The Hardest Thing to Move

I've had just enough time...   to try moving...

Taken from a car in the street of the City of Hangzhou where the white snake met the scholar...

You won’t believe the things I moved

Odd shapes and sizes

Light as feathers

Heavier than stone

Smaller than your palm

Larger than the truck

Some I moved down the street

Others transported a thousand “li”

I had moved things together

And I had moved things apart

You won’t believe what I moved

But, the hardest to move

The hardest to move

- is a heart

_______

And that ain't the hardest part

The hardest part is working and I've worked enough

And that ain't the hardest part

Talkin' 'bout a true love

That ain't the hardest part

And that ain't the hardest part

The Hardest Part by Ryan Adams

Part I – I Dreamt of Elephants

I've had just enough time to...   dream of elephants.

Found this colourful elephant during one of my aimless wandering in Bangkok

I dreamt of elephants

One stood in my way

And would not budge

No matter how I pushed

And huffed and puffed

I used all my strength plus my will

But what is it to an elephant’s bulk

There are things that cannot be pushed

Like an elephant that refused to move

I walked to the elephant’s ear

Whispered into it earnestly

And saw its eyes blinked

It listened to the stories

Dredged from my belly

Pushed itself off the ground

And walked away just like that

I dreamt of elephants and learnt

The only way you can move an elephant

Is to move its heart

_______

The Elephant Song - Kamahl

Tell me said the elephant 

Tell me brothers if you can 

Why all the world is full of creatures 

Yet we grow in fear of man 

Tell me said the elephant 

tell me why this has to be 

we have to run from man and hunter 

never safe and never free 

A Machine that Moves You.

I've had just enough time to...   see a machine that moves me.

Taken in a small street in Jakarta.

To you, it is just a vehicle.

A battered, broken down machine which had seen better days. Patched back, glued together with whatever one could lay hands on. You even smile at the ingenuity.

Stop smiling. For this “broken machine” is my life.

It had served me faithfully and traveled more miles than that Merz of yours. It put food on the table for the family. Carried my children in it. Without it, I was nothing. With it, I have a job; I raised a family. I have a life. It carried me through streets you will never pass, through life you will never understand. And we share a bond closer than the love you shed tears for in the movie. I don’t blame you. How could you understand? Your machine moves without you moving it, so it could never “move” you the way my machine moves me.