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Page 11
On the road to Arab Street |
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From deep its bleeding
heart This broken city disgorged A trail of suffering humanity, Trudging on, To an unknown destiny. By bayonetted rifles driven, From home, This weary flock of plodders Crying to their gods, For repose. Babeless mothers Helpless and loving, Cherish kindly, womanly Motherless babes Loudly bewailing. Dry-eyed fathers Sullen and staring, Support gently, tenderly, Enceinte wives Woefully moaning. Aged children Bewildered, wond'ring, Cling fiercely, passionately, To raging age Impotently swearing. The while Stately moving, Th'unfriendly sun Burned hotly, mercilessly, O'er houseless heads Heavy with sorrow. Salvaged barangs From pillaged homes Pressed heavily, ponderously, On bruised shoulders Bowed with burdens. Tender infant feet Bare and bleeding Trod silently, uncomplaining, The blistering macadam Long and unending. |
Jagged
edged glass Sharp slashing sheets Cut cruelly, painfully, Tired feet Plodding to Arab Street. Broken shells of houses Soulless and gaping Stand ghostly, mournfully Ominous picture Of life that will be. Tanks of barbarous steel, Rifles, machine guns, Guard closely, brutally, Entrance and exit Into Arab Street. Within, Crowded humanity, Towkay, coolie, Lay dumbly, fuming On five-foot-ways Smelly and slimy. Tepid muddy pools In sluggish drains Taste sweetly, luxuriously In parched throats Croaking for succour. Sleepless nights, Unending days, Drag slowly, seemingly An everlasting eternity Of timeless pain. Doctor, clerk, lawyer, crook, Humanity levelled by adversity, In selfless love, noble charity, Wait silently, defiantly, Tortured in body, unconquerable in spirit, The coming of the morrow, Of life or death, Home or hell-on-earth, As turn on turn each passed, Queried and battered, Then whisked into eternity, Else returned to captivity To the heart of a city, Bleeding and broken By Japanese inhumanity. (1947) |
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_____________________ The Penang File Issue 37 |
