(My good friend Zainal MA - first from right in a recent college reunion in KL)
Although I was just a tiny boy from Ulu Limbang I found out that I had a very good memory and I could remember every single word of a poem or a song. And that caused a situation in my life. Mr. George Ong our class teacher must have heard me reciting the poem The Sands of Dee and it must have been quite an impressive feat. However I did not understand anything about poetry recital as a finer aspect of life at that time or at that tender age.
When Mr. George Ong asked me to recite The Sands of Dee for a school concert, I refused very adamantly and I believe that juvenile protest of mine, and perhaps even the supposedly rebellious attitude gained his everlasting agnst and distrust towards me. I thought reciting a poem about a girl called Mary was just not exciting or worthwhile and it might be even considered embarrassing!! I did not think at that time my presentation would be well received and I could not entertain the thought of being jeered at, having never in my life presented anything to such a big group of seniors before. I actually cried when he tried to make me see sense. But somehow I just refused flatly.
I understand now that choral speaking and poetry reciting have become very popular English activities in schools again beginning 2000! And that's after a cycle of almost 40 years!
Here is the whole poem to share with you. Now it is ever more meaningful to me plus the anguish I suffered all these years associated with it.
The Sands Of Dee by Charles Kingsley
‘O Mary, go and call the cattle home,
And call the cattle home,
And call the cattle home,
Across the sands of Dee.’
The western wind was wild and dark with foam,
And all alone went she.
The western tide crept up along the sand,
And o’er and o’er the sand,
And round and round the sand,
As far as eye could see.
The rolling mist came down and hid the land:
And never home came she.
‘O is it weed, or fish, or floating hair—
A tress of golden hair,
A drownèd maiden’s hair,
Above the nets at sea?’
Was never salmon yet that shone so fair
Among the stakes of Dee.
They row’d her in across the rolling foam,
The cruel crawling foam,
The cruel hungry foam,
To her grave beside the sea.
But still the boatmen hear her call the cattle home,
Across the sands of Dee.
Online text © 1998-2007 Poetry X. All rights reserved.From The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250-1900 Clarendon, 1919
I have to give credit to two friends who turned the situation around. It took Abu Bakar Matasan and Zainal Abidin Matasan to calm down Mr. George Ong. Zainal like a big brother (he wasn't any older than I ) told Mr. Ong not to persuade me any more by saying this,"He feel shame!" (Dia malu). However, I continued to cry. But Mr. Ong continued to be exasperated.
Later the two Matasans presented the poem at the concert. When they finished, there was a thunderous applause.
Zam what was it like after the performance?I can still hear the thunderous applause! And I never got to see the Dee......or to hear Mary calling the cattle home....perhaps one day.
To this day, I am still a little embarrassed because I could not share that accolade with them. Perhaps it was just a cultural difference - Malay, Chinese and Iban longhouse culture. If I had bowed to Mr. Ong's request to recite the poem, what would it have been like? Would the teacher have liked me better? What was really in Mr. Ong's mind?
Mr. George Ong must be in his 70's now. And to this day I still wonder how he feels towards me because I refused to perform for him.
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