Onions and Lilies

Fleur de Liz

Abe V Rotor

All the world in two faces can be glee;
One loves bulbs, the other loves flowers,
And onions and lilies though in one family.
Are raised by different growers.

Lies in one the secret of strength,
The other reverence and beauty;
To one a natural source of health,
The other the symbol of frailty.

Yet Nature keeps balance in duality;
For he who works and he who prays
Are both received in the same dignity
Deserving of the Divine Grace.


Don't Cut the Trees, Don't! AVR 2010 (All Rights Reserved)

Riverbank Verses

Floating market, Bangkok

Abe V Rotor

Chao Phraya River
The river is deep; its source is long;
Its shoulders broad, the sea is far.
Keeper of legends and ancestry;
It washes tears, reflects the stars;
Chronicler of culture and history.

Tourists Center
Incessant is life with joy and flair,
Under the sun, in the night’s air,
Like bees humming, fish circling,
Birds arriving, leaving.

Hotel Room
Simplicity is the rule and reference;
Colors melt in cream and gray pallor,
Ceiling meets floor, window and door,
Only the guests make the difference.

Busy Lane
Busy feet and hands, mind and heart at race
On the fast lane, sidewalks blocked;
Where is order, dignity and grace?
Life never dims, stars just hang out.

Floating Market
Boat songs here are not of romance and gay,
But songs of bounty in the land of the free,
Floating down the meandering river to the city
Where the heart of trade throbs, throbs all day.

Living with Nature 3, AVR (All Rights Reserved)

Macopa Hybrid

Macopa (Eugenia jambalana) hybrid

Abe V Rotor

I know you on the backyard where I grew up;
A big tree laden with fruits and children,
I among them all day laughing, swinging
From branch to branch in pure joy and delight,
Never reaching our fill, unheeding old folks.

Now your fruits are bigger, perhaps sweeter,
In bright red skin to sad purple green,
Hanging on frail branches touching the ground,
When you were a living cradle with strong limb;
How frail indeed is man's ultimate aim. ~

Living with Nature 3, AVR (All Rights Reserved)

Sea Bass in Captivity

Bangkok Live Fish Market, January 25, 2010

Abe V Rotor

How sad their faces are though seemingly at ease;
I tapped the glass, they stared at me a friend;
With a camera I sealed their fate forever in peace,
Alive in memory but failed to save them.~


Living with Nature 3, AVR (All Rights Reserved)

Act II - Destruction of the Forest

Abe V Rotor

One day modern man came, the trees he saw.
He is one that progress has not given peace and content,
His aim is endless, his prospect’s to get richer and richer.
Renouncing pagan worship to a god of materialism.

His measures of wisdom is domination over every creature,
Taking a complete turn from that of his ancestors;
His view of economics is dangerous, but a deaf ear he turns
To the consequences of his action – and his future.

His face reflects that of a devil.
He swings a huge axe and heaves with madness;
He tears down whole forests with giant machines.
His laughter echoes in deep chill.

The forest and all creatures living in it lay dying.
Though the sun is shining still,
Its life-giving light and heat are now useless,
And silence reigns in eerie and sadness.

(Continued)

Act III - Rebirth

Abe V Rotor

Now is the revenge of the deities on earth;
They cry day and night long, howl with the wind,
Hiss with the dust, shimmer in the heat,
Roar with the flood, sigh with the last breath of death.

The deities have lost compassion not long ago,
How cold and harsh they have been treated!
They wonder if knowledge – that kind learned in school –
Has also taught man indifference and hatred.

The deities even doubt if civilization is good at all;
Dreading Armageddon, the earth’s final chapter;
They remember the lustful masters of the colonial past.
If history’s repeating itself - who is this new master?

The master emerging from the liberated masses will show
If he is more fearful than the old enemy below.
What can the deities do now except to avenge?
As they roam the earth where their old friend is now a foe.

Then a group of children visited the lost forest.
A cross they raised, no big name they did extol.
Seedlings they planted, and their words were real
A structure they put up, it was neither church or hall.

A tower they built to link the forest up the shore;
All these brought the deities back home,
And they began to sing their songs once more.

They came down at night when the children
Were sleeping, to take care of the seedlings
Which grew fast – and soon many trees began to grow,
As the community got to its feet around the children.

They are simple people, they are kind to Nature.
Their joy with plants and animals seems pure;
The animals came back found a new home –
Home, sweet home of their ancestors before.

Now the deities sing the songs of the breeze and stream,
Whisper into the ears of the children before sunrise
Who dream of paradise, and on waking up,
See it shine before their eyes.~


Sunshine on Raindrops, AVR