How grandfather's bilum, which
Across my father's bare chest,
In a loving embrace slung.
Like the Leleki baskets' blest
How while so pregnant swung.
How dwelleth he my father in its rich
Splendour till handing-over of its rest,
Then over my clothed chest again sways.
O this old bilum! like all other blest
No longer is laden with in my days.
For its treasures I search in earnest,
That I may grandfather's mind know.
O this bilum is no longer pregnant!
Along the way, maybe some time ago,
How many treasures fade; this instant
Till my sleep, I'll summon eagerness
To my modern soul strengthened to seek.
Grandfather's treasures may be hidden;
Yet thru a new eye must I ever peek
For glimpses my days have forbidden.
This poem was first published in the Writers' Forum of the National Weekender, then on PNG Attitude 's (http://asopa.typepad.com/asopa_people/the-crocodile-prize/) Crocodile Prize and on Dreamzmedia (http://dreamzmedia.wordpress.com/2011/01/15/poem-my-grandfathers-bilum/)
Do we have to sacrifice all our 'Tumbuna Pasin' to embrace modernity?
Across my father's bare chest,
In a loving embrace slung.
Like the Leleki baskets' blest
How while so pregnant swung.
How dwelleth he my father in its rich
Splendour till handing-over of its rest,
Then over my clothed chest again sways.
O this old bilum! like all other blest
No longer is laden with in my days.
For its treasures I search in earnest,
That I may grandfather's mind know.
O this bilum is no longer pregnant!
Along the way, maybe some time ago,
How many treasures fade; this instant
Till my sleep, I'll summon eagerness
To my modern soul strengthened to seek.
Grandfather's treasures may be hidden;
Yet thru a new eye must I ever peek
For glimpses my days have forbidden.
This poem was first published in the Writers' Forum of the National Weekender, then on PNG Attitude 's (http://asopa.typepad.com/asopa_people/the-crocodile-prize/) Crocodile Prize and on Dreamzmedia (http://dreamzmedia.wordpress.com/2011/01/15/poem-my-grandfathers-bilum/)
Do we have to sacrifice all our 'Tumbuna Pasin' to embrace modernity?
you have best captured not only the loss of "tumbuna pasin" but "cultural identity" by the generation X and Y in pursuit of so-called "civilisation" and modernity...hats off for a true masterpiece...HV
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