To A Quiet Spot Poem by Andrew W.K. Yip

Around me - shadows slide under forms of concrete and stones,
Where somber men and women perpetually tap their phones,
Then as the noises of the drowsy town die, silence clings and men asleep,
Around me, all cries are still beneath the stars and heavenly deep.

Yet, within me, a longing for something more,
Something new, something I ‘ve missed before,
Perhaps, just outside our childhood home,
Or even across the miles we roam,
Where crooked trees and curled ferns
Sulk the vanity of the willow's womb.
Even well-trodden paths and turns,
Colorful gardens and glittering towers- all ennobled in gloom.

Around me and in a quiet place now
I 've found joy and thrill somehow
Outside the city and familiar places oft we stood
Somewhere, away from placid gazes and certain smiles,
Or a mirthless, dreary neighborhood.
I've moved to a quiet spot to think or drink, whatever the mood
or styles,
An ingenious reverie of life's challenges, new or bold;
Still seek yesterdays' echoes, even stories untold.

Photo: A quiet spot by Yip Cheong Fun, FRPS, EFIAP