Adding Friends

A small group,  

Working under intense pressure,

Working under tight timeliness.

As we parted ways, 

Let's keep in touch, we say. 

Online,  some of you connect. 

Perhaps one's the odd one out. 

Kept out of the circle. 

One's the unseen hand, 

To help support the bid for higher office. 

But then,  unseen is unseen. 

Done because it's right. 

Perhaps one's not seen as important to connect with after all. 

And we've parted ways. Completely. 

A Fall too many

A fall. And two "ba lu ku".

Quickly apply the ice pack to contain them. 

Another fall.  And another. 

Some more serious than the rest. 

Then another. 

More serious than the rest. 

Trauma to the brain,  blood clots all around. 

Fight,  fight it!

Stabilising now. 

But we must not slacken. 

Continue the fight. 

To regain normalcy. 

Up, and ...

Come, use your strength, climb up.

They tell the little ones. 

Come, work hard, another step. 

They say.

And so up and up, the little ones climb.

Happy with each step. 

Feeling more accomplished with each step. 

Friends and family applaud each step. 

Then to the penultimate step.

A narrower step. 

Step down,  the little ones are told. 

Step down!  No place for you,  the little ones are told.  

The little ones stood.  And wondered.  In bewilderment. 

Blue Skies on a Tuesday

Blue skies above
as the human traffic floods the public transport and the roads.

In the anonymity of the crowds,
one boards the bus
with a light heart and
the aroma of freshly baked bread in the bag.