Thursday, July 14, 2011

Intimacy Is A Mixtape


Verse 1:
Some days, life feels fast forwarded
We're all waiting for the right song to come along
And I think this playlist is missing something
I'm waiting to hear you sing
I'm waiting to hear you sing

Verse 2: 
It feels like a warm kiss
on my ear, I shudder
The beats of my heart throb in my lips, ooh
They beg me to kiss you
They beg me to kiss you

Chorus:
The crack in my voice is a chasm.
The distance between us cannot separate.
You're closer than the twitch in my eye when I sleep.
It's cos I see you, I see you in my dreams
You spin around in moonlight
I memorize your face and swear I'll never leave
A breath and a shiver as your name hides behind my teeth.

Ending:
These thoughts would not leave.
They beg me to kiss you
These thoughts would not leave
They beg me to kiss you

- Daryl Goh

Monday, June 27, 2011

There My Heart Will Be Also

Life transitions can be a bit of a hassle. Plans that were made in one season of life have to be changed or cancelled when moving into the next. That is what is happening to me now. I travelled to Nepal with some of my closest friends twice last year. I was planning to take another trip this July to visit the beautiful children of the Sophia Girls' Home as well as the youth of Kathmandu and East Nepal. Recently, God opened the door for me to study for a bachelor’s degree in mass communications.

It was a great struggle for me to finally accept that I couldn’t go. I think the reluctance to give up my place on the team stems from a phobia that if I wasn’t with the people I loved, I would somehow be forgotten, or I would lose the love that I had for the Nepalese youth. But God reminds me that Kingdom work is spiritual work, where there are no limitations. He reassures me that although I cannot be with them physically, I can still impact them with love through a different means.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Matthew 6:21, Luke 12:34

Jesus speaks about the link between treasures like money, belongings and time; and one’s heart. Essentially, He says that the things that one invests in show where the priorities lie. He reassures us that investments in the Kingdom will never be lost or degraded.

It is such a joy to know that although I cannot go, I can still give. That my heart and my treasure can still impact the people in Nepal.

Love Revealed in Nepal
July 2011
Video by Oh Ruey Jen
Photography by Samuel Teo & Daryl Goh

I used to think that it would be a great loss to the team if I couldn't go. I now know that the opposite is true. Without being forlorn or depressed, I can now say that in my absence, God makes the team better. I see similarities in the desire of every team member; to bring God-given desires and talents to bless others. I see a willingness to put aside self-promotion in order to promote the Kingdom of God. I have faith in this team, I have faith in Him.

Friday, June 24, 2011

My First Day Of School

There's many places I'd rather be than in a cold empty classroom and yet this is where I sit, shivering. It is my first day of my university studies and all I can think about are kids in the worship camp in church, receiving from fine worship leaders and musicians from Charis Methodist, Paya Lebar Methodist, Riverlife and Forerunners.

My thoughts are interrupted by a slender lady who strides into the room. I could have mistaken the lecturer for a student if not for elegant age lines around her eyes. We are joined by two other female students who enter the room chatting. As the lecturer introduces herself, I am very aware of two facts; there are only 4 of us in the room and, I am the only guy.

The lecturer is entertaining but speaks like someone disillusioned with the system. Once in a while when she tells a joke, her eyes shine and her youthfulness is unsuppressed. I imagine she must have been very attractive in her younger days.

After class, I speak to some guys at the camp over the phone. I hear singing and worship in the background and immediately, there is a longing in my heart. God reminds me that He is right here with me on my slow stroll to the MRT station. The traffic of City Hall becomes a low droning and it is as if the night is lit by candle light. I remind God that I've always wanted to be where the worshippers are. This might be the path after all.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

A Fire In The Camp

Your mouth is a black hole
Spewing debris before you implode
Hope is skin I live in
And you flay, you flay

I, like iron sing when struck
And compassion reverberates
Life is a game of love, of verve
And I play, I play

What is death? Disconnect from sustenance.
Wings clipped and trapped in tradition.
For fear of discomfort.
So who pays, who pays?

- Daryl Goh

Monday, June 6, 2011

The Aroma Of Expectation

A fraction of life is spent nursing bruised pride.
With fractured desires which imitate my heart;
in pieces and given away.
The pain not caused by the words in your book
But by forcing my lies into your Truth.

Tell me about these fulfilled laws:
Have they ever felled giants and mountains and walls,
Or are we the ones who have to fall?
Have they ever raised the dead and dying, the dawn?
Death by expectation while we gather and mourn.

If Love were liquid,
it would neither be wine
nor perfume poured out.
Know that your tears mean more to me
than a fragrance ever will.

- Daryl Goh

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Is This The Treatment Of Symptoms Or A Touch Of Divine

I spent the night looking at your form
at rest across the couch.
Not actually seeing,
just fitting memory to the shadows clinging
to the curves of your face
You were so close.
Night spies through these windows
The luminary throwing white on your warm body.
You said, "You haven't aged one bit!"
How can I?
When all I do is bask in distant memories of young love.
You;
flat-chested and fearless.
And I?
I still fight, flat-footed and faltering.
What pried your song from your heart?
Now all that remains are sighs in your sleep;
always in E-flat.

- Daryl Goh

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Could You Please by Javier Dunn



Freezes when the sun goes
You know it's coldest when you're not around
the temperature is dropping now
could you please hold me now

The city is a lonely place
With yours the only missing face
Missing you is such a waste
cause you don't even know me

It's just another down down down day
Wishing you would come down my way
It's just another cool game I play
Wishing you would come down my way

Another lonely foreign night
I'm bathing in the TV light without you
maybe things will be alright
in the morning

It's just another down down down day
Wishing you would come down my way
It's just another cool game I play
Wishing you would come down my way