Interlude: Ode to Black Ambition

Interlude: Ode to Black Ambition

10/8/2001

O for a song of the coffee cup,
O for a song to end the day
O to sing the thrill of Dark Ambition*
Pouring down my throat's highway

Alas the Canteen was deserted
Stall 9 had closed for the Night**
Where could I go for a Kopi-O -
My thirsting throat's delight?

For I can never cease to tell
Of the wonders brought to my heart
When the trickle of coffee freshly brewed
Hits the bottom of my gut.

For I will never cease to proclaim
The miraculous humble Bean:
That crushed and powdered then liquified
Washes my gullet clean

Coke? Qoo? Horlick peng,
Stand but in pale compare^
When there's a cup of Kopi-O
In the vicinity somewhere.

Sprite? Milo? Iced Lemon tea,
Are beverages inferior -
For the truest measure of a man
Is a Kopi-O Superior.

So I stopped at a coffee shop
"Kopi siew tai tjee pway"^^
I anxiously muttered to the Kopi-kia
Whose mind seemed miles away.

'"Pokka Cafe" Ke Yi Mah?'
Came the unfliching reply
His quiet words were an anathema***
To my throat hoarse and dry

"Kopi siew tai" I tried again
With a weakened, helpless breath
A shake of the head, a turning away
My Kopi hopes were dashed.

With footsteps leaden,with a heavy heart,
I walked my saddened way-
O Cruel Misfortune, O Endless Despair
O Kopi siew tai tjee pway!

On stumbling home, in an awful shape
When I thought I was undone:
I finally had to settle for
"Nescafè three-in-one"

O for a song of the coffee cup,
O for a song to end the day
O to sing the thrill of Dark Ambition
Pouring down my throat's highway.

* - refers to Coffee (from an old Sheena Easton song)

** - I know it closes at six but "Night" is easier to rhyme and more poetic...

^ - grammatically wrong - but have you tried to rhyme "comparison"?

^^ - Forgive the poor translation

*** - a solemn ecclesiastical curse