My daughter asked

My daughter asked, “what does the Chinese want?”
She read it on the face of a paper.
So I answered, “what do we all want?
Not that much do we differ”.

I look at her and her friends with dread in my heart,
With what venom do we fill their minds,
With what walls do we split them apart,
With what ire do we fuel their fire,
With what evil do we make their world dire.

I watch her walk to the school gates,
Alongside teachers with tired gaits,
I can’t help but wonder what adventures await her,
In the world ahead, uncertainties of the future.

I pray that I am given the chance to be there,
To lend a hand if she were to falter,
To offer some guidance should it be needed,
She will need to rectify, our faults unheeded.
But all all I have to offer,
Are the hopes and fears,
And the troubled heart of a father.

Hazidi Abdul Hamid. 8 May 2013.