Summer

The air is hot and humid but it’s the place we call home

Yet something is changing, and today, at last, come the words we must say

We wish and we wander, we rage and we roam,

for the past is still present on this thirty-fifth day of May

Fall

The warmth is fading and there’s a chill in the air

A petal is plucked, then another, fated to be stepped upon

How loud do we speak, how far do we dare?

Because the leaves that have fallen are lost but not gone

Winter

The shops are closed, the roads are empty

and a dark downpour approaches, fervent and fierce

The future is clouded as fog fills the streets

but it can’t drown our voices, our freedoms, not even our fears

Spring

A girl grips her umbrella like a shield from the rain

Stay strong and steady, says her father, for the storm will cease soon

All will stand tall, knowing none was in vain,

as ever so slowly, the bauhinia flower begins to bloom

Eirlys Chui