Tag: Life

Giữa Dòng Mekong

On By MeiLingIn Free verse, Poetry1 Comment
Dưới bầu trời pha sắc gỉ sét và vàng nhạt,
Tôi trôi — một ánh chớp nhỏ giữa mạch sống của Đông Dương xưa.
Sông Mekong rì rầm bên dưới,
Ngân nga khúc hát của thời gian,
Bài thánh ca của dòng nước xưa hơn mọi ngôn từ.		Under a sky tinted with rust and gold,
I float, a flicker on the bloodstream of old Indochina.
The Mekong murmurs beneath me—
Its song deep with time,
A hymn carried on water older than words.
Dòng sông thở ra những ký ức không tên,
Ấp ủ tiếng vọng của triều đại, của tụng kinh,
Nơi lũy tre từng che chở trái tim nổi loạn,
Và hoàng hôn vẫn vương mùi me chín và mưa rơi.		The river breathes histories I cannot name,
Cradling echoes of kingdoms and chants,
Where bamboo groves once hid rebel hearts,
And dusk still holds the scent of tamarind and rain.
Chiếc thuyền nhỏ, ghép từ gỗ và hy vọng tĩnh lặng,
Đu đưa theo nhịp thở của ngày đang tàn.
Dưới mặt nước, cá lấp lánh như những âm thanh thất lạc,
Bờ sông dần hiện ra —
Tấm thảm dệt bằng màu ngọc và màu đất.		My skiff, stitched from timber and quiet hopes,
Sways to the hush of the day’s retreat.
Beneath the surface, fish shimmer like lost syllables,
While the shoreline unfolds—
A tapestry brushed in emerald and earth.
Cuộc sống bên bờ chảy chậm,
Ung dung, đầy trân trọng —
Mỗi giờ trôi qua như đóa sứ nở.
Tôi nhấp nháp sự lặng yên ấy,
Để hơi thở hòa vào nhịp sống
Của người gặt lúa, người thả lưới,
Và trẻ con cười vang bên bờ sông ướt.		Life along these waters lingers,
Unhurried, deliberate—
Each hour opening like a frangipani bloom.
I drink from the stillness,
Letting its rhythm blend my breath
With the harvesters, the net-throwers,
The children splashing in riverside laughter.
Chiều buông thành đêm,
Tối phủ trùm thế gian bằng lụa mềm thinh lặng.
Những vì sao bừng sáng như đèn lồng trôi giữa trời,
Tựa lời cầu nguyện không tên
Bay lên giữa hư vô.		As dusk spills into ink,
Night blankets the world in soft silence.
Stars rise like floating lanterns in a sky without end,
And I remain—
Moored to this drifting world,
To this lifeline carved through generations.
Và tôi, buộc vào thuyền, vào sông,
Vào mạch sống thầm lặng qua bao thế hệ,
Thấy mình vừa nhỏ bé, vừa bao la —
Một linh hồn đang được cuốn đi
Không phải xa dần, mà là chìm sâu hơn
Vào lòng của điều gì đó cổ xưa và biết nhớ.		I am nothing and everything,
A soul carried forward by ancient flow,
Drifting not away, but deeper
Into the heart of something vast and remembering.

If Kowloon was a city of shadows, the Mekong is a river of memory.
Read “Kowloon: City of Shadows and Smoke” →

Unbound

On By MeiLingIn Free verse, Poetry2 Comments

I move like breath through music,
each note igniting embers beneath my skin.
A quiet soul, yes—
but within, a storm gathers,
hungry for the pulse of truth.

Shyness is my veil,
but passion, my crown.
I dance not to be seen
but to feel the earth rise
through the soles of my feet,
to set my spirit adrift.

In the hush between heartbeats, I long—
not for fleeting glances,
but for hands that listen,
for eyes that see the storm
and do not turn away.

Demisexual, they call it.
I call it sacred—
a tether spun from trust,
woven slow, steady, unbreakable.

I am flame and shadow,
a thousand songs caught in a single breath,
a heart that dares, even trembling,
to love without fear,
to give, because I will it,
and to fall, if fall I must,
in the name of something real.

Facets of Fire

On By MeiLingIn Poetry, Sonnet1 Comment

I am the flame that dances in the dark,
A whisper soft, yet bold enough to burn.
I wear the night, a cloak of fleeting spark,
And bare my soul where secrets twist and turn.

I am the storm, the calm before the rain,
A sultry breeze that tempts the world to sway.
I yield, I take, I revel in the strain,
A fleeting muse, yet here I choose to stay.

I am the blush, the smirk, the knowing glance,
A fleeting shadow, yet a steady light.
I am the song that stirs the heart to dance,
The echo soft, yet endless in its flight.

I am all this, and more than words can show—
A symphony of facets, fierce and slow.

Unbending Flow

On By MeiLingIn Poetry, Sonnet1 Comment

A fragile hand may bend but never break,
A force unseen yet steady as the tide.
Through open palms, the world begins to wake,
No wall can shield what soft hands set aside.

For steel may stand, yet crumbles in decay,
While rivers carve through stone in quiet might.
The soul unveiled will find another way—
Not through resistance, but through flowing light.

What power moves within the trembling frame,
Not in retreat, but daring to be true?
No fear, no doubt can steal what love became,
For yielding hearts can shape the world anew.

Vulnerability, fierce in its embrace,
A quiet strength that time will not erase.

Echoes of the Past

On By MeiLingIn Free verse, PoetryLeave a comment

The wind hums with voices I once knew,
Threaded through the quiet ache of time,
Whispers caught in the hush between heartbeats.

Not footsteps, but traces—
A shadow at the edge of dawn,
A hand that never quite reaches mine,
Fingers dissolving into mist.

I do not enter the valley,
Yet it finds me,
Unfolding in flickers of breath and memory.
They are not waiting; they are wandering,
Adrift in the spaces where silence lingers.

A scent, a song, a shape pressed into the air—
Was that my father’s voice,
Or only the longing to hear it?
Was that the echo of my grandfather’s laughter,
Or just the dream of yesterday
Reaching for the present?

I speak,
But the wind carries my words away.

So I listen.

Not for answers,
But for presence.
For the hush where grief softens,
Where love does not ask to be remembered—
It simply remains.

Here, in the quiet pull of the past,
They are not lost.
They are here.

Echoes Through the Light

On By MeiLingIn Poetry, SonnetLeave a comment

We wander lost where silent shadows weep,
Through shifting light, where time has long unspun.
The world still turns, yet through the depths so deep,
We search for one beneath the waking sun.

The breeze recalls her voice in fleeting breath,
A whisper laced within the autumn air.
We call her name, defying boundless death,
Yet find the distance more than dreams can bear.

She does not see us, does not hear the plea,
Her laughter fades beyond the reach of night.
Still, love remains—a tether to the free,
Though bound we stand beyond the veil’s dim light.

Oh, child, you live—the day is truly bright,
And we must wait beyond its solemn sight.

Whispers Beyond the Veil

On By MeiLingIn Poetry, SonnetLeave a comment

Across the veil where silent echoes keep,
We watch the dawn disturb the endless night.
A shadow stirs within the mist so deep,
A fleeting ember flickering in our sight.

The living walks where death and silence reign,
Her footsteps light upon the weary ground.
She does not fear the weight of past’s domain,
Yet knows not what within these halls is found.

Oh, child, you cross where mortals should not tread,
The dust remembers, though the stars forget.
We reach for you—our hands, like whispers spread—
But time unravels, pulling back its net.

And when you wake beneath the morning’s gleam,
Our voices fade, dissolving in your dream.

Veil of Shadows

On By MeiLingIn Poetry, SonnetLeave a comment

Upon the edge where waking fears dissolve,
I wander deep through mist and silence drawn.
The veil is thin; the stars no longer solve
The questions whispered ere the night was gone.

Through hollow halls where nameless echoes rise,
I search for those whose voices linger still.
Their murmurs coil like smoke before my eyes,
Yet hush me not, nor bend me to their will.

A price they name for passage through the deep,
Where time suspends and shadows intertwine.
But sunlight waits to tear me from my sleep,
And drag me back from realms that are not mine.

The underworld retreats, its gates unbarred—
And in the day, I wake, my soul scarred.Veil of Shadows

Fleeting Threads

On By MeiLingIn Free verse, PoetryLeave a comment

The River Does Not Ask
Where It Will Go—
It Simply Moves,
Carving Stories Into Stone
Only To Smooth Them Away.

A Leaf Trembles,
Then Lets Go,
Spiraling Toward Earth
With No Need To Question Why.

Footprints Dissolve
Beneath The Tide’s Return,
Whispers Swallowed
By The Wind That Carries
A Name Never Meant To Last.

And Yet—
We Try To Hold,
We Try To Keep,
Threading Time Through Fingers
Like Sand That Was Never Ours.

Strength Wrapped in Gentleness

On By MeiLingIn Free verse, PoetryLeave a comment

In the mirror of your eyes,
There’s a universe—
Pride standing guard at the gates of vulnerability,
And resilience, a quiet force,
Softly holding open the door.

Your heart,
Crafted from wildflowers and steel,
Beats with a rhythm that cradles the world—
Its joys, its sorrows, its fragile beauty.
Patience binds your wounds,
And yet, it sometimes whispers,
“Too much, too long.”

You walk the line,
Balancing the weight of trust
Like a bird learning the sky;
Holding out your wings,
Testing the winds that have both lifted
And let you fall.

Nature calls to your spirit,
Its whispers filling empty spaces.
The rustle of leaves,
The echo of rain on soil—
Reminders that even the strongest roots
Bend to the earth.

Inward you go,
Where feelings bloom into verses,
Where memories take shape
Like shadows of sunlight on the page.
Here, you craft the armor of words,
Light yet unyielding,
To shield a heart wide open.

For yours is a world
Where love is brave,
Where empathy is power,
And harmony is the bridge
Between giving and being.