A poem for the Merlion, that has became
And dedicated to Maurice Baker
ULYSSES BY MERLION
I have sailed many waters,
Skirted islands of fire,
Contended with Circe,
Who loved the squeal of pigs;
Passed Scylla and Charybdis
To seven years with Calypso.
Heaved in battle against the gods.
Beneath it all
I kept faith with lthaca, travelled,
Travelled and travelled,
Suffering much, enjoying a little;
Met strange people singing
New myths; made myths myself.
But this lion of the sea
Salt-maned, scaly, wondrous of tail,
Touched with power, insistent
On this brief promontory…
Puzzles
Nothing, nothing in my days
Foreshadowed this
Half-beast, half-fish,
This powerful creature of land and sea.
Peoples settled here,
Brought to this island
The bounty of these seas.
Built towers topless as llium’s.
They make, they serve
They buy, they sell.
Despite unequal ways,
Together they mutate.
Explore the edges of harmony,
Searched for a centre;
Have changed their gods;
Kept some memory of their past
In prayer, laughter, the way
Their women dress and greet,
They hold the bright, the beautiful,
Good ancestral dreams
Within new visions,
So shining, urgent,
Full of what is new.
Perhaps having dealt in things,
Surfeited on them.
Their spirit yearn again for images,
Adding to the dragon, phoenix,
Garuda, naga, those horses of the sun
This lion of the sea.
This image of themselves.
