"If I can stop one heart from breaking,

I shall not live in vain;

If I can ease one life the aching,

Or cool one pain,

Or help one fainting robin

Unto his nest again,

I shall not live in vain"

Emily Dickinson

I vote for you

I'd cast my vote from half way around the globe

For Lim Guan Eng, he stopped our one heart

From breaking, the whole nation from aching, the

Higher cause of Justice from deserting, God from

Forsaking us - our one life

I'd cast my vote from half way around the globe

For Irene Fernandez, she spoke the truth

Though her heart was fainting, and the lying

Government ranting, the whole nation faking

We care what God thinks of us - our one life.

I'd cast my vote from half way around the globe

For Hishamudin Rais, he counted sacrilege

Religious privilege, cooled the anger of hunger

To the affront of the National Front, the Malay

Dilemma of a sovereign watching - our one life.

I'd cast my vote from half way around the globe

For you, if it mattered, You who shall not have

lived in vain, having walked a mile

More than I have had the courage to in bloody

Shoes and fought battles I am afraid to lose

Carried into exile, in His refuge, here I

Hear the gospel of freedom, read the letters

Of our conscience and thank God for you

As you pour yourselves out the lifeblood of the National

Anthem, upon this good earth, my country/Negaraku

I vote for You.

Do I love Malaysia?

Do I love you Malaysia

absolutely

no malicious intent

Do I fail you Malaysia

absolutely

no malicious intent

Do I pain you Malaysia

absolutely

no malicious intent

Do I forgive you Malaysia

completely

I do.

I approach you, reproach you

coax and cajole you, tease you and

touch you, console and extol you

You lay there lulled and lush

A virgin land of God's great quietude,

No man or woman could call you

plain, endure your rainstorms and

remain insane

in my servitude

besotted with lust

I am not

burdened with love

I am

I am

I am

in the jungle fruits fall

orchids burst, durian in

the air fills the cracks

I breathe sharply

straighten my back

yes, my hands hold a pen

an orang utan might attack

I look up I have no defence

only God's call can echo help

the sea of memory wash, wash

washing can throw up a history

I cannot swallow so many tales

blacked and burnished like shoes

and gold

the color of my skin, ke ke ling

black to you, brown to me, color

to them, you engaged me in trade

which swept about us like tide or

the royal ministerial governmental

departmental developmental mental motorcade

I quake. And I'll bet that's no earthquake

to some of you out there in a state

called united states

I reach out grab your torch

me on your porch loving my

land, dying inside

washed up your shore

what fore like lore

do you remember your

brother

long ago he heard a call

perhaps I am he knocking on

your door

I will shine your shoes

suckle your young

I heard a call

freedom was sung

I know, I know many in your

nation were hung but I at home

I am dung, here I know I can come up

a ladder, rung by rung.

We, the people, lie

Of all the lies we refuse to let die

one alone stands true gold capped

gleaming, black like a mountain

in a mouthful of rotting teeth, amid cronies we spew

we believe God, are loyal to our king

and country, are narrowed to our constitution

pray for restitution of law, decry war at all

shrines, are endowed with red blood

run like rivers into an ocean and speak

what lies in our hearts.

ANUSHKA ANASTASIA SOLOMON is a prize winning Malaysian writer and poet in voluntary exile in the United States.