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Poems on the MRT

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The Search by Robert Yeo

 

He sought no nook to start his search, did not
Even know he had begun till it was well
Begun. Knowledge dilated his nostrils
And every road became an appetite,
The town and its people succulent food,
A ten-course Chinese dinner with suckling pig.
Everywhere was somewhere and everybody
Was somebody. It was not time to choose.
His diaries became thicker year by year.

On undulating loops of the trunk road
Replenished by leisured tributaries,
Surprise is far away. Yet still the journey
Has charm enough to invite continuance.
Here, one learns to like what one’s accustomed to.
Pleasure does not pall, though still one passes
Interminable scenes… the rubber trees
Inescapable almost as the forest is,
Coconuts, pepper-trees, hills of oil-palm,
Flats of padi green, mangrove and lallang,
Abandoned mining-pools that won’t be lakes…
There are no inns down here, only villages,
Small towns and big towns; the sun is everywhere.
The signs are not always where they should be
However; except, of course, Selatan and Utara.
One is always travelling up or down.

Published in Leaving Home, Mother (1999)

Robert Yeo, born 1940, is known for his poetry, plays and memoirs. His collected poems are The Best of Robert Yeo, his plays in The Singapore Trilogy and the memoirs in Routes and Routes 2. He was awarded a PBM in 1991 and the South East Write Award in 2011.

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Poems on the MRT is an initiative by the National Arts Council, in partnership with SMRT and Stellar Ace. Produced by Sing Lit Station, a local literary non-profit organisation, this collaboration displays excerpts of Singapore poetry throughout SMRT’s train network, integrating local literature into the daily experience of commuters. Look out for poems in English, Chinese, Malay, and Tamil in trains on the East-West, North-South and Circle Lines, as well as videos created by local artists and featuring local poets in stations and on trains. The Chinese, Malay, and Tamil poems are available in both the original languages and English. To enjoy the full poems, commuters may read them on go.gov.sg/potm.

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