The Son is in Secondary School by Affian Sa’at
My badge has a Latin motto
Hope for the future
The future is hope
Or something
At times black crows try to interrupt
When we sing the National Anthem
It is difficult to maintain
The whiteness of my shoes
Especially on Wednesdays
I must admit there is something quite special
About the bare thighs of hardworking scouts
The Malay chauffeurs
Who wait for my schoolmates
Sit on the car park kerb
Telling jokes to one another
Seven to the power of five is unreasonable
On Chinese New Year
Mrs Lee dressed up
In a sarong kebaya
And sang Bengawan Solo
The capital of Singapore is Singapore
My best friend did a heroic thing once
Shaded all A’s
For his Chinese Language
Multiple-choice paper
In our annual yearbook
There is a photograph of me
Pushing a wheelchair and smiling
They caught me
At the exact moment
When my eyes were actually closed
This poem is more about the feelings and emotions of the poet as he recalled his good old schooldays. It gives a clear view of how the poet's schooldays were. Funny incidents showed that the poet was an innocent person in his schooldays.
There are twelve stanzas and there is no rhyming patterns in the poem.
In the first stanza; he was describing the badge and how important it is as it is a symbol.
In the second stanza: readers can imagine the situation when the poet was singing the National Anthem. Sometimes, several crows flying by disrupted the flow.
In the third stanza: the poet is saying that it was difficult to keep his shoes clean on Wednesdays maybe due to dirty activities.
In the fourth stanza: the poet was writing about how hardworking the scouts were.
In the fifth stanza: the poet stated that the Malay chauffeurs who waited for his schoolmates. They will sit on the car park kerb and telling jokes to one another.
In the sixth stanza: the poet talked about some Mathematics and say it is hard.
In the seventh stanza: he was describing a Chinese teacher who dressed up as a Malay, and sang a Malay song during Chinese New Year, which is so wrong.
In the eighth stanza: the poet was stating that Singapore is small as it's capital is itself.
In the ninth stanza; the poet described a "hero" who is his friend, do not care about his studies and shaded all same answers on an examination
In the last three stanzas: he said that he was posing with his eyes closed.
