notes made of borneo rains

I

the way i see it
the way you see it

stories
no one's really
simply stories

floating in the morning air
floating with dust that fills
the lungs of trees
before rainfalls pour

fables of floating
in the morning air
rising and falling
through dust

of absence come alive with words
words such as
you and me
sabah
mengalum island
the land below the wind

II

at the table across the floor
locals chain smoking
sipping ice-coffee
words again

conversation is a fire
we keep rekindling
heat where both
speaker and hearer
try to warm up

for it feels cold
suspended in mid-air
mountains below
light pools above
to rest alone
in the fold of clouds
invoking songs


 III

she writes to tell me
she needs more days
for pain to find her way
through the rocks
flow into a voice
run through the steppe

for now
we are part of a
longer poem
to come perhaps

for now we are left waiting
here at the bottom of this page
at the mercy of a finger
that alone decides
if what is left of us
shall one day reach the sea

kota kinabalu, 24 october 2014