Overflowing

Under The Same Sky

[A]

I look up above at the clear blue sky
beautiful puffy white decorations
freely moving around the heaven's eye
form the shapes of my imaginations.
Sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines,
make me sweat a river from daily toils;
Taking shelter under shady trees with vines
to lay my tired bones on the humid soils.
When I feel hungry, the fruits are fulfilling,
When I am parched, the water is quenching;
'Tis heaven on Earth, a land of bliss–
You will love it here, something you won't miss.

[B]

I look up above at the gloomy sky
collapsing black clouds far and wide
hovering over this land, parched and dry
bringing rain laden with hydrogen sulphide.
Only concrete jungle left when trees died out
yet the buildings corrode in acidic rain.
How long can I survive, I have my doubt,
in this catastrophe which is our bane?
When I feel hungry, the food is scant,
and this unclean water can't quench my thirst–
This polluted world leaves my hope vacant;
makes me wonder: will it get better...or worse?

[A]

I look up and gaze at the stars at night
they twinkle, and twinkle like tiny lights,
they glow, they dance, they flicker, up so high,
'round the luminous jewel of the sky.
The tiny lights are chained to one another
forming myriad shapes of human and beasts
They're wonders for travellers to discover
as a guide to know west from east.
If I ever get lost and cannot find my way,
I'll look up at the tiny lights above–
Various shapes with directions overlay
will help me find the path to ones I love.

[B]

I also look up and gaze at the night sky
searching for the twinkling stars up so high–
But all I see is murky heaven so dim
neither stars nor moonlight, only smoke to the brim.
Dark, lethal smoke rose from my left and right
puffing out ceaselessly from chimneys of blight,
They say, 'tis little price for development,
yet making me suffer health impairment!
As much as I miss the ones I love,
I look up to find the tiny lights above;
I am lost without guide from constellations
slowly embracing death in this stagnation.

[A]

I swim in the sea, the big blue sea
it stretches out as far as my eyes can see,
In intense heat, it's cooling and refreshing,
yet in numbing cold, it's warm and forgiving.
Seagulls and plovers glide freely in the breeze,
chirping and screeching as they play;
scattered fish and crabs, feeling unease
for if they aren't careful, they'll end up as prey.
A school of fish freely swim next to me,
among the coral reefs they play and hide;
myriad of sea lives, the treasure of our sea,
an incomparable beauty, it's our pride!

[B]

I want to swim in the same big blue sea,
to indulge in the nature's own beauty.
To see fish freely swim among coral reefs
yet I see nothing but humans' mischief!
Beautiful reefs irresponsibly destroyed
once fish habitats, now lives devoid;
Floating plastic bags instead of jellyfish
a fatal trap for sea creatures, famished.
Birds and turtles choked on plastic straws
leaving deep scars and irreparable flaws.
There's nothing to see, nothing to be proud of–
Such tragedy; a reminder from above!

[A & B]

I look at you, and I wonder why
Aren't we under the same sky?

[A] Yet my world is thriving,
[B] while mine is dying–

[A & B]

I don't understand,
can't you explain why?

[A]   We live on this Earth,
[B]   under this same sky,
[A & B]   a borrowed haven for future generation;
[A]   yet we abuse this land
[B]   as if it's our own,
[A & B]   when the land retaliates, we dare ask why!

HBY,
April 2019,
Written for poetry recitation competition.