Revolutions never die

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(in memory of all the women and men who fought for our Independence)

Souls may rest in peace
but revolutions go on
they trickle into our blood streams
invade every organ
creep into our minds
sowing seeds of doubts
its roots growing inwards
to reach a generation...


Just as the forests grow quietly
calling its dead,
calling its living
a thousand questions
continue to haunt
A million souls cry
never forsake!
never abandon!
this quest for freedom!

You can hear them sing:

"I laid down my life for you
I let my blood trickle
I let it soak the earth
So your rivers may never go dry

"Guns exploded in my heart
Riffles shattered my dreams
To give you Independence
To give you reality".

"You may wipe out history
You may burn its memories
You may bury us
At the altars
Of your Twin Towers"

"Yet
My bones
remain fresh
Your children
Remember my name".

Indeed
souls may rest in peace
revolutions may sleep
but they never die.

Narathiwat, Thailand
29 oct 2006

Where do you come from?

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Must they always ask me where I come from?
I do not give answers
For my tongue like wounded snakes
Is tangled
inside these wiry barbs

What use is it, I ask, this is a camp of thieves
They have stolen my life
my freedom
But want to know the origin of man?

I come from Ethiopia, China, Greece, I want to say
Show me a map, and I will show you my home
But oh, they will cut my veins
And suck them, like wolves, under the moon

[It doesnt pay to be an Einstein here]

You read history books, eh, they smirk?
Poking me with the phallus ends of their riffles
What is the point of arguing?
that my language is far more superior than theirs?
that the color of my skin is by far the fairest of all?

Didn't you come from blood, too, I want to ask?
Like me, you too were flushed from your mother's womb
Streaks of red blanket you as you wail
For red is the color of blood, of genes, and DNAs
Does it matter if you are white, yellow or blue?

Ask not where I come from, you swine
There is only one way to enter this earth
Have you forgotten what it was like to crawl
out of your mother's thighs?

A knock on my head and the floor is my ocean
Must you always ask where do I plan to go?
Inside these walls, can I even breathe?
Which direction, you shout
Oh, I am always at the cross roads, I cry
left or right, what if I make a wrong turn?

Wherever you turn, my little friend
He finds you
He waits with bullets in his eyes
You see your name flash at the signpost
He's waited a lifetime for you
You can't even run nor hide
You can try to cheat him
But he finds out
He forgives and takes you back
No lover is more faithful.

26 April 2009, Bkk, wireless road, 7.31pm.

Poem about an absent lover

The moment you walk out that door
I run to collect my things

And you would think, I'd be tagging along
But, no...no sir

I've booked a single ticket to nowhere

Destination: To explore the depths of my ocean
To cross the length of my space
in a life time

In this emptiness you leave me, it's time I discover
The very essence of who I am

If I had always tagged along with you
I would have found my journey hampered

These thighs would grow fat and heavy
You will lead me by the hands, blind folded

I’d be following signposts
You'd be steering the wheel

All my heart's desires
Would be stucked in traffic jams

I would have ended up a complete fool,
lazy, unimaginative, uninspired.
complacent. perhaps satisfied.

I would have ended up loving you to death,
but hating myself.

Now I've come to like this distance
These absences you leave me
Are precious gems

For there is life beyond you
Love beyond me
Dreams that give me wings,
Thoughts that make my heart take flight

Does it really matter
If I fly with you or without you?

We are after all, one soul in two bodies
One spirit, caught between worlds...

What if
You never come home,you ask?

I say:
But I am home.

23 April 2009, wireless road, bangkok, 2.37am.