A Touch of Healing (Dedicated to His Holiness Pope Francis on his coming visit to the Philippines.)

Dedicated to His Holiness Pope Francis on his coming visit to the Philippines 


Dr Abe V Rotor

A Touch of Healing is based on the theme of my book, Light from the Old Arch, which is logotherapy, a Greek word that means healing through meaning. It was Victor Frankl, a Jewish psychotherapist-philosopher who popularized this approach in keeping man’s resolve in facing the harsh realities of life, and in attaining peace of mind. It is in this state that he “discovers himself” and becomes more “sensitive for the other person.” A Touch of Healing is therefore, not only for the reader but also those whose lives he touches - in the workplace, in the community and at home.

1. Truth we seek, its bulk is under;

Iceberg its tip isn’t the danger;

Mum are we, inside is anger;

Silence sets us all asunder.

2. Feelings we may fall short;

Repressed and the water burst,

Rising into waves and froth,

Unless our anger dies first.

3. Denial to anger is just the beginning,

If anger is provoked and prolonged;

Into depression lost from bargaining -

Not enough, acceptance the saddest song.

4. The arrow and the bow,

True machine before the plow;

A hunter’s life he’d ceased

To found the land of peace.

5. To change our ways, hold your peace;

In his dungeon Gandhi prayed at ease;

Bowed on a loom he wove the cloth,

Cloth for the naked, the flag, and both.

6. Kindness without honesty -

That’s sentimentality;

Honesty without kindness -

Simply that’s plain cruelty;

Peace the duo could harness

Brings light to humanity.

7. He marched with the flag behind him

The Drummer Boy to his master’s will;

The flag drops, yet drumming still,

Fell he, knowing only the battle hymn.

8. Heavenly fire the clay took form,

Lives his soul after his ash;

Tempered he survives the storm

Lost in Eden to live with us. 

9. Late we rise at the edge of decay,
To herald birth at life’s last bend;
“Death be not proud,” the sages say,
“It’s how we’ve lived that tells our end.

10. Melodies in the air, we capture
Melodies in the heart, we keep;
Unsung melodies in rapture,
Sought and failed, we weep. 

11. Ivy, ivy on the wall,
Creeping shy and small;
Spread your arms to hide
My dark and ugly side.

12. How can the sun reach the hadal depth,
Where the world is cold, where love is dearth?
Hasn’t someone a bit of sun long kept?
Come, come and save the hearth.

13. Impossible to the old,
Im-possible to the bold;
Retire for the night,
Re-tire for the might.

14. Truth hidden when not needed
May breed lies unheeded;
And wrong a mob embraces
Is like a basket full of roses.

15. Make believe growth and prosperity;
A vessel sounds louder when empty.

16. Only good wine grows mellow with age;
So does a good man grow into a sage.

17. Up in the sky a pattern most queer,
Stars tell of the destiny of men;
Wouldn't a genius from slumber stir,
Or a faithful pray beyond Amen?

18. A vessel holds water to the brim,
Unless it bears a crack at its rim;
As men wish power in their dream
Even if they have lost their steam.

19. But children are children,
Knowing not a mob or crowd;
Curiosity, danger and dream
Lie behind a thin shroud.

20. Beauty builds upon beauty,Ad infinitum to eternity. ~