The Christmas Day before Tsunami In Phuket
Christmas day
I saw the boy
the white boy
skinny, thin thing
who could only be
two scores of age
smiling so innocently
in Phuket’s Patong Beach
the elders surrounding him, cajoling
I saw a little boy
black plump little thing
barely two, I guess,
almost nude, running
carefree, near the sea
close to the waves
and into the waves
looking, discovering
danger, no,
a thousand miles away
I saw a granddad
jumped a few steps
as he ran
a little girl
trailing behind
did the same
a breeze
chilled us
refreshed us
in the splendour
of the setting sun
the rays dilated our pupils
so that everything
became so dreamy
in that already
paradise setting
I saw a mother
her satiated self
sitting on a towel
her dreamed holiday came true
surrounded by teenagers
oh! that warm smile
of love from a mother!
I cried over the transient
quality of life too
over mother!
I saw the white men
executives of
some conglomerates
stressing out
a mishmash of tired nerves
[...] Read more
poem by John Tiong Chunghoo
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