“When you planted a kiss in the valley of my shoulder”

4th August 2008, Monday

“When you planted a kiss in the valley of my shoulder”
* text Yasmin Ahmad

“When you planted a kiss in the valley of my shoulder,
my lips were parted, but I was not speaking;
my eyes were closed, but I was never more awake;
I stopped breathing, but I was never more alive.

Today,
somewhere along the face of the earth,
rocks are descending and ships are dying.
Hungry fires roar through the gaping mouths
of concrete dragons.
The plains are grazed by poisoned cattle
and the sky is black and choking with greed.

But tonight,
in a sleepy flat in Klang Valley,
for one brief moment,
every clock and every watch in every room
stopped moving.
I smelled distant jasmine and tuberoses.
My tongue was laced with the aftertaste
of honey and almonds
and long lost hopes.
And in that brief, translucent moment,
the dead and wrinkled skin of my past
fell in a heap at my feet.

For once,
the arrows of time missed me,
the breath of angels embraced me,
when you kissed me
in the valley of my shoulder.”

Taken from jiao feng magazine, issue no. 498, pg131
http://www.sc.edu.my/jiaofeng/index.html
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