Heavenly Grey

Published on November 24, 2023by Le Mai Tan Dat

The sky is a little bit grey from my window today.
Is it a natural phenomenon, or a reflection of my sorrow?
Grey is a diffusion of black and white, Ambivalent, yet commonplace.
When I look out of my window, I wish I could be a bird, To fly across the sky, and be bereft of this ambiguity.
Yet my heart gains weight as the thought approaches, Gain weight not of muscle, but of woe.
Would the sky still look grey to me, when I were a bird?
O Schindler,
You defied deaths for countless people, only to greet death yourself.
If justice is the fairness in which people are dealt with, What is the justice that belongs to you?
If justice is the social condition in which everyone can achieve their virtues.
Have you achieved your justice?
I want to paint a rose on your grave,
But I cannot make sure of the intentions behind your actions.
Is it a true story, or a tale we love to tell?
In a world where flowers can be engineered to grow downwards, Can Conspiracy be the next Plague?
Dissipating between two worlds,
I cannot help but succumb to the comfort provided by my duties.
Making a stop here and there, the bird still flies towards its destination.
Is it where the bird should head? - I'm not sure if the bird has ever doubted.
I wonder if the sky will still be grey by then.
Perhaps,
The bird does not care to take a look.
November 2023, Singapore.

Share this post: Facebook Twitter

Discover Other Blogs

When I was working on my assignment and used and listened to “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” (Menken and Schwartz, 1998) the musical soundtrack, adapted from the book of the same name by Victor Hugo (2011) as background music for my study, I suddenly realised how my reactions towards the characters had changed from the first time I watched it. In this essay, I will focus only on the character Claude Frollo.

Read more →

NUS-AUN Asian Undergraduate Symposium (AUS in short) is one of the series of the summer programmes that students from ASEAN (with a few Asian), from now on ASEAN+, universities can choose from. This series of summer programmes consists of similar AUS-like programmes running in parallel in different countries in the ASEAN+ region. AUS2024 has extended in scale and scope, hosting 300 delegates from the ASEAN+ universities. With the theme of Interconnected Community, students are expected to collaborate with each other to work on a project that aim to tackle the social problems facing their home countries and beyond, spanning three areas Sustainability and Environment, Needs and Wants, and Diversity and Inclusion.

Read more →

All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages. At first the infant, Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms; And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel And shining morning face, creeping like snail Unwillingly to school. And then the lover, Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad Made to his mistress’ eyebrow. Then a soldier, Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard, Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel, Seeking the bubble reputation Even in the cannon’s mouth. And then the justice, In fair round belly with good capon lin’d, With eyes severe and beard of formal cut, Full of wise saws and modern instances; And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts Into the lean and slipper’d pantaloon, With spectacles on nose and pouch on side; His youthful hose, well sav’d, a world too wide For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice, Turning again toward childish treble, pipes And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all, That ends this strange eventful history, Is second childishness and mere oblivion; Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

Read more →