sungei way

there is a lovely glowing
in the orange purpled sky
and the whole world has been waiting
for this one moment
when the firecrackers spurt
to whiz into the deepening purple
and explode, a million variegated hues
and light up the sky
for one brief moment the colours
shoot across the cloudy night scape
and illuminate the hidden shapes
that stand by the roadside
and gape and gawk in awe
and the many different faces
that gaze towards the clouds tonight
impress on my still fogged up brain
that i am stepping on an earth
filled with different races
where many people work and live
and call this their home
though they be from many different countries
their homelands in states of disarray
yet they have made this place
this little know place
their home.

i saw a man carry his son atop his shoulders
as they both marvelled at the burstings of joy
and the air was filled with a rancid smell
the aftermath of the rocket launchers
that catapulted our hundred fireworks
into the intrepid sky

i saw indonesian women
laugh and make merry as they saw
my old jalopy of a junk
trawl upon the narrow roads
that bespoke of ancient history
and one lady was gaily chattering
upon her cellphone
the lifeline of a community to the world

and i imagined that this small and tight
ghetto of the finest human dignity
deserves much better than this
deserves to be given much better amenities
deserves much more than mere little squeezy roads
and shanty rickety houses made of cheap planks
and..
and...

but then i thought again
if these were upgraded
to a bustling brickwalled community
would then this present society
continue to exist
in the same vein
in the same manner

or would they become cold
and the mirth evaporate like dew
under the harshness of the sun...?