Lady of the Lamp
By Courtesy of Google
Stillness in the night
She walked her ward rounds with care
With light in her hand
I was in lower school of the King George V in Seremban and my teacher Mrs Mc Coy read us the poetry on the Lady of the Lamp which I remember to this day.
Rambutan
Garden rambutan
Is now ripe and hanging low
To pluck when they come
I planted the tree when my first grandson was born eleven years ago. It began to bear fruit when he was about five or six years old and every time it fruits I tell him that the tree is to remind me how old is he. Now I wait for my grandchildren to come and pluck them.
During my childhood days, I used to sit on the 'mengkuang' mat in front of my maternal grandmother whom I called 'Wan' in the still of the night at my Kampong in Terachi, Kuala Pilah. She also weaved the mat from the mengkuang leaves which had been cut in long strips and dried.
In silence of nights
By the flicker of oil lamp
Sat the urn on mat
Last monday my automatic gate refused to open when I pressed the remote after a heavy downpour accompanied by thunder and lightning. I smelt something like a burnt plastic coming from the control box and guessed that it had been knocked out by the lightning which was followed by a booming thunder which caused my circuit breaker to trip and all my electrical lights went off.
Of late the Klang Valley has seen a lot of thunderstorms which caused havoc in certain parts like Subang Jaya being hit by hailstones and strong winds which caused trees to be uprooted and falling on a few vehicles. I attended a wedding function recently in my neighbourhood and commented to the guy who was seated at the same table with me that the day looks bright as it was midday, but he cautioned me that it would change very fast soon, and sure enough by 3.30 pm a heavy downpour came as usual. So the pattern is that a bright sunny first half would be followed by a heavy thunderstorm by the afternoon. Recent warnings by the Meteorological Department has been issued to residents that flash floods and strong winds are to be expected from now until March next year. The whole country is bracing up for the bad weather which has caused flooding in neighbouring Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. We are told that the supply of rice would be curtailed as many areas which have been the suppliers of our rice have suffered greatly from the overflowing rivers straddling those countries. Not only that we are now facing shortages of vegetables and greens and the price of red chillies has sky rocketed to RM20.00 a kilogram.
Hence I pen down a haiku as follows;
Thunder and lightning
Light up the sky and booming
Sign of Almighty
My good friend Hank just phoned me this morning urging me to continue writing the short poem known as Haiku. I had written one earlier and he took the trouble to revise it so that it conforms to the strict 5-7-5 or 7-5-7 syllables for each line. He added that with my standard of English, it would go to waste if I did not continue to contribute in writing the short poems.
I appreciate very much Hank's untiring effort in encouraging me to join him in this healthy exercise. Another friend on this list, Pak Cik Hassan wished me well in his earlier comment on my first effort in writing a haiku. Hank's reason for egging me on is to motivate me to continue updating my blog. In fact he asked me to open another blog just to accommodate poems. But for the time being I just stick to one. So here is my second attempt at haiku poem.
Day of Sacrifice
In piety for the Hajj rites
For Humanity
