This is a poem written by Muhammad Haji Salleh
Transport of the self from a fatherland to a country collected by sight and mind,
The knowledge that sweats from it is a stranger's knowledge,
The changing realities
It's true I have growled at my mother and grandmother
But only after having told of my predicament
The wife that I began to love in my loneliness,
In the country that alienated me,
They took to their pre decisions,
I have not entirely returned, I know,
Coarsened by problems, estranged by absence
Seasoned by confidence, Broadened by land and languages,
I am no longer afraid of the oceans,
The journey was a loyal teacher who was never tardy
Look, I am just like you, still Malay,
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 which demands payments from beliefs
To accept only those tested by comparison,
Or that which matches the words of my ancestors
I've learned the ways of the 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
Taught me not to brood over a foreign world,
I am you,
'freed from the village, its soils and ways
I have found myself.
The language and art can attract readers. I hope you can read properly and happy. Thank You...
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