The Grasshopper In My Room

I've had just enough time to...   encounter a grasshopper in my room

The grasshopper I encountered in the seventh floor of my hotel room in Kuching

I found a grasshopper

On the seventh floor of my hotel room

How did it get there? I do not know.

But it must have hopped there

All the way from where it came from

I said ‘hello’ but it hopped away

To a far corner of the room

I left to do what hotel occupants do

And when I returned, it was gone

I never saw it again but did I hear its song?

In the early morning

Before the breaking of the dawn

I was awaken by singing in my room

I don’t which is lonelier

The singing by my bed or

The early morning prayer

Enveloped by the yearning

And the longing

I fell into a strange dream

Of heaven and home…

Two days ago when I opened the door to my hotel room in Kuching, a tiny grasshopper sprang away from me. I followed it to the center of the room where it stopped and viewed me with cautious eyes as I snapped it. As I had to leave immediately, I left it undisturbed where it was. When I returned late that night, it was nowhere to be seen. The next morning when it was still dark, I was awaken by the shrill singing that after several moments of sleep deprived confusion, I concluded it must be from the grasshopper in my room though I am not sure what sound grasshopper make. At the same time, the early morning prayer from across the river wafted into my room. Surrounded by these two sounds, I fell asleep again to a strange dream…