By Lilian Bui

There's an ache in my heart and I can't tell why -
Something to do with the sea and sky.
Loved and lost to no end at all,
Nothing I could have done would have cushioned this fall.

September (original)

Here's to not just doing well but doing good.
Here's to getting over our battle scars and broken hearts
When we thought we never would.
Here's to moving forward and not looking back.
Here's to getting our lives back on track.
Here's to late-night talks while snuggling between sips of wine
Here's to me being yours and you being mine.

Transience

By Lilian Bui

Give me a city kind of love
Where the lights down low burn brighter than my heart
And the champagne glass is the only thing that keeps us apart
One with heavy coats and snow during winter
Where I'll clack my stilettos and wear my pearls to dinner.
Where Sinatra is the only thing louder than the roaring traffic boom
And we make love under white sheets in a studio apartment room

Give me a country kind of love
Where the grass grows higher than expectation
And open spaces leave room for imagination
Let him walk me home on dirt roads that never end
So I can fall for his poetry again and again
Though under the stars we go together singing songs sung blue
Our bodies intertwine later in harmony too

Give me something that won't last
Something that will end too fast
Give me something just for tonight
All the wrongs before I get it right

When feeling is a matter of perception
And one easily falls victim to crude deception
I'd like to feel a little more in a little less time
When you've once been stripped of hope and pride
And in place of your heart a void resides
Would being a little greedy be such a crime?

Hurry, hurry, I haven't that much time
To do all I want, before the future unwinds
I should be so lucky if I could find
A breed of passion of the fleeting kind

Before I find something that does last
Something that won't end so fast
Something that survives the insistent night
Before I find something that does feel right

A decision

So I made a decision that instead of doing a second blog that runs parallel to this one (that'd be rather excessive), I'm going to reserve this blog for my poetry.

The first time I ever performed any of my poetry was this past weekend at uNAVSA-5. It inspired me to keep writing and keep performing. So this is where I'll be keeping most of my shiz, y'all. Come back soon!

Here is a copy of the poem I performed at the conference:

Tear Down the Wall
(written in Berlin, August 2007)

Once upon a time in 1961
In Berlin they constructed a Wall.
It dichotomized east and west, father and son,
Old and new, violence and peace,
And it took 28 years to fall.

2,000 miles of a concrete mess
Of barbed wire laden with hate
2,000 miles of ignorance solidified
At the start, it was already too late.

The children, they wondered,
And their parents thundered
Rejecting the Wall from their lives
But in the end they had no choice
And muted their own voice
Though the silence pierced like knives

Some attempted escape
Leapt a leap of faith
But apparently faith doesn't carry far enough
Others bled, bled, and bled
Thew up the lies they were fed
Yet still others instead
Ended up beaten, shot, tortured, dead

And so, Reagan stood up and said

Tear down this wall! Tear down your walls!
Tear them down before they're even built
Tear down the wall! Tear down the wall!
Tear it down from inside yourself.

Yet another lesson taught by Old Man History
Another evil once upon a time defeated
Another ardent speaker reminding us how hatred can be deep seated
But I ask you now, my listeners,
Could it possibly be repeated?

(Yes.)

Have we bridged the gaps, uNAVSA?
Do we continue to build walls ourselves?
Not of mortar, concrete, bricks, or stones
But within our minds, our hearts, our flesh, our bones?
I open my eyes and look around
And see the Berlin Wall at our feet on the ground
I step over the rubble, cautiously treading over it piece after piece
However, I quickly realized it's not as I perceived
For it is just that- peace - that is yet to be achieved.

Let us not replace a divided east and west
With a divided north and south
Let us look to the future with optimism
And never allow ourselves to cash out
If we make the division within ourselves
Then the rest of the world is to follow
I challenge you to convince me
That our generation's cause is firm, not hollow

I am a child of many diaspora
Raised by parents who fled, dared, tried, and could
And if this is America, and America is free
Then my words today are understood
America, America
Step up to your decree
Make the most of what you're given each day
From sea to shining sea
My travels have brought me far from home
And then back from sights worth seeing
But the most invaluable thing I've learned from being away
Is that no matter what, no matter where, no matter how
You'll always meet human beings.

So take some time to digest
And whet your appetite for change

Then I ask of you, implore you
To tear down the wall! Tear down the wall!
Tear it down from inside yourself
Tear down the wall! Tear down the wall!
Tear it down before it's even built.

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture

Do good things, and good things will come to you.

I had put off watching this lecture for quite some time for the fact that it was so long. However, I deeply regretted having done so for such a petty reason after I watched it tonight. Don't take my word for it. Let it speak for itself. If it does not change your life, it will leave you seeing it differently.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo

The first

It's been a while, but I'm back at Blogger. We'll see what kind of stuff I decide to put up here, but for now, I'll see you guys back at my Xanga!