At dawn – a doggerel commemorating a transitional moment

Darkness mutates into morning blue
Soft pillow, warm blanket, fragrant dream, quiet solitude
Your comfortable bed is amazing but you cannot dwell in it
“It’s time to get up,” Mickey says.

Dust swirling, drill roaring, formaldehyde emitting
Departing the old on the way to the new
The old building is homely but you cannot dwell in it
“It’s time to move on,” Mickey says.

Sleepy heart, sick body, masked face
The vast space in front is anonymous
The building’s glass skin is opaque
In coughing fits
I see Gabriel Garcia Marquez grinning
I see Mickey and his fellows descending
Like fallen angels
Without the old man’s enormous wings
As clever as Comp Lit students
They act fast
And love books
Need to pee and wee at appropriate times
Emerging as our other
They say
“When will a house become a home?”

Your comfortable bed is amazing but you cannot dwell in it
When the aroma of coffee seeps into your half-waking life
Darkness becomes morning blue
Poeisis is begetting
Praxis is beginning
At dawn

 

November 7, 2012
At the Centennial office, HKU.