A Midsummer Night’s Dream (An Ode to the Chinese New Year)

‘Twas a normal night in a country tropical

Dinner was had; its partakers sated

There was one whom they called the glutton

(but who thought of himself as a gourmand)

falling asleep slowly but surely

slowly but surely

his talk slowed, his head nodded

his back slid down the chair

because the food was so good, and the drink so fine

all sleep-inducing goodness and fine-ness

 

Slowly but surely, sleep was coming

full sweet warm unstoppable sleep

that comes after partaking of a meal

where the food is good and the drink is fine

 

So the gourmand/glutton eased into sleep

besotted by post-gustatory catatonia

however his subconscious was not sated!

because the festival was nigh:

 

that yearly festival

held in the Spring

as measured by the lunar calendar

kept by Orientals since the time of Qing

where firecrackers crack; where much food is partaken of

where much money is given to unmarried children

(where the broom stops on the day before the first day)

where much auspiciousness is wished on others

where much prosperity is wished for oneself

and where much food is partaken of

 

So his subconscious recalled from childhood hence

(to fill his slumbering subconscious hunger)

the food partaken of and the drink quaffed

during this festival"the Spring festival

(celebrated by Orientals since the time of Qing)"

gummy worms crenellated and long

dusted in so much icing sugar;

peanut cookies of which there were never enough

round and soft and oh so sweet;

pineapple tarts golden and pillowy

the king of fruit baked into a case of dough;

dried persimmons the consistency of old meat;

hacks sweets, black and orange;

Chinese tangerines in plastic wrap;

cheap marshmallows from the Phillippines;

crunchy peanut bars with sesame seeds;

Anglia shandy;

pork stewed with bamboo shoots;

stir-fried spring vegetables

with the occasional abalone slice;

tomato rice with chicken rendang;

pig’s stomach soup;

soy-sauce chicken;

more vegetable stir-fry;

(this time with more abalone slices…)

roast pork stuffed with abalone stuffed with duck

stuffed with boiled eggs stuffed with roas---

----------------------------------------------

“Dong” the clock struck

the old grandfather clock

in the living room of his uncle’s house

the gourmand/glutton awoke; it was day!

the first day of the lunar festival

at his uncle’s house he was at table

dressed in finest red with all the others

food was before him- pork, chicken,

Shandy, and even the sweets

in the worn lacquered eight-sided plastic platter

drink was poured

plates gleamed, silver clinked

food was eaten

drink was quaffed

 

‘Twas a normal day in a country tropical

The gourmand/glutton ate

with appetite hearty

and he was happy

on the first day

of the Spring festival

Author's Note

Comments on meter would be appreciated