Don’t say bah, she said
Maybe you keep quiet lah…
Maybe what you felt was exaggerated?
Maybe what you thought was
a passing note?
Maybe, after all,
It was you, all these while?
And so the girl you raised –
The girl you so carefully brought up –
The girl who carried your wishes
on her shoulder
She kept quiet –
Because ‘macam tu la bah kan’
Because ‘kau bagus cuci pinggan’
Because ‘bagus kau duduk diam’
And she, who has the bones of your forefathers.
She, who has the strength of generations,
She, who could have been much more
than what you have restricted her to be –
And so she sits,
with broken nails,
rough palms,
silenced thoughts –
Our daughters are worth more than this.
dreizig 