my grandma lives on Venus

second house on the left, right after the corner, it usually sounds like Hong Kong cop dramas and smells of home-cooked goodness, my grandma lives on Venus.

and I grew up on her planet, mostly by her side, I saw everything she saw but she always saw past me, past the times I lied to her, past the times I sneaked a candy on our grocery runs, she'd shine a light on my bad behaviour but never enough to burn or hurt.

because my grandma embodied Venus - a character of love and beauty, the only person I could sit with and say nothing to, she understood that silence did not mean distance.

which is why she probably never got mad at me, the time she fell and they put her on another planet, one surrounded by those of similar fate, prepared to be forgotten.

and I promised I'd never forget, promise I'd visit her soon, then the visits grew less and less and the silence grew and grew, and I felt our planets drifting further apart.

still, she said nothing.

offered no blame as she silently plot her escape, lighter and lighter she grew, because she knew, that this place they called a 'home', was not for her.

my grandma belonged on Venus.

and one morning in October, she made her way back, she offered no goodbyes, just closed her eyes, and I am almost certain she whispered to the Universe,

"it's time to go, take me home."

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Earlier in April, I went home to Malaysia for a family visit. I told my partner about my late grandma and how she lived on 'Jalan Venus', which literally translates to 'Venus Street'. He looked at me and said, "your grandma lives on Venus!" "That's a good line for a poem," I replied. 

And then I wrote these words for the most beautiful soul I know.