Breath of the Informer, An Allegory

for Thirugnanamoorthy Remorseful, the noonday sun Frizzles with the stealthy wind Under the rubbery mountain green. A calmness has come to rest From having tossed in its sleep. The forest has taken leave Of the hunted horn and drum. No more the tapper late of nap Scurries to the haven of a nest. No more the rattle whisper fades To nothingness in a lonesome rest. No more, no more, for the heavens Sleep and all the troops sleep too. The sinewy python stretched past Clumsily the ragged rock and branch. The Owl has called its reveille at last. And the forest sleeps with the wind Gently fanning some whisper closer And closer, every wave, a venomous flick Of a serpent, a kiss of rest. (Letter describing the situation in Malaya and denouncing treachery, written in 1952 to Thirugnanamoorthy who was banished by a British magistrate to Ceylon in March 1952. The letter never reached him.) © T. Wignesan, Seremban, 1952. Pub. in Tracks of a Tramp : a first collection of poems, 1951-1961. Kuala Lumpur-Singapore : Rayirath Publications, 1961.