Thursday, September 2, 2010

prayers on rainy days




rain, rain, go away

don't come and cause any more delay
we need time to clear the messy choke
that has led to massive and costly floods
along our fabled orchard road

rain, rain, go away

we have been cracking our brains
to find out what refuge blocked the drains
that were supposed to carry the deluge
out to the marina reservoir that's so huge

rain, rain, go away

we have been innundated
with a barrage of questions
that the general public has thrown
keeping us on our soaking wet toes

rain, rain, go away

don't wash away the topsoil
that loosen the anchoring roots
causing our angsanas and senegalensis
to topple and fall on roofs

rain, rain, go away

at least now we feel somewhat relieved
that there are some people who believe
that none of our engineering feat
can plug and stop nature's leak

however, in the 60s, we would have said this prayer

rain, rain, come again

we children all want to play

swimming in the longkang for free

and pushing stalled cars for a small fee

photo of flood in the 60s from national archives, s'pore

2 comments:

Uncle Phil said...

Every child should hang a traditional Teru-teru-bōzu doll like the Japanese children make and hang in the window when they want to wish for nice weather. It is believed to have magical powers to bring good weather and to stop or prevent a rainy day. Together with this prayer may help.

てるてるぼうず、てるぼうず
明日天気にしておくれ
いつかの夢の空のように
晴れたら金の鈴あげよ

Translation:
Teru-teru-bozu, teru bozu
Do make tomorrow a sunny day
Like the sky in a dream sometime
If it's sunny I'll give you a golden bell

yg said...

phil, besides the papua new guinea's native language, you know the japanese language, too? i am impressed.