Stairway

It was another busy week again. The coming holidays are no relief either, as I will be working too, to be exact, on my country's General Election's polling day.

So I guess I will just post a filler for the time being. It is something I wrote for the on-going poetry competition at Dead Poet's Society (Singapore), a poetry forum.

The theme for this competition is "Photo-Poetry". Participants are to write a poem (or two) on any of the twelve photos posted.

The photo I chose shows a flight of steps. It looks rather dark anad brooding, and I tried to make the poem this way too.

I did not send this poem to the competition, as I felt that it was not good enough. I have sent another better one in its place.

So here is a poem that did not make it to a competition.

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photo by Bluesky_Liz

Stairway


i am the terrible road that leads
to the dark fortress on the hill.

lift these stone slabs if you can
you will see coagulated blood from the centuries

if i can i will weep tears of stone
for those who went up these steps never to return.

the thiefs, the robbers,the rebels

and in the year of the revolution
those that fled the fury of vengence

the wardens, the soldiers, the collaborators

they cut them down where they were found
even the women and children

a musket, a crossbow , a blade

their cries for mercy still echoing
long after their bodies were tossed into lime pits.

i am the weary steps that lead
to a bloodstained monument on the hill

lift these stone slabs if you can
you will find bone fragments, spent shells, lost causes

on moonlit nights you hear the wind
moaning through the poplars, the cypresses

it is not , it is the cries of unappeased souls
wandering the centuries, seeking no part in these

show me a revolution and i will show you an unwilling martyr.

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