By Ivan Yap

What the “Images and words” series is about: I’ve been struggling with post-Covid insomnia lately. Instead of spiralling into frustration and despair, I’ve decided to let my delirium take me to new creative places.

“Why are you so clumsy?”

An accusation often hurled at Wylie. Almost always spat with some venom.

For as far as white-breasted waterhens go, Wylie was indeed an unusually ungainly fellow.

While other chicks would prance from lily pad to lily pad with supreme agility and confidence, Wylie could only plod along, taking more than his fair share of unplanned dips into the lake before reaching the opposite shore.

So years went by, and the taunts continued to flow. Wylie approached the lake each day despondent, resigned.

But today would be different. Wylie flushed the accretion of negative thoughts from his mind, and took a bold step onto the first glistening lily pad before him.

With the newfound belief in himself, the lily pads seemed bigger, sturdier, less slick. They even looked, dare we say, inviting.

So from lily pad to lily pad Wylie hopped, fleet-footed, assured. And in what seemed like an instant, he had made it to the other shore—without a single misstep.

“Today was a good day,” Wylie mused. “I think tomorrow will be even better.”