Voice from the Grave

Mother,
weep your old tears
from an older poverty
I see they offer wreaths
and lengthy condolances
most impressive
over our bloody death

Father,
no more will you receive the few dollars
I wrung each month from a wretched pittance
(my pay; cost of a suit for a minister)
and my promise of a new attap for the hut -
forgive me, father - will never be fulfilled

My wife,
your grief shall not last long
I hear they are collecting donations
why such kindness after we are dead
in life did they ever ask
about our crowded rooms, our month's pay

Dear children,
your school uniforms are torn
you will have to patch them again
and who will buy your books this year?
Like your father,
just dream, dream my children
if you still possess dreams:
That you will study at the University

ii
They talk a lot about my death
they grieve and get donations
but they could never spare a piece of land
no land for us
except for burial
(even this, one day they shall think
how much better to build a factory on it)

They who never noticed us
today wrinkle up their faces in sorrow
They who never asked about us
now write and deliver speeches
and call us heroes

Dear friend, you and I have died
for a prosperity not ours
so the tuans can sleep and dream deep
so each estate can gather its rubber
so each mine can pile up its tin
so each bank can count its profits at leisure
so each industry can survey its profits in peace
(for everything not ours for these we die)

Parliament meets with royal speeches
Rural progress - Prosperity for the people
and schemes for raising taxes
of the brilliant finance minister.

Our death is talked of for a while
then with the gift of a cheque -
payment for my life - forgotten by all
except my mother, father, wife
and beloved children who shall suffer
all their lives

Today, 30 years later, curfews and emergencies are still being imposed in various areas of the country. Military operations in the jungle continue to increase in number and with them the proportion of innocent lives taken. The Government still pays "homage to the Martyr".