MALAYSIAN SONNET ECHOES 60:TORNADO IN A PAN

With eddies of hot and cold wind and air;

Thunderstorm whirl, whine and wreck the world bare;

If catastrophe impacts on your life;

Violence are rife, the nation in strife.

Body is diseased, mind must not fall sick;

Stay calm to watch tricks, stir is thick and quick.

Life is like a a movie, add fire and sound;

War drum out of beat, kindness not around.

Nothing I could change, the change is within;

Treatment not in skin, confidence to spin;

Confuse aches with eggs, tornadoes as true;

Sight with awesome feel, how could the cards deal.

Easy to be entangle when world spins;

Begin never to win, just grin in sync.

My Sonnet was in response to Wayne Tan’s ( a Chinese Muslim, my personal trainer) rhyme verses , as follow:

Through the chaos to remain grounded,
One must question upon which is founded,
Does the issue affect one self?
To what degree should one delve,

Life is full of enough problems to solve,
Through thick and thin we do evolve,
Focus only on what we can change,
Anything else would just be strange.

Every morning I wrote sometime to greet my friend. My daughter sent me the video of Omelette Tornardo. I added these words:

Life is like an Omelette tornado. Right or wrong, gain and loss etc sticks and curls and ends in an active or passive volcano. How do we prevent ourselves from being sucked up ?

Notes:

My cardio imaging scan , with high calcium score , about 4000, suggest I have extensive blockage in triple vessels, despite no symptoms of chest pain, breathlessness. Last week I did an angiogram at Singapore Heart Centre, which showed the blockage was about 60 %, and no stent was required. It was a great relief. I shall be doing a cardiac perfusion test , instead of a stress test due to my age. I am uncertain whether the orthopedic surgeon here would be willing to resect my stranded synovium, which not only limited my movement completely, but caused intense pain. Now the pain has subsided over complete bed rest for two weeks.

The pictures here were copied-pasted from the web, with appreciation to their owners.

MALAYSIAN SONNET 59: SMART PARTNERSHIP

MALAYSIAN SONNET ECHOES 55: LAST TEARDROP

Plunge from heaven’s height, might of shared love shake;

Tears fill an abyss, bliss bestows a lake.

Rain till last teardrop, far from big ocean;

Clouds change shape and shade, myth moves on potion.

Sky and water merge, endless clear blue hues;

Light shines on the dews, rainbows hang their views.

Clear and cold, the fathomless depth to muse;

Oblivious of abuses and news.

Waves ripple to edge, pebbles drum with wind;

Music of divine, calm and cool the mind.

Vast expanse of green, with hinterland hills;

Sun crimson the skies, flash of sunset thrill.

A pearl to visit, sparkle shines in eyes;

Sapphire lit up skies, sun set and sun rise.

Note:

Sayram Lake: The word Sayram means bliss. in local language. Legend or myth narrated a beautiful lass was kidnapped by an evil leader, and forced her to marry him. In defiance, her beloved and her jumped down from a high cliff into the abyss. Their shared tears were powerful. It filled up the ravine into a splendid lake, supreme and sublime. The West called it the last teardrop of the Atlantic Ocean, because the lake was far away from the warm humid airs of the ocean. The huge lake has its water source from the melting Alpine snow and rain, and has a temperature was below 10 C. No fish was found in the lake. (Despite this the Chinese was abled to farm the cold white salmon for local consumption and export. This was in separate ravine and harvested in modern industrialized ways, without contamination of the pristine lake.) The first stanza was an introduction of the mythical stories, with infusion of heavenly images.

The rest of the poem was my personal observation and feeling of the splendid lake. It was about 95 km to drive one complete round, and our guide stopped at four different places for us to observe and rest.

We travel to northern Xinjiang for we need to see with our own eyes and ears on western lies on China.

The pictures are all copied-pasted from the web, with appreciation to their owners. I have my own pictures, but my skills are too poor.

MALAYSIAN SONNET NO 51: SHIFTING COMFORT ZONES

Splash through road puddle, car in abrupt halt;

Engine blasts a hole, due to pressure fault.

Cold water-logged pool, flash flood due to scum;

Trap an hour in car, help and support come.

Toll away from distress, move comfort zone;

Old engine for new, own nothing to groan.

Change wet carpets, soak through old decay base;

Smelly bottom to face, charcoal gives grace.

Ventilate within, free sunshine and wind;

Rods grate and grind, steering shakes alert mind.

Now young heart resides in fragile frame’

Passions are tamed and performance the same.

Reality shifts, comfort is shaken;

Assumption error, mind is awakened.

Note:

It was drizzling in the early morning. I was hardly five minutes on the road, and saw a small pool of water on the highway. It was a common sight in Malaysia, especially during the raining seasons. I thought my car could managed to speed through such shallow water, but it was a mis-judgement. The engine halted suddenly , and I realized that the water level was higher than I thought. I could not get out of the car. The heavy lorries kept coming, causing waves, moving and rocking my car. A police was nearby, but he offered not help , despite showing him my OKU or physical disability card. Luckily three young Malays came and pushed my car to the side and landed the vehicle on safer and shallower water. My vehicle was then tolled to a mechanic, who replaced the defective engine, but the chassis, safety belt, carpets and lamp were by another shop. The air conditioning also need to be washed and cleaned. It is expensive to maintain an old car, with rising cost in all items.

The next few months are monsoon seasons. It is hard to estimate level of water. For safety purposes, best for seniors not to drive or walk out in the rain.

MALAYSIAN SONNET NO 38: BLOODY SHIT

Ate expired good cheese, germs caused bloody shit;

Purge was so massive, frugal had no wit.

Hands on saline drip, whipped on toilet trips;

Hard for legs to lift,prayers on my lips.

Buy and throw is waste, price-rise make us chase;

Housewives act in haste, brisk paces to trace.

Thrifty turns costly, fear burdens the bill.

No frills is no thrill, extra gives the chill.

Bless with few symptoms, mercy still prevail;

Make us all worthy, peace effort avail.

Ache by the sick bed, pain keeps one awake;

A day hard to take, long stay miss daybreak.

Swear words are taboo, strong words to shout pain;

Twist in life is strange, the twain meets in vain.

Note:

On Sunday mid night I was admitted with massive bloody diarrhoea, , liked the picture shown above, except it was 15 times more profuse. After the download, I felt weak and sweaty and pale and called my wife. She was equally alarmed. It was middle of night , the fear of what might happened during the night , and the status of diabetes and hypertension might played up with blood sugar, BP, and fluid lost. I was wheeled in at ICU unit Gleneagles Hospital, Singapore, and then transferred to ward, for the last available bed. The mattress was not comfortable, and with a saline/dextrose drip, and the light, I could hardly sleep. I suffered another two episodes of such bleeding in the hospital. In the toilet it was hard to undress my pyjamas and pampers and underwear in the small space, with a bad knee. I managed to do all that, feeling exerted and weak, and rested in the toilet bowl, then pulled the string for help to my bed, and re-continued the drip. I knew few nurses were available in night shifts, and thought best to let other patients who suffered more, to have more care and attention.

I was discharged the next day, despite the continued bleeding. It was food poisoning, caused by E. Coli, of all germs. Thank God, I was the only one affected. Antibiotic was started, and the doctors expected I would be well. In my GP practice I had never encountered such severe Food Poisoning, and a lesson for me to learn after retirement for eight years. The bed was needed by another patient.

I could not sleep and there was an overhanging TV, with Channel news. It was showing Music Therapy of Afghanistan. In the ward, you could not turn on the volume louder, and I followed up on my return home. It was encouraging to watch. Similarly I had my poetry therapy, and I though best to write in Sonnet, and titled it Bloody Shit.

The pictures were copied and pasted from the net, with appreciation to their owners. I had problems posting mine, and too weak to show except the hospital food and my bloody shit at home. All the pictures were sent to my family members and friends to watch, with the words that the toilet bowl was not part of the food supplied. (The hospital food was excellent and healthy, with steamed cod fish, and even coffee.) My brother commented I was a bad joker. I told him it was good to laugh at yourself at times. My wife asked how come I was the only one infected. I replied, it was good to have me alone suffered, rather than all. On my return home, the grand kids came to hug and offered help in carrying food. I am very touched that they learn to care and have concern for another.

SONNET 35: CO -EXIST WITH COVID

East and West mix, boost up with four vaccines;

Antibodies soar, add safe quarantine.

Both infected, co-exist with virus;

Survive the chaos, bias behind us.

Booster doses protect, age with illness;

Pandemic provides insight on sickness.

Yet the world fails to heal the disconnect;

Mutual suspect, fear cause disrespect.

Prodrome symptoms show up faster than test;

Energy drain, aches, cough to beat up chest.

Less than day or two, symptoms retreat fast;

Suffering soon past, the pain does not last.

Impermanence imperil at juncture;

Choices are part and parcel of nature.

Note:

My computer breakdown today. In quarantine, I could not get one to repair. I posted this from my hand phone. This is my second day of infection by ART, the test result lag behind the symptoms. I had two negative tests on consequtive days.

We had two sinovac and two Pfizer vaccines. The mix was due to controversies and prejudices against Chinese vaccines, due perhaps to data for the western trained and for convenience of travel. All four vaccines were provided free by the Malaysian government. We had high antibodies. Despite our care, we are still infected. Never mind the conflicting theories circulating around. We are grateful we are still alive and the infections were not as bad as feared. There is no reason to blame anyone or be blamed for the infection.

Due to impermanence and uncertainty, we had to make choices at each crossroads. It is in such transitory change, that lives have choices, good or bad, and I think they eventually balance out at end of lives.