Singapore Stopover. Poem by Michael Walker

We sailed on the 'Northern Star'
on from Brisbane into the Coral Sea
for a few days in Port Moresby
and a few more in Bali

Before negotiating the reddish Lava Sea
then into the straits of Singapore,
the island city-state in the morning
thence to the Ming Court Hotel evening.

Men could not wear long hair in Singapore
in those days, which was fine by me.
You would be fined for throwing litter
in the streets, an enlightened law.

The Lion City embraced me warmly
when I went down to Speakers' Corner
in Chinatown, where anyone at all
can speak to a makeshift audience.

I went down to the Performing Arts Centre
in Marina Bay, saw a play in Malay,
followed by a pantomime in Mandarin.
The actors were showered with orchids.

Singapore was an Asian tiger economy
which roars louder now across the skyscrapers.
I had crossed the two causeways to Malaysia
before flying out from the stylish Changi.

- 11,12 May,2018.