Iknownothingatall

We are bound for better places, Destinations we project with our hearts, In the mad rush, we were forced into races, An uneven course decreed at the start, With a birth right to thrive in freedom, To roam into the unknown, unbridled, But we are domesticated and cheapened, Serving masters that swindle yet subtle, Saddled with just enough to weigh us down, Inescapable pastures made to seem adequate, Constrained to the path that only goes around, Tamed to be whipped, powerless and emasculated, So look around in the enclosure you stand, You can either die as working horses or as free men.

Each day, a sadness consumes my spirit, Accounts of tragedy and suffering scatter, This depression would have reached its limits, If not for tears that drip with my mind battered, The pain and despair that sneakily hide, In the crevices of each and every moment, Shows one reality that would only confide, With negativity of opinions that are spoken, Our addiction separates us from divinity, These attachments only losing our tolerance, The delusion that we crave oh so desperately, Based on only actions of egoistic occurrence, Does these pettiness matter when life's this short, In the trivials chatter of what is and what's not, For beliefs are not truths yet these 'truths' are believed Though every life is different yet only ours is well-perceived, Be careful of what you say and do, Because for all you know, the only one listening is you...

In the vastness of space, Emptiness is vague, Where miracles take place, A disposition to create, It starts with a molecule, Then a few into clumps, Growing in momentum, To an uncountable sum, Amounting, inviting gravity, Merging, forcing closely together, The unyielding embrace of alchemy, Yielding clouds and colours of allure, Unkindly pressure collapsing, A glimmer of hope reborn, Illuminating the darkness, a new beginning A light seen to set our wishes upon, The heavens that hang in the sky, Show us lessons of transformation, Despite the pressures that come by, Accept and evolve for a star will awaken.

The prettiest, piteous, pompous, chic, A hideous, devious, worst than sick, Weak but slick, sneakily obvious, Suspicious yet ambitious, cautiously quick, Treat yet trick, easily malicious, Strain to obtain the mundane matter, Faint from pain of abstained chatter, Blabber and flattered by factor inane, Bloodstained arranged for the vainest ever, Help her, pamper and slander in vain, Dismal and fickle, her civil threshold, A symbol, abysmal, a snivel she'll hold, A goal for gold, a fold and dismissal, So lethal, the pickle, a quibble is sold, Was told in bold, but behold such evil, Extraction then traction, conception proposed, Compassion contraction, attraction imposed, A ghost, foremost is posed as distraction, Selection of actions, reaction composed, A host at most while close to destruction.

A system that pushes, The boundary of memory, Left me feeling useless, With a future of drudgery, Started off confused, Not knowing a direct path, Defeated and abused, Sorted in the rough, Initiative gathered as junctures passed, Self-education, knowledge compounds, Passion factored, failures do not last, Reaching aspiration, a purpose profound, Life follows no curriculum nor itinerary, Perseverance and patience are life's best referee.

Admire the flower, Acknowledge the roots, Abet the leaves, Accept the thorns, Appreciate the plant as it needs to be, For the plant will mirror the image you see.

Two cosmic bodies connected by a force, Determined by their mass and distance, Entangled souls with love as its source, The gravity of our very existence.

Can you see these colours, Wakeful fascination, Large lucent lines get smaller, Gratitude in creation.

Let go of entitlement and levels, Redesign from what's assigned, Welcome embrittlement and revel, As ego blinds the thinking mind.

Every nature adorably fragile, Smiles that invariably melt my heart, While every moments are worth while, Presence is the most important part.

Loving myself, I found the Universe within. Loving you, I found myself within the Universe. 

The sky, it holds a secret, Wisdom of the Universe revealed, A contemplation of lights faintly fitted, An endless gratitude of life it conceals.

Here I stand on the edge of oblivion, Pondering, where it all went wrong, All I see is hatred and hostility, a revulsion, An immese negativity growing strong, People and animals brutally killed, The walls that we are forced to build, A rush to war, the Earth being billed, Our economy's up so down goes the guilt, And yet we turn a blind eye, Stuffing our faces, polluting our minds, Living our lies and we relentlessly buy, Such worthless materials with debt, we just sign. We only consume, endlessly devour, We always assume, pledging our power, We are doomed, a few minutes to the hour, Its too soon to be gone forever.... Should I leap and let go... Off this peak towards the floor... To remove this reality that I abhor... Will I be at peace, the suffering no more?

A flower is a flower when you take a look, But a flower is much more when you happen to see, For a flower knows itself where you misunderstood, As you see not a flower but a reflection of your own reality.

The 'crucial' material, superficially trivial, Affects subjects in context of perfected defects, Venial miracles, remedials for the cynical, Introspect. Project and infect, this selected side-effect.

Carefree and eccentric, yet always aligned to his wife, A heavy smoker who is refined only by his jokes and beliefs, A tour guide of war, yet a yearning for peace stirs inside, Nothing he would've change in his life, yet regrets still lived. The weakness of my father broke my heart, Knowing he was near responsible for our family's demise, Unknowing to us till screams shattered our home apart, Sending questions of separation into our eyes, I thought we have descended, arriving on the seabed, I left the house, searching aimlessly for my father who stormed out, I found him and knew the reason for his escape, Hiding tears from his wife and children in fear of losing us, no doubt. I sat quietly beside him on the verge of tears, It was the first time I witness such vulnerability, From an image of a man, strong without fears, To hiding his tears and sadness with all his ability. "Come home dad", I said in a soft grieving breath, My voice causing floods...

Oblivious to these paltry changes, We selfishly put ourselves on a pedestal, We blind our eyes from these bigger pictures, Unknowingly drowning ourselves with the superficial, What of the future, what of our children, An unpredictable forecast lies before us, Shall we disguise and repulse, our shoulders unburdened, And leave our successors to the task? Through the steps of time, We are descending to a path of no return, Most of us choose to be blind, While others just want to watch the world burn. So decide quickly, time is at stake, Know that a drop of water can tip the scale, Every decision to act is a step to liberate, Us from the destruction our industries entail, Salvage what we can, stop all squander, There are other means, research and discover, Every single individual holds the power, To safeguard our home. A place full of wonder.

An emergence from nothing, Interactions of the unseen unravels, Hidden in the relativity of everything, A social pattern forming in every level, From the minuscule to the immense, Patterns suggest a formality of relations, Such contact resulting into finite events, Of infinite and divine revelations, The cosmic bodies and heaven aloft, Ever accelerating in the vastness of social connections, A metaphor of the invisible force that never exhaust, An ordinance of a multitude of associations. See it in the beauty of nature, A community hoping to thrive and advance, See it in the complexity of every creature, Even in the social chaos for each machine to run, The knowledge we share and discover, Creative potential only favours the generous, Refined by the aesthetics of the future, Collaboration and resistance, development prosperous, The fractal imagery that is boundless, Of social interactions, within and without, A form so methodical and meticulous, That all di...

A wonder of this temperamental nature, As the Sun plays hide and seek with the ground, Clarity in the air changes our behaviour, As the chaos of nightfall withered away with no sound, The spirit shall confide in me through the darkness, With a breeze that caresses my ears, Specks of diamonds that decorate the blankness, Wallowing in the mystery of the journey that took countless years, Being still in the wonder of this vision, As stones stood high above the clouds, A moment to unearth a reason for existence, No answers. Only a moment to stand proud. Such emotional landscapes, sublime, Destination of which understood me, From a path treacherous, taking too much time, But just enough for a glorious gift after a challenging journey.

Being,      At the speed of light, Sinking,      In a blur of sight, Weeping,      For reasons to fight, Feeling,      Like darkness of night, Willing,      To be more somehow, Thinking,      For a better now, Reaching,      Far from what's allowed, Keeping,      All that we have vowed, Missing,      Much that surrounds, Dealing,      With the noises and sound, Kneeling,       Praying to be found, Fleeing,       Running to the ground, Dreaming,      Something radical and bold, Seeking,      For stories that were told, Wishing,      Faster than light, behold, Believing,      The entanglement of Souls.

A Potential collapsed made by choice, A Vibration only till a ear hears its noise, A Universe forever changed by just one voice, A Forever stitched with moments, lets rejoice.

A sense of Being, Feeling the rhythm of hearts, Empathy reaching, Selfless for the whole in parts, No end but plenty of starts. A sense for others, It is never about me, To sense such wonder, Aiding and giving for free, An act of Humanity. A sense of Oneness, Looking through spectrums of plight, The act of Kindness, Always see further than sight, Love is left by doing right.

I am stuck. Blocked. No other detours. I need some peace and quiet and get out of here. Its too noisy, people chatting away. Of redundancy that mean nothing. so Fuck off today. I am not going to stay. This will pass and tomorrow will come. Maybe I can think of something better than this scum? My mind is just battered. I need peace and quiet. I need to write and release this urge and desire. But it feels like this cement is drying quick and I cannot pick the fucking word. Breathe. Breathe. I need a muse. I need a heartache but everything is right enough not to be able to write. I need to sleep. Maybe a hug. A fuck? Maybe just some luck? I shall not force it and let it go. For stories untold will be left to sow. The battle shall continue again. When this blockage is free from within.

Prepare to procure passivity in perpetual progress of personifying perfection! Puppets prefer playing pretend. Preposterously pretentious.

The garden is evergreen and fertile. Let it not be bare and wasted into a landfill of mud and nothingness. Let it not lay in materialistic inclination or dogmatic beliefs. Fill it with colours and fragrance, ever-changing. Scatter it with fruits of taste and bliss. Sow! Sow! Sow! Keep the hands and knees soiled. Dig deep within the grey mud and plant these seeds with intention. Surely and sprightly, but one passion at a time. Be it the seeds of fruitful needs and earthly conquest. Deeds of nourishment with efforts of persistent splashes and sprays. Watering from moments to moments in an ever-moving conquest of the harvest. The jovial and optimistic Sun, how it brightens up these fields. It fuels and pulls these growths from the ground while roots spread far-reaching for stability in every weather. Grounded in hopes of elated vibes. Clear those weeds then preserve and cultivate. Caress it with images of lovely hopes and aspirations. Beckoning in rainbows and divine we...

There is a sound that comes and goes, With no particular rhythm, a subtle hiss, I tried searching for it once, it knows, For as soon as I search, it will surely cease, I put it out of my mind, hearing it from time to time, As days, months and years passed by, The constant noises around, ever drowning me in sound, While my eyes kept occupied by these lights we glorify, Life! Demanding as it has been, Somehow always chasing for an unseen dream, Nothing is sensed for we are always fed, Everyone in tranced and we live like we are dead, As I lay quiet in silence, watching and waiting to expire, The hiss flowed faint like a slow, withering death. In that final moment I finally realised that the old forgotten hiss, Was my life-giving breath. Life is held only by a thread of breath, so breathe aware.

In solemn realisation of the dearly departed, A cut etched deeply into our skin, Heart hastened the bleeding while mind is cluttered, Life moves on but where do we begin? Enduring moments to moments as days passed, The bleeding subsides but memories still vivid, A scab starts to show as pain wears a mask, Life becomes hard as reality stays rigid, The loss will persist throughout our time, And memories will stay hidden within, Where moments blanket the defunct in mind, But the scar will stay forever on skin, As tears roll slowly down my cheek, I feel an unknown privation deep in my soul, It will never be the same as what we seek, I grow whole with this loss I forever hold.

Has history taught us nothing? Where bloodshed has no other colour but red. Yet in our present, this past is still haunting. How differences pointed out merely to reiterate. Yes! We live such complex lives, to each its own, We are humans, with deep roots of tradition, Nothing would be easier than for our rituals to be known, And for each of us to share the same sentiment. But beliefs are only of yours, and only of mine, Nevertheless, there is a place of commonality, Opinions are only of ours and only of mind, So come with the grace and decency of empathy. Sever these wires that keep us segregated, Release all perception of what we think we know, For these invisible lines that keep us separated, Are there from the very seeds we sow, Lets understand more than just mere tolerance, Lets unite in sharing our diverse culture, By knowing the driving force of each of these ordinance, We will find more in common before dividing into fear, Share with open arms and take...

As treasure worn across their chest, In solemn quiet these poorest rest, Though nothing is ever quite the same, Where towers are houses for the tame, And rest their bottoms on a throne, The money spent we can't condone, Enduring times of wealth combine, A life is life through dark or shine. So be it in gold or worn out cloth, A box, a cave or a private loft, No difference shown in any breath, For soon will come, our time of death, You cannot run, bargain or beg, No point holding on, accept the dread, Be it quick or hard, in destitute or regal, We will leave once and for all, only as equals.

Let us Celebrate, Let us Unite! A potential new holiday is in sight, A celebration of our diverse culture, Where our citizens hold the power, Not to rule, regulate or profit, More to fuel, celebrate and commit, A day to share and seek understanding, Of our traditions and rituals, rather than mere tolerating, We live compact, sharing the space, The same land, our home, our unique place, Life is complicated, so lets make it easy, Give more than take, but mostly give freely, Life is short and happiness is what we seek, Fullness is in the littlest kindness we meet, We are more than our race, language and religion, We are here to thrive together, it's no competition, Learn from our past that was tainted in red, Before being anything else, be human instead, Now lets come together and continue to engage, Share the meaning of our traditions, spread knowledge, From the costumes, rituals and food, To all those parts where we misunderstood, So lets wear our b...

As I leaped from the rocky surface, I found myself suspended in a measureless moment, While the water rest calmly at the distant base, A serenity overwhelms all fear to lay broken, Within that fraction of time, the Universe stood still, Clarity devoured me like Life was finally to commence, I plummet almost endlessly in thrill, Such elation knowing that even this made sense. Take the leap, figuratively. Sometimes, literally.

A yellow hue crept under my eyelids, Formatting my sight, tuning my ears, A repetition of blinks, before I stretch and sit, Another arid day wishing to just disappear, The blandness of the Day, An agonising Eternity, Unvarying in its sway, Of a prosaic reality, Retreating to the comforts of these walls, I lay in the warmth of the darkness, Sinking into my breaths as I fall, Within a snap, I emerged again from the blankness, No hopes or dreams, Neither fears nor nightmares, A nugatory existence is deemed, A symmetrical consciousness declared. There is nothing I yearn, none I desire, Stagnant waters that extinguish every fire, Formless and invisible, a Life too dire, The World will never change even if I expire. Originally Published with Prachya Review in 2017. Link: http://www.prachyareview.com/poem-by-fariq-yusoff/

I have travelled across oceans and land, Searching for a favoured view, Struggling through the dust in hopes to expand, A quest for life to start anew, Knowing nothing so I urged my hands, Cuts and bruises, I toiled and travailed, Striving hard from squat to stand, Meeting ends, my sweats have prevailed. Time have passed and sore muscles heal, Troubles get easier and Life gives a deal, Untimely meeting of souls, my destiny sealed, As my heart beats for love, a divinity I feel, In love I fell, my universe sublime, Never would I have thought of such insanity, An engagement to wed, my dreams aligned, Ever hoping to be a father and gain a family. Time has come and Life is due, Entanglement complicates its arrival, Kneeled and prayed both to come through, As death awaits in Lady Luck's reprisal, All my dreams slipping through the cracks, My sight blurred in the neverending floods, Again, I return with nothing on my back, Our last embraced covered in blood. ...

In the comforts of our prison, we seek and scan, Losing our connections while connected at hand, Lies we invent just so our facade can ascend, Obliviously blissful, all just for pretend, Inconspicuously driving us to resent, Every part of our lives. A Living discontent. So heads up. Open your eyes and put down your hand, Let's connect by presence, not by messages sent. Be in the now. Forget schedules and live unplanned, Look around and feel your senses flood in content, Feel the beat of your heart and the heat of your scent. Our senses are what truly connects us. Godsend.

Keep these judgments at bay, The Mind has a tendency to run, Because the brightness of the day, May not be the work of the Sun. As light exists in a spectrum of wonder, Embedded deep within our core, So in Life it’s best to ponder, Maybe this is what Life is for? Layers of the unseen, Like rainbows floating over, Colours that can only be deemed, Through the eyes of a conscious observer. So travel light and in wakeful now, Notice the shimmers that lay in neglect, Even in darkness, Light allows, For each of us to truly reflect.