Ruby - Astari Boedikoentjara
I think my heart’s been beyond broken
by Israeli Zionists’ atrocities.
I want freedom in Palestine,
so there’ll be no more misery.
No highlights for 2023.
Hello, stranger
I love your smile
like you do my poetry
but why look so troubled?
I was just expressing my vile
The world is growing older
I still keep coming back for more
every year, as a reminder
hopefully, to turn you better
How have you been?
I've been transported back in time
something familiar
yet also bizarre
the same old Twilight Zone
with the same old Culture of Silence
There’s still that hailstorm in my heart
The ice is solid
a perfect, although temporary patch
to fill the holes in its walls
I’m feeling cold
A familiar sign
You thought you’d seen the sun
under the gloomy night sky
that you’d break a smile
Yes, he was beautiful,
Backstabbers are such cowards
They spread lies
but they can’t harm this already broken heart
and I’ve got no more tears left to cry
Say it to my face
Run, run away
You, with no shame
Never return, not a day
I’ll remember your name
with sickness in me
What is it with people like you?
You treat everything a competition,
all in the name of public acknowledgment.
You flaunt your fortunes,
clearly fishing for compliments.
There's no amnesty granted
unless well-paid
Reach deeply into your pockets
until perhaps,
their eyeballs jump out of their sockets
Oh, how we long for you to be
returning home, still healthy
after having sailed away
leaving us waiting by the bay.
The vast ocean hasn’t shown
The generation gap:
“They’re just little kids,
so young and still stupid.