Three Poems

m&ms

me mumbling mama
music to her ears
first child first words
mamas make believe
first mumbles are their names
maybes mostly missing
meaning mostly masked
mumbling morphing into mumurs
me discovers magic
first book first words
mess of marks that manage meaning
mystery making sense
magic making way for
matter mass and molecules
maddening mathematics
morebooks more words
magic mostly missing
meaning mostly masked
mighty man to meek mouse
mumbling marriage vows
modals may I might I
middle spreading ageing
muttering magic spells
mystery mostly missing
meaning mostly masked.

Last book last words,
the mask falls away.

Feathers

Show your colours,
fly united.

Feathers are passports
to a community;
acceptance and strength in numbers,
but only if you have feathers
of the same colour
the same texture
the same quality
of the flock you want to
fly and roost with.
But if your feathers are
marked
spotted
damned
with patterns no flock
seems to understand
or want;
if everyone is in shades of paradise
and you are the only one in
colour of the
fields
woods
mountains --

But feathers are instruments of flight,
travelling clothes
for running light and warm;
feathers not to join
but escape from
sameness
conformity
flockishness of safety in numbers;
feathers to set you apart and be your mark
of courage
as you turn
into the wind
and soar.

Show your colours,
fly solo.

The Brave Heart Opens

The brave heart opens; the frightened one
stays closed, afraid to upset the
balance the head is used to.

The brave heart opens; to life
and living to death and dying, knowing
yet not fearing.

The brave heart opens; to love
in giving and taking, to holding
and losing, fearing yet still loving.

The brave heart opens; to parents
friends and teachers, seeking to be
with, yet never afraid to be without.

The brave heart opens; to God
if He is there, hoping that He is,
but not fearing if He isn't.

- Colin Cheong