Monday, January 22, 2007

Where Were You

Where were you
When the machete swung
And walls were painted Red
With the blood of innocence

Were you in hell
Speculating, trading
In the currency of life and soul
Negotiating your immortality
A place of honour in posterity

Or were you in heaven
Between the thighs of the whores
For whose whispers
Of transient love
You guaranteed lifetimes of pain

Where were you
When hope was cleaved, hacked
From mind and breast
When the rivers of blood
Swollen with the tears of a nation
Burst their embankments

As that machete swung

9 comments:

  1. Did you not see me?

    For I was at home,
    Sitting contentedly,

    I was in my office,
    Counting my money,

    I was in prayer,
    Reading theology,

    I was at Starbucks,
    Having my coffee.

    Where else would I be?

    ReplyDelete
  2. i was in heaven
    oh..it seems like heaven
    the crisp sea breeze
    blowing in my face

    i saw a yacht
    oh... my dream
    it must belong to me
    it must

    i was down under
    yes, with maidens
    aah, my dream too
    dream of dreams

    for i care not
    about the troubled waters
    in my homeland
    i care not
    for, i have a dream

    zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

    ReplyDelete
  3. I was in a place where some justification is needed before the machete is swung, not only for `show' but also because the internal morality of humanity peeks through there, even in the ranks of government.

    That's Singapore. I'm sorry I was not in Malaysia. One can only be at one place at one time.

    ReplyDelete
  4. hey malek, taufiq's hilarious! but bacardi is deep, man. it is about the sleeping beauty's dream, right? that zzzzzzzzzz at the end of the poem is so class-ic!
    i will send my one and only poem in my blog. it's in bm, i hope your posters had bahasa malaysia 101 sometime in their past.
    translate for me if you can.

    all the best.

    ReplyDelete
  5. , June 11, 2006
    pulangkan kepercayaaan ku
    kembalikan, oh abdullah ahmad badawi
    kertas ballot yang ku pangkah buat mu
    yang ku pangkah dengan penuh harapan
    bahawa gantian mahathir adalah
    anak jantan yang
    tidak akan
    lupa daratan
    yang tidak akan
    lupa jasa kawan

    pulangkan, wahai perdana menteri
    mandat yang ku beri
    dengan minda dan sanubari
    yang dibalut
    kepercayaan bahawa badwi ini
    seorang yang arif, peka, beradab, dan tulus di hati

    tidak kusangka tidak kuduga
    oh abdullah ahmad badawi
    rupanya slogan (work with me not for me) yang aku dapat
    semuanya ternyata hanya helah
    suatu penipuan suatu propaganda
    kosong tidak bermakna

    tapi perdana menteri
    ingatlah
    bahawa aku dan kami tertipu hanya sa kali
    malaysia tiada terpedaya lagi
    pulangkan, kembalikan dan kemudian
    nyah kau dari pandangan.

    ReplyDelete
  6. MIS,

    Stop wondering, my child.
    I never existed.

    No no, strike that.
    I existed, but the other stuff which I claimed 'existed' - they didn't. I just made them up, or borrowed them from somewhere else - not just for the 'thighs of the whores', of course.

    Little did I know that people would go crazy over what I said, as well as what I did...

    You have to call the 'real ones' to help, mate. Sorry.

    ReplyDelete
  7. i think you are asking me,
    living in a "small" house
    making ends meet at a satay stall

    now I ask thee
    where gopt machete wsinging
    where got heaven
    when i have hell on earth

    SYTs at my beck and call
    Whores in between my thighs
    I'm stealin, at the ball

    (c)9.11am Jan 25

    ReplyDelete
  8. the machete missed
    the smell of the blood
    of my kith and kin
    and I killed them all
    then on my knees I fall

    for there was only me

    I have killed
    they have killed
    those I love are no more
    vengence could not
    take the pain away

    I longed not to live another day
    and love is just a memory

    ReplyDelete
  9. I was with taufiq,
    Animated in conversation,
    About the money that,
    Wipes conscience clean,
    Thology that that absolves,
    And the caffeine of politics,
    That keeps us awake,
    And keeps us from ourselves.

    ReplyDelete