Born Free

See

See these birds

A poet's world a doorless cage

So much to express

So unflinchingly love flies

Free

See

See these heads of grass

Upon my shoulders they rest

Flirtingly in a cheerful breeze

Sweetly snuggling up

To me

See

See these hard weathered stones

Moist in the morning dew

Beneath lies soft creatures

Mosses fill the cracks a-hugging

Like I to Mom Dad

See

See these rice fields

And this boy home from school

Stood he

Amidst his beloved grass

Earnestly searching

For the very first time

The blue deep sky

Begging for manna to fall

with a rice bowl Mom Dad picked.

He cried freely unknowingly

Why their strife and cane

My pain

See

See the rays of dawn

Sleepy mountains awakening

Still the sun is not harsh

The daffodils still smile

The rivers still sing

The nature of me

Speaks my soul born free

See

See this dam

Sounds of cascading memories

Found the silent depth of winter

And the revelry of diving ducks

Writing a winter's tale

Twinkle toes rippling

A many splendour things

Set my koinobori flying high above

And verily free

(Footnote: This poem is dedicated to my Mom and Dad, and the young couple who had wanted so much to adopt me. Also dedicated to my lovely Primary One teacher Lily Wong of Sunny Hill Seventh Adventist School - Kuching, who taught me my first song of love - Jesus Loves Me. I remembered very well how my classmates and I were chaperoned to the recording studio of a local radio station one day to sing this song.)