saving face

sitting across the straits
uncomfortably
the two chinas
both rattling their sabres
and mouths
each its own nation
one clamours to add on the other
saving
face
becomes more important
than
its people
welfare

elections time 2

It's elections time
New candidates
Come on board
Again

Each
Imposing his own religious values
To shape
To bias
His interactions
With the people
He represent

elections time 1

huddled in a corner
of her one room flat
munching some dry biscuits
with a glass of water

the morning light
Seeping through the window panes
shining
into a room bare
a lone mattress on the floor
a crickety fan
a light bulb dangling

last night
the election candidate came
knocking on her door
asking her
to vote for him
promising her
flat upgrading
if she does so

she worries
more
about her next meal
about getting more cartons to sell
she cares not
for the voting
for the elections
for the upgrading
she has no money
anyway

the elections come every four years
the candidates come every four years
inbetween
they leave her alone
they leave her lonely

faiths, blindly

Pray, tell me
How keeping my hair, unshorn
How keeping a beard, uncut
How wearing a turban
How wearing a tudung
How eating kosher meat
How not eating pork or beef
Will make me more pious

Should I not
Keep in touch
More
With my inside being
With my conscience
With my morality
Than
Just
Retrofit
My external façade
To please the
Cannot-be-questioned
preachers of faith

black pot, black kettle

it is odd
when china castigates japan
for its wartime misdeeds
and yasukuni shrine prayers
when its own human rights record
in tibet
is
blemished

little girl

You were only two
When your life was
Snuffed
Out
Suddenly

Little girl
You were born poor
You never knew happiness
You never played with Barbie
You were often sick
You seldom laughed
You woke up at nights
Frightened
Of the darkness
Of your family
Of getting scolded
Of getting beaten
This was your world
You never knew it was wrong
You thought it was the norm
It was the only life you knew
You never got to know a child’s fun

in china, in india

Thousands and more
miserable and cold
poor
no jobs
gnawing hunger
unwashed
sleeping on the streets
under the moonlit skies

while

their countries
proudly
shoot satellites into space
fly the latest warplanes
flirt with missiles
and nuclear bombs

a pride
crumbling on
two wobbly
bony
legs

Disregarding

you cannot choose who you are born as
but you can choose the life you want to lead
but you can choose whom you want to love
but you can choose the happiness you seek

Disregarding

some people out here
who believe they can speak for god
who believe they can proclaim what is right or wrong
who believe they can impose their religious views
on others

the gods are confused

the gods are confused
as the man they created
fights with his fellow man
blacks against whites
indians against muslims
shites against sunnis
protestants against catholics
sinhalese against tamils
chinese against tibetans

all arising from the same seed
all having the same blood
all made up of the same dna
all beseeching the same god

yet
each claims he is better
each says his faith is better
each tramples the other
in the name of faith, power

ignorance prevails

Hypocrisy

When Faith collides
With vehement words
With denigration
With orgy of violence and arson
With self killings
With explosions

When Faith cannot tolerate
When Faith cannot accept
When Faith wants to chain
When Faith wants to slam
Other Words

Then Faith loses respect
Then Faith loses acceptance
Then Faith treads backwards

Whales

In the deep cold waters
Of the Bering Straits
The whales were swimming
Peacefully with their young ones
Their bodies arching gracefully
As they leap out of the waters
Splashing back thunderously
Throwing millions of spray drops
Into the air

The calm shatters
When the whalers came
With their harpoons loaded
Shooting them into the waters
Piercing the whales
Bloodying the waters
Dragging their bodies
Onto their boats
Hacking them

They tell the world
They do this
For whale research
But we do know
It is no more but
A yearn for whale meat

Cheating the young

There is a need
To be wary
Of pseudo-religious groups
Masquerading as civics organizations
Imposing their religious views
Of sexuality and contraception
On our impressionable schoolchildren

But they underestimated the young
Who came back furious
With their opinions on
How these groups attempted
To twist their minds
Instead of just giving them the plain facts

Ready to Leave

She lay in her hospital bed
On clean white sheets
Stirring left and right in pain
And discomfort
Tangles of tubes crisscross her body
Into her nose feeding her
Into her veins pumping her with drugs
Monitors with blinking lights
Keeping her going

She was old
Her body was aching
Her mind was drained
Her heart was beating tiredly
Her organs were straining
She had enough
She wanted to leave

But they kept her going
With their tubes and machines
It was their duty, they say
Regardless of her sufferings

It needs a heart to let go
When it is time
To let go
Not a brain
Rigid with its straight line of rules

At the emergency

At the emergency
They come crowding
With broken bodies
With broken bones
With broken minds
Seeking healing and solace

They huddle in corners
On plastic chairs
Some alone, sad
Some with kin in tow
Waiting for their turn
For healing and solace

The doctors, nurses
Scurry up and down
Left and right
Just another busy day for them
Providing healing and solace

Some are compassionate
Some hardly look at them
Talking through them
And poking them
Like mechanical objects to be put right

They came needing healing
They came needing solace
They came needing assurance
They came wanting to be put right
They are humans, simply

Jiuzhaigou

Lofty mountains rose into the sky
Snow graced their tops
Down the slopes
Their Water flew
Gushing in torrents
Over rocks and pebbles
Cascading over cliffs
In white sprays misting the air
Into pools
Shimmering turquoise

Tarmac roads punctuate its slopes
Countless buses roar along
Thousands gawk
Digital cameras flash blinding

The mountains shake
The waters ripple
The waterfalls quiver
As millions of feet pound daily

Beauty, transient

to decide

Each one of us deserves
A right to be treated when sick
No matter how sick
No matter how diseased
No matter how disabled
No matter how old
Each one of us deserves
A chance to live

It is not for others
To decide who
Gets to be treated
Gets to have deformity corrected
Gets to have disease beaten
Gets to live a while longer

No matter how slim the chance
No matter we may die during treatment
The choice to be treated
The choice to live
is still ours
To make

little children and god

Little children, little angels going to school
To learn maths science english
Little children coming home
Confused

Teachers wanting a quick foothold in heaven
Spent more time preaching to them on God
Taking away little children and parents rights
To decide on their own beliefs

Leave the little ones alone with their a b and c
And send the teachers off to study ethics

(This was prompted by newspapers reports on teachers preaching to their young charges and urging them to go to churches without the knowledge or permission of their parents. By all means, proselytize to the adults who can think and decide for themselves but if they need to chalk up on the quota converted, do not take the easy way out by working on young impressionable minds.)

Bali - 1st Oct 2005

Country hillsides, decked with padi fields
Rising to the sky, Touching the white clouds
Swaying women on village tracks,
Baskets of flowers perched on their heads
Tinkles of rain swishing down from the heavens
Temples droning with music and prayer chants
Incense and scent fills the air
Bali Gods, brimful with smiles

Indian Ocean, its white foaming surf, rush up the beach
Wetting, soaking the shores
Licking the fringes of humanity
Swirling along beaches, making merry
Loud music trances in the air

Evil came exploding its knapsack
The fragrant air turns smoky, red
People ran screaming, pain
Bodies blew apart, bleeding
The Bali Gods, distressed

The ocean retreats
And comes back
Up and back it continue
Heedless, scareless

One

the hindus and moslems of india
the protestants and catholics of ireland
the jews and palestinians of israel
the christians and muslims of indonesia
the blacks and whites of america
the muslims and buddhists of thailand
the sunnis and shites of middle east
the chinese and japanese of asia
all in One
One in all

in and out

in and out
they go
of the pubs and karaoke bars
in tanjong pagar
a man with a twisted leg, ambling awkwardly
swaying packets of snacks in hands,
a small girl, fingers saying words in air,
“please help me, i am deaf and dumb,
buy my soft toys”

it's like a merry go round
of the pubs
one by one
over and over again
invisible, unseen

by the pubbers
happy on their stools
karaoking at mikes
laughing, talking
drinking, drinking

the forgottens
living at the fringes
in and out
they continue