Heng Siok Tian (b. 1963)
SELECTED POEMS
Teochew Phrases: Your Teochew Proverbs
Now that you passed,
your proverbs ring pure and clear:Paper cannot wrap fire.
What is yours is yours.
To be old is difficult, counting on children even more so.
A tiger's legacy: its skin.
A man's: his name.A flower does not bloom forever.
The sky is not forever fine.The rich can be poor, the poor can be rich.
Fire and water have no kin.
People act, heavens watch.
And now, I miss your voice,
forgetting my Teochew words.
How mute have I become,
when earlier, how deaf.
by Heng Siok Tian
from Grandma's Attic, Mom's HDB, My Wallpaper (2021)
