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OLDE SJI BRAS BASAH ROAD, 1971

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This poem is a memory lane visit to my olde school circa 1968 to 1971, in downtown Singapore at a street named Bras Basah Road (a Malay name which means "Wet Rice Road"). It was a Catholic tertiary school run by the De LaSalle brothers, and was known in short as SJI -- and named Saint Joseph's Institution.

I distinctly remember the old school football field and the focal point of our school boys' daily routine of football and more football. I was 16 years old then. Now I am 68 years! More than 50+ years since then.

There was a fence around that field where violet flowers aptly named Morning Glory grew on creepers growing wild. We boys used some of the purple buds as floral darts in our cheeky school boy antics shooting each other and having a good laugh, every now and then.
 

This poem came to me abruptly on that Friday morning as I was trying to write something nostalgic. 

 

 

Journey Journal Page OLDE SJI BRAS BASAH ROAD, 1971 By Leon Enriquez Morning Glory Florals on a fence Violet blooms beauty Plain in sparkling sense Olde school field By Bras Basah Road Boys and football yield To dawn’s purple load ~~~~~~~~~ Dawn now brings Such sparkling creepers Olde tints of fond flings Such transient flowers We recall Days of yesterday Sounds of lost footfalls Echoes of school days ~~~~~~~~~ For a while Till that harsh sun burns Faded dying smiles To the earth return Brief your tale On the dusty road Yet your truth avails Of brief surreal loads ~~~~~~~~~ Now here we Go on our way there To visit and see To be yet nowhere Old men think Upon times now gone Laughter on verge brink Olde days and lost dawns ~~~~~~~~~ Lost school daze Dribbling on that field Our cheeky fond craze Olde time humour yields For a while You and I and all Taste feel and try smiles To pile sweet and gall ~~~~~~~~~ Olde school grounds Memory lane thoughts New cityscape bounds Olde souls recall lots Lost yet found Olde echoes call out Floral fence abound Hear sunny glee pout ~~~~~~~~~ Here by grace Each to each olde souls Journey quest we trace Incomplete yet whole By the way A restless wit primes Just another day Grateful for our time ~~~~~~~~~ Those days tint Our old boys’ refrain Violet floral hints On the rail fence strain Morning Glory Let’s not live in vain But seed love’s fancy As light sparkles plain ~~~~~~~~~ Leon Enriquez 05 January 2024 Singapore

Copyright © | Year Posted 2024




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Date: 1/6/2024 4:16:00 AM
A lovely nostalgic poem Leon..
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Leon Enriquez
Date: 1/6/2024 4:49:00 AM
Dear Silent One: Thank you. Leon

Book: Reflection on the Important Things