I connected with God

Early in life

There were many quotes to remember

Lines you had to toe

Pretensions to overcome

And ice-cream cones to surrender

I followed God's ways

Throughout my inconspicuous little life

I had to be sighted to believe

I had to be brave to confide in the difficult neighbour

I had to be strong to resist the outstretched hand of the policeman

I had to be big to forgive

There was nothing God said

About hard-to-find university places

About tolls that would increase through time

About politicians who decided for me, my mother, my immigrant friend

There was nothing in the Great Holy Book

About not being rewarded for hard work

About seeing myself through someone's shadow

Nothing at all about ISA or KBSM or DNA

But I do remember what the holy man said

About finding a way out of the basement

When the electricity goes out

I clearly remember what my father held strong

About cleaning the water tank

When the rains come down in torrents

I feel my mother's words in my bones

About the midriff being exposed

When you stretch out too far

I now understand my teacher's forty lines

About how history repeats itself

When elected men lose their memory

And so I continue to believe in God

In the Malaysia of today

There are cookies to distribute at Diwali, gaols to visit at Raya

Lines to erase between foreigners and Malaysians, between men and women,

Pretensions to broadcast, cloaks to lift, daggers to melt, trees to plant, prisoners to free

And a great wonderful country to save from mindless plunder