joy (ii)
Jonathan Chan
even here,
at the quietest,
most private acre
within me, i feel the
bristling threat
of joy. stoic
and smug, scoffing
at the temporariness
of being
happy. it is an extremity,
joy, content in its own
fullness, yet so easily
aroused: tender light
breaking through
a sheltered walkway,
pink blossoms
brushing a forearm,
the glistening
glissando of a moving
snail, the leaves on water
plashing,
plashing,
the ragged force
of Beethoven’s
incantation: joy joy joy
joy joy. one must tire
of its persistence,
its flick of solar
logic, its frisson
of the soul. the
beatific swell demands
its attention. at
an appointed
moment, joy ceases
then flickers, like
a noiseless tune
resolved
on a mountaintop.
Jonathan Chan is a writer and editor. Born in New York to a Malaysian father and South Korean mother, he was raised in Singapore and educated at Cambridge and Yale Universities. He is the author of the poetry collection going home (Landmark, 2022) and Managing Editor of poetry.sg. Jonathan Chan is online at jonbcy.wordpress.com.