COMMUNITY VOICE: Dearest Maids

COMMUNITY VOICE: <br/> Dearest Maids

COMMUNITY VOICE: 
Dearest Maids

Dorothea Diba's poem speaks about violence against domestic workers. She was inspired by the plight of Indonesian domestic workers in the Middle East and Asia.

Like it's been said
The further you seek, the less you should rest
You searched for a maid
To help you cope, give you sanity, yet more games be played
Yelling things, spelling out affairs
Well, maids ain't machines, there's a life she bears

Desired for riches
Hunted for treasures
Hopping up the distance
She's there in an instant
Bet you took her to truth or dare
Did you think she's just a fare
Salient, aren't you, took her as a minor
Forgot, didn't you, how she's just like your prior

Her hair so lovely
Dark, black and shiny
Beautiful, you thought, while dragging her there
The more she cried, the more you said she is fair
Amazed by her skin
You touched her from chin
What was next, you knew, then banged her to the wall
The fairy fainted, you smiled, watched her tears fall.

She made you tea, bent on her knees
You said "Gee," as you rubbed her tees
Tried to peek through her door
There she laid on the floor
Nearly dead she was.

But freedoms don't come fast
Lack of ideas for stealing her beauty
You took the iron and swabbed her slowly
As if the cigars couldn't do enough
You took the fuel and burnt her like a branch

No wonder like it's been said
To hell this world has turned red
We believe there's more like you
Nasty and cruel just like you
We believe there's more like you
So sad, a pity, still, lots stay mute.

Yogyakarta, Feb 11th 2009

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