There is something different in the air tonight
Which makes everything seem calmer
Under the gaze of the radiant moonlight.
It may be just another day, nothing different,
But smiles are spread wider on the faces of people
around you, an ebb of happiness left unexplained.
Cigarette smoke masks the smell of the food,
scraps of a good dinner paid for by the one
with the thickest wallet, spread wide on the table,
family photos unraveled on smeared tablecloth.
Laughter burns the minutes away like a flame.
Fingers point and memories turn back time
To a moment before hair stared to fall, and when
knees and ankles worked much better than they do now.
The classrooms and dorms never looked appealing
And yet to tired eyes who have seen the world
Nothing could ever compare to the metal beds,
rusting cupboards and wooden floorboards.
Love too was much more innocent then, you declare,
And divorcees and married men laugh in agreement
that no love could compare to that shared among friends.
Another round of iced milk tea reaches the table,
accompanied by plates of extra roti canai –
servings of too much sugar and salt that the doctor
says you shouldn’t have. But it doesn’t matter.
For within this group of friends you have known
all your life, there is solitude and happiness
in the fact when you do find yourself wrapped
in white cotton cloth
and six feet deep,
the tears that find the ground are ones that you recognize,
and are same tears that you shared together as young boys
after realizing that growing up
was but a day away.
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