WHAT IS AND IS NOT
Huỳnh Anh Trần-Schroede
It’s not that I don’t swim the sea of sorrows,
Or my way is devoid of life challenges,
It is just that in my heart burn bright the lights,
Of faith, of hope, of blessed insight,
In my soul gleams the steel of resilience,
That through the harsh fogs carve a path of clement rainbows,
For my heart their luminescence to marvel, for my soul their dancing lights to follow.
It is not that I wish or seek,
All blessings to come my way,
In splendorous array,
It is just a prayer for resiliency in adversities, through events sad and bleak,
A preservation of justice and compassion to survive,
A sustained strength to recognize and fight,
The spiteful deceits and heartbreaks in this life,
On the many tortuous ways of the hearts and minds, wearing angelic faces,
Of the handful machiavellian so destructive souls of the human race.
It is not glamour or shine that I seek,
Just not to be forgetful, oblivious or being simply meek,
Witnessing sorrow of others, miseries of needy souls,
And turn away, out of fear of the immensity of involvement,
The tremendous effort of self-commitment,
To a task whose end results seem so futile or ungrateful.
It is a light in life that I pray for, a guiding torch for the mind,
A shrine to which my heart and soul I can dedicate,
A vessel of compassion and devotion to the human fate,
On which to sail for this lifetime,
To grow above my own self-centered condition,
To allay and contribute what I can, and perhaps more and beyond.
So, help me God, to find my way,
In this confused world not to get lost or sideway,
My devotion to maintain and focus on,
My footstep to forge, my knots to hold on,
With your guidance of where to go and how to get there,
Here and now, all the while our human existence to enjoy and to bear.
Huýnh Anh Trần-Schroeder