DAVID HOWARD - Part One

TO SING THROUGH STONE: work in progress


1    Wong Chy Nuey & Ah Sing

Wong Chy Nuey:
What wind brings you here? Hours carved out of schist,
    Minutes splinter into seconds
Then milliseconds. Everything gets small
    Before the mountains. This lifetime
Lodges under the rock of your father,
        Whose blood is stone

In a greater country. Don’t mourn the dead;
    Mourn the living who are afraid
Of this life and the next. Look at your hand,
    its lines are short except for one –
The heart, which grows deeper each time you touch
        Tiriata.


Ah Sing:

Despite the smoke of this campfire I stare.
    ‘Do not lift the knife while you skin
Potatoes – these kumara are sweeter.’
    So I keep the pressure constant
Like my love for her, stripping off the skin
        Of tradition.