Bonsai of Thoughts: Forty

1. Thank you!
Because you were not by my side,
I could accomplish so much in life!
Dear friend, thank you!

2. I always saw Father smiling.
I always thought, how comfortably Father lives!
Today I am a father. Today I know how much fathers lie!

3. Not a single want of mine was ever left unfulfilled.
I used to think, how wealthy we are!
Today I understand, in our household I alone was rich,
while both Mother and Father were very poor!

4. The heart never fails,
though a person might fail.
The heart has only two paths:
either it gets what it wants;
or it wants one thing, and gets another.

The heart never returns empty-handed, only the person does.

5. Life tormented me only as long as
I walked the easy path.
One day I chose the difficult road,
and immediately life began to change!

6. I will convert to your faith
the day you ask me to become human.

7. Exactly where your home is,
exactly there is my dwelling.

8. Seeing you from afar, my heart filled with joy!
The moment I came close, my heart flew away!

9. I have forbidden it,
my mind seeks reasons
to become that moonlight
and color you radiant!

10. Mark this—one day
I will weep no more,
I will make none weep,
in silence shall dissolve
all the devotions of love!

11. Don't call me a poet,
I sink deep in embarrassment.
What I write is no poetry,
it is only your love and mine!

12. What comes without effort
never wears a crown!
One who stumbles not even in darkness
may be a king's son, but never a king.

13. Don't raise the storm now,
I haven't slept yet.
If I see the storm with open eyes,
my arms will surely stop it!
Let me sleep first,
then you'll have great fun!

14. In childhood I thought, when I grow up and sprout wings,
then I will fly so high!
When I grew up and got my wings,
I had to break them both before I could fly.

15. Only they have the right to dream
who can tell, while dreaming,
whether they are asleep or awake!

16. Take my silence as love's gift;
without keeping my lips closed, I can explain nothing at all!

17. You found so many clever reasons not to walk with me!
What was the need for such labor!
Had you just asked, I would have broken my own legs and crippled myself!

18. Mother, how long have your eyes been waiting for me!
And I, worshipping my beloved's eyes,
never once inquired about yours all this time!

19. No father gives birth to a wayward son!
The credit for becoming wayward belongs to the son alone!
Do not place the son's sins as punishment upon the father's shoulders!

20. What did you say! You have many friends?
Stop, stop... first get into trouble!
What did you say! You have no friends at all?
Stop, stop... first get into trouble!

One who has never been in trouble—
what do they know of enemy and friend!