I DREAM OF a star, an island of light, where I shall be born and in the depth of its quickening leisure my life will ripen its works like the ricefield in the autumn sun.

DELUSIONS I did cherish
but now I am rid of them.
Tracing the track of false hopes
I trod upon thorns
to know that they are not flowers.
I shall never trifle with love,
never play with heart.
I shall find my refuge in you
on the shore of the troubled sea.

I KNOW THAT at the dim end of some day the sun will bid me its last farewell.
Shepherds will play their pipes beneath the banyan trees, and cattle graze on the slope by the river, while my days will pass into the dark.
This is my prayer, that I may know before I leave why the earth called me to her arms.
Why her night's silence spoke to me of stars, and her daylight kissed my thoughts into flower.
Before I go may I linger over my last refrain, completing its music, may the lamp be lit to see your face and the wreath woven to crown you.