Scattered mass;
Glorious mess.
Towering strongholds —
The only grasp of reality.
Mime.
Life without a dime,
Deemed society’s crime.
You’ll be a mere mime,
In a race against time.
Get-away.
Run away
From the world you loved,
They never understood your ways.
Fade away
From those dreams you had,
They won’t take off anyway.
Wake Up.
Restrained,
By the thick ropes and chains.
Society,
Is the one that changed me.
Artist,
Was all I wanted to be.
Happy,
Was all I ever seeked.
Money,
They will give when you obey.
Glory,
You get with compassion frayed.
Winners,
Are ones who betrayed trust.
Losers,
Are those who gave too much.
Since when did it become this way?
Since when did we make it this way?
Kinship is soon nothing.
Friendship is soon vanity.
Nature is soon dying.
What about us?
Soon we’ll be alone and obsolete.
Blind.
Cash we seek;
Glory we chase,
But man, I’d tell you that’s just surface.
Even with all the success
But our hearts misplaced,
It’ll be real doom
No matter what we taste.
But that’s really just a peek
At the consequence we’ll face.
“We want happiness,”
And that’s all we say.
Look at us now —
Alive but dead.
What do we have now?
“Blindness to kindness,” I’d say.
Korea.
Having an extroverted personality, nurturing relationships, being around people and interacting with others come naturally to me. There’s one person though, I was not too sure if I knew her well enough then– myself.
I left work after a hectic work week on a Friday night, my mind was in a whirl, exhausted but also excited. As I was packing my bags, it started to sink in that I’ve booked a trip to Korea 2 weeks ago and it’s going to be the first time I’m going somewhere foreign all on my own. It then dawned upon me that there isn’t anyone to tell you what to do, or how you should do it. That sudden realisation crippled me for a second, then it came acceptance and liberation.
I flew by Scoot. There were rainbow lights in the cabin. “With rain comes rainbow,” I thought. I met a Korean girl on her flight home, she spoke good English. She told me her parents were picking her from the airport and I found myself struggling to remember when I last sent someone off or for received at the airport. After catching a few winks, I alighted. It was dark and the breeze came through the agape section between the aircraft and the land connector. The process at the customs was just as breezy. I stepped out of the airport and it smelt different, it’s not Singapore anymore.
The Korean girl’s family met me, and bought me bubble tea at the airport to welcome me into their country. They dropped me nearer to my new crib, and knowing I had extremely limited conversational ability in Korean, they waited for my taxi to tell him the address. I stayed at Hongdae and it was crowded on a Saturday night with youngsters having chats, laughing and playing outside. They seemed well prepared with beers and snacks. Everything had cheese with it. I got changed and went out. I got a crabstick cheese snack from Family Mart (so I figured they bought all of it from there as well), sat on the bench just like the locals, breathe in deeply and soak up all the moonlight, street lights and the smells of bbq meat. I opened my eyes and this two guys walked by and said hi.
I let out a doubtful greeting.
“Hi?”
“Are you local?”
“No, why?”
“You speak good English.”
“My friends’ coming,” I casually told a lie.
“You want to learn some Korean? We’re both English Teachers here.”
And that’s how I learnt my two life-saving phrases in Korean: “Isseo” means “have”, and “Eopseo” means “don’t have”.
Aliens.
Move in swishes,
Live on wishes.
We are all different –
Yet somewhat alike.
We all love,
We all fear.
Isn’t it strange we don’t care so much about each other?
Isn’t it ridiculous sometimes we’re afraid of each other?
Before the grave,
After all you gave.
We are all the same,
Yet somewhat different.
Isn’t it stupid to compare riches?
Isn’t it dumb to have made someone’s life difficult?
Blessings are the days living,
That’s all I’m really saying.
Be kind,
Be brave.
And soon you’ll find out,
They give our life it’s true meaning.
Leap.
Grabbed some gin,
And tobacco by tins.
Going for a spin,
After an awful din.
All I wanted was to win,
Gambling was my only sin.
Lost it all, not even a lint
Left for me, no hopes to pin.
I leapt – all I saw was blue and green,
“Drink like a fish,” says Jim Beam.
Forgetful I am, of yesterday’s dreams
I’m now just a fish without a fin.
Desperate and unable to swim,
Repaying my debt, my life cost a mint.
The last of my grin,
Now gone with the wind.
Garden.
Be not like a flower —
It expires when it withers.
Perhaps be like creepers —
Undying and unrelentless.
Or maybe be like water —
Adaptable and renews in cycles.
Unsettled.
I love learning. I love to gain wisdom. I love to grow wiser. It’s not about book smarts or general intelligence. It’s the wisdom of attaining happiness. Happiness and success. I can’t stand being stagnant. I need to keep moving. Keep going. Rest and keep going. Life has so much to offer, and choosing to just feel contentment forever is a pity.
I can’t imagine settling for a partner that will never crave or seek improvement in life. No matter how slow I go, I never want to stop. I don’t want someone who stops midway and wants to sit down forever on the side of the path because he’s walked enough. I would love someone that’s able to walk on a similar pace, someone that takes care of himself well to walk the journey, someone that’s able to run together, slow down together, enjoy the flowers together and talk endlessly about the sun and the stars together. Someone that during the nights even when we don’t see where we’re going, or when the road is seemingly endless, he holds my hand and shares my optimism, and shows his courage to walk uncommon roads. Someone that seeks out new passions, attempts to understand the shades, highlights and colors of life. Someone that seeks depth in understanding me.
And a partner that aboveall, chooses to love me every single day. That’s the one I wanna be with. Because marriage isn’t the end goal, marriage is a mere promise. Spending a lifetime together and experiencing all that life has to offer, that’s what I want. It’s not a goal. It’s a process, and I want to be able to choose this person everyday. That’s beauty, that’s happiness, and that’s the ultimate wisdom I seek.
P.S. Pardon typos and grammars. It has yet to be vetted.
killgwen 