The Pipa Longan Lady

There was once a man named Logan Goji
Who had a thing about longans and wolfberries
One reminded him of a sweet love
The other recalled a wild dove

In a fine garden of stone tables and tea set
Longan Lady clasped a pipa and said,
"Logan my dear, I play you a tune
Of love and lament and ancient ruins."

Logan sat rapt and listened
As tears fell from his eyes and glistened
"Oh my, this woman's voice is so resonant
Of a profound love that's lost and not forgotten."

He felt as if that love was his
He felt a powerful love he could not resist 
Logan could never forget that Pipa Lady Longan
Who plucked a few strings and threw him a loaded gun

Into the garden flew a dove all white and pristine
She settled on the stone table in her beak a red thing
She dropped it into Logan's tea
It bobbled like a heart set on a sea

Logan watched, as the pigeon cocked an eye
That's me set adrift, lost and naked by and by
How did that lovely bird know
Logan asked, as the bird knocked the side of his bowl

He lifted and drank the sea with the tiny heart
It felt soft and vulnerable between teeth that's hard
Burst it did to send a flavour of flower
No longer a love he couldn't devour

Logan then felt a calmness return
No longer feeling a love lost and forgotten
He saw it well the garden, the pipa player and song
He was back to where he once belonged

"This tea with seed is indeed curative
Of visages that could cloud the imaginative
Oh, of what potency had Longan
Was easily defeated by this little berry runt" 

And that was how Logan began
To drink tea infused with Longan
To feel the things he could not see
To see the things he could not feel

And savour the moment long
Till a bite of the wolfberry ends the song
For great sight the wolfberry does give
To those mired in blurrish and strangeful deeds 

- by TC Lai

The Mist I'll Miss

The mist outside always loiters
Never coming near

I sometimes see what it hides
At times it doesn't always oblige

Silhouettes of things that be
Bodies of things, actually

I cup my coffee and ponder
Over rim, over aroma

And cock an eye over yonder
Lest the mist behaves even stranger

Do I have that 'misty eye', I wonder
To see more than what reality panders

But to me the mist does sing and talk
Or at least to me it pantomimes and walks

Telling me, I would imagine, the history
Of the hills and their former glory

Coz when the woodsmen come with axe
Kill kill they will with unflinching reflex

Empty the land of what once was
To build what earnings and profits gross

So perhaps this mist is billowing mad
In haste to tell stories of a dying past

Or is it slow and weighty
Depressed by an apparent reality

That the axemen might come soon
Scatter all that sing and croon

That wake and live and baby
Under that blanket green and dewey

I take my notebook and trusty pen
And start to note the mist, its rends

For there is a lament in there somewhere
Often blinded out by the sun's glare

A beautiful dawn it always is
A false dawn it appears to be

For if I am not 'misty eyed' and true
I will let the forapers kill and rue

Whatever I could have acted and done
To preserve the birds, the trees, the downs

For when they are leveled and gone
So too my mist friend and her pantomimed songs

- by TC Lai

That Jar of Cookies

To the unsuspecting eye

They are normal cookies

Cookies made for a festive time

Cookies bought from a store

But they are neither of these things

For they are made by hand

Misshapened cookies like those from Amos

Crumbly cookies like those from Anne's

They look like rocks from the sea

All jagged and rough

Like rocks in a limestone cave

Well slapped and eaten by time

But they are pretty to me

And so very delicious

For a careful hand made them

And a loving eye baked them

As her lips whispered

While she kneaded and folded

Words that made me special

Utterances that were one-of-a-kind

I love these cookies

And wish the jar always full

For that's when I know we are

Fondly remembered of a long ago

- by TC Lai

Sunny Skies (Again)

The joy of the sun after a season of damp
The joy of the sun after a winter of cold
And there you are all warm and bright
And there you are all smiles and sweetness
And there you are when all the goodness in me
Decide to poke out their heads and bask in the new light
The new life
The new beginning
And life again is hopeful,
Joyous
The heart, once more, sings

- by TC Lai

My Muah Chee Babe

I love my muah chee babe
No, no
She is not a blob nor is she jello

She is tall and soft at the sides
As a matter of fact, she is soft all over

Like muah chee.

And like muah chee, 
She has got me stuck

Stuck like a lovesick puppy
Stuck like a lovelorn Romeo
Below a balcony

Wondering when
His Juliet will appear

When they will spend an eternity
Together

My muah chee babe
My sweet dessert
My sweet sweet love. 

- by TC Lai

Li'l Branded Me

Big brands stay, small brands go
Small money grows, big money blows
On Chanel, Prada, Ferragamo...
Shud I buy or shud I go
Oh Chanel, Prada, Ferragamo...
My heart is tempted,
My mind says no
Oh my, Chanel, Prada, Ferragamo...
Aiyoyo, aiyoyo...
Go to party cannot no show
These Chanel, Prada, Ferragamo...
Die in coffin
Slowly decompose
I still think of my
Chanel, Prada, Ferragamo...
Too expensive to burn,
They were pawned to gold
My fondest Chanel, Prada, Ferragamo...
Over to the casino
My kids did go
All that money lost
In one single throw
My poor Chanel, Prada, Ferragamo...
Still shiny new with a brand new glow
They seem brighter
Than my kids, you know
Alas, I spent all my money on Chanel, Prada, Ferragamo...
When I shud have spent
On kids and their school
They would have remembered me like gold all told
More than any Chanel, Prada, Ferragamo...

- by TC Lai

The Sum of Us

It took us all a while to say "yes"
To find a date, a place... to get some rest
One with calm seas and infinity pools
Of guys with hot bods to make us drool

So we girls are finally here, the sum of us 
Through thick and thin, thru smiles and tears
A bond of strength, a bond of care
A bond of now, whatever the devil may dare!

For now we let our hair down, skirts a little up
Ooh, those knees, so long covered a li'l rust
Can they do any bidding tonite when the music's hot
When the cares of home, kids, work... bother us not?

Arm in arm we giggle and trot
Like girls we've become when school is out
Oh, what shall we do where can we go?
Now the reins are free, much mischief we can brew

Oh dang, too much of the rot has set
The mind is blank, a greyish slate
Like the roots of our hair burnishing white
Like the spots on our faces now ever so slight

Where have all our youth disappeared to
Where is our joie de vire, sexy do? 
Like a wet dog we shake ourselves up
Until hairpins drop, hair's messed up!

"Girls, let's get to a salon, a nail parlour!
A makeover is what we need, each a different color!"
And so off we went, the sum of us
Old clothes, old selves but brand new thirst!

This holiday place may look terribly welcome
The sea, the beach, the boys, the rum
But truely what is needed is a brand new sense
Of self and belief - to break all pretense

That back home is all that we can be
That back home is this need to be busy busy busy
Well, that "back home" is now a distant sway
For once, this person inside is coming out to play!

- by TC Lai (on an idea suggested by Sally (and Lucy!))