do i really care

Apathy. Maybe that was the plan.

photo by dsnake1



do i really care


do i really care
today
as i pack a lunch
from the coffee shop
in a styrofoam box some rice
and meat dripping with grease,
the stall helper bored,
working 12 hour shifts.
maybe i will watch the parade
on tv later
raise a can of beer
to the guys standing in the sun
anyway it's all the same these years,
some songs
politicians waving
smiling
a show
of military strength
but there's an ache in the chest
that i cannot put a pulse to

because

you go out in the streets
in the sun and rain you see
the elderly collect used cardboard
& empty cans for a meal.

would they care for the flypast, the fighter jets?
the choppers, the tanks, the feu de joie?
they laugh and curse and wait for another day

and only when the national anthem comes up
do i try to hold back the tears.



written 09/08/2016
revised 06/10/2018
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Julia Westlin - The Sound of Silence (acapella) [ original song by Simon & Garfunkel ]

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© cheong lee san ( dsnake1 ) 2018

a young girl does not understand this old soldier

Today is my nation's 50th birthday. A half century as an independent country. What am I going to write about this then, what do I see on this special occasion? The parade, the fireworks, the Leopard 2s and Apaches? No, others will write about these, and take better photos, than me.

I will then write something about our National Service, something I felt was a waste of time in the past, but a tenet that I supported now, if we are not to be bullied again.

photo by dsnake1



a young girl does not understand this old soldier


"Dad, did you really carry all these bags and guns
and march around with them for days? Isn't it kind of dumb?"

Packs, i corrected her. It's kind of dumb, yes, but then
darling, we did this so you and mummy can sleep safer.



06/07/2013
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❤

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© cheong lee san ( dsnake1 ) 2015

never fails

It's National Day again. What does it mean to you? And what do you see (as one of the songs asked)? Just another holiday? Or another wretched working day, for some? Do you fly the flag at your home, or do you just feel it in your heart, a certain pride, a joy? That you will not desert her even if she fails?

Happy National Day, my country!



image by dsnake1



never fails



never fails
the eyes wet
the first strains
of the anthem

not for me
not for the F15s
the apaches,
the fireworks

but
for those
who were here
before

and
were
not here
anymore.


09/08/2011
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I wrote this poem a couple of years back. I do not know what's keeping me from publishing it, I just don't feel like doing it then.


“My old man says when it's time to be counted, the important thing is to be man enough to stand up.” 

― Robert A. Heinlein, Between Planets


Shared on Poetry Pantry #213 at Poets United

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© cheong lee san ( dsnake1 ) 2014