the snow-clad mountains
Facing south the Beagle Channel;
On the way to the Atlantic,
Les Eclaireurs greets the feathered,
Keeping all sails out of harm's way.

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WHAT PICASSO DIDN'T!

A signboard of an atelier
Enigmatically saying,
"What Picasso didn't paint is here!"
Calls anyone to find the clue.

Under a blue awning outside,
Quaint drawings come effortlessly
From strokes of a man in the hat,
Guillermo Alio, well-known,
Right to tangos of La Boca;
He tangos with his partner on
Canvas painting by steps in tune
To marvel what Picasso didn't,

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EVITA

La Recoleta is adorned
With tales, tragic or inspiring,
"FAMILIA DUARTE" decked
With twelve plaques just for Evita
And bouquets and fl owers showing
Argentine deep veneration
Of Evita, very alive
In the hearts of the Argentine.

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IGUAZU FALLS

Quaffing half the Iguazu,
The Devil's Throat thunders to mist,
Turning to clouds in the azure;
The other half unfolds curtains,
Inviting boats to its courtyard,
Soaking all with awe and rapture.

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CHE GUEVARA

Metal scrap recycled becomes
Che Guevara in El Alto,
Near La Paz of Bolivia,
Where captured and executed,
Standing on an eagle, charging
As a revolutionary
Wayfarer to utopia.

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SALAR DE UYUNI

Isle covered with giant cacti
Floating on the sea froth–ridden
Clouds only on the horizon,
Discerning the froth and white salt.

Mount Tunupa married Kusku,
Eloping with sly Kusina;
Tears and milk in feeding her child,
Being Salar de Uyuni.

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ÁRBOL DE PIEDRA

Time after time, wind blows with sand,
Carving rock for long to a tree
Christened Árbol de Piedra,
Th e left hand raised up to the sky
Allowing the palm visible,
Asking a question, "What is this?"
Better titled Left Hand of Zen
"Mano Izquierda de Zen."

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FLAMINGO

Dropping their heads to Laguna,
The flamingos scoop red algae,
Knowing the secret of the lake
To brighten the plumage in pink;
Loving to be immersed in flocks,
The flamingos fly off to calm,
Sprinting a few steps to the air
To dazzle in their chic beauty.

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THE REDEEMER

Opening two arms for world peace,
Standing on Mount Corcovado
And overlooking the Rio,
Christ the Redeemer embodies
The cross to redeem man from sin,
Cleansing the wrong to the righteous.

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IPANEMA

Blue-green ocean, white sand and surf,
Added to Hill of Two Brothers,
Make Ipanema enthralling,
Bossa Nova to sing a girl,
Young, tan, and charming, to arouse
Exclamations and sighs in there.

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SAN PEDRO DE ATACAMA

The Valley of the Moon expands
Amphitheater, silky dunes,
Three Marias, labyrinths, and
More on Atacama Desert,
The sunset on Coyote Rock
Evoking the spirit of Mars.

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VALPARAÍSO

The amiable seaport known
As Little San Francisco and
A port of call for sailing to
The Atlantic from Pacific
Embraces La Sebastiana
On the hillside for Neruda,
Satiating eyes looking out.

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PETROHUÉ FALLS

The white volcano Osorno
Sits between Todos Los Santos
and Llanquihue with Petrohué,
Mingling the white froth with blue green
And trolling all in unison!

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TORRES DEL PAINE

Torres charm in shining armor
The daring like Agamemnon
For millions of years, cooling down
The fiery passion under earth
To arise in haughty calmness;
Emerald offers Lake Pehoé.

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PUNTA DELGADA

The Strait of Magellan, parlous
To cross, heralds a sound between
The Delgada and Land of Fire,
Buses, cars, and trucks in long queues
Waiting long hours for its mercy.

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LAGO GREY

The glacier, freeing his pieces
Into Lago Grey to turquoise
Floes in turbidity and wind,
Measuring my absurdity
To dip my bare feet in the Grey
And chill a child smiling in me.

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MIRAFLORES

El Beso, of two lovers hugged
In a fervid kiss at the park
Overlooking the sea below,
Moves on a raft at the sunset,
Telling that Dios es Amor.

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ICA

Dune sandboarding, titillating;
Buggy ride, electrifying;
Huacachina, refreshing;
The fun time, unnoticed, passing.

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BALLESTAS ISLANDS

On the way to Ballestas Isles,
The Candelabra geoglyph,
Engraved on the slope by trenching
Sand as Viracocha's trident,
Emits an esoteric mood.
An isle sits like a centipede,
Some isle with caves or pebble beach,
Paradise for guanays and seals.

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NAZCA LINES

Man, hummingbird, monkey, spider ...
Glyphs sprawl on the arid plateau,
Casting the never-ending whys,
Some answered in cosmology,
Some in religion or culture,
Or else the spaceman refuted.
More yet to come, asking more whys.

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CHAUCHILLA TOMB

Leaning on a wall of mud bricks,
A thousand-year-old femme, entombed,
Mummified with her hair intact,
Sits in red raiment and weaved quilt;
Earthen potteries with a gourd
Tell a piece of her daily life.

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OLLANTAYTAMBO

Viracocha, next to storage
Looking down Ollantaytambo,
Saw twists and turns of the Inca
With Pumatallis terraces
And the Sun Temple unfinished,
Yielding her queen to Pizzaro.

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MORAY

Moray displays Inca ruins
With circular terraced platforms,
Puzzling in the structure and shape,
With the temp gaps of terraces,
Crops of different seasons sowed,
Together at right terraces?

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DODECAGONAL STONE

The dodecagonal stone used
In walling an Inca palace,
Posing for the archbishop now,
Telling the wondrous masonry
Tightly fitted with no mortar
And greeting crowds in the alley.

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LAKE TITICACA

Titicaca, vast enough to
Hold Peru and Bolivia,
High to straddle on the Andes,
Said to give birth to the Incas
And with scores of floating islands
Of totora mats Uros made.