ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF MALAY POEMS.

AFTER WATCHING ALEX HALEY'S ROOTS

."He still wanted to be Kunta Kinte

even after he was called Toby

again he was tortured

and pain was too high a price

for him to bear

and don't we all have a price to pay.

in order to really be ourselves.

I cannot bear to face

the truth of your pen

the pain and horror of slavery

the vengeance in your writing

must art and it's beauty

always be born out of loneliness

and misery?

Instant Flood

Sungai Klang and Sungai Gombak said:

"You were born out of our mating

But you grew out of hand"

"The load of your growth

laid heavy on our body"

"Are you forgetting us, your parent

as we lie quiet and patient

only after a heavy rain

we rise up

to demand attention

AT THE CENTRAL MARKET

(Where the unemployed wait)

I often see him

sitting on the benches of Central Market

watching passers by

or gazing into nowhere

waiting to be inspired

with a few poetic lines.

Singing his lyric

he waits on

will someone come today to rescue him

from boredom

and unemployment.

He waits on at Central Market

overlooking Dayabumi

he heard they are building images

is he suffering the reality?

But as he take refuge

on the cool mosaic

or soothe his forhead

by the fountain side

washing away the thought

of the nagging mother

the noisy squatter area

 he says,

"Thank you Central Market

thank you Dayabumi

for making this wait less unbearable

without you

I could have turned into a rebel".

Clearing Kuala Lumpur of Beggars

The city is refusing you

and life had rejected you

so what are you waiting

for, old man?

Perhaps it's too painful

to talk about the past

the journey had soiled your feet

that you're now forbidden

to walk on the sparkling marble

of this clean city

So what is there to wait for

they have come to take you away

to a better shelter

or is it for the sake of the city's image

that's of course far more important

that your feeling about giving in

and the pain of surrendering

Are you still here

looking for sympathy

and for the waiting

that give a little meaning

to living.


Bukit Nanas

You're left at a corner

to witness Kuala Lumpur changing its face

building and developing

like the hungry waves

threatening to swallow you

That I Lived Once

Walking beneath the lights

with the mountains on my left

an the ocean on my right

my feeling high

above a pile of songs.

My song embracing the beach

vibrating in rhythm with the waves

shaken by the greeting of a fisherman

soaked in the salty ocean

shattered by the tears.

Among the tall buildings

its breath choked

in the sweat of labourers

and suffocated children of the slums.

Climbing the mountains

jungles

and lonely peaks await.

The songs of the oceans

cities and mountains

in my breath

will be the testimony

that I have once been here.


Bukit Nanas

please leave a dew drop

to clear our eyes

from city dirts

you have been entrusted by nature

to take care of its children.

 POETRY READING AT UNIVERSITY OF MALAYSIA, PAHANG.

POETRY READING AT MBA LIBRARY, BANGKOK THAILAND, IN CONJUNCTION WITH DECLARATION OF BANGKOK AS BOOK CAPITAL AND CELEBRATION OF 35TH ANNIVERSARY OF SEAWRITE AWARDS.