Let Nature Take Its Course

By Sylvester Wong

I smiled and said I’ll let nature take its course,

let the river carve its path,

let the stars decide which hearts align,

let silence speak what words cannot.

I hope my smile seemed calm 

for my hands still tremble

from moving rubble,

turning every stone,

digging every ditch,

only to realise that I am powerless to change the tide.

I held that smile, quiet as the shore 

knowing it’s not peace that keeps me still,

it’s the weight of learning

that all I could do

still wasn’t enough

to reach you.

So I stopped.

Stopped hoping the tide might turn.

Stopped waiting for you to notice the effort behind my silence.

Stopped convincing myself that patience was the same as love.

You never saw the calloused hands behind my steady words.

Never asked what it cost to say “I understand”

even if I wanted to resist,

even if I found it unfair.

So, I let you go gently,

as if my calm could make your leaving hurt less,

as if you’d look back and see the grace in my goodbye.

But I know, to you…

I simply drifted off like a leaf in a river 

as if I was never fighting the current

just to stay near.

If efforts against the current are to be lost,

then let me struggle

as I smile and tell the world

that I’ll let nature take its course.

By Sylvester Wong