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

those kampong days


when we had our bath where all could see

used the monsoon drain as our lavatory

went about bare foot all day long

had on only one layer of garment

those were carefree days


when catching fighting spiders

chasing kites that went untethered

trapping longkang fish with our hands

threading for tubifex worms in the sand

gave us much more fun then

than enrichment and other

structured things of now


when playing cards and tikam tikam

inventing games with improvised stuff

climbing trees to grab the ripening fruit

shooting birds with home-made catapult

filled our carefree days with boundless fun

kampong days must have been happy ones


falling down (from climbing trees)

getting cuts (from going about bare foot)

were all part of growing up


riding bicycle

pedalling hard

until the chain slipped

and the bottom hit hard


raining days were even more fun

playing in the rain with kawan kawan

when water overflowed into the house

we had fun scooping and chucking the water around


those were the days

when 'why worry, be happy'

was our maxim for the day, every day

how we still hanker for those nostalgic days!

(on friday, as we walked the petai trail, three of us were reminiscing about our kampong days)

china in december 1994

we first visited china in 1994. as there were 17 0f us, we were one group by ourselves and had the services of an english-speaking tour guide. we spent about a week touring beijing and chengde.

it was the first time ida saw snow. for ivy, it was the second time, having seen it during our first visit to new zealand before ida was born.

i was inspired enough to write a poem which i titled:

"tiananmen"

the name evokes a sense of grandeur
not of beauty
nor of splendour
it pevades a sense of expanse and spaciousness

in my mind's eye i picture a stretching square
filled with a sea of bobbing hair
red flags swaying above the swarming mass
as the patriotic fervour charged the air

it would seem all the country was gather there
either for:
- a proclamation
- a demonstration
- or a rally call to the entire nation

i had to be there
to be at the square
the infamous square
to capture a morsel
of all the history that had been made there
as well as the future that it beholds...

i tried to imagine how i'd have been stirred
when mao perched at the top of the gate
uttered his godly words
then i tried to emphatise with those
embroiled in passion
misled by western notions

it was just like what i had seen in photos
huge portraits
hanging on the portals
gaint chinese characters bearing messages
extolling virtues, dispelling fears and dispair

this historic square
where history has been written
and rewritten with swords, guns and rifles
and lately with armoured vehicles
tiananmen square

i left my footprints there..
in the snow
on 22 dec 1994.