Anthology Preface

A lot of things had happened since I began this gathering quest of mine-peaceful, thought inducing moments that appeared with each and every piece I came across with.

I remembered clearly all the pleasant trips down memory lane with each title that I read, all the precious gems I laid onto the now browning pieces of paper and all the recollections of physical and spiritual environments that I traversed-things that had ringed true this golden saying that had been said or rather written some time ago, that “there’s never been a better way to encapsulate the accumulated feelings and emotion from any particular moment in life and time, than as a quatrain in a poem;” all were carefully compiled within the folds of this volume, pleasantly within reach of any curious hands that might come across it in any bookstores or libraries the world over.

Indeed I never would have thought that all those pensive scribbles to pass the time would one day greet me in ways quasi-magical at best, cathartic and serene at most. At times it would feel like you’ve just opened a floodgate at high tide, at other times they spiritually caress your heart with all the forgotten emotions from long past like a pleasant breeze.

All the hopes, dreams and reveries that would stay fresh within their cosy quatrains and stanzas as fresh as the day they were written. Yes, clearly nothing could ever work wonders on your soul as poetry would, for poetry is the language of the soul as music is the language of our hearts.

And so I present to you this collection of poetry that I wrote to myself for the past decade or so. A spiritual journal of achievements containing poems and songs dating back from the day I first started till the day this book was completed.

A selection of fine emotional capsules that this life of mine had accumulated and a fledgling anthology that will lead the way for many others to come…

So now the traveler begins his journey.

Saiful Nizam Shukor

Muar

21st Century A.D