Sadly, after 12, I have to leave
It was fun, but life has caught up with me. Good luck, all.
Ann WJ White
Full Circle
In 1976, Cat Stevens nearly drowned off the coast of Malibu, California,
and he shouted, “Oh God! If you save me, I will work for you.”
Did it take long to find me? I asked the faithful light
Did it take long to find me? And are you gonna stay the night
On November 22, 1979, the last cords of Moonshadow fluttered from Wembley Stadium,
and Cat Stevens’s life as a musician, singer, and songwriter ended.
We soon discovered the meaning behind his famous song, Moonshadow, for
The Quran, 27:62, states, “Who is it that answers the one in need when he calls out?”
As his life flashed before his eyes, Cat Stevens called, and the Lord answered.
Cat Stevens knew he must keep his promise he made that fateful day.
Following his conversion to Islam, he abandoned his musical career.
For nearly two decades, Cat Stevens, now known as Yusef Islam, remained faithful to God.
Islam gradually resumed his musical career in the 1990s. His initial recordings had not included
any musical instruments other than percussion, and they featured lyrics about Islamic themes.
After I embraced Islam, many people told me to carry on composing and recording, but at the time I was hesitant, for fear that it might be for the wrong reasons. I felt unsure what was right.
I guess it is only now, after all these years, that I’ve come to fully understand and appreciate what everyone has been asking of me. It’s as if I’ve come full circle.
In March 2006, Islam finished recording his first all-new pop album since 1978.
The album, An Other Cup, was released internationally on his own label, Ya Records.
On 15 September 2017, he released his fifteenth studio album, The Laughing Apple. The album
is credited to “Cat Stevens / Yusuf” – his first record under the Cat Stevens name since 1978.
Renew
Earth charts a celestial path
Winding her way through the stars
Winter erases the work of her sister seasons
Leaving a barren surface
Beneath lurks a new years promise
Seeds awaiting the thaw
The suns rays
A kind reminder of all they can be
The gentle nudge to urge them to the next phase
Prompt Twelve
From ‘The Bar Harbor Retirement Home for Famous Writers (And their Muses)’
“Today you’re a boy catching frogs in the marsh.”
today the headlines ring out with viral messages –
numbers and graphs crassly detailing data with
little regard for the human lives or losses
they tally
in a flash the world is thrust into isolation –
people trapped in their own homes where hearts
in windows and songs from balconies resonate
around the world
perhaps it is a necessary evil –
a seal bobbed alongside me on my walk at the beach and
I opened my curtains to find deer lazily munching grass
on my front lawn
they say you can now see through the smog –
cities shrouded in polluted clouds catch the sun’s rays in every
direction, finding hope for renewal as flowers open their petals
onto this new world
you’re at the cusp of it all –
no longer just a boy catching frogs but releasing them back to
the marsh, freeing everything in captivity and opening
your doors to humanity
to welcome them in
“(Hour 12 of 12) at last”
Well, our time is up, said my shrink with a wink.
Our little session certainly went in a blink.
You’ve talked about the people but they’re all in the past,
And it’s good that you let it all out at last.
But it’s all ancient history,
Like L.P. Hartley* says, it’s a foreign country.
The future out there is what’s paramount.
Life is short, so make it count.
You certainly do things differently here, I ventured.
* “The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.”
(Opening line in The Go-Between, L.P. Hartley, 1953.)
© 2020 S Phua
“(Hour 11 of 12) bucket list”
Now, being footloose and fancy free,
Where would you like to be, my shrink said he.
It can be mystical, a place of myth,
Or a spot that’s on many a list.
Well, I’ve never been to Timbuctoo,
And I would love to go to Xanadu.
Wherever this wondrous location,
May it be my final destination.
© 2020 S Phua
“(Hour 10 of 12) cat’s song”
He now plays me a song,
It’s Cat Steven’s Moonshadow,
Come on now, sing along,
Do you feel fine and just mellow?
I think that dude was so chill,
For whatever happens to you,
Just pick yourself up, deal with it,
C’est la vie, and never quit.
© 2020 S Phua
Hour 13 – Steps
Steps
Our playground sits above our school
Cut into the top of the nearby hill
Up more than two flights of stairs
Part steps, part path
My arthritic knees carry me slowly, slowly
While dozens of children thunder past me
They are already deep in play
When I make my way to my favorite bench
The other teacher leads the games
Kickball, or Quidditch, or Sharks and Minnows
While I sort out the disputes
and watch for rough play
Each day, a little victory
I made it to the top again
Each day, a little apprehension
How long can these old knees keep up?
We gather them in
And head down the path
Tomorrow I face my toughest challenge
yet again.
Walk through the village
I go for a walk, every day through my village
Whatever weather, rain or shine
I wander along the quiet village road
And on the air taste the sea-salt brine
Sea birds call and soar and twist
In the air above my head
The village itself is still awake
With the scent of pub chips, as they lay out their spread
But the thing I love is the dogs I meet on the way
The ones who’s affections I can’t snub
The ones who bark and sniff and whine
And roll over to demand their belly rub
Cos this village has a population of 50
30 people 20 dogs and a cow and some sheep
And I’m not saying the dogs have it all their own way
But their price for passing unmolested is steep
So my walk through the village is something for which I prepare
And I always keep to hand a treat
But perhaps it’s not wise to walk through a village of dogs
With a pocket that smells full of meat…
Home Work Out
My abs are burning,
Legs weak, sweat’s on my body.
The lady is telling me to next.
Ready to go.
Push ups and rotation;
Diamond push ups,
Military push ups.
God! I just want to look fit for the King’s Daughter.
I didn’t sign up for these military trainings.
Days go by, and it gets harder.
My sister wants to know if my new found powers can save me from a speeding bullet,
Or if my eight packs can withstand the ugly tip of a dagger.
If it can’t, she wants me to quit.
I’m definitely not.
Energy and persistence conquer all things.