Taufiq's homecoming

the physical journey that i traverse
is a journey of the soul,
transport of the self from a fatherland
to a country collected by sight and in,
the knowledge that sweats from it
is a stranger's knowledge,
from one who has learnt to see,think
and choose between
the changing realities.

it's true i have growled at my friends and family
but only after having told of my predicament
that they have never brought to reason.
the family that i began to love in my loneliness,
in the country that alienated me,
they took to their predecisions.
i have not entirely returned,i know,
having been changed by time and place,
coarsened by problems
estranged by absence.

but look,
i have brought myself home,
seasoned by confidence,
broadened by lang and languages,
i am no longer afraid of the oceans
or the differences between people,
not easily fooled
by word or ideas.
the journey was a loyal teacher
who was never tardy
in explaining cultures or variousness.
look, i am just like you,
still malay,
sensitive to what
i believe is good,
and more ready to understand
than my brothers.
the contents of these boats are yours too
because i have returned.

travels made me
a seeker who does not take
what is given without sincerity
or that which demands payments fom beliefs.
the years at sea and coastal states
have taught me to choose,
to accept only those tested by comparison,
or that which matches the words of my ancestors,
which returns me o my village
and its perfection.

i've learnt the ways of rude
to hold reality in a new logic
debate with hard and loud facts
but i too am humble
respecting man and life

i am not a new man,
not very different
from you;
th people and cities
of coastal ports
taught me not to brood
over a foreign world,
suffer difficulties
or fear possibilities.

-2_Fixz-