Mum coming back from the market
Loading the little rickety trishaw
Well known in our little town
A shaky ride for fifty cents
My sweet childhood memories..
Lettuce, cabbage and straw
Bound paper-wrapped pork
Each bundle I helped
Carry to the kitchen table
The bond of mum and child
Sealed from mum's reward
Of an apple or a pear
From the market or a ten-cent
Coin for me to purchase
My next bundle of marbles
Which all still stand quietly
In a milo can in the storeroom
Each a different hue to
Colour the thoughts of
Those love-coated days

john tiong chunghoo

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/mother-and-marbles/