London fog replacing Hong Kong humidity
Drizzle lingering
Where typhoon once rattled on window panes
Grey skies folding over memories
Of blinding subtropical sun
An umbrella
That has sheltered me
Across two continents
The Thames carrying echoes of Victoria Harbour
Its tides tugging at an anchor dropped decades ago
My mother tongue
Cantonese words sleep inside English sentences
An accent worn smooth over time
Yet living still like a lantern in a cupboard
Burning bright when the door is open
Smell brings unexpected memories
Arriving without warning
Punctuating the mind my own friendly welcomed visitors
Soy sauce beside truffle oil
Black bean sauce sharing a shelf with Branston pickle
Half a lifetime spent here
Where the postman knows my name
A pension built, suffered British Ra
Agonised over milk or tea first
Tea
Debated with more people than I can tell you, is it scone or scone
Scone
Even survived Liz truss’ government
Shouted ‘Come on England’ for so so so many years
Hoping THESE 11 men will finally bring it home
A life assembled in such familiar streets
Yet, when I dream
The sea occasionally arrives from South China Coast
A bridge of years
Stretching between two skylines
And somehow
Both remain home.
This composition is published as part of our Refugee: Poems of Courage collection, presented in collaboration with Poems Not Bombs, part of the Forest Poets collective.
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