Greetings to the Continent

Greetings to the Continent

I

They separate us

the passports visas frontiers all names for barriers

they rob us with their laws

sending bullets wrapped in dollars

forcing us to choose

and choose we must

there is no other way

II

Friend, you have chosen guns and bullets

many leaders prefer their dollars

for this you must soak your clothes

red grass, red river

children’s weeping

the blood of the exploited

III

You squeeze cactus and grind stones

to make food and drink

girls toil decorated in dust

little children sling on their weapons

you darken the sky with exploding pipelines

others sing in prisons

for the freedom of Palestine

IV

We strive in drying rice fields

daring peasants have begun to clear the virgin jungle

small beginnings in a cloudlike calmness

a calmness that nips us in the bud

we the few are still learning

from all your experiences,

and our own

we shall consolidate the May eclipse

at the true targetof this archipelago

V

Greetings

without visa

passport

golf

colour

to humanity,

people,

of all continents.

~Usman Awang, 1970~

(Translated by Muhammed Hj Salleh)