Are You Still Playing Your Flute by Zurinah Hassan

Are you still playing your flute?
When there is hardly time for our love
I am feeling guilty
To be longing for your song
The melody concealed in the slim hollow of the bamboo
Uncovered by the breath of an artist
Composed by his fingers
Blown by the wind
To the depth of my heart

Are you still playing your flute?
In the village so quiet and deserted
Amidst the sick rice field
While here it has become a luxury
To spend time watching the rain
Gazing at the evening rays
Collecting dew drops
Or enjoying the fragrance of flowers

Are you still playing your flute?
The more it disturbs my conscience
to be thinking of you
in the hazard of you
my younger brothers unemployed and desperate
my people disunited by politics
my friend slaughtered mercilessly
this world is too old and bleeding

 

Is this the end of our love

time is forcing us, as artists

to live outside ourselves

translated by Zurinah Hassan

QWERTYUIOP–Vivien Alcock

[Synopsis] He Had Such Quiet Eyes

 

Synopsis of the poem

The poem is about a persona, a lady who fell for the wrong man. She was fascinated with his ‘quiet eyes’ and believed that his eyes showed his true emotion and feelings for her. The man’s eyes had the power to charm her and made her believe him and be nice to him.
However, the man was actually a ‘pleasure seeking man’, a flirt. As the lady was truly fascinated and charmed by the man, she did not listen or did not want to listen to any advice concerning the man’s true behaviour. In the end, she realized her error and was broken hearted.

 

THEME

• Betrayal of love
• Personal experiences
• Relationships that are meaningful

 

MORAL VALUES

• Don’t be naive and believe everything we are told especially in matters of the heart.
• Be wise when choosing friends.
• Falling in love is normal but one should be careful.
• We must learn from the experience of other people.
• We should be very careful not to give in our principle in order to please other people.

 

TONE, MOOD, ATMOSPHERE

• Refelective
• Sad and happy
• Sympathetic

 

POINT OF VIEW

• Second and third person points of view

 

LANGUAGE & STYLE

• Simple and easy to understand
• Simple style with rhyming scheme

 

MEANING OF WORDS

• sighs – long, deep audible breaths
• eyes – a pair of organs of sight
• advice – guidance
• desolate – unhappy and uninhabited
• pleasure-seeking – looking for a feeling of happy satisfaction
• dice – a small cube with each side having a different number ranging from 1 to 6
• layered – arranged in layers
• lies – intentional false statements
• realise – become aware
• compromise – agree
• paradise – heaven
• render – provide or give help
• imploring – begging desperately
• wise – having knowledge and good judgement