Author Archives: Haumin Lum

Dear professor what’s the answer to life?

There’s a revolution I need to incite,

So tell me what’s your insight / I’ve been searching for years and I ain’t got an answer in sight,

Is it crazy to question what you see / to wonder why so many friends are in the penitentiary?

Aren’t we all human- if you prick us, do we not bleed? / I’ve seen blood flow like the rivers of the Venice streets,

When I see a dark figure I ask- is he gonna stick me or hit me? / Every day new thoughts fill my head- my fitted hat hardly fit me,

I ask why I deal with so many losses,

I wanna leave the past behind me / left me running like a faucet,

Wonder why young kids turn into young thugs,

Old enough to sell drugs but too young to feel love,

What can we do? How can we help?

Can we put our differences and pasts on the shelf?

If we can’t then at least tell me / Professor, what’s the answer to life?

Professor,

What’s the answer the life?

I wish it was 42 but I’ll need more than a Hitchhiking guide,

The worlds a library and our sorrows are borrowed,

If you and your friends got the same problems / you leave thinking about tomorrow….tomorrow,

But the funny thing is- for once my life’s on track,

And it’s just my friends that keep pulling me back,

Haumin, let’s let this .40 off in the woods,

Haumin, let’s get high / we got bud, Phillies, and Backwoods,

Haumin, let’s get this kid / I know you don’t do drugs but lets crack his shit,

Haumin, what’s the reason we live / have you found it?

They say life’s a bitch / and I’ve been feeling kind of hounded,

Life’s like the Mexican border / you always find your way around it,

But recently….I’ve started to feel a little surrounded.

I realized once I hit college,

That things change- and it’s so strange,

Cuz back in the day carrying a blade was the only way to stay protected,

Now life only gets hectic when I gotta pick 2 Honor classes and 3 electives,

I grew up with d-techs and spilled trash receptors,

Lines ran around the neighborhood schools from the metal detectors,

Learning ratios from day one / around 25 of them and 10 of ours,

Trust me when I say Baruch didn’t show me my first “feit” seminar,

Right now I’m writing plenty bars / but this isn’t the first time I’ve seen….plenty bars,

Generally learned to ignore the golden rule,

Why do unto others what they’d do unto you- if they plot to put a .22 unto you?

So what could I ask U / you’re another letter of the alphabet,

You think like MLK but I think like Malcolm X.

And then you ask me to try and connect with the faculty,

But our differences are too wide / they might as well have their backs to me,

And sometimes I can’t talk about certain things- I’ve been through enough,

So it’s hard to reach out / even to join frats and student clubs,

But like a bum / I need change,

But transformation is hard to attain and even harder to maintain,

So there’s really nothing left for me but to embrace my peers,

It’s the first step to take to face my fears,

At first when came here I thought I’d be solo / but I wasn’t,

I thought it’d feel weird / but it doesn’t,

I found some friends that share the same struggles as I do,

Who see things the same way as I do,

Who send out prayers about the same things as I do,

I realized that all my life I’ve been too damn defiant,

Pushing people away when it’s me who needs the guidance,

God I’m lost,

Got my passion and fire bottled up in an emotional Molotov,

So that’s who I reach out to- my peers / that’s my resource center,

I take all of your advice / I make you all my mentors.

But I don’t take advice from friends when it comes to school,

I make my own decisions to do my thing or act the fool,

So my peers didn’t give me an edge scholastically,

But left more of an emotional edge that’s going to actually last in me,

Give me 30 years and I bet you nobody’s going to remember the tests I passed,

Because you know those midterms / that’s remembered at best the past,

I’ve done plenty of things to fill my pockets,

But not enough things to fill my soul,

Just think how Korea got Seoul / there’s more important things than capital,

So if I gotta look back and regret what I did,

Over something I couldn’t even tell to my kids,

Than it wasn’t worth it / and that’s what I learned,

New friends- new life / that’s what I earned,

A life where I don’t gotta bury friends and fill urns / that’s what I yearn.

And that’s the life I might get if I keep doing my thing,

But I’ll never forget my roots,

Even if I decide to talk walks in your boots,

That goes for community service too / it’s all the same,

Forced labor for unpaid kids / that’s the government’s game,

But you gotta learn how to play it or get played,

So if I got a chance to help my soul / I don’t even need to get paid,

And I learned that from this project and my peers,

I’m leaving the past behind me / like a boat leaving from a pier.

There was a time when I would say imma body all you,

Now I say that I embody all you,

I take advice so I could make you all a part of me,

Life’s a glass mosaic / and you’re all a shard of me,

I never used to take counsel cuz I was used to bad friends and lying kin,

Now I left the pride behind like Simba from the Lion King,

And I let out the good me that I let hide within,

Word to mother that was the best thing I ever did.