Turangu Morie

26 October 2020

GREGORY BABLIS

You asked me why, why don’t I leave you?
But in the same breath, you walked over and locked the door
My head spun, as blow after blow
You performed me a special number
My own tune that night after night I fell asleep to.

Neim blo yu em bikpla lo PNG
You told me you had many other names too
Elvis Presley, Mr Universe, Mr PNG
Mr Money Bags, Fast and Furious
The ‘Dark Prince’ himself
Bruce Lee.

You lived a deluded dream
A world of your own making
Where you were the president and the king
In your world you had everything
Money still channeled to you through your umbilical chord
Every week, the money flowed in, like a stream.

Friends, man oh man, you had many
Boys, girls, men, women
You’d think you could spare me a friend or two
But no, they just looked on
Or turned a blind eye
As you spewed your hate and bile on me.

But don’t forget, mi tu gat neim na namba
I am the daughter of the 35th President of the US of A
I have family, I have friends
I have benefactors, I have sympathisers
I have a clan, I have a tribe
I am just one girl who lived my own life
But in my death I represent many other girl’s lives.

And so these girls, women and men will march
And they’ll chant a tune of change
A tune that you and ‘monsters’ like you will hear
A tune that even powerful men will fear
I hope the law will treat you fairly
I hope it won’t be as harsh on you as you were on me.

But taim yu go lo bikpla banis
And you face the harshness of Bombexity
You’ll then find out how many real friends you have
You’ll remember my face, my smile
My gentle touch
You’ll remember my kindness and my beauty
But most of all please remember our progeny
For they are the life that you’ve denied me.

This poem first appeared on PNG Attitude on 17 July 2020 at https://www.pngattitude.com/2020/07/turangu-morie.html.