1995-The Winds of Change were blowing...

THE CHANGING DAY
(A recognition to God)

(I almost always drove myself to tears everytime I read this poem, for this poem reminded me of the life that I should have been getting. But alas, it turned out not to be...)

Before, there were the dreams
A sacred plaything for the innocent
Who had only came to this world
To walk down the misty paths of Reality
Minutes ago

And as the child slowly began his walk in Life
The sky above him slowly changed
From a nostalgic shade of vermilion
To what he saw today

But these were hardly noticed by the child
Who was fast asleep under the sound of the harp
In his own world, safe from hate and harm

The day changed again
The child was now walking his seventh step
Towards a world filled with beings like him
A world very different, from his own world

And with little knowledge that he will be there
For almost a part of his life, the child
Slowly merged with it, in spirit

And memory told us that these wonderful
times of everyone’s past,
Were not wasted by the child…

As days became years, the child slowly became aware,
Of the purpose of his birth
And of the then smooth, marbled road called Life
He began to learn responsibility,
Something that he never knew ever existed
And also of the golden word called Friendship
And as his knowledge capacity grew
He began to choose his future function in life…

The Wheels of Time turned again
The child had walked his eighteenth step
The first leg of his journey was completed at last
But he knew that he still has a long way to go…

He walked out of his second world joyfully
Waving excitedly a piece of paper in the air
The one thing that could not be obtained,
Without an awful lot of hard work
Leaving with a smile worth a thousand words

Time had spread its wings again
The adult that was once the child
Can be seen walking down a new road of Life
Carrying with him his newfound partner
Under the shower of rice and confetti

Together they solemnly recited their matrimonial vows
While the Silver Birds of Time, sang merrily above them
Flying happily over the bright blue sky
Bearing witness to two lovers fulfilling their needs
Their need to love, their need to care and
Their need to live, in each other’s heart…

The joy of parenthood came unexpectedly a year after
And the two-piece family became a three
Another cycle of Life had begun at last
As the grown child took his twenty fifth step…

And now, for a moment in time, he pondered
As the sight of that child
Going towards the school bus for the first time
Caught his eyesight
A mixture of feelings filled his mind
Which had made him questioned,
Quoting now and then excerpts of his past life
About the new cycle of life conveyed before him
And that was, the life of his son

And not to mention about his own life as well
For he knew, that he was now in the passage of the afternoon sky
And his warm golden sun had already begun its steady descent above him
As the Silver Birds of Time were busy saying their good-byes
Towards their now independent offspring…

But the hourglass kept on refilling itself
And before that grown child knew, he found himself in the hall of academia once more
Becoming a silent witness towards his third and fourth child dressed in an honourable robe
Solemnly receiving a roll of paper fastened with a red lace
And leaving the stage with a smile worth a thousand words…

And as the grown child closed his family album, held tightly on his lap
He silently praised his God
Because all the steps that he’d taken, and all those decisions that he’d made,
Had borne successes
And having done that, he stopped his pondering and went straight
Into the dressing room to get dressed
As the invitation to his daughter and youngest child’s wedding,
Finally caught his memory…

As the clock ticked away
He found himself in the House of Matrimony once more
Along with all the fond memories of bygone days
Watching yet another pair of lovers fulfilling their needs
Their need to love and their need to care
Before their proud and thankful parents
And as they locked themselves in the blessed embrace
Being watched over by their own Silver Birds of Time
A shower of golden tears rained down the grown child’s heart…

Now the path that the grown child walked on were dusty and corroded
And the sky above him, was entering its final phase of the day
He noticed now that most of the sun’s light had waned upon him
Undoubtedly caused by the ominous clouds of age
Casting shadows of doubt all around him
As he walked out of his daughter’s baby shower party

And for once, he hesitated before the power of the truth
For he knew that he was now in the realm of the evening sky
And all of his youthfulness and bottomless energy wells,
Were now in the past
Just another leaf in the book of memories
As sickness and pain became his new-found friends…

The day changed again, for the last time
That grown child was now on the last leg of his journey
And the sky was now vermilion again
For the time had come, for him to become one with the dreams once more

Thus on this silent and heart wrenching moment
Surrounded by his wife, his progenies and his grandchildren, he smiled
He vividly recalled the day he first came into the world
About the beautiful shades of vermilion on the sky of that day
Much like the vermilion sky of this day, he said

And within this blissful reminisce, he found himself becoming one
With the elements that had before welcomed his arrival to this world
The weary traveller was almost at the doorstep of his destination
He knew now, that his journey was about to end
That wonderful journey, through this seemingly endless game…

Finally, the sound of the harp, that the child had been longing for
Unheard by everyone else in that gloomy room, came at last to him
A majestic glowing door appeared before him
Being slowly opened by a group of smiling angels, all enticing him to come in

And with one joyful smile, the old man closes his eyes…

THE END

THE SIGN OF SHAIRO
MUAR
1995


SO LET IT BE, AND LET IT BE
(My second attempt at Automatic Writing, the same day as below)

I pray with the seeds borne by the winds
I jumped and sang the arrival of the comets
For the stars have shone through the thick velvet of the daylight sky
Watching the rain soaking the woods…

And our tears are now a fanfare of joy
For the sun had danced on our very own feet
Before saying hello to the moon
And the Checkerboard of Fate
And a dream of one is now a victory for all
So let it be, and let it be

SAIF ADLI
EARTH
1995


THE NEWBORN STAR
(My first attempt at "Automatic Writing"-check your Wikipedia for this-being done on one boring afternoon in my college library as I tried to catch up with my term papers).

I rose to the milieu of emptiness
That the thought had brought me
But then again the value of it can never outshines
The power of the feelings
For it is our destiny to become one with the heavens
And so in the darkness of this silent void, I pray to you
To give me another strike towards this sang-froid
So that I could thank you again and again
So help me God…

SAIF MINTAKA
EARTH
1995


THE LOST SONG OF ORPHEUS
(My third attempt at Automatic Writing, also on the same day)

To the earth of the moods
From the sky full of emotions
To the moon of sorrow
And the sun of happiness

And the thoughts of the many
Ousted they were by the fantasies of the few
As the Sacred Tancho of the East
Looks heavily towards the stormy sky

And the morning dust shall settle on the frieze
As Time slowly move away from its weary gaze
While the sleeping child, his heart full of reluctance
Prepares himself for his first day in school

So the trees of joy sprout again
As the meteor shower of sadness subsided
And the human dreamer, his teaching counterpart
And his blue-collared counterpart, slowly realised
That their quest, is almost, over…

SAIF MINTAKA
EARTH
1995


AWAKENED FROM A DREAM
Last night, everything that I’ve only imagined
Gathered around me
Treating me like someone they’ve sorely missed
Singing and dancing, playing and laughing
Till their merry moods touched the sky
Leaving me wondering what did I ever do to deserve all this…

Then, I heard a melody, from where I could not see
A melody so beautiful, only God could describe it
A melody so beautiful, it made me forgotten about the crowd
That had since disappeared from around me

I followed it willingly through the impossible darkness
With each step strangely free from the dangers,
Of any obstacles that could harm me for sure
As if there’s someone secretly protecting me
Till came a time I could go no further

But still I felt that sacred melody
Clinging softly to my heart…

Suddenly, I became one with it
The melody turned out to be a warm, beautiful glow
Penetrating through the darkness mercilessly
Making me closed my eyes before its illuminating might
Leaving me feeling strangely merry and jovial
In this realm beyond real and illusion

Slowly and slowly I opened my eyes
Feeling content and satisfied
But only to find out that it was just a dream
Just a mysterious game of the night

And the warm beautiful glow, that I’ve revelled in my dream
Was actually the sight of the morning sun
The sight of the sun that I’ve never seen before
That came through the wide-open window of my room,
Full of glory and full of life
What a dream, what a dream!

I never missed gazing the dawn since that day
And I could never have been happier in all of my life
Than at the time I gazed at the rising sun
But still I heard that beautiful melody
Clinging softly to my heart and will do so forever…

SAIF MINTAKA
MUAR
1995