Roofscape of Tanjong Penaga

From the nineteenth floor;
in dawn's half light
I looked down onto
a patchwork of roofs
a tapestry of shapes, sizes
a myriad of colours,
some in deepest red
some in pleasant terra cotta,
yet others in the anonymity
of fatigued asbestos
or ambigious flaccid hues 
of the upstart concrete tiles,
and the obnoxious glare
of confused metal decking.

In the uncertain distance,
lanky minarets and regal domes
persevered amongst
Bohemian tones
of glazed ceramics.

I saw too
glinting cunningly from semi-hidden crevices,
cringing in between spanking brilliant
new high rises,
the suspicious tint
of the ghetto's zinc,
weathered by age and chemistry,
humiliated by prosperity-
a pinch of spice
in the roofscape of
a pulsating city,
framed by the silvery sheen
of a mobile sea,
so enchanting
so bewitching!

1999

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