Singapore, Singapore, comic poem 179 by Angela Lansbury

 

Singapore, Singapore

by Angela Lansbury

'Hi Angela, are you in Singapore?'

'I am. I'd love you to come and visit.'

'Yes, thank you. I'd love to, just remind me - 

Is it south  of - north of - where is it?

East of India, south of China, Malaysia

IAn isle like Sicily off Italy

It's in South East Asia

Overnight flight, en route to Australia

When London and New York are drowned in snow

We're a great escape, a fine place to go

Strong tropical sunshine all year's the boon

Forget the summer haze, and spring monsoon

Changi Airport wins votes, the world's number one

Jewel waterfall is seven storeys high

All sorts of attractions offering FREE fun

The Butterfly Garden's big butterfly

Singapore's a dream, a retiree's heaven

I wear sandals, I don't ever need socks

Light dawn's at seven, dark dusk at seven

Alarms in beween, I never need clocks

Did I mention monsoons? Rivers of rain!

Swim in morning's. Rain's afternoon weather

I prepare, I  with broken brolliesPortuguese - English

aguas - waters/rainfall

amor - love

avenida - avenue

casa - house

castelo - castle

de - of

eu - I

Eu te amo - I love you (literally I you love, subject, object, verb)

jardim - garden

Marca - March (noun, the month)

meu - me/mine

nova - new

pinheiro - pine tree, pine tree forest (Place name)

ponte - bridge

porto - harbour

rio - river

rua - street

torre -  tower

triste - sad 

English - Portuguese

avenida - avenue

bridge - ponte

castle - castelo

garden - jardim

harbour - porto

house - casa

I - eu

love - amor

me/mine - meu

new - nova

of - de

old - velha (feminine) velho (masculine)

pine tree/pine tree forest - pinheiro

rain - aguas

river - rio

sad - triste (the same word in French)

street - rua

tower - torreick

At last count, fifty rescued umbrellas

The taxis are metered, don't need tips

What could go wrong? go wrong, go wrong, go wrong

He exceeds the speed limit, AI knows

Ding dong, ding dong, ding dong, 'Driver!', ding dong

If you hate driving, once injured, like me

Use the ultra-modern MRT

Driverless trains, glass doors, to Chinatown

Round and round, far underground

Three minute trains, almost never a wait

So why are Singaporean's late?

'cos when it rains they take a Grab

Share the blame, the cab, and share the tab

There's such a lot to see and do

Shopping in rain, seek basement two

The national dish is chicken rice

Freshly squeezed juices, say no ice

Singapore's a garden city

Flower-bedecked bridges, flowering trees

Orchids, so pretty

Bananas, snakes, monkeys, few stinging bees 

Everything\s perfect, what could go wrong?

Smoked salmon's expensive, so is the wine

The lightening's cuts power, So? Just switch it back on!

Want to see life here? Come and see mine.

What can you bring me?

Come over for dinner

Cheese and wine

A win win, both winners.

-ends-

I am a teacher and write comical informational poems for children and speak a lot on Toastmasters International where many speakers speak English as a second language. I also trained as a journalist for the tabloids and worked for woman's magazines, and the language must be simple and understood by all, so my poems might strike you as simple. That's what they are meant to be. My 20 books include Poetry Workshop Workbook (written for a UK Writers' Circle meeting. Writing Poetry for Fun. Poetry Pets and Pests was bought by my local school where I gave a workshop. You can read the start of Improve Your English on alliteration using Look Inside on Amazon. Angela Lansbury 

Read to a zoom meeting, San Fransisco Tuesday evening, writeen before I read it at Singapore 10 am, Wednesday April 5th 2023