Every time you stop to talk with me,
you meet a veneer of my outer skin.
My outward behaviour is all you see,
while who I am is hidden deep within.
What I put on is my skin of choice:
the look on my face, gestures of my hand,
with my varied changing tones of voice,
and in the casual posture that I stand.
This skin of mine a scripted play performs,
in which I act out my own chosen drama,
a gripping life-like wayang of shadowy forms
moving together in perfect sandiwara.
Shadows of my skin are all you see,
underneath lurks that which is really me.
"Shadowy play"
by Harold B Huang
Thu 21Apr22 2120 hrs GMT+8
#poetry #poetrybyharold
#daydreams #sonnet
After an eight hour flight from KL
we landed in Sydney
in the evening of a winter day.
It was our first time in the city
without a tour guide,
armed with only some information
gleaned from the internet
and a few photographs
of the train station and
the hotel surroundings.
We bought our first Opal card
boarded a clean and quiet
double decker train
from International Airport
to Townhall station.
Walking out of the station,
we stood at the junction
of Druitt St and York St
feeling somewhat lost
staring anxiously
at the tall imposing
Queen Victoria Building
looming over us.
Thankfully, with some guide
from a friendly helpful stranger
(well, everyone's a stranger then)
we found the way to our
little inconspicuous Hotel
on the west side of QVB.
The next four days
were spent meeting up
with a nephew
and several old classmates.
They took time off
to bring us around the city
on foot,
by train,
on ferries,
and in their cars too.
We walked around The Rocks
and its night market
Up and down the long flights of steps
outside Sydney Opera House.
through the Botanic Gardens we went,
around Circular Quay and its surroundings
Looking at almost every attraction
of Vivid Sydney, a festival of light and sound,
among large crowds of visitors.
Vivid memories indeed
of the colourful lights
imprinted
in heart and mind.
The next day,
on foot around the city,
spent long solemn minutes at
the Lindt Chocolate Cafe, Martin Place
terrorised by a religious extremist
one day five years earlier
holding hostages for many hours
killing three helpless innocent souls.
A web of steel girders beneath the southern end of Sydney
Harbour Bridge
Visited Barangaroo Reserve,
with its Cutaway,
past the wharves and piers at Walsh Bay,
then walking under the southern end
of Sydney Harbour Bridge,
back to the Rocks and Circular Quay.
Went on a ferry ride
across the Paramatta River
to Cockatoo Island
visited the sombre compounds
and buildings of the old Convict Prison.
I bought
a "Fidel Castro" cap like those
worn by the convict labourers
in the old photographs.
We took another ferry to Manly
visited the open air markets
watched a busker perform
on her electric harp.
A classmate fetched us
in his car
to Milson's Point
from there we walked across
the entire length
of Sydney Harbour Bridge
southwards, back to the Rocks
On the final day
we took a long long hike
from Coogee to Bondi beach
on narrow winding footpaths
by green undulating hillsides
passing by beautiful sceneries
deserted lagoons
with foamy waves crashing on rocks
and a sprawling cemetery too.
It was supposed to be winter,
but it was sunny,
a little warm at times
something
I had not expected at all.
Finally
it was time to go home
after a hearty lunch with all my old friends
said lots of Good-byes,
we landed in KL
in the wee hours of the morning.
It was indeed a memorable holiday
of a sunny winter
in Sydney Australia.
"A sunny winter"
by Harold B Huang
Sat 16Apr22 2355 hrs GMT+8
Edited: 17Apr22 0856 hrs
#poetry #poetrybyharold
#sightandsounds #travelogue
