With all honour, love and respect to Dyah Gitarja Tribhuwannottunggadewi Jayawishnuwardhani (1328-1350)
Break out the big guns,
the brown boys,
the beautiful, exalted braves
of all three worlds.
The waters are rising.
Son-daughter, your timing
is impeccable. Immeasurably
altruistic, extraordinarily
archipelagine. I want
a Jong atop every river,
a kolek for every single
ray of sunshine.
And, Merlionsman,
I want you to know this:
Kita lunga bebarengan.
Nus andah juntadu.
No matter how small your island may be,
how lost your people,
how long your Ravenous Night:
isti nus sa Nusantara.
isti nus sa Alam Antara.
This is how we know
that you are kith and kin.
By your sigils
your helms
your badges.
Not the flowers you wear over mind and heart, between body and soul:
but your mind, like water running far between oceans and dreams;
your heart, like the tiger's, unbreakable and free;
your body, like the lion's,
unshapeable and complete;
your soul, like the fire that still lives in us all unseen.
You named me queen of your heart, gay creole-child of two or three or twenty-three worlds;
how honoured I am to command Pulau Ujong's most radiant Tiger Lily.
As everything left to us is our right,
so too, let this dance blossom into monsoonic, typhoonic unity.
Dreamtiger of Singapore:
you have always looked to the smaller shores.
Together, we are faster than any ocean known to man, woman, or anything in between:
together, we are the Greatest Journey of all.