the merlion analysis

Alfian Bin Sa'at

"I wish it had paws," you said,

"It's quite grotesque the way it is,

you know, limbless; can you 

imagine it writhing in the water,

like some post-Chernobyl nightmare?

I mean, how does it move? Like a 

torpedo? Or does it shoulder itself

against the currents, gnashing with frustration, 

its furious mane bleached 

the colour of a drowned sun?

But take a second look at it,

how it is poised so terrestrially,

marooned on this rough shore,

as if unsure of its rightful 

harbour. Could it be that,

having taken to this unaccustomed limpidity,

it has decided to abandon the seaweed-haunted 

depths for land? Perhaps it is even ashamed

(But what a bold front!)

to have been a creature of the sea; look at how

it tries to purge itself of its aquatic ancestry,

in this ceaseless torrent of denial, draining

the body of rivers of histories, lymphatic memories.

What a riddle, this lesser brother of the Sphinx.

What sibling polarity, how its sister's lips are sealed

with self-knowledge and how its own jaws

clamp open in self-doubt, still

surprised after all these years."

"Yet...what brand new sun can dry

the iridescent slime from the scales

and what fresh rain wash the sting of salt 

from those chalk-blind eyes?"

A pause.

"And why does it keep spewing that way?

I mean, you know, I mean..."

"I know exactly what you mean," I said,

Eyeing the blond highlights in your black hair

And your blue lenses the shadow of a foreign sky.

It spews continually if only to ruffle

its own reflection in the water; such reminders

will only scare a creature so eager to reinvent itself."

Another pause.

"Yes," you finally replied, in that acquired accent of yours,

"Well, yes, but I still do wish it had paws."

Analyse:
The merlion is an interesting poem that makes use of a conversation between 2 people to show the thought contrast between most Singaporeans and foreigners
The stanza "I wish it had paws" is the start of the conversation with the author and it suggests how most Singaporeans think, they feel that the merlion should have paws to make it look better. The author's response :"It's quite grotesque the way it is you know, limbless; can you imagine writhing in the water like some post-Chernobyl nightmare" shows how the author thinks that the reason why you wished for it to have paws is because it was not possible to swim properly without limbs, thus creating the possibility that most Singaporean's thought process was deeper, and not so superficial.
The stanza:" a pause" suggests two different responses to the author's analysis of the merlion. The Singaporean could either have been thinking hard about what the author had said, or he could have been totally lost. The next stanza  when the Singaporean starts a new suggestion:"and why does it keep spewing that way? I mean, you know, I mean" "I know exactly what you mean" eyeing the blond highlights in your black hair and your blue lenses in a foreign sky It spews continually to ruffle its own reflection in the water; such reminders will only scare a creature so eager to reinvent itself" shows how the author is a foreigner and how he thinks that the Singaporean is thinking poetically as to why the merlion keeps on spewing water.

Finally the next few stanzas :"another pause. "Yes", you finally replied, in that acquired accent of yours, "well yes, but I still do wish it had paws" confirms that the author is speaking to a Singaporean, and that the Singaporean's thoughts were all based superficially and that there was no deeper thinking behind that.