Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Poetry 2020complete | Page 73

Pronoia
Harrow International School Hong Kong, Yau, Alicia - 13
Pronoia: (n.) The belief that the universe is conspiring in your favour
A petal of jasmine floats in tea.
Tendrils of smoke rise over the porcelain,
From the drink as green
as the harbour sea.
A successful man with places to be
Visiting his grandmother,
Whom he clears his arduous
schedule to see.
Requested of him is a tale
Of deeply ingrained impression,
That occurred long before lines beside his eyes grew prominent
and his grandmother grew frail.
There once was a younger boy:
Lost in the world, unnoticed, unlearned in the industry his father had navigated with ease-
Struggling through life
Shortly before his rags-to-riches story began.
For you see the nature of this business is ever-changing,
The fortune to be made enticed all who chose to pursue it,
However, rolling the wrong dice in this capricious, captivating game
Does tend to be a cause for complaining.
A seller in the Mong Fok was where it all started.
By chance, or so it would seem
He was drawn to a butterfly charm with a luminant, iridescent sheen
Safe in his pocket, as he paid and they parted.
It’s body was set in exquisite silver sterling,
Wings illuminated in shades of
turquoise, cerulean, seafoam green.
Atop it’s head, two antennae were curling.
Far too intricate to be the price it was sold
Or rather, given.
Far too well made to belong in a cramped, unrefined street market,
dropped carelessly on the streets of old.
An almost enchanting quality about it-
Entrancingly beautiful in an innate, mystical way,
For it was almost like around it, the fundamental rules of the universe, space and time
Distorted.
Shifted.
Stopped.