Sometimes happiness is too difficult

At times near impossible

So fleeting is its fickle smile

But I will not suffer its vagaries

I’ll settle for, in consolation

Wisdom and harsh lessons earnt

And to be at peace with it all

It’s not so bad a prize offered

It’s for keeps, seared in and burnt

And if I am in any way consoled

So much better in gratitude, I’ll be

Than with any happiness proffered.

Cheung-Ling Wong

Beaten and broken

Smashed and bashed

Such was my treatment

Yet, the brute saw it as good

A necessary procedure

All for his twisted sake

Pleasure and satisfaction

As if I was an empty bottle

Watch the glass explode!

Sparkling, effervescent

Watching me burst into tears!

Or, was that Champagne?

Oh, so much more joy

We all could have had

Had we celebrated

Each other’s lives instead.

Cheung-Ling Wong

Discover how to love

And you’ll never be sad

Or be miserable about yourself

For the wonders, you feel

And the beauty you see

That now makes you.

Cheung-Ling Wong

The gold of our blood

The silver of our tears

Spilt like fine wine

On the altars of Mars

That rich men may profit

When they bay for war

Or call in the hounds

To pursue our debts

Those foolish enough

To take the allure

And become the bait

Over which usury drools

And render ourselves, slaves

To their eternal hunger

Not even the planet earth

Or our lives we prepare

Is banquet rich enough

What have we unleashed?

Cheung-Ling Wong

You have defeated yourself

With your self-obsessions

Own issues and feelings

Heavily seasoned with MSG

Your screaming feedback loops

Your sensational tabloid spreads

Cannot escape your madness

The noise, the stench, the glare!

Frenzied tornados of the mind

You’ve blown yourself up into pieces

From what was once only a breeze.

Cheung-Ling Wong

To have purchase

Some say you need money

I say you need reality

And life can be a steal

Without it being stolen

Nor drive a hard bargain

It is there for the taking!

By giving it some thought

In exchange for, purchase.

Cheung-Ling Wong

I am both trash and treasure

But it all depends on how you measure

Long ago, so used and abused

Yet, little did they gain from me

Discarded and forgotten but not forlorn

It’s all about understanding me

I’m a complicated formula

A Nobel prize waiting to be won

A gem if you can share my vibe

They say I’m not up to their measure

Or maybe I’m yet to meet that genius

Who, within me can eye a great treasure.

Cheung-Ling Wong

Much there is to be angry about

Looking about the world around

Seems to be the only emotion found

Need we all add to the pervading mood?

Anger: much as despair, is suffering too

And if anger be fully expressed through

As that of despair in its depths do

Death be the only course both wend

And evil that stoked the flames ─ send

Will claim not just lives ─ but victory!

But what the devil cannot abide

And has him grovel without pride

Is, where all-conquering forgiveness bid go

Affected and moved, yes, suffered ─ no

Not anger, but grace and compassion sued

A most knowing and impassioned mood.

Cheung-Ling Wong

Crushed by decades of violence and storming

Buffeted by banshees of vitriol and spite

Reducing my life to smouldering ruins and waste

Yet, there is still hope amidst my scattered rubble

I can still push wildflowers to gladden any poet.

Cheung-Ling Wong

Though, the seasons are in reverse

The earth is the earth and the sky the sky

Despite being torn, wrenched and uprooted

And memories of homelands run deep

We must leave our troubled fields far behind

And bid them long fallow and goodbyes

Along with our history, culture and their bones

To break and plough new grounds afar

At the other end of this wide, wide world

And transplant our hopes into new fields

Of unfamiliar soils, smells and sounds

Sowing the precious seeds of our souls

That, we may all partake in abundant harvest

The richness of our humanity to share

The earth is the earth and the sky the sky

And humanity is humanity no matter where

The epic, epic story of our one great family!

Cheung-Ling Wong