9th OF AUGUST - I
A proclamation, gently colonial:
Singapore shall forever be...
We think he sought alternatives
But failed against those minds.
They had been fingered through
By a hoard of words, spumed
Across the Ra'ayat:
Their call became a prayer
In firm ancestral beckoning.
Some say his clever tongue
That bruised so painfully,
Made it difficult;
Others that he merely rummaged through
Such bigotry,
While holding forth that we were merely firm.
And now we are more silent
Harder on ourselves
Waiting for the years to bring back
Commonsense.
Edwin Thumboo
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