Evening reflections

          Our hearts rest like grass around the Tree,

                 A gentle carpet where the rebellious flee

          When nothing else can ease the pain.

               We crave forgiveness like the lawn craves rain.

          Prayers weave through tree limbs

Like winds teasing blossoms,

          Our hopes, like unripe fruit, dangle

          And dreams bloom like mangos.

          We track the footsteps of saints,

               Whose humble feet left no footprints,

          Whose lives came back as arts and inventions

Whose deeds filled rivers with the daybreak

                We sail on toward the Ocean they drowned in.

Waves pound the coast line,

               In the stillness of sunset.

          We pray in the mist.

                                      -- C. S. Cholas

                                                10 May 1997