Second Draft of Life's Ledger

 One.
 When tears cannot tell what pain fills my heart,
 come close, take my hand, show me where my hidden strength starts.
 When fierce darkness blinds me so I cannot know the night,
 O friend, help me recognize it, or my debt will only grow in might.
 When the pale gleam of stars won't say how far they truly are,
 steady your heart beside mine, speak my feelings—walk with me, not far.
 If the ocean stays silent, veiling mysteries in its deep,
 feel through my memories, measure each scattered breath I keep.
 I may die, yet if death teaches nothing of the end,
 don't let go my hand, dear one—stay to watch me transcend.
 The day I stop still, when words are lost and I can no longer stand firm in my work with steady feet,
 believe this: I'll live on in you that day, if you scatter my dreams across a million hearts complete.
  
 Two.
 Is this something else? Or just a question, plain?
 In every language, every land, almost everyone
 asks themselves unconsciously—
 Where, oh where have the days gone?
  
 Nothing was studied before,
 forget revision—I never even read!
 Only when exams arrive do I weep and ask,
 Where, oh where have the days gone?
  
 On deathbeds, the old often smile those old smiles again.
 One life—nothing remains but memory!
 Time doesn't walk—it runs. They only think—
 Where, oh where have the days gone?
  
 Aging leaders, corrupt officials sit thinking: how wrapped in power I was!
 How influence and wealth surrounded me!
 Let people whisper their scorn in shadows—they were afraid!
 Where, oh where have the days gone?
  
 Old medals gleam now with dimming light!
 What else remains? In memory's room the seasoned athlete goes in leisure......
 Ah, I was the best of all, wasn't I, brother!
 Where, oh where have the days gone?
  
 The heartbroken lover weeps, unable to find—where was my mistake then?
 Even in this broken heart I search for her, maddened!
 When the sky becomes water to lover's eyes, he ruminates and asks,
 Where, oh where have the days gone?
  
 Dogs bark in the street, crows caw outside.
 The vendor hawks his wares, the phone rings by the bed.
 In memory's final scene, the daydreaming man suddenly snaps awake!
 All those long breaths escape, circumstances swallow words wisely,
 the whole world rises with that stubborn fly at the same speed,
 abandoned happiness won't walk with the present,
 what day has passed, has passed—never returns.
 Memory's bird becomes mirage, only striking with restless yearning,
 the day that's with me now, I'll accept and walk that path.
  
 Three.
 I thought life was simply black and white—spent my days in such judgment........and believed,
 either good or bad; if wrong, then wrong, if right, then right; if success doesn't come, that's what failure means—life is just this much!
 Life is terribly busy now! To live with myself—where's the time?
 How much beauty is carelessly lost, while I stay absorbed in falsehood's ugly embrace.
 Life's essence, life's form pours all colors, offering its being,
 yet I learn to live in other shadows, thinking my gray life colorful!
 So many unknown guests come to my door in familiar guise,
 if sorrow descends, life weeps, yet pain saves itself by laughing.
 Winter comes and sheds tears, spring songs in bird-tune drive sorrow away.
 When we despair over this meaningless life,
 somehow we rise with infinite vigor through emotion.
 I understand life must be lived,
 I must learn to spend life—
 the policy of forgetting and forgiveness.
 Before drowning in beauty's ocean,
 I must float in light and shadow.