My Tanjong Lobang School

My Tanjong Lobang School
(Built on an exclusive plateau by a cliff facing the South China Sea. I studied in TLS from 1962 - 1967. I left in Lower Six to take up an offer to enter the Royal Military College in Kuala Lumpur as a military Officer Cadet. I was sad in leaving the school and all my friends behind. It had been my home for the last five years. TLS will always remain in my mind.)


Possibly, once a marshy, steaming land
where dinosaurs roamed.
A land once kissed
by the frigid artic
and interstellar winds.

Maybe during the time
that Earth was once a hissing ball,
this piece of priceless land
was once part of the molten core.

It was empowered.
Otherwise, how'd you account
for the magical hold
it had on us all?

I once sat on the cliff
overlooking Hick's Bay,
carressed by the cool sea breeze,
under a darkening, star-studded sky,
gazing at the horizon as far as eyes could see
and wondered what lay beyond the sea.

Today, I looked back to reminisce
on what was Tanjong Lobang
that held my mind to ransom.
Life then was simple yet awesome.

I searched my tattered heart,
but couldn't find the answer.
Was it the place? Maybe.
Was it the friends? Possibly.
Was it the teachers? Could be.

Then, it dawned on me.
It was the mixture of all three
that had made Tanjong Lobang
into what the world should be.