SatJaDham is proud to present an installment of our series of "Poetry:a soft voice from a (gentle) hear": This composition was inspired by a young boy's courage and bravery to speak out against child labor in pakistan. His name is Igbal. At the age of twelve, he was invited to speak at the united nation on behalf of all children around the world to end child labor. On his return home to pakistan, he was instantly murdered by one of the rug factory men. Igbal By Thiphasone T Phimviengkham ------------------------------- he sleeps in chain at the riped age of four laboring his pain in his forefather's debt who left him for poor ten years he weaves shackles to the rug factory living on cups of tea and slices of bread to pacify his misery his luck was met by a lawyer who dares to defide their threat from freeing a child in subsistent cares his silence was heard from countries to states of his tormented curse as bonded-slave wheeled in his karmic fates twelve years he fights for human rights to end child labor that we blindly habor from our hedonistic greed they fear his word of exposing their acts a crime no words can be described of their real human worths lower than insects people celebrate his victory but was short live when bullets ripped his fragile body ending all hopes and future promises of freedom he had promised to give his remains remind us the cruelty we inflict on our own flesh for a life of samsa luxury on filthy and bloody money -tu ------------------------------------------ Disclaimer : The views expressed in all SatJaDham postings are the responsibilty of the author and do not neccessarily represent those of all members of SatJaDham or the Lao community. Please send any comments, criticism, questions, or suggestions to ss2b@frank.mtsu.edu or post them on Soc.culture.laos newsgroup. For more information about SatJaDham please visit our homepage at http://www.lao.net/satjadham.html or http://www.cs.sonoma.edu/~saycocie/sjdnews.html.