A PLACE TO CELEBRATE

1.Vale Diem

Into the west cobalt nests in silver as day ends

Near in the east pewter grey a curtain descends

A blessing! Lightning lit rain is racing this way

An emergency vehicle rushing to save the day

At lightning’s glare and its driving engine clash

Still leaves shiver; birds hush, awed by the flash

A first hissed warning becomes a sibilant hooray

Rain arrow straight quenches the ashes of a day

2.Ave Diem

Each sweet soul each day wakes before the light

Vanquishing in moments dark night at first sight

The ache of life awakened in the sun’s sure balm

A body at ease with coffee rice porridge and calm

Somewhere television harps its songs of wonder

Pools of warm silver lie about; gifted by thunder

Basking kits; lizards akimbo on the ceramic floor

Star born creatures; now they sleep at day’s door

3.Into Phangnga

Elephantine hills serpentine concourses entwine

Paint pot spills in a cerulean field fly enshrined

Nagas scale steep slopes to stupas in the clouds

Tide torn beaches cluttered by invisible crowds

Caves welcome strangers to cool ancient mystery

Viridian energy implodes; engulfs a puny history

Locked in a cage a cheap diesel tank; we conquer

Not terrain time or distance; but nature’s wonder

 

4.Alchemy I

Aoh! Clean cuts across a motor bike’s putt purring

Brakes rusty screech; the sounds of metal turning

The sliding slap of thin wheels on the gravel stone

The flap of pla onto a rice sack’s plastic bare bone

The sizzle of hot oil, metal on metal splash turning

Plate on plate clatter, cool flesh sears near burning

Silent feet on tiles approach pause outside the door

Gin kau! Aluminium tray on metal. He want no more

5.Alchemy II

Beneath the brazen midday glaring fiery eye above

Leaves plucked, greens gathered and it’s all for love

Hoi raked in tidal slurry; a sky with an orange glow

A small fish found the hook; how could it ever know

Shoalllng gung net caught in the shallow dark water

The hunter’s false light a siren song call to slaughter

White rice pure as a virgin’s thigh as a cloud as soft

Blend gently fruits of love and coriander just a waft

An Artist’s Palette

The sun finds the day lost in the star strewn infinite

Daubing at its outline on a primed canvas indefinite

Chrome yellow magenta chartreuse turquoise blue

Rich orange against the forest’s green and lapis too

A first draft finds the sun just above horizon height

Night hides; intricate its long shadows in plain sight

A darkness within remains yet unseen by any other

For he who dares paints this picture for his Mother

 

7.Envoi (Two Weeks In Another Kampong)

A crooked man enters fairyland to find hope is alive

In the lives lived there and in the scurry of Her hive

Closer now than ever he’s been to the heart of things

He must choose; or risk losing what tomorrow brings

To trust all in Her purpose allowing the way to unfold

Release his locked grip on possessions that take hold

To look up at night to Her presence in the velvet sky

To be embraced in Her love on that night he must die

AfW

Naiyong November 2015