A Love Song Unsung – Dedicated to my students
Illustrated by Chrysanthus Chan
A love song unsung
But co-written
Her twilight visions
his morning wishes
their passions at high noon
Circling over the moving castle
Lost in translation
dispersed in motion
regained in action
The quiet of dawn wakes me up
‘Cos the clock never chimes
Are you still in bed?
Listen to King Palm’s morning lecture near the Convocation Room
Join the turtles at the lily ponds
Life is too short for sleeping
Come to life’s lecture on time
“How can I let you go?”
Walk with me
“How can I let you go?”
Do not monumentalize me
Transplanted trees
borrowed styles
misread texts
Rooted and routed in the moving castle
When the red bricks are in flight
Wingless Poesy is beyond sight
Transnational visions
postcolonial critiques
literary and cultural theories
Contest at high noon
When heritage becomes an endless event
When knowledge unpacks a world of becoming
When do I fare you well?
How can I let you go?
When Flame of the Forest lights up the concrete jungle
When our Buddhist Pine does not sigh
Below the nocturnal sky
Beneath the solid façade
Of the moving castle
When the twilight blue is in metamorphosis
When our departing paths crisscross
In this invisible city
When our love song is unsung but co-written
“How can I let you go?”
Walk with me
“How can I let you go?”
Do not monumentalize me
(Originally published as a postcard for Comparative Literature Alumni’s Farewell for the Main Building, Feb 2012)