if

if i want to raise

if i want to raise 
a new life from old ashes 
i must burn this one

i live every day
as if i will not be blessed
with another one

i take the high ground 
because if i do not the 
high ground will take me

if i just practice 
every step ten thousand times 
my luck will find me

if death can find me
anywhere then there is no
safe space in this world

every wise teacher
scatters haiku in his wake
if i can find them

if i cannot find
a me-shaped place in the world
then i will make one

if the future is 
mine to create then i should 
make the one i want

ask not if i marched 
in step but whether i left 
footprints on the road

if words are like knives 
let mine be the kind that just 
carve masterpieces