SHIRLEY AMBANG

| An entry in the Crocodile Prize Poetry Award

Do not speak ill of the dead,
Poor leadership is where it all led,
Whilst our country lay on its mortal bed.
Afraid to speak out, because we were scared.
Brave students spoke up, got shot up,
And still no one cared.
They put their lives on the line,
To hold powerful accountable for laws undermined,
Attempting to remove, reshuffle, reassign,
Lives given in vain, life in decline.
They came with arms; we were unprepared,
War on our democracy they declared.
When it’s all said and done, in the end,
It is we the people, who despaired.