143: nay-eve

From Time: https://www.instagram.com/p/BYPJNcSBT22/

Naïve is to think
watercannons and teargas
will quench their fire.



2017-08-26 9:34am

116: (b)leaky heart

why, leaky bleak heart
overbrimmed with unspoken
words, do(es) i(t) matter?

71: boiling point

It's not fair that you
allow your eyes to wander, while
I simmer inside

It's not fair when you
let your eyes wander; it makes
me simmer inside.

Nov 3rd 11.52am

57: five and twenty

quarter century
old, and what have i achieved?
my dreams, what were they?

56: into thin air

would they notice, if
i disappeared into thin
air? no, i doubt it.

unworthy of being visible in their eyes.

55: pointblank

What is the point of
having both eyes open when
you choose to be blind?


What is the point of
having a heart and mind when
you keep them confined?

54: i surprise myself sometimes I

he asked, "you really
wanna know?". i freeze, inhale
sharply. do i?

in the car, there's not much you can't see or are able to hear. or do. or hide.

53: Disabled

Sure, she can't see, but

she can read, hear and feel words
from the Beloved.

We can't understand
God's words with our fingertips,
so who's handicapped?

inspired by a blind girl at a tafseer class i sometimes attend. she was sitting in front of me, and was intently listening to the ustaz explaining about the surah we were learning during the session while running her fingers around a seemingly blank page of a thick book. upon closer look, i realised it was a braille quran. 
i have been blessed with the gift of sight, and i can read quranic words anywhere if i wanted to; what's my excuse not to? :(

49: monu_ental

the only spaces
we can fill in our lives are
breaks and intervals

1/11/12 3.23am

44: en garde

right when i thought i
could cruise control, you came in
and caught me offguard


26/10/12 3.04am

31: Still beats

my Heart is so filled
by thoughts of you that i fear
it would Burst: be still!

---

for a certain teacher i kinda had a crush on during camp.

28: Only sometimes

No, I don't love you
the way I did before. Still,
I miss you sometimes.

Written sometime in mid-April 2012.

16 : The Newlyweds

Two faces glow as
their loved ones raise glasses in
unison -- "Yaaaaaaaaaaam seng!"

~

Just came back from an interesting wedding reception. I attended because the groom is my neighbor, and he's a Chindian lad who found love in Australia. He married a Chinese Aussie lass. They both looked dashing,and the bride was just so radiant. She changed into 3 dresses, and they were all pretty ^_^

Aside from the champagne fountain after the cake-cutting ceremony, a few other things made me smile: the kiss that the groom gave the bride (while carrying her 'princess style'... bcuz his friend impromptu-dared him to do it lol :P), and chanting "Yaaaaaaaaaaaam seng!" (Chinese "Cheers" equivalent) really loudly. The bridge and groom actually went from table to table to do this Yam seng thing and thanked ppl for coming. Although I'm not truly into Chinese cuisine  (a lot of seafood dishes tonight, probably because there was a mix of guests -- Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists...), I thought the reception was quite well. I really liked the dessert at the end, some kind of honeydew-ish soupy thing, and lotus pancake or sthg like that. Yumm!

An interesting experience, today was :)

15 : Camping Consequences

back from Camp with a
much heavier bag of Clothes,
and a Tone darker.

---

Just got back from a camping trip organised by my school.

Yeah. Pretty tired.

13: Driven to sadness

It fell. It slipped out,
hitting the hard floor. Shock sets
in: death in my hands.

I just ruined my external hard drive because of my own carelessness. Just perfect.

11: Mis Queridas

We hug; bottled-up
tears burst out against my will.
Till we meet again.

This is for all those times I said farewell to the people I love.

My family visited me for a while recently, and when I sent them off I didn't take it very well. It didn't help that it was 'that' time of the month, the flight was super early, and I had only a few hours' sleep the night before. I'm so thankful that I had someone by my side at the time, if not I would've been really in the dumps. I love my family so much.

There'll be another sad farewell in about 2 months, but this time I'll be the one who's leaving. May God give us strength to overcome the pain, because I know it's going to be hard for the both of us. Thank You for lending me my sunshine to me the past few years. I hope we'll live on with smiles on our faces and peace in our hearts.

10: Force of nature

Earth shakes violently
as giant Waves loom over;
their Spirit: intact.

This is dedicated to the amazing people in Japan who are courageously dealing with the aftermaths of the recent earthquake and tsunami that hit several parts of the region. Countless lives are affected by this tragedy, but many remain positive, continuing to light the nation's beacon of hope.

Seeing all the positive messages from the young and old, from doers to observers of sheer kindness, from survivors as well as helpers... Japanese people, you are a force of nature yourselves.

My prayers are with you Japan. Stay strong.

がんばってください！

For more info about Japan's story and to find out how to help, visit this link.

9: The sound of music

A storm brews outside
like an ominous nightmare;
my music plays on.

(Not even gonna try translating this, lol)

I was listening to Joanna Newsom's '81 at the time of writing. Beautiful song.

Last night there was a 4.5 magnitude earthquake in my city, and not too long after raging winds continued to bellow through the whole night. It was like a ridiculously overdramatic omen scene you'd see in telenovelas/Shakespearean plays.


Hopefully nothing bad will come this way. And that the strong winds will cease to be scary.

8: The fallen trees

The chainsaw rumbles
as trees come tumbling down;
A part of me dies.

Translation

Gergaji mengaum

apabila pokok menyembah bumi;

Sebahagian diriku mati

I don't like the constructions going on my campus right now. It makes me sad seeing the trees get chopped off and the general green areas get levelled, some lecture rooms getting destroyed, all these walkways being closed off...  All this 'modernisation'... do we really need it? I mean, I like technology and all, but living in a concrete jungle all the time - it can't possibly be good for the mind, body and soul can it?


I miss walking around Canterbury University... now that's the closest place to heaven(ly campus) on earth.

7: Tom Yam for the soul

The tom yam was hot
when the clouds started to cry;
Makes me warm inside

Translation

Tom yam yang pedas/panas

apabila awan menangis;

Menghilangkan rasa dingin

----

I made Tom Yam campur (mixed) for dinner today, and had it while was raining outside. Cold weather+hot/spicy food = perfect combo.


Anyway, of all the haikus I've posted here so far, I think this one is possibly the hardest to translate, because feeling warm is generally a good thing in English, but not exactly in Malay... possibly due to the fact that Malays typically come from tropical countries and so feeling hot/warm isn't a thing to really thrive for. 'Warmth' would thus probably bring to mind sweatiness, rather than comfy, fluffy thoughts. Thus in the translation I actually used 'feeling less cold', which has a somewhat equal effect to 'makes me warm'.

Also, in Malay, the English word 'hot' can be translated into 2 ways: to mean high temperature, people use 'panas', while hotness from spices like chilli is called 'pedas'. For the original haiku, I meant to use both meanings for the single word 'hot', but as I said, the translation didn't come through perfectly. I apologise :)

Random language lessons ftw :P