toddler magic

Toddler Alert on. The MRT

A toddler in the train

gurgling at the lights

turns the standing-only compartment

into a hub of silent bustle.

The Indian bespectacled uncle 

waves at him from one corner,

the Chinese aunty with red hair makes funny faces from another, 

the tattoed daughter and her mother, shopping bags at their feet, 

blow kisses

while the Malay grandfather 

beams over the pram,

and so,

for a few stops,

this compartment of weary travellers

glued to their phones,

becomes an animated kampong,

where folk actually seek eye contact

to connect over a cooing baby...

------'z

Maybe a toddler in the train

is all that we need

for us to bestow smiles to the other

shyly, slowly, 

lest this magic breaks.

----

Kampong Train

A toddler in the train,

smiling toothlessly

at the wonders of bright lights,

turns the standing-only cabin of the MRT

into a hub of silent bustle 

with the Indian bespectacled uncle waving at him from one corner,

the Chinese aunty with dyed red hair making funny faces from another, 

the tattoed daughter and her mother, shopping bags at their feet, 

blowing kisses,

while the Malay grandfather beams over the pram,

and so, for a few stops,

the train of usually weary travellers, 

sullenly staring at their phones,

becomes an animated kampong

of folk who catch one another's eyes 

for a chance to connect over a cooing baby...

Maybe that's all we need.