Rosy Rose

Published on November 16, 2023by Le Mai Tan Dat

I meet a handsome boy, not without charisma.

He tells me that he is hurt when people are treated unfairly.

I am sure he will love the elitist ball,

Where masquerade is appropriated.

People tell me the eyes are the window to the soul, let's just assume they are right.

I ponder.

Does his masquerade cover his eyes?

He speaks of equality,

But does it contain humanity?

Or is it masked by a silk of privileges, with its bloody history?

Full of pride, he invited people to his masquerade party,

Where equality is the dress-code.

What do mortals see of the equality chased after by a deity?

I meet a good-looking boy, but rather shy

He tells me he wants to feel how people are treated unfairly.

I bet he has been in such.

He is often accused of being idealistic.

People tell me the eyes are the window to the soul.

But what if a person is blind?

Does it mean they don't have a soul?

Does it mean they cannot "see" others' souls?

Eyeless but heartfelt, he dreams of a utopian world.

And wakes up to confuse whether he was a butterfly in his dream.

Just because something is impossible does it mean it is not worth pursuing?

Yet anomaly does exist.

Are we being Galileo or the church?

Pity and empathy,

Just as rose is not without its thorn -

Entwined, yet not a twin.

Removing the thorns may make the rose less of a rose,

But don't we prefer the petals?

November 2023, Singapore.

Share this post: Facebook Twitter

Discover Other Blogs

Perspectives on "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" the musical

November 1, 2025

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.

What is Fairness and Goodness?

August 25, 2023

Let us begin by summarising the movie. There lived a Polish-Jewish pianist in the midst of World War II. As Germany took over Poland, Jews were hunted down, and he was no exception. The movie unfolded with various scenes in which Jews were tortured, shot, flamed, and even bombed. The pianist met several people who helped him in hiding away from the Germans and fed him. He survived the Holocaust. But his survival provoked a rippling thought inside my head.

Asia-Pacific Model United Nations Conference 2021

October 19, 2021

Well, I first knew of the event when the leader in Book Box TNH forwarded a link about the event. This year, due to the pandemic, this conference is held online and are open to students from all over the world, which is great because I do not need to travel to Australia in order to attend an offline conference. I had known of this for quite a long time, but I lingered and did not sign up, when I decided to sign up, it was just three days left. And payment had to be made, knowledge had to be absorbed, preparation should be made. I still have homework from my school, meetings from The Torch, so my schedule became so busy, but I managed.