Time Zones

I’m awake in the morning
when everyone else’s heading to bed
The chatroom is deadly quiet then
when there’s nothing left to be said

In fairness Henry does stay up late
but often he’s sharing old news
of the rounds of golf he’s played today
or how much he’s been hitting the booze

And he’s likely left more gory photos
of his meals with lots of meat
So I go through my daily ritual
of choosing “select” then pressing “delete”

I see Genga’s been active of late
the matinee idol’s been very discreet
chatting up all the ladies again
while I am still deep in my sleep

Seng Fook and Chin Guan aren’t around
I only ever see the ghosts
of the regular uplifting messages
they put in their morning posts

Wendy and Kwen Fee are usually busy
writing poems for all to see
then both of them desert the chat
and leave the website updating to me

Aida and Keat(s) do stay up late
but they’re just too busy to chat
Caregiving is a demanding job
and you can’t argue with that

Chak and June are on their travels
and exploring old London town
Chak’s too busy to chat to me
as there’s too much fun to be found

Even George has been silent
not a single comment’s come my way
I can’t expect him to respond
when no one’s provoked him all day

Kim Leong is often quite quiet
but he knows we understand
that it’s really quite dangerous
to ride a bike while texting with one hand

Mel’s probably busy with Carl’s Kitchen
for that we give her a big clap!
But sometimes you guys are just too much
Stop teasing her about that slap!

Vinayak’s either lost his phone again
or smashed it to smithereens
I haven’t seen him around much
since he lost phone number fifteen

Our Anthony has been gone awhile
and still lounging on some beach
He’s simply switched off his phone
and has been incommunicado for weeks

So when you’re safely tucked in bed
send a last message for goodness’ sake
Text something interesting I can read
when you’re asleep and I’m awake!