it's called 'a dragon for the family' andit's for my first daughter, sha min. when i wrote this poem, i was careful notto be influenced by the great poem by w. b. yeats called 'a prayer for my daughter' – one of my favourite poems – and i was careful when i wrote that i was not going to [...] because people would say, 'ah! you were influenced by that poem.'
Sembawang Park, so i hope that this poem does sound different withage. the theme is the same. a prayer for my daughter really. but i hope the allusions are different. alright. here it goes. 'a dragon for the family' by robert yeo
hushed, we hovered between rabbit and dragon, between a whitish squeak and flaming breath. when you declined to be a rabbit, like your father, the hush dissolved. and i was pleased knowing how auspicious the dragon is. i was prepared to wait, but it's lovelyto be scorched so soon, as long as you will promise not to burn our house to the ground. girl or boy, your sex didn't really matter. i'm not the traditional chinese father who needs a son to continue his line and swell his clan. my brothers may line up,
and my clan of two and a half million, though small, is big enough for me, for us. i don't know whether small is beautiful.but since we have no choice, let's make it so. sha min, sweetheart, you know this prayeri offer you is really not a prayer as you are born in a good year, in a good place. the prospect of water rationing, not withstanding... say rather, that i'm offering you a hope.one of the many hopes; and so as not to seem arbitrary, let there be three, yes three, as this is the year of the three-clawed dragon.
yup.that's it.
it's called 'a dragon for the family' andit's for my first daughter, sha min. when i wrote this poem, i was careful notto be influenced by the great poem by w. b. yeats called 'a prayer for my daughter' – one of my favourite poems – and i was careful when i wrote that i was not going to [...] because people would say, 'ah! you were influenced by that poem.'
Sembawang Park, so i hope that this poem does sound different withage. the theme is the same. a prayer for my daughter really. but i hope the allusions are different. alright. here it goes. 'a dragon for the family' by robert yeo
hushed, we hovered between rabbit and dragon, between a whitish squeak and flaming breath. when you declined to be a rabbit, like your father, the hush dissolved. and i was pleased knowing how auspicious the dragon is. i was prepared to wait, but it's lovelyto be scorched so soon, as long as you will promise not to burn our house to the ground. girl or boy, your sex didn't really matter. i'm not the traditional chinese father who needs a son to continue his line and swell his clan. my brothers may line up,
and my clan of two and a half million, though small, is big enough for me, for us. i don't know whether small is beautiful.but since we have no choice, let's make it so. sha min, sweetheart, you know this prayeri offer you is really not a prayer as you are born in a good year, in a good place. the prospect of water rationing, not withstanding... say rather, that i'm offering you a hope.one of the many hopes; and so as not to seem arbitrary, let there be three, yes three, as this is the year of the three-clawed dragon.
yup.that's it.