Dear Singapore

This poem was written by a Guest Writer, Judith Sarah

Dear Singapore,

Do you know who I am?

Perhaps you already know me

By my name, and 7-digit ID

But I guess that's where your knowledge ends

So well Hello, I'm on a mission.

To help you understand

That I will be who I am;

So please Singapore, just listen.

___

I'm a girl birthed from your Singaporean soil

Right into your ideal Singaporean family-

2.2 children, HDB flat, parents,

And of course, bill-paying perennially.

I've spent a lifetime going to your best schools,

Won all your book prizes, and scholarship money;

Now at eighteen, and none the wiser,

But somehow with you, I'm still quite happy.

I'm the girl who used to think

That you and I were through,

But who now just can't help writing

To you, about you, for you.

___

But really, who am I to you?

You scrutinize me through your prescribed glasses,

In this great nation of myopia;

You ruthlessly label me a criminal,

In this law-and-order-Utopia.

So to you I am simply that delinquent

Who craves cigarettes and thrives on rage;

Who somehow managed to break 5 of your laws,

Before her legal age.

You see me as one who can never fit

Into your perfect mould of 'living';

The woman who may never bear you

Those children you've been so badly craving.

To you, I will always be the eroder of your social fabric.

I want to love you, Singapore.

But can you ever love me back?