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Sunday, December 25, 2016

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

Monday, December 12, 2016

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

Sunday, December 4, 2016

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

Sunday, October 16, 2016

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

Sunday, August 14, 2016

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

Sunday, August 7, 2016

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

Friday, July 1, 2016

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

Saturday, May 21, 2016

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

Saturday, May 14, 2016

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

Sunday, January 24, 2016

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