echo By Natasha Effendy
If An Immortal Witnessed Malaysia’s Timeline
I’ve stopped aging in an era
that calls home to my soul
bid farewell to ephemera
for i would not grow old
I have outlived many days
and witnessed generations
constructed by inheritance
of family businesses
and traditions
1930s
A rubber empire fell
the birth rate did not
it was the 1930s
a depression had come
and for once
it was not mine
1940s
terror
how it reigned
over a country
how it stained us
so abruptly
and yet the look-east policy
it exists
so softly, I hoped
quietly, I prayed
the world is not so bad after all
for a lifetime of happiness
through gained independence
comes
a few minutes of darkness
like a fetus in a womb
then at the stroke of midnight
the birth of a nation
1950s
so softly, I hoped
quietly, I prayed
the world is not so bad after all
1960s
I’ve grown sick of
observing a repetitive cycle
of human error and trial
that mark and stain the world
with issues triggered by
man-made mistakes
with an insurmountable
butterfly effect
accelerating beyond borders
that decay with stale politics
and it just starts to feel like a
bunch of stories and movies
with overused cliches
that don’t get tweaked
I teeter on the edge of
permanent boredom
forgive my apathy
my faltering decorum
I wish to tie myself to the present
than to witness a future of wasted potential
2000s
how smooth
a barbaric show of guns and bombs
can transform into
a mesmeric affair of slick handshakes in bars
how does a nation sing
to the tune
of billions of dollars
lost
what is there to say except
there is sometimes evil without cause
ah,
softly, I hoped
quietly, I prayed
the world is not so bad after all
