for that bowl of rice

This is one of my favourite poems. I wrote it on one angry day, in one sitting, with almost no revisions. I still have that yellowed page in the journal I wrote in, the handwriting heavy and scrawly. I loved how the way it turned out, in choppy little lines, as if reflecting the mood I was in when I wrote it originally.

image from publicdomainpictures.com



for that bowl of rice


maybe
it was the sum
of all the little
tiring journeys
adding up
or the
proverbial straw


i do not really
mean to
raise my voice

i smile
but
who knows the lead in my heart
i trudge miles
for that bowl of rice
and
not for me alone.




written 13.09.92
revised 16.06.07
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“These woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.” 

― Robert Frost, Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening



Shared on Poetry Pantry #195 at Poets United.

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© cheong lee san ( dsnake1 ) 2014