Finding our Christmas Light

Finding our Christmas Light

By May Kwek

The days have passed in a blur

And now it’s Christmas night

How strange it feels, so serene

It’s an oddly peaceful night

The days between have not been pleasant

Madmen acted and lives were lost

The earth has shaken, storms raged

Peace has held but at terrible cost

The struggle to keep it Christmas

Has been brutal with spirits this low

Sometimes it seemed dancing on the edge

Ready to fall with a careless blow

So I searched again for that Christmas star

And I found it tonight

High up in the dark night sky

Oddly small and not too bright

But it was constant, ever constant

Nothing could cause it to fade

It cannot be blocked, it cannot be stopped

For eternity it had been made

And I know now that it will glow always

Hope shinning in the night

Nothing on earth nor in hell

Can ever block out that light

So although there’s no tree this year

And thus nothing festive to light

It is Christmas still

And that Child’s our eternal Christmas light

Merry Christmas

Copyright © 2016 by May Kwek

Fighting for Christmas Faith

Fighting for Christmas Faith

By May Kwek

Christmas has come around again this year

But I must confess I feel no cheer

Rather it feels like Annus Horribilis

In other words, a horrible year

The world I knew has departed

Everything seems to have changed

Peace now feels on the brink of danger

And really, the world just got strange

So no tree decorates our home

The lights on the street are cold and empty

It all seems so superficial

Is this Christmas really?

I look up to the stars for an answer

Seeking the one from 2000 years ago

The one that guided to a poor manger

That winter night so cold

And it shone in my mind so bright

Such a contrast to the dark of night

And led me down a quiet walk

Where with a shepherd I could talk

But he never spoke a word

Only raised his arm and I knew

That soldiers descended to Bethlehem

To a thousand children slew

It was the first Christmas night

Forgot I truly had

That hope was born in a world so dark

And in a night so black

Yet how it shone, how it shone

The skies opened and the angels sang

There was a celebration in that little manger

Despite the world so dark and dank

Our hope is a hope for the ages

And Christmas’ joy from hereafter comes

So this Christmas will be graced with a feast nevertheless

And I’ll open the door to whoever and still say ‘Welcome’

Immanuel, God is with us

Still

Merry Christmas

Copyright © 2016 by May Kwek

Exhaustion

Exhaustion

By May Kwek 

The night air is quiet

And I neither sleep nor wake

But move on from task to task

As best as weak strength can make

Do I still have a soul I wonder

It feels hidden away somewhere

Leaving just the flesh and bone

And tired eyes to stare

Silently at the screen

I gaze from left to right

In this darkened place

It seems so very bright

My feelings have vanished

I don't seem alive

But this heart keeps beating

Against death it still strives

But my mind has deserted me

It's mired in grey fog

My limbs worn down and heavy

Like a pair of logs

Everything feels dry

The heart is withered and grey

The whole world feels

Like a cloudy overcast day

I don’t know who I am

I don't know where I'm placed

I seem to be some machine

Working with a plastic face

I can't start I can't stop

I can't stay I can't go

I need to find, where is it?

Where can I find my soul?

Copyright © 2016 by May Kwek

A home in the woods

A home in the woods

By May Kwek

I walked in the quiet woods

Where very few ever roam

And there amongst the towering trees

I made my soul a home

The blue sky was my ceiling

The trees my pillars and walls

The leaves my living carpet

And the roots were my floor

The sun was my lamp in the day

The moon and stars by night

The running brook was my playmate

Its song filled me with delight

The birds in the air were my wind chimes

Singing when the day was clear

The ferns my stairs to wonders

Everywhere far and near

The wind was my sweet refresher

My story teller in disguise

The creatures my daily companions

Rising with me at sunrise

Yes, I walked in the woods one day

And a sweet home I did find

For though my body departed

I left my heart and soul behind

Copyright © 2016 by May Kwek

Mirrors

Mirrors

By May Kwek

One dark moon lit night

I walked into a room filled with moonlight

And saw a hundred mirrors each standing on stands

Each one deliberately designed by man’s hand

I walked to the first at the side of the place

Held it up and saw a sliver of my face

‘Disabled’, the words on the mirror said

But I didn’t see me so the image I’d trade

I walked to the next by a painting strange

For the faces there always changed

I looked into the mirror and I saw my face

But not my features, my character, just my race

I set the mirror for race down

And next to some prayer beads another one found

‘Religion’ it said, ‘in most the world’

And saw a perfect but unreal girl

I moved on to the drawers and beside a dress

Found a full length mirror straining under stress

I tried on the dress, did a little turn

And saw in the mirror, not a person, just a woman

As I got rid of the outfit something caught my eye

From the moonlight bouncing off a mirror shy

Dusty and broken lying on the floor

I wondered what it was meant for

It was small and simple, but firmly held in place

Just enough to reflect my face

On its edges was carved one word: ‘humanity’

And when I gazed into it I saw me

Copyright © 2016 by May Kwek

A fickle twilight

A fickle twilight

By May Kwek

The deepening shadows

Are the herald of the night

The fading of the sky

Signals the twilight

Everywhere the sights darken

And shadows from their hiding emerge

Sparrows leave the darkening skies

And return home to their perch

The room grows ever darker

In the misty embrace of the night

Grey clouds from above

Cover the sun’s last waning lights

A low hum whispers

The steady beat of rain

Falling swiftly but quietly

Just outside the window pane

Yet the air feels quiet and still

Cool despite the absent wind

And the rain almost glides down

As though it’s always been

Then with a bright flash of lightning

Away disappears all calm

The sun bids a gleeful farewell

And the stormy twilight bids welcome

Copyright © 2016 by May Kwek

The world outside the window

The world outside the window

By May Kwek

In the room the world is dull

The walls and floor are plain

The lights are dimmed, the sound’s a constant hum

It always feels like it’s about to rain

Day in day out

Constant and unchanging

The sun rises and the sun sets

And you never hear a bird singing

Yet out of the corner of your eye

You can see the world outside

The bright sun on the green leaves

The brightening and waning of the day’s light

You see the leaves toss as they are blown

By a gale from the sea

You see butterflies and birds

Playing hide and seek amongst the trees

Storms arise and then subside

Behind that tinted glass

You see flowers bloom and then fade

And you find that you can trust

That though inside the world seems

To never ever change

But just outside the window

That world never stays the same

Copyright © 2016 by May Kwek

The two roses

The two roses

By May Kwek

I held two roses in my hand

Both red and in full bloom

Both smelled as sweet as the morning

As soft as silk from heaven’s loom

Both spoke of hopes and dreams

Of wonders and possibilities

Yet when I held them up to the sun

Some differences I could see

For one had petals bent one way

And the other did not

One had green leaves a plenty

The other didn’t have a lot

The red for one seemed bolder

The other slightly pale

As a messenger of life and dreams

Perform better it seemed one will

Yet as I held both to my chest

Could I consider the other deficient?

For God made each rose bloom

And he made each one different

Copyright © 2016 by May Kwek

Seasons of promise

Seasons of promise

By May Kwek

When spring touched the sky this year

I gave you a daisy fair

Small and slight though it was

It was tended with loving care

It swayed gaily in the spring breeze

Laughed in joy at the sun

With the fullness of youth and innocence

Of a life just begun

But spring blossomed into summer

And cares the daisy fades

So I gave you a lily white

As a gentle wish instead

It bloomed with the season

Shone like snow in the sun

As pure and as sweet from the beginning

Till its time was done

But I would not have you mourn dear heart

For the summer past, never forgotten

So I gave you an Iris bright

As summer burned into autumn

It was as violet as the heart of the sea

Quiet and sedate

Yet burning at the centre

With hope, wisdom and faith

It grew strong and true

Till the last flame of autumn fell

Then it was pressed into a book

To be kept safe and well

And as winter’s biting cold blew in

I placed the last pink carnation in your hand

As a promise honoured and true

I’ll never forget you, my friend

Copyright © 2016 by May Kwek

The Deepening Twilight

The Deepening Twilight

By May Kwek

It’s the end of the day again

The light begins to fade

And the sky slowly looses

The glow the sun had made

Bright blues give way to inky black

The sun must bow to the stars

Which have no warm light

When they are so far

Shadows deepen all around

Everything becomes less defined

There is coolness and isolation

In the oncoming night I find

It is sad and yet not sad

Like mist compared to rain

For there is no finality in this darkness

Just the circle beginning again

But twilight is the time of day

Which saddles in between

Belonging to neither world

Or so it would seem

Perhaps it’s in a different place

Where things are constantly flowing

And time feels like reality

When the sky gives it meaning

So as I watch the deepening twilight

As the day melts into night

It is as though I have to mourn

The arrow of time’s flight

Copyright © 2016 by May Kwek

Reading Jane Austen

Reading Jane Austen

By May Kwek

I am reading Jane Austen

As I have said above

About riches, marriages

And alliances in the disguise of love

I have heard the characters speak of money

Being the almost literal measure of a man

One with a good income must eventually

Be captured with a wedding band

They talk of balls and fortunes

Of people and not much more

Because back then, it really seems

It was a much smaller world after all

Their idle lives of leisure

Singing, music and dance

With inheritance and all that propriety

Very little seems left to chance

Yet when I look at all their riches

The seemingly idle utopia they enjoy

They feel so miserable deep within

That I think they would do better for some toil

Copyright © 2016 by May Kwek