The Right to Breathe

I. The Evidence

At first the sky forgets its shade of blue,as white pallour pollutes our perfect view.The country wears a bruise it never earned,and mornings taste of something burnt.Throats become corridors of ash,each breath squeezing past invisible knives.The air turns thick with stinging shroud,And silent drops weep from burning eyes.

We speak of haze in micrograms per cubic meters,of indexes, manipulated trends, or visibilityBut grief does not arrive in measurements.It arrives at home,to find three chairs too many.

So tell me:When harm travels farther than its source,When consequences strike without remorse,When they point across the sea and yell “The companies are all from there!”Tell me! Who shall answer for this tainted air?

II. The Accused

Somewhere beyond the Straits,the peatlands smoulder in their sleep.The forest is sentenced without a hearing,reduced to carbon, cinder and heat.

A match may last just a moment,But its consequence crosses the sea.And who then shall be called to answer?Who then shall hear our plea?

Behind sealed glass, the powerful breathe,Air cons humming their little lullaby,The windows hold the world at arms length,while the world inhales their so-called alibi.

They do not taste the bitter poison in the airThey do not feel their throat contractFor them the haze is but an unfortunate headlineWhile our bodies fight to stay intact.

III. The Untouchable

ONCE AGAIN, SINGAPORE GETS A TOP SCORE!A number “1” flashes upon the screen.And the city learns that even the prettiest skyline,cannot command the winds to become clean.

Classes cancelled and forced indoorsGyms are packed with people nowhere else to goIrony is where one can tout a smoke-free lifestyleWhile breathing in four cigarettes in a row

For what is more suffocating than smoke?To know you are being harmedand to be made to feel “unreasonable”for asking who will stop it.

The poor inherit the particlesThe voiceless inherit the incessant waitThe powerful inherit the benefit of doubtWhile the rest suffer the consequences of their fate

IV. The Law

I have read the language of the law:SHALL, MUST, LIABLE, PROHIBITEDSuch strong and sturdy little words,But the powerful are still uninhibited.

For every law that stands unwitnessed,every promise left to gather dust,the haze carves one more question across the fragile contract of trust.

And if the law is truly blind,Let it be blind to wealth instead of sufferingnot blind to the hands that light the matchnor to the lungs that bear the flame.

Let the verdict travel further than the smog,Let consequence arrive where profit wentLet no one buy their way out of reachof those whose breath they spent.