Saturday 23 August 2014

Wings of a Lifetime

Author's Note: Hey, I just came back to Vancouver this morning and damn...the jet lag is killing me but I promise I'll sleep early tonight! Anyway, I begin to like travelling alone all the way from Canada to Malaysia and vice versa. And as soon as I stop by at Narita Airport in Tokyo, I plan that I should do more individual travels to experience unique things of different countried on my own, especially in Tokyo which is one of my dream places to go to. And funny that, as soon as I wrote this poem on a notebook during my flight from Tokyo to Vancouver, a Japanese air-stewardess first asked me in Japanese (which I can't understand because I only have learnt the basics) and then she spotted my poem before she changed her mind to ask me in English. I want to laught it off, but then it might be rude. =P 


Wings of a Lifetime
Written By: Michele Hii

I am in the body
of a mechanical eagle.
It is neither a moist digestive tract
nor a tunnel to a world of darkness.
The body of this bird
is a barrier of metal;
carrying its guests away from natural storm.

Sitting near a window
where one of its featherless wings is located.
I nominate this seat
as my ideal spot.
The aura of excitement that sprint through my veins
connect to the organ beside me
like mesmerizing bond.

The rectangular glass
is my world telescope.
The cities below the bird
are apparently mazes of squares,
glazed by a cluster of electronic stars.
Street lights become a twinkling stream
like a path to a fantasy realm.
As the bird soars,
the earth looks like a miniscule island in a snow globe.

I’ve never felt this alive
as the bird floats beneath the clouds.
With myself as an explorer,
I am ready to inhale
the air of a new country.
Unique treasure I long to see
and I’ll never regret this experience.

Travel is a gift.
Chances are gemstones.
I’ll wait to earn a ticket
to a dimension where I’ll be marking
a future page of my life.

Monday 18 August 2014

In The Eyes of a Grown-Up (New Poem)

In The Eyes of a Grown-Up

Your Crocs slippers crunches on the grass
that needs the haircut of a snazzy prince.
An old song is replayed multiple times
as familiar melodies travel from your earphones
till you feel like singing in this isolated place.

Your eyes shortly scan around the area
like a security camera spying at 360 degrees.
You will see a film screen appearing in your head;
it shows a series of flashbacks
that is hidden somewhere in your memory for ages
like a lost treasure.

Your conscience will scold you
for not remembering those childhood times.
Good heavens! Don’t you remember the colourful swings you used to sit on?
What about those skinny wooden see-saws?
You had to push your feet to give yourself a boost up in the air.
Or that giant round structure where you liked to spin around like tops
with other kids who smile at you like friends?
How could you ever abandon those glimpses
when your mother stood at a corner
watching you like a hawk
while sharing small talks with neighbours?
And goodness gracious!
Where in the world is that big metal slide?
You used to throw your hands high like a monkey
as your body slid down that shiny silver panel.
And not to mention that incident
when you stood on top of of the slide for half an hour or so
because you were scared of a creature that was eyeing at you as dinner.
Was it a dog...or was it a snake?
Oh! You were so terrified you were crying for your mother
to leap up in midair like Wonderwoman to carry you off.
It’s a pity that the slide is gone…

You will feel an icy breath crawling in your heart
like Narnia’s White Queen’s voice slithering through your skin.
The playground itself is untouched.
Every colour, every single patch of ugly brown rust
are remained on the structures.
The rainbow-painted toys are so good to re-encounter,
but the atmosphere is as dead as Scrooge’s demeanour.
Don’t you see?
Not even a single kid was there to play!
Not even a hint of movement was made!
You realize how fast the clock ticks.
You realize how soon the earth moves.
You wake up to see an invisible barrier above you
protecting the playground for the sake of yourself,
a girl who has grown up
and forget the times you connect with this place.

Waves of nostalgia swishes against you
as your fingers hold onto the chains of a red swing.
You sit on it, and you magically feel like a kid once more.
You have visions of the mini-you
swinging with a bunch of children,
drunken with pleasure.
You never know how long this place would last.
You fear that your childhood stories will be erased from your journal
like an eraser that is under a witch’s spell.

You wish you could stay
but Cogsworth the clock says “It’s time to go.”
Your heavy feet sent you off the grass,
stepping away from the barrier.
You slowly turn your back.
Your song is still playing
like an endless hymn.
You swear that you won’t forget this missing piece
that is stolen from your puzzle in years.
One last glance is all you need
and you would never look back
the pain of being in oblivion. 

Author's Note: So I happened to pass by the playground I used to go when I was a kid and I decided to go there to take a look. Everything was still the same, except the slide which was taken away. This poem is basically about reflecting a piece of my memories, but also something we as humans need to know: we can't travel back to the past but we can only recall of what we did. We wish to have time machines, but we don't know what will happen if we revisit our past or change our past. The past is the past and we can only look ahead. 





Saturday 16 August 2014

Congratulations! 15 years of girl power and faith in Christ!

If you've followed this blog and also my memoir blog for a while, you'll probably know that I was a member of the Girls' Brigade back in my childhood years. Girls' Brigade is an international organization to take girls on a journey to be headstrong women for the future and of course to become followers of Jesus Christ. Through eight years of joining the community, I had learnt so many things that I quite forgot how to cook the dishes I had learnt back then and I am still helpless in tying a necktie. But, without the Girls' Brigade, I've learnt that discipline is important; it is meant to be taught and trained since young. One of the speakers tonight said that marching/drill practice is taught among all girls and even six years olds can learn how to raise their foot up while marching. And imagine that the officers are always there for the girls and they nurture them as godmothers. Trust me, even as an ex-member, I still never forget the love they have summoned in my life.

So, you might wonder what's up with the title of this post. Well, I'm happy to announce that Girls' Brigade (5th KK company) is now 15 years old! I'm impressed that Girls' Brigade is still standing solid. I followed a neighbour who was also an officer of the Girls' Brigade to Shern En Methodist Church, and wow, the church is still the same as before. And as I stepped into the building, I encountered the officers once again after a long period of separation. Well, they still look the same to me. LOL. I was even greeted with open arms when I saw former captain Madame Kiu. Gosh! The feels!

So, the anniversary was pretty much like all other events I had been to back when I was a member. Praise & Worship session, speeches, performances, and refreshments at the end. The theme of this year's anniversary was called "A Better Me" and I think it was to tell us that we as God's people are meant to be built up to become more confident in life or to become more useful for the Lord.

The photos I took with my smartphone are not zoomed in so I won't be posting all of them here. Most of the photos I took are performances by the member of various age groups from kids to teens to ex-members who are having a break from universities. Oh! What do we have here?
I don't know whether this is big enough for your eyeballs but the picture above is when the officers and some honorable guests celebrated with an anniversary cake.

One thing that I couldn't believe was that I hadn't had dinner, so I had to hold on to my growling stomach until the end of the event for supper to come to my rescue. Surprisingly, the mouth-watering cupcakes and brownies and pieces of the anniversary cake was good enough for my hunger to subside. And it was great to have small talk with the officers. It was like visiting the past after travelling through Cornelius Robinson's time machine.

If you're reading this and happens to be one of the people in the anniversary, I just want to say I'm happy to join you all. This event will probably be featured in my memoir (I don't know whether my biographical book will be my first book, but we'll see). And to the officers, I know I don't have the time to say goodbye because it was getting late, but I would like to have a chance to say thank you for having me over and also I hope you enjoy the gift I've left for you and your girls. I'll definitely come back when I return for my next summer vacation. Once again, happy 15th birthday to you, Girls' Brigade 5th KK company! Keep learning new things, growing in life, and pursuing the Lord!