What breeze comes in
The breathless regions of May?
What winter dares intrude
The warm seasons of May?
Let the sky be our father,
In place of mine who is dead,
And the river know our sorrow,
On its banks we once laid,
Let the earth be our mother,
In place of one I never had;
And the trees remember our joy,
The short times that we were glad.
What time promises to take away,
Death already has,
There was hope, but
I was too late – too late – alas!
Her red lips have withered into pale,
Away life seeping,
So I lay beside my beloved,
My eyes and wrists weeping;
May is no more on this earth,
The season shall never repeat,
But soon in the eternal garden
Shall we once again meet!
.
.
Copyright © 1999 Kenny Mah Ying Fye. Image by Dave McKean.
Kenny Mah believes in the good in people. He has been blogging for over ten years. No, his hands aren't tired. Yet.
hi, very rare to see you posting at this time. it’s a beautiful poem but so sad…
@lena: I didn’t realise that but you’re right – I don’t really post entries late at night.
The strange thing is, reason why I came up with this was due to the unbearably hot weather this month and I was saying aloud, “When will May pass, already?”
Then it hit me I had written a poem with the same notion, albeit a completely different tone and story, over ten years ago. And so you have it.
wah, quite shakespearean la these verses, especially in their sense of mournful tragedy. i can actually imagine a young joseph fiennes reciting these lines onstage, his arms outstretched theatrically, while an even younger gwyneth paltrow watches from the wings with moist eyes :D
but the last two lines are kinda jarring. it’s almost like tacking on a hollywood happy ending to a tearjerker movie. here’s my petition: end the poem instead at the sentence “the season shall never repeat” and dump the last two lines :P
@Sean: Shakespearean? Fiennes and Paltrow? Someone’s been watching too much of a certain Oscar Best Picture, eh?
Dump the last two lines? But you’re talking about me here – I’m always optimistic, even with death and suicides. Life can be good, even after, uhm, life.
*imagines reunion scene at the eternal garden*
Time paralyzed
Seems to stand still.
A moment cherished since ages
Has resurrected from the
Graves of heart.
Here she stands in his company.
Hands stretched for an embrace.
And years of sorrow vanish from their sight!
@jemima: That’s beautiful – “and years of sorrow vanish from their sight” – poetic and haunting and hopeful all in a single line.
Ah it’s a McLean painting of Death. Luv her… :)
@J the chocoholic: It’s from the cover of ‘A Death Gallery’ released by Vertigo (DC Comics), I believe. And Dave McKean is a genius… *fanboy gushing*
LOL LOL LOL. I just noticed I mistyped it as McLean!
@J the chocoholic: A Freudian slip, perhaps? I wish I was lean and mean myself… *sobs*
yerrrr. so if you could rewrite shakespeare’s plays, i figure you’d have romeo and juliet both rushed to a hospital where doctors would pump their stomachs and revive them. and their near-death experience would force both their families to come to their senses and reach a permanent peace deal :P
@Sean: Eh… Have you been reading My Secret Diaries of Rewritten Classical Plays? Interloper! Thief! Voyeur!
*chuckles*
SO beautiful but ALAS!! kenny mah!! where is the breeze that you speak of,
in..
What breeze comes in
The breathless regions of May?
What winter dares intrude
The warm seasons of May?
Im so HOT. Kill me nao.
@ciki: Exactly my point.
Q: What breeze?
A: No breeze.
And honey, we all know you’re one hot chicka… you don’t have advertise so loudly lah… *runs away from ciki’s jabs and sidekicks*
i’ve also read your Secret Diaries of Rewritten Movie Scripts. you know, the one where jack and rose are both rescued and live to become the oldest survivors of the titanic. though i suppose my favorite is your version of ‘dancer in the dark’ which has bjork being acquitted of the murder charge, winning the lottery and buying a villa in the maldives :P
@Sean: Hehe. You have to admit, the thought of Björk dancing no longer in the dark but under the moonlight, her bare feet on the still-sunwarmed sand on the beaches of the Maldives is a nice image, ja?
What a lovely but sad poem… Ah but I don’t wish for May to pass by so fast! I still have a holiday to go to.. hehe.. take it slow, take it slow! ;)
@iamthewitch: Whereas I can’t wait for May to be over so that I can go to my holiday in June! Hahaha…
especially if she’s dancing in her infamous swan outfit while singing “oh it’s so quiet.” though my next thought is that a tiger would spring out of the bushes and devour her while she sings “play dead” :P
@Sean: Almost. The tiger is probably another one of her manic fans that she promptly mesmerize with her ethereal, pixie-on-crack vocals…
So sad…sigh! I don’t want May or June or July to pass by so fast… the months seem to be flashing past, alas!
@Pureglutton: I know what you mean – but this particular month I wouldn’t mind be rid of, what with the heatwave and the haze…
We so need to catch up, dear. Haven’t seen you in ages!
come to think of it, this dave mckean artwork you’ve used for this entry kinda resembles a young bjork. perhaps during her teenage years, when she was still listening to abba, before she became all weird :D
@Sean: Björk’s not weird. She’s just very in touch with her individuality…
On a related note, wouldn’t an ABBA covers album by Björk be totally cool?
yeah. just like how i’m very in touch with my sobriety :P
hmmmmm, but bjork wouldn’t know what to do with all those pretty melodies. i want mariah carey to do an ABBA covers album! you can daaanceeee, you can jiii-iivvvve *glass shatters* :D
@Sean: Methinks you are wayyyy too in touch with your sobriety. So close that it escapes you entirely, ahem.
Mariah doing ABBA? She wouldn’t even get the humour of it all lah. Try Meryl instead. (Oh wait, she already did. Heh.)
where got. i see my sobriety at least eight hours everyday. that’s at least half my waking hours :D
ABBA is humorous? they’re as mournful as the poem in this entry of yours (and only slightly less so than karen carpenter)! especially ‘the winner takes it all’ (which mariah would TOTALLY kill! just imagine it) :P
@Sean: Righttt….
I always thought ABBA to be funny even when they were breaking up left and right and maudlin and drama… must be their Swedish genes. Humour in the face of adversity?
Yes yes we need to sit down, makan & bitch (not necessarily in that order, lol!) soon! You been MIA for too long!
@Pureglutton: Totally agree with you, dear. This time I’ve gone MIA so long even I have started to miss myself!
And yes, I guess we can manage both dining and dishing out the latest goss without proper seating… Could be fun!
Date! Date!
the swedes are famous for humor? actually hor, i think i only know them for five things: ABBA, roxette, ace of bass, ikea and meatballs. (then again, i know the norwegians and finns for even fewer things) :D
@Sean: Ace of Bass? Like the fish? Or the former-boy-band-member (formerly-in-the-closet)?
If it’s the latter, I guess I’d be more interested in the Club of Bass, ahem.
aiya. misspelling is one of the symtoms of alchohol withdrawal. woe is mee. :p
p.s. club of timberlake would be more tempting. what a friend with benefits that would be, indeed :D (for underage readers of life of beginners who are puzzled by what i mean, I’m simply referring to a popular singer’s stint in disney’s Mickey Mouse club) :p
@Sean: That could be an ingenious name for a noodle shop for maudlin patrons – “Woe is Mee” – duncha think so?
P.S. You just reminded me of several falsified photographs of Signor Justin that features his supposed “Club of Timberlake”… Fake, but still… Definitely worth a second take. Heh.
“woe is mee” could very well be the noodle shop that tony and maggie frequented throughout “in the mood for love.” but speaking of ingenious restaurant names, i think we’ll all be flocking by the end of the month to an upcoming outlet in KL that’ll be called “ricetaurant.” i’m not privy to details, but i envision nasi dagang, claypot chicken rice, nasi briyani, katsudon and pineapple fried rice under one stylish, air-conditioned roof :D
p.s. mr timberlake will be baring his real body in ‘friends with benefits,’ but alas, we’ll be watching his rear only in that movie. cry me a river indeed :P
@Sean: Ricetaurant? Ricelly? I mean, really? Somehow a noodle shop sounds more appealing than a multi-rice restaurant…
P.S. Timber-rear is better than nothing, I suppose. Keep the faith, my friend. You may spot the Cry Me A River Club some day…