Palinode VIII

Palinode VIII


The war
accommodated

me to hardship—
rooting

for a sweet potato
in a ditch,

flying
from the soldiers—

as much
as the prosperity afterwards

accommodated
you to success.

You escaped
the draft

for nation building
and wrote

your poetry
books.

Much as I wished
to do likewise,

throw down
the weight of duty,

like a sack
of rice,

I could not
run away

from the sweet potato
I had eaten.

 Workmen clear up raid debris in Singapore on January after a Japanese bombing raid on the British naval base.

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