The Botanical Gardens

 The biggest of gardens needs the tenderest of keepers.

 And he loved her and he kissed her downy cheek.

 A water hen steps gently among the reeds.

"No man is an island," thinks the turtle. "I am no man."

A shophouse, shuttered

From Below

I walked into the Gardens
and wandered 'neath the trees
I ducked under their branches
Almost upon my knees.

But most of all
I felt quite small
and learned a thing today:
 The trees were here before me;
They'll be here when I'm gone,
 and I'd do best to know my place
and put down roots and stay.

 

I Always Knew I'd Make It

I'm not sure you noticed, but you're looking at the latest Editor-in-Chief of the Middle School Newspaper, recently renamed the Blue & Gold Gazette by my devoted underlings. Our latest issue will feature an expose on old lockers, a food review, and other hard-nosed journalism. I suddenly feel like sporting a moustache and wedging a cigar between my teeth. "You call this photography? Get out of my sight. And bring me Peter Parker."

Good Day

Good things about today: my seventh graders were a marvel to behold, quiet, polite, and interested; Newspaper is coming along well as I was deluged by a flood of good ideas from my field-reporters in the making; sixth grade wholeheartedly participated in a discussion of fairy tales; I was asked by the Cat Welfare Society if they could use my picture for their 2013 calendar; I braved the waters of poetry and Dante's Inferno and other bookish delights with the Rebel Shang, who quoted Dickinson to my face and agreed we should give form an alliance, name ourselves pretentiously, and discuss further at a later date; I talked to Yuka after school, and finally, gave up my seat to an elderly woman on the bus, her thinning hair pressed into a victory roll, a style she most likely has worn since the days of her youth.

Am I tired? Terribly. Has my brain been reduced to a series of sticky notes? ("Remember to copy" or "Must print 8th grade work sheets" or "Take attendance") Yes, it has indeed. But I leave each day knowing that God has not turned his hand from me; He has not given me over to despair but blessed me beyond my ability to measure. Even the slow grind is a blessing only temporarily obscured by the general incomprehension of the bigger picture that comes so naturally to the human condition.

Standing Guard

Young men in uniform
idle outside the Ion

after standing guard for hours on end

breath scarcely stirring, eyes barely blinking,

wrought of sterner stuff than iron.

Or not.

The well-dressed of Orchard Road

Cat Welfare Society

I visited the Cat Welfare Society Adoption Drive at Causeway Point just to hold some kittens. It was a good afternoon.

 

The moment

I want my own cat, a trusty companion to lie on the cushions and offer her opinion on the day.