Tuesday, August 30, 2005

An Old Friend

It sat there for a long time. No one seemed to remember it. It felt as if it was ignored and forgotten. It doesn't feel good when you have given your best years and no one seems to remembers you. It was all covered with creepers and dirt accumulated for years. It felt really unwanted... wasted... neglected...

Then she appeared.... She walked slowly as her knees are not what they used to be. She walked towards the bench and as she stood before it, her face broke into a kindly smile. "It's you!" she exclaimed. "I finally came back to see you!" she said as she tried to clear away some of the creepers that have covered the space which was meant for sitting. She sighed contentedly as she sat down on the old bench.

"Do you remember me?" asked the old lady. The bench creaked with delight as it remembered the good old days when she used to come and sit to wait for her dearest friend. "Yes, you were with him, you were most happy!" said the bench. It was a meeting of souls when she first met him. "He was a strange one, wasn't he?" she remembered him with great fondness. "We used to leave notes for each other on the underside of your seat." she recalled as tears rolled down her cheeks. Both sat in silence for a while after that remark. It was as if time stood still for the two old friends and images from the past flooded their minds.

She smiled as she started to pull out the creepers that was all over the back of the bench. "I want to do this for you, my dear old friend." the old lady said with such determination. "I will come back tomorrow with more help." In saying this, she stood up slowly and waved goodbye to the bench who seemed to sparkle after having this chat.

"She remembers me!" the bench thought. It felt good to have someone to care for it. It felt good to have a promise to be visited again. It felt so good to have someone to talk to. The bench couldn't wait for tomorrow to come. It knew that she would honour her promise. It gave a happy sigh as it fell into deep sleep.

The next morning, the bench woke up to some cheery voices. It saw the old lady coming with another younger lady friend carrying two buckets. One bucket was filled with garden tools and cleaning liquids and the other was filled with water. They sang happy songs as they cleared the creepers and the dirt. It was not possible to clean the bench thoroughly as there were too much dirt accumulated over time. But it was feeling much happier with a good scrub.

"There... much much cleaner! That is what I can do for you for your years of friendship!" the old lady said as she sat down to pat the old bench. "This is my sister, Una who has helped me to give you a good wash." she said as she looked towards her sister with such gratefulness.

"I don't know if I would be able to come as often as my knees can take me here but I wanted to see you again. I want to tell you that you have been a great friend. You were there in my happiest moments when I first met him, you were there when he left me to go a faraway place, you were there when I shed tears each time I miss my friend. You have always been there for me. You have been a faithful friend and I will always remember you!"

The bench felt very loved. It did not matter that it took so many years for her to come back. All that matters was she remembered the silent friend whom she confided to for so many evenings in the past.

Monday, August 22, 2005

That birthday song

As the bench sunned itself that warm morning, a bird perched itself on the back rest of the bench. Thereafter singing this lovely song, which sounds like that:

Happy Birthday, my friend
Here's to all the years we've shared together
All the fun we've had
You're such a blessing
Such a joy in my life
May the good Lord bless you
And may all your dreams come true
So light a candle on your cake
For every smile you've helped create
For every heart and every soul you've helped to grow
A little more
A few more pounds, a little more grey
Don't count the years, just count the way
It takes a little time to go from water into wine
Don't ever lose the wonder of that child within your eyes
Happy Birthday, my friend
Here's to all the years we've shared together
All the fun we've had
You're such a blessing
Such a joy in my life
May the good Lord bless you
And may all your dreams come true

*Adapted from Corrinne May's Safe in A Crazy World album

The bench grew misty-eyed as it heard that lovely rendition of that song.

Bench: Who's the song for? Such a lovely song.

Bird: For a friend whose birthday's today. A friend who has meant so much to me, being such a blessing and joy in my life. A friend who created me to be a blessing to you.

Heartwarming, it must have felt for the bench as it sat back and reflected on the words the the bird had said and upon the lyrics. As this was going on, the bird began to sing the birthday song again.

Hang in there, lil' tomato

The bench watches intriguingly at a tiny, rotund and greenish-looking fruit, hanging on to a branch just above it.

Bench: Hey there, what are you and what are you doing?

Tomato: Oh hello there, I've noticed you looking at me before. I'm a tomato and I'm hanging on real tight to the branch as I'm still growing. I'll let go when the time is right.

After the next few weeks, the bench looks on...as the tomato grows bigger, and redder and well...it looks as if it was going to burst with all the goodness within it, but still hanging on tight.

Bench: Hey lil' Tomato, why are you still holding on so tight for?

Tomato: Well my dear friend, it's not time to let go yet as I've mentioned before. Time isn't right, when the time is right...I will let go. It's like life, you know. Hanging on until the right time, before we let go...that's the exact and right time to release because that's when the answer is going to be revealed when we let go.

Bench: Wow, what a beautiful analogy of life there! Yes indeed...we have to hang on tight now! Even when it gets so tough.

Weeks past...til one day a pair of hands pluck the tomato. The tomato didn't resist, but just smiled on at the bench and nodding, as if to say, this is the time for me to let go of the branch now. A time to let go...

The bench sits still, pondering...the deep truth behind this and smiles...that's life, worth hanging on tightly but yet...having to release and let go when the time is right. Complexity of life...yet true in every sense of the word.

Thursday, August 18, 2005

The Beginning

An empty bench in the park.
People come... people go...
Animals come...and go...
The bench sits empty.
Forlorn? lovelorn?
Perhaps waiting for the one to come.

Pondering... it sits.
Awaiting for that answer.
Behold, a spark!
Of hope and inspiration.
Dreams? Perhaps...

Of lives of others, it observes...
A keen observer, it is.
Lives of people, hectic and busy.
Time, traffic, rushing, shoving.
It can provide that resting place.
For all who are willing to stop, rest
and recharge...
Smiles emerge from the creases of
the frowns...

Ah... the bench straightens up as best as it can.
To hold that thought... that emotion.
A pair of emotions... it had.
frowning from the strains of Life and
smiling from a realisation that pursuit isn't all that
matters...

a minute seems like a day...
a day draws on like a month...
the bench feels the moments crawling by...
why am i here?
what is my purpose?

in that moment, the bench remembers!
a long long time ago...
a weathered hand planted a seed
it grew into a tree
another hand chopped it down
turning into planks and splinters
it was shaped through blood and sweat
it was made with loving hands

Love... that's the feeling it was had
and was missing dearly.
Ah... as it looked back.
It all came back.
This is the love that it can give back
to the hands that made it.
To offer a resting place for people
To reflect, to catch that breath,
To see the world rush by.
Yes... L O V E