18.3.26
Hong Kong skyline
Like an
Upturned ‘sharps bin’ *
On display
My hotel
25 floors up
In a room that smells of naphthalene
And despite the modernity
A spent Colonialism
Staring down the deep cleavage
Between the buildings at
3.00 am
I watch
Light flowing between
The skyscrapers
Like melted gold bullion
Heading for the Bay
Optimism is birds on the pavement outside the bakery
Bakehouse
Hopping & hungry
Pessimism is the transparent bag of
dried shark fins in the market
Des Voeux Road West
Blood & senseless slaughter
Peace Gardens….
Where the tired can think eat and
Pray
Fear the future?
( 2047 to be precise)
Under the Chinese flag
Tanks already stored and ready
To conquer the streets
As the bullying Landlord exclaims
” The Lease has expired”
Meanwhile
Humans like ants living in the sky …
Surge upwards
Defying Vertigo
Even beyond my 25 storeys
Packed- in cheek to cheek
Like the last
Dance of the evening?
In buildings barely ducking
Below cloud
As birds dodge rooftop washing lines
And toys on high altitude balconies
Dream of gardens
Faces at the window staring down
See humanity below reduced
to punctuation (full stops iotas ?)
swept along in search
Of daily purpose
Or just to unending toil
In the Museum I admire the many
Works of calligraphy
And wish I could do anything
As beautiful
As the lines like thin scratches
On the surface of the Universe
Telling stories
Life far from home is a collage
Made of experience
A quilt of mixed feelings
A place where we have have thoughts
Of others dear to us as we stop
To read the poster on the wall
* A medical recepticle for used needles.
.
Malcolm Paul
.