Now that's a colony!
Trip Start
Aug 30, 2006
1
24
33
Trip End
Jun 11, 2007
Singapore,
Singapore
Sunday, December 24, 2006
'Twas the day before Christmas, the morning, you see,
and trav'lers in Singapore were trying to leave.
Their travel plans thwarted by flooding and rain,
they all were looking hard for something else to arrange.
They wandered the city with cameras and bags
which held small Christmas gifts soon to be had.
Among all the gardens and buildings so tall,
they wondered if they really wanted to leave here at all
Backside of Little...Arabia?
. And although I didn't have to go north to Johor,
I was equally dreading travelling once more.
The two long days spent on a bus had done harm,
because in Bangkok I had slept through my alarm.
The battery had died, and so I missed my flight,
and hastily booked a bus ticket that night.
I thought, "Curse you, phone! With your bells and whistles,
you've been as helpful as a thick patch of thistles!"
And although this simile proved to be weak,
I smiled nonetheless with a glow in my cheek.
The bus ride had let me meet people from Norway,
and watch a movie so bad it shouldn't have been made.
And I had arrived in the city at five,
the morning beginning to creep through the night.
The shortest day of the year had arrived,
although it wasn't winter, so it didn't feel right
Mall, like most places in Singapore
. Among all the flowers and trees did I walk,
exotic, leaves rustling in a breeze nonstop.
They drove on the left, and quite orderly,
in cars new and Malaysian and very fancy.
For drug use, death was the harsh penalty,
and you could get caned for spitting on the street.
So I lowered my head against the cool rain
which came without warning, and hoped I wouldn't get framed.
But as it turned out, the people were great--
no reason for crime to incur the wrath of the state.
They looked after me better than anyone else,
pointing out restaurants and instruments and things I could sell
National Library, Singapore
. I got instruction in music Chinese
and read books about Islam and Thomas Pynchon's V.
O how many cultures could coexist in this place
without strife or infighting, they were all at peace!
It seemed to me that Muslims were widespread,
Arabic and Malay faces danced through my head.
Hindus made up a minority,
along with the Mandarin spoken by Chinese.
As night fell I wandered through some great halls
built to house the ubiquitous malls.
Open for Christmas twenty-four hours a day,
everyone was sure to grow weary that way.
But they still shopped, and bought things aplenty,
even if celebrating Christmas wasn't their intention.
Lights flashed everywhere, tastefully strung,
and projectors displayed West Ham versus Fulton.
After that game ended in a draw,
I sauntered home, content with what I saw.
The next day I would head for Australia,
where maybe I'd find a rhyme for Australia.
It's said that all those living in Singapore,
they all want to leave, but can't go anywhere.
But to visit this island so ordered and bustling,
even without Santa or friends, was so lovely.
And as I fly into the night of the ocean,
in a pressurized tube, toward a land unknown,
I might not yell at the people around me,
"Merry Christmas to all!"--but I'll be thinking it anyway.
Comments
You're a dork.
Remember Mo's roommate freshman year? And how she had the Singapore flag waving proudly in her room?